Global design experts

Ashish Vaidya serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Growing Inland Achievement – a cross-sector regional collaborative designed to advance educational and economic success in the Inland Empire the 2nd largest metro area in California. Previously he served as Senior Fellow for American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) where he led the project on Regional Stewardship. Ashish has served as President of Northern Kentucky University president and St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota. He has been a faculty, dean and provost in the California State University system.

Professor Phil Cotton is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global health Equity in Rwanda, ranked 8th in sub-Saharan Africa. He is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Rwanda and was part of a team to merge all the public higher learning institutions in the country. After completing his tenure, he worked for the Mastercard Foundation on the Scholars Program. He is a medical academic and served at the University of Glasgow. He was awarded the Gold Medal from ASME and an OBE in 2017. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Ihron is Chairperson of the UNESCO South Africa Commission, Visiting Professor and Life Fellow at King’s College London, Senior Associate at South Africa’s Higher Education Leadership and Management (where he is project lead on the Executive Leadership Programme) and Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University. Most recently he was Ombud of the University of Cape Town, Chairperson of the Ministerial Committee on the Review of the South African Higher Education, Science and Technology Landscape. He was Commissioner of South Africa’s first National Planning Commission and founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg.

Sir Malcolm Grant is Chancellor of the University of York. Previously, he served as Chairman of NHS England, President & Provost of UCL from 2003-2013, and was previously Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge & Professor and Head of Department of Land Economy. He has a strong interest in higher education globally and advancements in education and public service.

Prof. Brian MacCraith is a Senior Advisor to the President of Arizona State University (ASU), with specific responsibility for the development of strategic initiatives (both academic and corporate) in Europe. He is also a Professor of Practice in the College of Global Futures and a Global Fellow at ASU’s University Design Institute (UDI). Much of his work with UDI is focused on the pivotal role that universities must play in tackling the issues of planetary health.

Jeff Selingo has written about higher education for more than two decades and is a New York Times bestselling author of three books. His latest book, Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, was published in September 2020 and was named among the 100 Notable Books of the year by the New York Times. A regular contributor to The Atlantic, Jeff is a special advisor for innovation and professor of practice at Arizona State University. He also co-hosts the podcast, FutureU. He lives in Washington, DC with his family.