AIU Governing Board

Gaylen Kemp Baxter, AIU's Board Chair, is an attorney and retired member of Dow Lohnes PLLC in Atlanta, Georgia, where she specialized in corporate, securities and finance matters. Prior to joining Dow Lohnes, Ms. Baxter was assistant general counsel of Healthdyne, Inc. and associated with Kilpatrick & Cody (Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP). She also serves as a member of the board of St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta and St. Joseph's Mercy Foundation, and previously served as chairperson of the Foundation from 1998-2004. She served as president of the Parents Association of The Westminster Schools in Atlanta. She is a past president of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and has been a long-time member of its board of directors. She also was chairperson of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Ms. Baxter received a B.A. from the University of Colorado and a law degree from Boston University School of Law. She has been a member of the AIU Governing Board for over 10 years.

David J. Kaufman, AIU's Board Secretary, is a partner and co-chair of the Corporate Practice Group in the national law firm of Duane Morris, LLP. His law practice focuses on mergers and acquisition, public and private securities, private equity and general corporate counseling. Mr. Kaufman assists predominantly entrepreneurial clients in developing and implementing creative strategies to accomplish their business objectives. He also regularly advises boards of directors, their committees and officers on their fiduciary duties and other obligations. He is a member of the Strategic Communications Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and is also a member of The Chicago Bar Association. He served on the editorial board of the Michigan Journal of International Law and as editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of Political Science. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and holds a B.A. and M.P.P. from the University of Michigan.

Richard Pope Perry, AIU's Immediate Past Board Chair, is a practicing Attorney at Law in Roswell, Georgia, having been admitted to the Bar in December of 1960. Mr. Perry graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in 1959. He graduated from the Lamar School of Law at Emory University with a J. D. in 1961. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Georgia Bar Association and North Fulton County Bar Association. He is also a retired Captain, U. S. Army, Judge Advocate General's Corps and is active in the Episcopal Church, serving as Chancellor of the Diocese of Atlanta.

Ronald E. Frieson is currently the Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. He is the retired President of Georgia Operations for BellSouth Corporation. Mr. Frieson began his BellSouth career in 1985, and held a number of leadership roles during his tenure including Vice President of Transition and Strategy, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, and Group Vice President. Prior to joining BellSouth, Mr. Frieson worked in the banking industry. Mr. Frieson is very active in civic affairs and is currently chair-elect of the national trustees for the American Kidney Fund. He has served as board chair of the Atlanta Police Foundation and Atlanta's Inn for Children. Mr. Frieson has served as a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Buckhead Coalition, Atlanta Urban League, Hands on Atlanta and the 100 Black Men of Dekalb. He was also a member of the Leadership Atlanta class of 2002. Mr. Frieson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a Finance concentration from the University of Tennessee and a MBA in Information Systems from Georgia State University.

Michael Graham joined Career Education in September, 2007 as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Graham has served in several key financial positions in publicly-traded companies, including R.R. Donnelley, Sears Roebuck & Co., and Aegis Communications Group, where he was Chief Financial Officer. At R.R. Donnelley, a publicly-traded print and print-related services provider with annual revenues of approximately $10 billion,
Mr. Graham served as Senior Vice President and Controller, managing a team of more than 100 professionals. He oversaw a range of functions including corporate and SEC accounting, corporate financial planning and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Mr. Graham was the Vice President and Controller at Sears, spent seven years at the Quaker Oats Company where he progressed through several financial positions, and seven years with Coopers & Lybrand in the audit practice. Most recently, Mr. Graham was the Chief Financial Officer of Terlato Wine Group, a privately held company that specializes in the marketing and production of luxury wines. Mr. Graham holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a B.S.C. in Accounting from DePaul University. Mr. Graham is also a certified public accountant.

Dr. Donna L. Gray has been with Career Education Corporation since 1996. Dr. Gray began her career as a high school teacher, and over the years has taught at the college level and served in several key administrative positions in both public and proprietary schools. Prior to her current position, Dr. Gray held various positions at CEC, including President of the International Academy of Design & Technology in Fairmont, West Virginia; Dean of Katherine Gibbs School in Boston, Massachusetts; and Vice President of Education for several CEC schools. As Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Gray is responsible for oversight of educational aspects of the company, including students, faculty and curriculum. Dr. Gray holds a Doctor of Science in Information Technology Systems and Communications, a Master of Science in Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. All of these degrees were obtained from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Eric M. Israel has served as Senior Vice President and SBU General Counsel for Career Education Corporation's (CEC) University strategic business unit since January 2008 and CEC's Culinary strategic business unit since July 2008. Mr. Israel previously served as the Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel for CEC's University, Art and Design Group from January 2005 to December 2007. Prior to that, Mr. Israel was the Vice President of Administration and Corporate Counsel for CEC's Online Education Group from December 2003 to January 2005. From 1998 until joining CEC, Mr. Israel practiced corporate law with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP where he concentrated his practice in general corporate, merger and acquisition, and securities matters. Mr. Israel received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 1995 and his J.D., cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1998.

Dr. Robert T. Justis is chair of the Rucks Department of Management, and Director of the International Franchise Forum in the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University. Present teaching and research areas are concerned with franchising, entrepreneurship, international businesses, and strategic business practices. While working on his doctoral degree, Dr. Justis established a small business with two other students in Indiana and Florida that grossed over two million dollars a year. He specializes in the development and start-up of franchising and entrepreneurial organizations. Additional consulting assignments have included work for Burger King, Borg Warner Corporation, Texas Instruments, Wendy's McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Popeyes', Selection Research, Inc., National Research Corporations, etc. He has consulted or assisted over 250 franchising organizations around the world. In addition, Dr. Justis has developed and presented management programs in Brazil, Mexico, China, Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, France, and Switzerland. The Freedom foundation at Valley Forge has conferred upon Dr. Justis the Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education. He has also received distinguished teaching awards from every University where he has taught, including: Indiana University, Texas Tech University, University of Nebraska and Louisiana State University. He is often called "the father of small business" and recently he has become known as "the father of franchising" – titles associated with his development of these academic areas.

Deborah Lenart has served as Senior Vice President-University Strategic Business Unit since 2008. From 2006 until joining CEC, Ms. Lenart served as Vice-President, US Segment Leader, Global Communications, Media and Entertainment at Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS), a global information technology and applications outsourcing firm. Prior to EDS, Lenart led several venture-backed start-up and turnaround portfolio companies as CEO of Callipso and Eziaz. Corporate leadership roles include president of Ameritech's $2B+ Custom Business Services unit and president of New Media. Lenart has also led key legislative and regulatory policy initiatives with state and federal commissions, state legislation and Congress. Her public policy experience includes providing testimony before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate on telecommunications and media regulatory issues. Lenart holds a B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Loyola.

Nancy Mann is an alumnus of American InterContinental University, having graduated from the London campus in 1981. Ms. Mann currently is the project designer for Mitch Johnson Construction. She had previously spent six years as a District Manager for GF Furniture Systems where her responsibilities included space planning, ergonomic designs, and sales. After her tenure with GF Furniture Systems, she operated her own business as an Architectural Designer for travel resorts, and later served as a real estate appraiser and consultant for historic properties renovation. Ms. Mann resides in Aiken, South Carolina, and has been a member of the AIU Governing Board for 23 years.

Janice McKenzie-Crayton currently serves as President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, Inc. (BBBS), a position she has held since January 1992. As the chief administrator of this youth-serving organization, Ms. McKenzie-Crayton has led BBBS through strategic growth and has expanded the reach of Big Brothers Big Sisters to ten metro Atlanta counties currently serving over 2,000 children. Big Brothers Big Sisters exists to strengthen the single-parent family by providing one-to-one friendships for children in need. Prior to joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, she was the Vice President for Development at Spelman College after moving to Atlanta in 1988. Prior to her notable work at Spelman, she held administrative positions with Howard University, Hampton University, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Ms. McKenzie-Crayton is involved with numerous community organizations. Currently, she is a member of the distinguished Atlanta Rotary Club and in n 2002, she was appointed by Governor Roy E. Barnes to serve on the Georgia Commission for Service and Volunteerism. She also serves on the board of the Atlanta Partners for Education, Saint Joseph's Mercy Foundation and on the Community Advisory Board of The Junior League of Atlanta. Ms. McKenzie-Crayton is also the CEO/Executive Chair for the Big Brothers Big Sisters National Professional Association and an alumna of Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Georgia. She has served on the board of the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Foundation; on the Executive Committees of the Executive Directors Association of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the Association of United Way Executive Directors. Other previous affiliations have included the Boards of the YWCA of Greater Atlanta; the National Society of Fund Raising Executives; and, the Advisory Board of the Atlanta Women's Network. Recognized throughout the community as a leader, she has been honored with several awards including 1999 Women of Distinction award from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and the Atlanta Business League Women of Vision award-Women Looking Ahead Award. Ms. McKenzie-Crayton holds both a Master's and a Bachelor's degree from Howard University.

Dr. George P. Miller, III, joined AIU in January of 2004 after serving for thirteen years as president of non-profit colleges in Tennessee and New York. He has over 30 years of experience in higher education as an administrator and teacher. Dr. Miller received the Bachelor of Science Degree from James Madison University, the Master of Science Degree from the University of Tennessee, and the Doctor of Education Degree from the University of Virginia. He is active in professional and civic affairs, is a published author, and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for professional distinction and public service.

Stephen J. Tober is the Chief Executive Officer of AIU and President of AIU Online.
Mr. Tober joined AIU as Chief Operating Officer in October 2008 and had served as Interim CEO of AIU and Interim President of AIU Online prior to his current position. He has nearly 20 years experience in operations and management in a variety of industries including education, information technology services, investment banking and management consulting, and most recently held a senior position with ThinkEquity Partners in Chicago. He has also held senior roles at publicly traded companies including SPR, Leapnet and Smith Barney. Steve earned his Bachelor's degree from Amherst College and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.