Vice Chair of the Board
Horace White Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University. Baird received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Cornell and, after a Damon Runyon postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, she was appointed as the first woman faculty member to receive tenure in Cornell University's chemistry department. Her research laboratory employs a broad range of biophysico-chemical methods to investigate the structure and molecular mechanisms of cell surface receptors that operate in immunological and other physiological responses. She has been honored for her work with the New York Academy's Harold Lamport Award for Biophysics and Physiology, and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and was is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She was awarded a Knox College Alumni Achievement Award in 1994.
Vice Chair of the Committee on Admission and Advancement
Senior Director, Portfolio Program Management Operations for AbbVie, Inc., North Chicago, IL. He is responsible for leading multiple strategic teams who ultimately advance business-critical R&D programs. From continuous improvement initiatives to peer coaching to serving as co-chair of the Black Business Network, Nyerere is active in driving the AbbVie culture forward. Outside of work, Nyerere mentors students across broad and diverse age groups and is involved in the Knox College Black Alumni Network (BAN). Nyerere is engaged in the fight for racial, social, and gender equity in all that he does. He follows the legacy of an alumni trustee returning as a general trustee.
Chair of Campus Life & Athletics (Chair of the Presidential Search Committee)
Agent, Creative Artists Agency, Los Angeles, California. Etz attended the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa and earned his MFA there in 1985. As an agent, Tony represents and packages both talent and television shows. He teaches media classes as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California. He is a fourth generation Knox graduate. His grandfather, Robert Murphy '31, was a former chair of the Knox Board of Trustees.
Emerita Trustee
Retired, Director of Interagency Collaboratives for the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut, Ridgefield, Connecticut. Hartog coordinated the Sexual Abuse Response Team at the center. She earned a master's degree in social work from the University of Chicago. During her career, she formed the Connecticut state chapter of the National Children's Alliance and served as its chair for seven years. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and has served on the board of the Connecticut chapter of American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).
Chair-Elect; Chair of the Committee on College Finances
John Lawler is chief financial officer at Ford Motor Company and has overall responsibility of finance functions including Accounting, Financial Planning and Analysis, Treasury, Tax, Investor Relations, Economics and Audit as well as the Ford Credit business. Lawler began his 32-year career with Ford on the company’s Finance team and has worked in North America, Europe and Asia. He has held pivotal roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC and Mobility Partnerships, Vice President Corporate Strategy, Corporate Controller, Chairman and CEO of Ford China, as well as CFO for Ford Asia Pacific and Africa. Lawler earned an MBA from the University of Iowa in 1990.
General Trustee
Head of North American Commercial, Newton Investment Management North America LLC. A certified public accountant, Lyn earned his MBA and Master of Accounting degrees from Rice University. Prior to joining Standish, Lyn was a portfolio manager and director of fixed income investments at Davis Hamilton Jackson & Associates and a trust officer with Texas Commerce Bank. He started his career in public accounting at Ernst & Young.
General Trustee
After graduation worked as an actuarial consultant for Mercer. Plomin then turned her attentions to charitable endeavors. Where she served on the boards of nonprofit organizations, including Christ Child Society of Detroit, Conner Prairie Alliance, and the Benvenuto Women’s Club of Milan. Today she volunteers her talents to the Oakland County Lighthouse, Habitat for Humanity and the AARP Tax-aide Foundation.
Vice Chair of the Committee on Governance
Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP. Rademaker received her juris doctorate from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Her practice encompasses a broad range of commercial real estate matters, including development, leasing, financings, property sales and acquisitions, and joint ventures. She has substantial experience in real estate development, including build-to-suit transactions and design and construction-related contracts. Rademaker has significant experience in negotiating and documenting commercial office, industrial, and retail leases. She also has worked extensively in the area of commercial real estate financing, including secured loans, work-outs, and restructurings. Rademaker recently was named one of the Top 100 Leading Women Real Estate-Related Lawyers by Leading Lawyers Network. Rademaker and husband James G. Crowell ’84 are members of the President's Circle.
General Trustee
Self-employed, HR Consultant, Upper Arlington, Ohio. Rosene earned an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She has led or served in human resource roles for ConAgra and various units of YUM! Brands, including A&W, Long John Silvers, and most recently as the chief people officer for Kentucky Fried Chicken. She served Knox as an alumni trustee before becoming a general trustee, and was a member of the Business Advisory Council and the Campaign Advisory Committee.
General Trustee (Trustee and Galesburg Community representative on Presidential Search Committee)
President and General Manager, G&M Distributors, Galesburg. Vitale received his MBA from Pepperdine University. He embarked on a career in hospitality and tourism consulting and then joined a distributorship in Washington, D.C., before returning to Galesburg to lead the company started by his grandfather. Vitale is currently the chairman of the board of OSF St. Mary Medical Center/Holy Family Medical Center, vice chairman of the Knox County Partnership for Economic Development, treasurer of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, and VP/treasurer of the G.L. Vitale Family Foundation, long supporters of Knox.
Chair of the Board (ex officio member of Presidential Search Committee)
Partner, Skadden Arps LLP, Chicago, Illinois. Smith received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He leads Skadden's litigation practice in Chicago and represents a broad array of U.S. and international companies, as well as their top executives, in complex regulatory investigations, enforcement matters, and litigation. Smith has served on the College's Alumni Council and Knox Fund Steering Committee and frequently hosts alumni meetings and events.
Associate Dean of the College; Philip Sidney Post Professor of Chemistry
Philip Sidney Post Professor of Chemistry, Knox College. Crawford received her PhD from Purdue University. Her research investigates chemical kinetics, experimentally and computationally as it relates to tropospheric chemistry. Dr. Crawford is also interested in increasing the number of underrepresented groups in STEM. She has served in some capacity in the ACS Professional Relations Division for the past several years. She is completing her term as its immediate past chair this year.
Associate Professor in Modern Languages-German
Todd Heidt is the Chair of International Studies and an Associate Professor of German at Knox College. Heidt's primary area of research is the media landscape of the Weimar Republic and he has published on literature, film and photography. Recent presentations and publications focus on language pedagogy as well as diversity and inclusivity in German Studies. His research and teaching have been supported by Fulbright and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He has served national organizations such as the German Studies Association (as Program Committee Chair for the 2016 conference) and Delta Phi Alpha (as a member of the scholarship committee).
Associate Professor of English; Director of Creative Writing
Nicholas Regiacorte was born and raised in southern Maine. Since that time, he’s lived in Florida, gone to college in Virginia, worked on roofing crews, worked in a deli, and earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He’s had the good fortune to live in Italy, once on a Fulbright year in Campania, the second time as a Visiting Professor in the ACM's Florence Program. His poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Phoebe, 14 Hills, Copper Nickel, New American Writing, Descant, Bennington Review, Colorado Review and elsewhere. His book of poems American Massif is forthcoming from Tupelo Press. Regiacorte is an Associate Professor of English and serves as Director of the Program in Creative Writing.
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations
Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Relations, Knox College. Stewart received her Ph.D. from Indiana University and B.A. from Dickinson College, both in political science. At Knox, she teaches courses in comparative politics and IR, including Russian and East European Politics, Authoritarianism, Nationalism, Research Methods, and International Organizations. In her research, Stewart examines the connection between nation building and regime legitimacy with a particular focus on competing nation-building projects of state and non-state actors. She conducted fieldwork in Estonia and Russia, and her research has been funded by a Knox Faculty Innovation Grant, the Fulbright Program and the Mellon Foundation, among others.
Director of Admission
DeVone Eurales is the Director of Admission at Knox. With fifteen years of admission experience, he’s active as a higher education professional and in the fight for social justice and equality. As Director of Admission at Knox College, he remains abreast of regional and national admission counseling trends and loves working with the admission staff. His roles as Director have included: staff supervision of admission counseling and campus visit teams, oversight for campus visit experience, oversight for US application review, liaison for athletics, member of campus diversity committee, and an active recruiter.
DeVone earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Senior
Bamisé is from Ile Ife, Nigeria and is on the pre-med track with a major in Biology and a minor in psychology. He is 2020-2021 Student Senate President and a Residential Assistant.
Sophomore
Saxon Alvarez is a sophomore from El Paso, Texas and is on the Pre-Med track with a major in Biology and a double minor in Chemistry and Psychology. She is a member of the women's basketball team along with the cross country and track teams. She is also a member of the Tri Delta sorority.
https://www.knox.edu/presidential-search/presidential-search-committee
Printed on Wednesday, September 4, 2024