NOVA President Anne Kress to Serve as ACE Board Chair

July 15, 2026

Anne M. Kress, president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), will be the next chair of the ACE Board of Directors.

Anne M. Kress

Kress was formally named today during ACE’s business meeting, conducted via a webinar with ACE members, and her term will begin on Oct. 1, 2026. She succeeds Tom Stritikus, president of Occidental College, who will continue to serve as chair until then.

Meanwhile, ACE’s membership elected Robert W. Iuliano, president of Gettysburg College, as Board vice-chair, and also elected a slate of new Board members, all of whom will begin their terms on Oct. 1, 2026.

Robert W. Iuliano

Kress has over three decades of higher education leadership experience and guides one of the nation’s largest community colleges, serving 70,000 students across six campuses, thousands of whom leverage their NOVA educations each year to pursue four-year degrees at Virginia universities, including over 3,600 at nearby George Mason University.

A champion of student success, Kress is actively engaged in national and regional policy and advocacy efforts. She has testified before Congress on issues impacting community colleges and participated in federal rulemaking on higher education policy.

In addition to her service to NOVA and on the ACE Board, Kress is a community and regional leader who also is active on boards and advisory councils of organizations such as the Capital Area Food Bank, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Her leadership has been recognized with numerous honors, including the 2024 Association of Community College Trustees Outstanding CEO Award for the Southern Region.

“Anne Kress leads with vision, creativity, dedication, and, above all, a focus on job number one for all higher education institutions: enabling our students to define success on their own terms and reach their goals,” said ACE President Ted Mitchell. “We are lucky to have had a succession of strong, capable leaders take the helm of the ACE Board during such a sustained period of challenges to our institutions and unfounded attacks on the work they do in service of our students and our nation. I am grateful to Anne and Bob for their willingness to serve, and to the time and commitment of all ACE Board members. I want to express my utmost gratitude to Tom for his leadership and commitment over the past year to ACE and the entire higher education community.”  

“My time on the ACE Board has shown me how critical this organization is to the higher education community’s ability to speak with a collective, positive, and powerful voice in advocating on behalf of our students and the public good,” Kress said. “I deeply appreciate Tom’s leadership over such a tumultuous period, and the dedication of all my fellow Board members. I am honored to serve as the next Board chair.”

Also elected and designated to the ACE Board of Directors during today’s ACE business meeting were:

Elected Officers:

Chair: Anne M. Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community College
Vice Chair: Robert W. Iuliano, President, Gettysburg College (PA)

Elected Members:

Term Ending 2029

Robert A. Dowd, President, The University of Notre Dame (IN)
Matt Gianneschi, President, Colorado Mountain College
Bill Pink, President, Ferris State University (MI)
Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York—Reappointment
Philip Rogers, Chancellor, East Carolina University (NC)— Reappointment
Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President, Southern New Hampshire University—Reappointment
Debra A. Schwinn, President, Palm Beach Atlantic University (FL)
Kate Smith, President, Rio Salado College (AZ)
Gregory Washington, President, George Mason University (VA)

Term Ending 2028

Jann L. Joseph, President, Georgia Gwinnett College (Ex-Officio)

Term Ending 2027

Anne F. Harris, President, Grinnell College (IA)
Harrison Keller, President, University of North Texas
Sarah Pfatteicher, Executive Director, Five College Consortium (MA) (Ex-Officio)

Designated Members:

Term Ending 2029

Association of American Universities
Maurie McInnis, President, Yale University (CT)
Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
Reynold Verret, President, Xavier University of Louisiana—Reappointment
The Council of Independent Colleges
Tracy Y. Espy, President, Mitchell College (CT)
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
David Kwabena Wilson, President, Morgan State University (MD)