The Executive Committee is the senior leadership body that develops the strategic direction for the university, provides direct support and advice to the president, and has input and impact on key decisions and issues of importance to UMGC. The committee meets regularly and assists with the development and implementation of university policies.
The Executive Committee
Read about the senior leaders who develop UMGC's strategic direction.
UMGC Interim President
Lawrence E. Leak, PhD
Interim President
Lawrence E. "Larry" Leak, PhD, was named interim president of University of Maryland Global Campus in October 2020, following the retirement of President Javier Miyares. He is the first African American to lead the university in its 73-year history.
In a distinguished career spanning five decades, Dr. Leak has been a mainstay of Maryland education, serving as a high school teacher and principal, university professor and administrator, assistant state superintendent of schools, college trustee, and gubernatorial appointee.
The proud son of a 21-year veteran of the United States Air Force, Dr. Leak attended U.S. Department of Defense elementary schools in France and Germany through the sixth grade. He graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 1976 and went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in educational administration and supervision from University of Maryland, College Park. He earned his doctorate under the competitive award now known as the Flagship Fellowship Program.
He began his professional career as a social studies teacher at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County, Maryland. He went on to become principal of Manassas Park High School in Virginia before accepting an assistant professorship at University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Leak subsequently held tenured faculty positions at Morgan State and Towson universities. On a seven-year loan from Towson University, beginning in 1996, he joined the Maryland State Department of Education, where he served as assistant state superintendent in the Division of Certification and Accreditation. In that capacity, Dr. Leak oversaw the state's teacher certification/licensure process, as well as Maryland's 21 postsecondary teacher preparation programs and its nonpublic school accreditation process.
Dr. Leak first came to UMGC (then University of Maryland University College) in 2003 as vice provost for academic affairs and professor, later serving as interim provost and chief academic officer. He formally retired in December 2007 after a 31-year career in education.
Dr. Leak has remained active in higher education post-retirement. In 2009 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of St. Mary's College of Maryland—and the following year to the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness—by then-Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Dr. Leak also serves as vice chair of Historic St. Mary's City Commission.
Dr. Leak lives in Howard County, Maryland, with his wife, Dr. Debra Neubert, a University of Maryland, College Park, professor emerita. Their daughter, Emily, is a mental health psychotherapist at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
UMGC Executive Committee
Michael Freedman
Senior Vice President and Journalist in Residence
301-985-7200
michael.freedman@umgc.edu
Michael Freedman is senior vice president and Journalist in Residence at UMGC. In a distinguished career spanning more than 35 years, Freedman has served as general manager of CBS Radio Network News, managing editor for the Broadcast Division of United Press International, vice president and professor of journalism at The George Washington University, senior vice president and professor of the practice at University of Maryland Global Campus, and executive producer of the public broadcasting series "The Kalb Report."
Over the course of his career, Freedman has collaborated on programming with such icons as Walter Cronkite, Marvin Kalb, Tony Bennett, Ernie Harwell, Dan Rather, Charles Osgood, and Abba Eban. He has forged groundbreaking partnerships with CNN, The National Press Club, POLITICO, and The Newseum in Washington, D.C.
Freedman and his teams have been honored with more 85 honors, including 14 Edward R. Murrow awards for excellence in broadcast journalism. He is co-author of The Broadcast Voice Handbook and a contributing author to Broadcasting Through Crisis, Responsible Journalism and The Encyclopedia of Journalism. He is a member of the National Press Club Board of Governors and the Newseum Educator Advisory Team.
Lloyd "Milo" Miles
Senior Vice President, Global Military Operations
301-985-7257
lloyd.miles@umgc.edu
Major General Lloyd "Milo" Miles (U.S. Army, Ret.) currently serves as senior vice president of global military operations at UMGC. In this role, he oversees the administration and management of the university's operations and partnerships in more than 20 countries and territories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Before joining UMGC in January 2015, Miles served in the military for more than 32 years in a distinguished career. He has commanded at every level from captain to major general in assignments that included a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Desert; a peace enforcement mission in Kosovo; combat operations in Iraq; and the international effort to advise, train, and equip the Iraqi Army.
His principal staff assignments included serving as a senior operations officer; liaison officer to the Egyptian Ministry of Defense in Cairo, Egypt; political-military planner for North Korea, Joint Staff, Pentagon; executive officer to the commander, U.S. Southern Command; and executive officer to the Chief of Staff of the Army.
Miles is the fourth soldier since the Civil War to be promoted to general as an amputee. He is the only amputee general to serve in either Iraq or Afghanistan and the only one to serve multiple combat tours after becoming an amputee.
Miles earned a BS in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an MS in national strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.
Erika Orris
Senior Vice President, Chief Enrollment and Marketing Officer
301-985-7435
erika.orris@umgc.edu
Erika Orris is chief enrollment and marketing officer at UMGC. In this role, she oversees the Offices of Marketing, New Student Admissions, and Student Advising and Retention. She joined UMGC in March 2016.
Orris is a veteran administrator whose career has focused on helping students achieve their education goals. Before coming to UMGC, she was vice president for enrollment management at DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management. While serving in this position, she built an acclaimed advisor training program, spearheaded development of a digital self-service process for student enrollment and financial aid, and oversaw the development of hundreds of corporate, college, and high school partnerships.
Prior to that, Orris served in various leadership roles in admissions and operations at the Art Institutes, a system of more than 40 campuses across North America that offer degrees and programs in the creative and applied arts. Her 19-year career there included leading a start-up operation; serving as vice president of marketing and admissions, where she also chaired the scholarship committee; and managing information technology-related projects to enhance the student experience. She led the development of virtual student interviews and career-oriented multimedia presentations in the 1990s, well ahead of its time.
Orris received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from University of Maryland Global Campus. Her experience in serving a wide variety of students—including high school students and adults as well as those in the military—in both on-site and online formats will lend itself well to UMGC's mission to improve the lives of adult learners.
Blakely Pomietto
Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer
Blakely Pomietto has served since April 2020 as UMGC's senior vice president and chief academic officer. In this role, she defines, implements, and advances key academic initiatives, strategic planning, and institutional priorities, guiding the leadership team in Academic Affairs and coordinating with senior leaders across the institution. Pomietto and her team oversee quality of programs and instruction, academic support programs and services, digital teaching and learning, instructional design, faculty affairs and development, academic operations, policies and procedures, and UMGC's compliance with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education standards.
Pomietto has previously served as UMGC's Deputy Chief Academic Officer, as well as Acting Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. She joined the university in 2015 as Assistant Vice Provost for Policies and Reports, including oversight of the Academic Affairs policy portfolio, academic program reviews and approvals, and mandated reporting.
Prior to joining UMGC, Pomietto served as chief of staff in the University of Maryland, College Park School of Public Health. In that role and others, she led the school through initial and reaccreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health and coordinated with the school's dean's office and individual units, including academic affairs, communications, finance and administration, research, and student services. Previously, she served as director of student services and program coordinator for the Master of Public Health and taught for 12 years as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Public Health.
Pomietto holds a bachelor's degree in biology from George Mason University and a Master of Public Health, with a concentration in community health education, from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Frank J. Principe, Jr.
Chief of Staff, President's Office
301-985-7314
frank.principe@umgc.edu
Frank J. Principe Jr. is chief of staff in UMGC's Office of the President. In that role, he directs all activities and operations in the Office of the President and serves as the principal aide to the president, participating with the president and other senior officers in institutional planning, policy development, and a variety of other matters of institutional importance.
Principe joined UMGC in February 2015, serving most recently as vice president for Government Affairs, overseeing all aspects of state and Federal government relations. He came to UMGC with a wealth of experience in public affairs, public policy, government and community relations, and higher education.
Prior to joining UMGC, Principe served as chief of staff in the Office of the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, where he represented the governor's and secretary's interests with external stakeholders. Earlier, he served as government affairs director at the Baltimore County Executive Office for seven years and, prior to that, as executive director for government relations in the Office of the President at Towson University.
Principe began his career more than 25 years ago in the Office of the Maryland Senate President, Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. There, he rose to serve as special assistant to the president, a position he held for more than five years.
Principe holds a master's degree in political management from George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in English, with honors, from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Amin Qazi
Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer
Amin Qazi joined UMGC in May of 2020 as senior vice president and chief digital officer. In this newly established role, Amin guides the university's exploration and adoption of new digital strategies designed to drive entrepreneurship and innovation, ultimately advancing operational efficiencies and learner success. He is also responsible for developing and implementing UMGC's digital roadmap, guiding IT strategic and operational planning, and collaborating with the Office of the Chief Academic Officer and UMUC Ventures on learning technology design strategy and the creation, implementation, and scaling of digital learning solutions designed to enhance student success.
Amin came to UMGC with more than 15 years of leadership experience, most recently as principal of Amass, LLC, where he provided business strategy services for clients in managing change and data-driven transformations.
Before that, he served as founding CEO of Unizin, Ltd., an educational technology startup that offers data solutions and teaching and learning resources designed to improve access, affordability, and learner success.
Earlier, he held management consulting roles with top firms like KPMG and Accenture/Anderson Consulting. He served as assistant vice president of system integration for JPMorgan Chase, and as director of enterprise technology at the University of Minnesota, he led a staff of 135 focused on technology strategy, business analysis, and application development.
Qazi earned a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa and an MBA with an emphasis on strategy and finance from the University of Minnesota.
George Shoenberger
Special Advisor to the President and Interim Chief Business Officer
301-985-7873
george.shoenberger@umgc.edu
George Shoenberger—a special advisor to the president—returned to UMGC as interim chief business officer in October 2020 after retiring in 2018 following 14 years of service, most recently as the university's senior vice president and chief business officer.
A 40-year veteran of the University System of Maryland (USM), Shoenberger first joined UMGC in 2004 after 18 years with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the state's public academic health science and law campus. There, he oversaw procurement and contract management functions and the university's auxiliary business operations and for some 15 years represented the USM before the Maryland Board of Public Works, which comprises the governor, treasurer, and comptroller of the state of Maryland. He began his higher education career at Towson University, where he served for five years in progressively responsible leadership roles.
Himself a product of USM institutions, Shoenberger earned a BS in business administration and management from Frostburg University and an MBA from the University of Baltimore, later graduating from Harvard University Graduate School of Education's Management Development Program.
The discount for Federal employees and their spouses and eligible dependents will be applied to out-of-state tuition and specialty graduate programs. It does not apply to doctoral programs. This discount cannot be combined with the Completion Scholarship for Maryland community college students or the Pennsylvania Completion Scholarship.
Undergraduate and standard graduate program tuition for students who meet the criteria for Maryland residency will be the applicable in-state rate. Tuition for active-duty military; members of the Selected Reserves, National Guard, and the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and the spouses and dependents of these student groups will be the applicable military or specialty rate. If you are a student using Post 9/11 benefits, please contact an advisor at 800-939-8682 to determine if you can apply both benefits.
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