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Herzing University is a nonprofit institution of Higher Education, licensed and approved to award doctorate, master's, bachelor’s, and associate degrees, as well as diplomas and certificates. Governed by a Board of Trustees, the institution is operated by Herzing University, Ltd., which is a 501(c)(3) Wisconsin nonprofit entity. To learn more about our history, accreditation, and other helpful information, please visit any of the helpful links in the left navigation.
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John Lopez, Ph.D., Chair
Dr. Lopez is CEO of Intercambio Uniting Communities based in Boulder, CO and president of Lopez Research and Consulting. John brings years of broad strategic and operational executive leadership experience across multiple higher education sectors. He led and participated in interim legislative studies as staff to a Nebraska state senator, worked as an analyst in institutional planning and analysis in the Provost’s Office at the University of Arizona, served as vice president of government affairs for Apollo Education Group, and while serving as its chief administrative officer, managed the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements program for distance education across 16 states and territories for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
John is an Amazon bestselling author of An Immigrant in the C‐Suite: From the Journey, Lessons for the Business Community. John is proud of his service in the U.S. Navy, holds dual U.S. and Belizean citizenship, and his interests include golf, traveling, and philanthropic work in Belize.
Christine Pharr, Ph.D., Vice Chair
Retiring in 2022, Dr. Pharr was the president of Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, WI after serving 26 years in higher education. Under her leadership, the University was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as having the highest social mobility in the Midwest, top ranking in recognition in economic and ethnic diversity as well as becoming a Hispanic-Serving institution. Prior to Mount Mary, Christine served as a chemistry faculty member at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, ID where she became the academic dean. She then served as the vice president for academic affairs for seven years and the vice president of development for two years at College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska.
Christine served as a member of the Higher Education Regional Alliance, vice chair of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a member of Milwaukee downtown Rotary, TEMPO, and Milwaukee Women, Inc. Christine is married to Steven Pharr and has two daughters, Caroline and Melissa, and three grandchildren.
Henry Herzing, Trustee, Chancellor Emeritus, and Founder
Along with his wife Suzanne, Henry founded Herzing University in 1965. His academic credentials include a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, M.S. in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University, and an M.B.A. from Marquette University. He has been awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Sullivan University for his contributions to career education. Prior to founding Herzing University, his experience includes systems engineering with Litton Industries and serving as senior missile test officer for the U.S. Navy at White Sands Missile Range.
Mr. Herzing has received numerous awards including the Community Service Award, Outstanding Member Award from the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools and the National Industry Leadership Award from the National Association of Career Colleges (NACC). Very active and supportive in the community, in 2012 he received the Irving J. Seher award as an outstanding Boys and Girls Club alumnus and was selected as a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the upper Midwest.
Joseph Froehlich, Trustee and Past Chair
Joseph is a co-founder (in 2016) and Managing Director of TKO Miller, a Milwaukee-based investment banking firm serving the privately-owned business market. He was previously with investment banking and private equity firms, including serving as President of Corporate Financial Advisors (thirteen years), Managing Director for a Resource Financial Corporation (seven years) and Vice President of Lubar & Co. (six years). During his 35-year investment banking career, he completed numerous transactions in the manufacturing, distribution, consumer, business services, and technology industries. Prior to working in the financial sector, Joseph was an executive in the electronics industry, working with Intel, Raychem, and Sony.
Joe received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Cum Laude, from Stanford University and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Joe serves on the Board of Directors of Novum Structures, Badger Logistics, and gThankYou. He is also an officer of the Harvard Business School Club of Wisconsin and is involved in several civic organizations in the Milwaukee area.
Mark Ambrosius, Trustee
Mark spent most of his career as a senior executive in healthcare delivery, beginning with Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 646-bed hospital with 3,000 employees. He transitioned to Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, serving as the President and CEO of St. Luke’s Medical Center, the largest hospital in the state of Wisconsin. Mark led the Aurora Milwaukee Metro Region and was president and chief executive office, responsible for multiple hospitals, clinics, and other Aurora facilities. His responsibilities included over 10,000 employees, nearly 2,000 doctors, and a budget of over 1.4 billion dollars. Mark has served on numerous volunteer Boards, including The American Heart Association, Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation, Hospital Casualty Company and the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
As a current partner in the Center for Leadership Excellence, he focuses on leadership development for senior leaders both in and outside of healthcare. Mark also enjoys coaching high school tennis teams and occasionally officiates tennis tournaments.
Cynthia Cleveland, Trustee
As a past president/chief executive officer of five companies, Ms. Cleveland has an established history of identifying and capitalizing on emerging trends to create new businesses. Cynthia has successfully navigated Fortune 500 companies, run a venture-backed business, and launched an entrepreneurial digital business. With over 20 years of product development and marketing expertise, she has successfully directly introduced over one thousand products with more than four billion dollars in sales for well-known companies such as Universal Studios, Carnation Foods, Mattel Toys, Teleflora floral gifts, and Imaginarium toy stores.
As a partner at CEO Coaching International, Cynthia works with some of the world’s top entrepreneurs and chief executives to help them dramatically grow their businesses, develop their people, and elevate their performance.
Joseph (J.B.) Hill, Trustee
Mr. Hill is the managing partner of JBrady5 Consulting LLC (JB5C), a firm that specializes in business transformation delivery spanning six core areas including organizational strategy, assessment and succession, and improving community engagement throughout the United States and globally. Prior to establishing JB5C, Joseph served as the sr. vice president and chief diversity officer for Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia, PA. Over the last decade, J.B.’s leadership focus across the healthcare, telecom, and non-profit sectors has centered on creating an authentic work environment and infusing energy into a global corporate value system that holds diversity and inclusion as a fundamental principle.
Joseph’s outstanding reputation and thought leadership have contributed to multiple distinguished honors including being named "The Top 25 Most Influential Movers and Shakers” in Philadelphia/New Jersey, and prominently featured in speaking engagements across many sectors.
Jill Schwieters, Trustee
Jill is dedicated to making a difference in healthcare by fostering innovation and improving the patient and employee experience. As senior managing director of Surgical Directions, she drives organizational strategy, builds strategic client and partner relationships, leads key growth initiatives, and oversees executive leadership development.
As CEO of JAS & Associates, Jill aided organizations with investor strategy, governance, strategic planning, go-to-market, and executive development. As Founder and President of Cielo Healthcare, she led the organization to over $100M+ in annual revenue while delivering transformational results for clients.
Prior to founding Cielo Healthcare, Schwieters served for nearly 15 years at the Wheaton Franciscan Health System, which was formative in her desire to drive innovation and improve the patient and employee experience.
Jill is also the board chair of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and serves on several boards with organizations committed to advancing healthcare innovation and making the patient experience and overall care better.
In 2024 The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, Inc. announced Jill as one of the recipients of the prestigious Baldrige Foundation's Leadership Award for Health Care Excellence. This recognition celebrates Jill's outstanding contributions to the healthcare industry and her exemplary leadership in driving innovation and excellence.
Tonjia Coverdale, Trustee
Tonjia Coverdale, PhD is a technology executive and scholar who has cultivated her unique perspective through strategic focus, industry practice, academic theory, and applied research while leveraging emerging technologies within a people-centered context. She is a career technologist with 28 years of experience, three degrees in information technology, and dual-path experience from entry-level developer to CEO in industry and adjunct professor to Cabinet-level CIO in higher education. She is dedicated to increasing socioeconomic mobility through technology access, education, and careers with a keen interest in creating pathways for ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and educationally diverse groups. She currently serves as SVP and Chief Strategy Officer for Operations and Technology at Associated Bank, where she guides, challenges, and provides practical support for planning, long-term development, and delivery of operations and technology strategic plans and ambitions.
Tonjia resides in Galena, Ohio with her two children, Benjamin and Anna Caroline, and two coconut terrier rescues. Tonjia also holds a 500-hour yoga teacher certification and enjoys her daily practice, Ayurveda, and mindfulness. She also enjoys all forms of rhythmic dance, running 5Ks, and cycling along trails.
Scott Reid, Trustee
Scott's focus throughout his forty-year career has been to improve the healthcare and lives of seniors. First, by owning and operating best-in-class senior housing communities that provide assisted, memory and skilled living. In 2013, he co-founded Alignment Healthcare, a revolutionary value-based Medicare Advantage Plan providing concierge physician support with advanced clinical analytics and intelligence. After Alignment went public he co-founded Tabor.AI an AI LLM designed to maximize seniors' utilization and benefits of Medicare. Knowledge is power and Tabor.AI puts that knowledge in the hands of seniors, giving them the ability to annually decide for themselves what the best health plan is for their particular conditions and needs.
Carrie Harris-Muller, Trustee
Carrie Harris-Muller is a seasoned executive that has created a better consumer health care experience and developed strategic partnerships to help health companies transform in eco-system. She has a deep understanding of regulatory oversight and accreditation certification. Over the past 30 years, she has held executive roles in the c-suite of hospital systems and health insurance companies. She has built businesses, growing and leading health care companies, developing human capital strategies, M&A, structuring joint ventures partnerships, and creating new business lines that make health care accessible and frictionless.
Carrie serves as a corporate officer in her role as Senior Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer at OhioHealth, a nationally recognized health system with $6B in total revenue, 16 hospitals, and 37,000 employees. She has led several large-scale acquisitions, including a multi-specialty physician acquisition in 2023, that was a part of OhioHealth’s growth strategy. She also leads the system wide managed care payer strategy, primary and ambulatory strategy and several other enterprise-wide transformation initiatives focused on technology enabled solutions to improve the consumer and provider experience. She also co-leads the health equity strategy. Additionally, she has deep experience in health care startups, technology enablement and data stratification tools and capabilities. She has built an accountable care organization where she created the vision, set the strategy and hired the executive talent that generated over $20M in its first year. She also built and led a startup health plan with revenue tripling from $40M to 120M in its first three years.
Carrie serves as a board director for the National Center for Health Care Leadership, and the Herzing Healthcare Advisory Board. She previously served on the United Way of Ohio Board and served on the membership and chaired the finance committee, Cielo Health Advisory Board, and the Select Medical Board.
Carrie is a member of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry. In 2022 and 2023, Becker’s Hospital Review recognized her as one of the top 50 national population health executives in the country. She is also an expert speaker on the topics of health care trends, value-based health care, health equity and digital and transformation strategies.
Carrie completed her undergraduate degree from Madonna University, and her graduate degree in Health Care Administration and Public Health from Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant Michigan.
Niraj (Raj) Kaji, Trustee
Raj is a CEO and strategic leader with deep experience in strengthening education and workforce pathways. He has spent more than two decades scaling and transforming organizations across higher education, human capital, and technology—doubling revenues at two companies, modernizing legacy business models, and leading global teams of more than 100 across 12 countries.
Most recently, Raj served as CEO of Akademos, an education technology and e-commerce company serving colleges and universities nationwide. Under his leadership, the organization achieved three consecutive years of record growth, expanded its digital learning offerings, and completed a successful sale to VitalSource Technologies. He previously held senior executive roles at Laureate Education and Bridgepoint Education, where he led major growth initiatives, new program development, and significant M&A efforts, including a $200 million capital transaction and the launch of a new continuing education division.
Earlier in his career, Raj worked in private equity and investment banking, concentrating on media and technology investments. He is currently the founder of True Path Capital, an investment vehicle focused on acquiring businesses at inflection points and leading their scaling and transformation.
Raj has served as an advisor or board member to several education and workforce organizations. He is the Global Chair of Education & Workforce for YPO, where he helps convene leaders committed to improving outcomes for learners and working adults.
Raj holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics and Finance from NYU Stern.
Hank Radda, Trustee
Dr. Radda has over 4 decades of experience building human systems for educational and therapeutic success. Over the last 20 years he specialized in Higher Education and completed his career as Chief Academic Officer of Grand Canyon University. His operational approach established The Matrix, an organizational system of shared services that allowed the GCU Colleges to leverage business partners at scale for efficiency, standardization and outcomes, and to grow from five to now nine Colleges. During his leadership, Dr Radda led and developed a collaborative degree creation program resulting in a growth of academic programs from 114 to 312 (undergraduate, graduate and doctoral). His data-outcome process resulted into 10 accreditations for GCU, from the Higher Learning Commission to a large number of discipline-specific accreditations such as CCNE- Nursing ABET -engineering, ACBSP- business and various others. In previous leadership roles he established a Statewide Program for substance abuse treatment that produced positive generational impact on families. Dr. Radda’s passion is to understand the mission and goals of the organization, analyze its strengths and opportunities, and then work with stake holders to establish processes, practices and data to continually improve the outcomes.
