Andrew Careaga is the chief marketing and communications officer for Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), a STEM-focused public research university in Rolla, Missouri. His department is responsible for managing Missouri S&T's brand identity and coordinating marketing efforts with other divisions and departments on campus.

During the university's name change from the University of Missouri-Rolla to Missouri S&T, Careaga was instrumental in managing communications and branding initiatives. In 2009, he was named International Brand Master of the Year by Educational Marketing Group Inc., primarily in recognition of his role in coordinating Missouri S&T's name change communications effort. More recently, he led a campus-wide market research effort and brand identity update for the university. The resulting "Miners Dig Deeper" campaign received a Gold Award from CASE, District VI, in 2016.

His professional involvement includes service with CASE as a trustee (2016-2018) and formerly as chair of CASE District VI (1998-2000) and a three-year term on the CASE Communications and Marketing Commission (2002-2005). He presents frequently on branding, marketing, social media marketing, crisis communications, change management and related subjects at various conferences and workshops, including events sponsored by the American Marketing Association, CASE, Academic Impressions, Higher Ed Experts, Higher Ed Hero, HighEdWeb Arkansas and AACRAO, among others.

Active in social media, Careaga contributed a chapter on social media's role in crisis communication to the book Social Works, published in February 2013 by EDUniverse Media.

Lori Bachand serves as the statewide senior director of communications and marketing for the Community College League of California. She has more than 20 years in strategic planning and program implementation for higher education, with expertise in marketing, stewardship, special events programming, and advancement and campaign communications.

Lori serves on the CASE District VII Cabinet has been involved in planning CASE District VII and national conferences, including serving as the chairperson for the 2019 and 2020 Connect West conferences. Lori is Accredited in Public Relations by PRSA and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in communications from CASE District VII member institution Cal State Fullerton.

Lauren F. Brookey serves as vice president of marketing and communications for the University of Oklahoma. She oversees branding, marketing, communications, media, digital and event strategies for the Norman, Tulsa and Health Sciences Center campuses. She joined the university in January 2019 after 18 years with Tulsa Community College as vice president of external affairs and president of the TCC Foundation.

Previously, she was partner of Schnake Turnbo Brookey and Associates, Oklahoma’s largest public relations agency where she led the crisis communications services along with providing local, regional and national strategic public relations planning and execution for private, publicly held and governmental agency accounts. She began her career as a journalist for Tulsa’s state-wide daily newspaper, The Tulsa Tribune, and went on to build her public relations and marketing career in Tulsa and Houston.

Brookey is a member of CASE and serves on the Leadership Committee and as vice chair of the Member Services Committee.

Charlie Melichar is a senior consultant in strategic communications at Marts & Lundy. For the past 15 years, he has been immersed in the field of nonprofit communications, serving as an adviser and thought leader for colleges and universities and the professional organizations that support them.

Most recently, Melichar served as associate vice chancellor of development and alumni relations communications at Vanderbilt University. His has served on the CASE Commission on Communications and Marketing, CASE District III Board of Directors and co-chaired the Task Force on Social Media. He is a past chair and current member of the Executive Committee for the Public Relations Society of America's Counselors to Higher Education section, which is focused on senior leaders in higher education public relations.

At Vanderbilt, Melichar took the lead in enhancing the university's communications in support of the completion of its successful $1.94 billion fundraising campaign. He merged the university and medical center development and alumni communications teams and redesigned project management processes to achieve a more strategic, data-oriented approach. He partnered with the public affairs office to develop a university-wide strategic communication planning process and design an integrated approach to communications across Vanderbilt's graduate and professional schools.

Prior to his work at Vanderbilt, he was vice president for public relations and communications at Colgate University from 2005 to 2010. During that time he led the communications efforts for a $400 million fundraising campaign. He came to Colgate in 2003 as director of media relations. He previously worked in a similar position at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, before being named director of news and information.

In his early career, Melichar worked for PR Newswire, a news service distribution company, and ProfNet, a subsidiary service that links academic experts to journalists.

Gord Arbeau is a seasoned and respected leader with more than 25 years’ experience leading advancement, communications and marketing teams in the public and private sectors. For the past 16 years, Arbeau has held senior roles in public universities in Canada, leading the communications and marketing efforts and supporting their advocacy efforts and the raising of private and public funds. He lead the advancement and external relations activities for Brock University, a public comprehensive institution with over 19,000 students and 1,000 faculty and staff. His team was responsible for Development, Stewardship, Alumni Engagement, Marketing/Communications and Advancement Services. His teams have received multiple CASE Circle of Excellence awards and CASE District citations. He is a past member of the CASE Board of Trustees, the past chair of the CASE Commission on Communications and Marketing and the current Vice-Chair of the CASE U.S.-Canada Council.

Josh Wyatt has recently joined the team in Tucson at the University of Arizona as the director of talent development.

He discovered his passion for training and talent management while working at Envision EMI in the Washington, D.C., area. After seven years, he left Washington, D.C., for the newly created position of training and talent development manager at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of Development. While at UNC-CH he worked to develop a comprehensive talent management strategy involving recruiting, onboarding, training, and developing 350+ frontline fundraisers and support staff. This included the implementation and administration of a Learning Management System, a full e-learning catalog of courses specific to Blackbaud CRM and dedicated moves management cohorts for development officers and aspiring development officers. 

Wyatt holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in criminal justice from James Madison University.