SNHU Welcomes New Board Members
Posted on October 13, 2017
Today, I’m thrilled to welcome three new Trustees to the SNHU community, who join us with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. We knew we had key gaps to fill, needing an experienced attorney on the Board, someone with government experience, and someone with deep background in finance and investments. Last fall, I also shared with the community our goal to increase diversity on the Board of Trustees, as part of our efforts to make SNHU a more diverse and inclusive university. Rick and Matt have academic backgrounds and Maribel is the first graduate of our online program to become a Trustee.
Ralph Richard “Rick” Banks is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1998. Rick teaches and writes in the areas of Family Law, Constitutional Law, Race and the Law, and is also a Professor of Education. Prior to joining the law school, he practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers and was the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law School. Rick has also served on the boards of several nonprofit educational organizations, including St. Paul’s School, University School, the Phillips Brooks School, and Foundation for a College Education.
Maribel Duran ’16, is the Assistant Director for Strategy and Operations with the Education & Society Program at the Aspen Institute. Maribel joined the Aspen Institute, after serving eight years under the Obama Administration at the U.S. Department of Education, in several capacities. As the longest-serving political appointee at the Department, Maribel worked to increase educational attainment and student outcomes, launched the Federal Interagency Working Group on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and supported states and districts with policy implementation. She was also a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls Federal Taskforce, and the Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. Maribel is a public speaker and storyteller who highlights the experiences of traditionally underrepresented and underserved communities, including first generation, low-income, and immigrant students, students of color, and adult learners, and seeks to advance women and girls education and economic empowerment in an effort to achieve equity and provide opportunity for all. She holds an honorary doctorate in education and a bachelor of English Language and Literature magna cum laude from Southern New Hampshire University.
Matt Greenfield is Managing Partner of Rethink Education, a venture capital firm focused on education technology. He currently serves on the boards of BrightBytes, Allovue, and Care Academy. He previously helped start Rethink Autism and worked for ABS Ventures. Matt received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in English from Yale University, where he won five academic prizes and fellowships from the Mellon and Whiting Foundations and served on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities. He taught at Bowdoin College, where he served on the committee overseeing admissions, and the City University of New York, where he served on a college curriculum committee, helped launch an interdisciplinary learning community program for first-year students, taught in the teacher preparation program, and taught graduate classes in literature to teachers from the New York City public schools.
Having a leadership team with diverse perspectives and backgrounds is critical to the success of any organization. This is certainly true at colleges and universities where diversity of thought is important to the education and experience we provide for students. I am confident that each of these new Board members will support SNHU in our mission to transform the lives of students through high-quality, affordable education.
Please join me in welcoming Maribel, Rick, and Matt to the SNHU community.