June 9-14, 2025
ATIXA’s 2025 Summer Symposium

Erin Agidius brings over 10 years of comprehensive experience in Title IX, Civil Rights, and Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity compliance and investigations in higher education.

Prior to joining TNG, Agidius led the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations at the University of Idaho where she coordinated and monitored institutional federal compliance under Title VI, Title VII, Title IX, and ADA/504. She managed a strong team, conducted comprehensive civil rights investigations, and customized programming on related topics for audiences with varying skills, knowledge, and expertise. She’s also guided multiple committees and task forces on topics of threat assessment and management, security and compliance, DEI initiatives, and more.

Prior to her role as director, she built connections as the Interim Director and Deputy Director of the Human Rights Access and Inclusion office. Through those relationships she successfully campaigned for the university to invest in professional investigators and reorganize existing offices to create a more sustainable and effective culture of compliance. Her experience as a student conduct administrator forged her foundational understanding of relational connection and throughout her tenure in higher education, she’s raised awareness of resources by relying on those strong relationships to enhance university policies, practices, and programs.

Agidius is dedicated to advancing community-wide programs to prevent, reduce, and remediate all forms of discrimination. When not working tireless for equity at work, she does so in her spare time as a member of the Moscow Human Rights Commission, the Latah County Coordinated Community Response Task Force, and the Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse board of directors. She is a certified Greet Dot and Stop the Hate trainer and holds a certification in civil mediation from the Northwest Institute for Dispute Resolution. Compliance and equity are core to her ethos.

Agidius holds a J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law and a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Idaho with minors in Sociology, Business, and Spanish.

Kayleigh Baker is a Senior Consultant with TNG Consulting, LLC and has extensive experience overseeing Title IX compliance and Civil Rights investigations for districts, institutions, and organizations. Kayleigh frequently serves in interim management roles for both higher education institutions and K-12 schools and districts and works with clients in need of short-term or long-term crisis management services.

Kayleigh has provided training to thousands of Title IX practitioners in the field and maintains her own caseload as an external Investigator and Decision-Maker for TNG clients. Prior to her work in Title IX, Kayleigh served as an Assistant District Attorney for the 6^th Judicial Circuit in Alabama. As a criminal lawyer, Kayleigh served as the attorney of record on thousands of cases and litigated dozens of trials in front of a jury. She regularly instructed law enforcement officers on, among other topics, civil rights issues. Kayleigh continues to collaborate with law enforcement and District Attorneys on the intersection between their obligations and Title IX regulations.

Prior to working with TNG, Kayleigh served as a Title IX Investigator at The University of Alabama and as the University of North Alabama’s first full-time Title IX Coordinator. As a Title IX Coordinator in a one-person Title IX office, Kayleigh was responsible for primary prevention programming and has conducted campus climate surveys and facilitated training opportunities for thousands of students and employees on Bystander Intervention, reporting obligations, consent, and more. In addition to performing a wide range of responsibilities related to Title IX Compliance, Kayleigh has a wealth of experience related to other compliance areas across higher education.

Kayleigh has experience creating and leading Clery Committees and drafting Annual Security Reports. She also worked with other campus administrators related to the SACSCOC reaccreditation process. As a Title IX Coordinator, Kayleigh was also heavily involved in an institutional transition to NCAA Division I athletics and led multiple working groups to comply with the NCAA requirements. She also has been tasked with working with Behavior Intervention teams and has completed dozens of trainings with the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA) and is a Certified Mental Health First Aider.

In 2021, Kayleigh was appointed to serve on the Advisory Board for the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA). She has also served as part of ATIXA’s legislative committee. Kayleigh has previously presented at and served on the planning committee for the annual NASPA Strategies Conference which addresses collegiate alcohol and drug abuse prevention, mental health, sexual violence prevention and response, and student well-being through a variety of comprehensive and integrative approaches. Kayleigh was also selected to serve as a member of the pool of IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility) practitioners who review Inclusion plans for NASA’s Astrophysics division.

Kayleigh holds a B.S. in Political Science and Business Economics from Ball State University in Muncie, IN, and a J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law. During law school, she was a two-time recipient of the George Taylor award for Outstanding Performance in Trial Advocacy and earned the Order of Samaritan in recognition of her exemplary commitment to service in the legal profession. In 2019, Kayleigh earned the Alabama Black Law Student Association Certificate of Excellence.

Kayleigh currently lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with her family and her never-ending pile of “to be read” books.

Amelia Barbadoro brings over 15 years of experience working in the field of civil rights, with extensive knowledge related to Title VII and Title IX investigations, ADA compliance, and alternative dispute resolution in K-12 and postsecondary schools. Her passion for equal rights was sparked by a law school internship at the New York City Commission for Human Rights, followed by a second legal internship at the New York State Division of Human Rights, in their Office of Sexual Harassment Issues. Those experiences laid the foundation of her career.

Prior to joining TNG, Amelia served as the Director of Equity and Compliance at SUNY University at Albany, as well as the Title IX Coordinator, Clery Officer, and Domestic Violence Agency Liaison. She has also served as Assistant Legal Counsel at Cambridge College and Assistant Commissioner of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Development and ADA Coordinator at the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Before moving to Albany, NY, Amelia held several positions within the New York City Department of Education, including Investigator and Training Unit Chief in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management, Assistant Director of the Office of Special Investigations, and Chief of Staff to General Counsel & Director of the Special Investigation Unit in the Office of General Counsel.

Amelia has taught graduate and undergraduate-level courses at SUNY University at Albany, Northeastern University, Salve Regina University, and Brooklyn College. Courses have included Higher Education Law; Urban Education; Culture, Equity, Power & Influence; Education Law, Policy & Finance; and Labor Relations. She has also presented to thousands of students, faculty, and staff on topics related to Title IX and Title VII compliance.

Amelia was raised in Western Massachusetts, spent over a decade living in Brooklyn, NY, and is now settled in Albany, NY, with her husband and two children.

Dr. Sharon Perry Fantini is a Partner at TNG. She serves on the Advisory Board for ATIXA (The Association for Title IX Administrators). Dr. Perry Fantini is an experienced administrator with more than 20 years of service in higher education, with expertise in the areas of Title IX, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her progressive leadership experience and strategic planning for diversity, equity, and inclusion have aided her in creating campus-wide programs for prevention, awareness, bystander intervention, investigation, and response to discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct. Additionally, she has worked on initiatives related to Section 504 and ADA compliance and policy development.

Dr. Perry Fantini has experience speaking, training, and consulting with local, regional, and national organizations regarding many diversity and inclusion topics and best practices. She has accepted invited speaking engagements, training, and consulting opportunities in diversity and inclusion, implicit bias, gender-based violence, cultural awareness, and Title IX. She has facilitated education and training aimed at Title IX coordinators, Civil Rights investigators, and educators teaching multicultural students.

In 2023, she presented at the Association of Public Land-grant Universities meeting on connecting and embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and research, and how to establish relationships to build capacity to thrive, not just survive. In 2022, she was selected to serve as a panelist for the Chronicle of Higher Education and University Innovation Alliance (UIA), to discuss socioeconomic burdens that can result in derailed college careers. In 2022, she was an invited speaker at an internal Congressional briefing on Title IX for the Association of Title IX Administrators. She was selected to present at the Ohio Department of Higher Education Statewide Title IX Coordinator Meeting, January 2021, on “Exploratory Look at Balancing the Current Era of Title IX: 34 CFR Part 106.45(b)(5)(vi).” She previously served as a Title IX expert for the College and University Professional Association in Higher Education (CUPA). In this role, higher education professionals can seek advice related to Title IX compliance and the impact on their respective campuses. She was selected by the Ohio Department of Higher Education to serve on the Chancellor’s Special Committee to review RFP proposals as it relates to services around the annual campus climate survey for colleges and universities in the State of Ohio to have the opportunity for campuses to focus in on underrepresented or marginalized communities on their campus. Dr. Perry Fantini served on the public policy committee of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, which is affiliated with the American Council of Education, and in this role submitted a briefing to Congress on the Fisher vs. University of Texas case.

She excelled in collaborating on prevention programming and cultural celebrations efforts with the Office of Athletics, including working with the Student Athletic Association Committee (SAAC), aided in earning an honorable mention during the 2021 Award for Diversity and Inclusion from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) for Creating a Culture of Shared Responsibility with Bringing in the Bystander training; student forums; revising the Peer-to-Peer Ambassador training and programming including Implicit Bias and Understanding Cultural Differences and for Creating a Culture of Shared Respect with Awareness Campaigns including These Hands Don’t Hurt, Spread the Word to End the Word, Black Lives Matter, Safe Zone training, Critical Conversations and Unheard Voices for a Cause Silent March.

Prior to joining TNG, she served as Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Iowa State University. As leader of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, she worked to foster unity and collaboration, modeled the university’s Principles of Community, and prepared students to thrive in a global community. She also served as the liaison between Iowa State and the University Innovation Alliance, the leading national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the United States. She served as a member and the secretary of the Big 12 Conference Chapter of Diversity Officers, Inc. Prior, to joining Iowa State, she held several faculty and administrative positions at Tiffin University. Following a faculty appointment in the School of Business, she served as Tiffin’s inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and subsequently was named Tiffin’s Vice Provost for Equity, Access, and Opportunity and Title IX and 504 Coordinator. In that position, her primary responsibility included overseeing compliance related to Title IX, Title VI, VAWA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and the Office for Disability Services. She also provided oversight to Deputy Title IX Coordinators, a team of Civil Rights investigators, the Civil Rights Advisory Council, and the Diversity Celebrations and Prevention Education Committee. In collaboration with the Office for Advancement & Public Affairs, aided in earning several grants which aided in the ability to foster a welcoming and safe environment, including a grant for assistive technology to help students with disabilities in the amount of $37,800.00; a grant in the amount of $116,500.00 to provide trauma-informed counseling, advocacy, and support services to student victims of sexual violence, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking; and a grant in the amount of $300,000.00 to aid with strategic programming regarding sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Mandy Hambleton is an educator with over fifteen years of progressively responsible behavior management experience, including roles in student conduct and academic integrity, behavioral intervention and case management, and Title IX compliance at multiple higher education institutions.

She has extensive experience in informal resolution and restorative practices, as well as a broad range of policy and process development, including both public-facing policies and internal standard operating procedures, templates, and forms. Mandy specializes in teaching courses on informal resolution; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the intersection of BIT and Title IX, with a focus on balancing legal and compliance requirements with compassionate approaches to meeting individual and organizational needs.

She is frequently sought by her peers for her creativity in training curriculum development, applied learning exercises, and facilitation. Mandy has a breadth of experience in alternative dispute resolution/conflict resolution processes and practices and is a highly skilled informal resolution facilitator and trainer for all types of complaints, including those falling under Title IX. An accomplished writer, content developer, editor, and facilitator, she serves as the TNG Director of Content Development responsible for managing and contributing to the development and refinement of print publications, training materials, new course development, and member resources for TNG, ATIXA, and NABITA. As ATIXA Vice President, she supports the Association’s educational and advocacy efforts including thought leadership, training development and delivery, conference planning and execution, association partnerships, and legislative efforts. She informally shares her expertise by frequently fielding member questions through the ATIXA and NABITA listservs.

Prior to joining TNG, Hambleton served as the Title IX Director at Florida State University where she managed Title IX compliance strategies and programs for three domestic and four international higher education sites, as well as a K-12 charter school district. Hambleton has a proven capacity for developing new and restructuring existing staff teams and offices for building trust in people and processes, increasing effectiveness, and establishing brand recognition.

She holds a B.A. in English – Professional Communication from Winthrop University and an M.S. in Higher Education from Florida State University.

Mandy resides in Tallahassee, Florida; is an active foster parent for homeless dogs; and volunteers (virtually) as a facilitator for Community Justice Initiatives’ Revive Program, focusing on restorative practices for responding to sex- and gender-based harm.

Alisha Carter Harris is a Senior Consultant with TNG and has extensive experience in civil rights/equal opportunity compliance and implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives. Her experience is based primarily in higher education but Carter Harris is also well-versed in the financial services industry.

Prior to her arrival at TNG, Carter Harris served as an Employee Relations Partner at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. where she investigated employment-related complaints made by employees of all levels across the firm. She has also served as Associate Director of Equal Opportunity/Deputy Title IX Coordinator at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, Texas. As Associate Director, Carter Harris assisted with the administration of the nondiscrimination program for UNT, most notably by conducting workplace and education investigations of alleged discrimination and harassment. As Deputy Title IX Coordinator, she assisted with Title IX compliance through policy development, oversight of student investigations, training, and advising faculty, staff, and administrators on matters related to sexual misconduct. Carter Harris has held similar administrative positions at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and California University of Pennsylvania in California, Pennsylvania.

Carter Harris holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice and an M.S. in Legal Studies from the California University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a certificate in alternative dispute resolution from the University of North Texas.

W. Scott Lewis, J.D. is a Managing Partner with TNG, LLC. (“TNG”), a national multidisciplinary risk management consulting and law firm with more than 5,000 education-sector clients, 35 executive and support employees, and a roster of 25 attorneys and consultants who are at the forefront of the field in their areas of expertise. He is a co-founder and advisory board member of the Association of Title IX Administrators (“ATIXA”) the leading industry association for Title IX compliance, with over 17,000 active school and college members. In 2009, Lewis co-founded The National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (“NABITA”), an organization of 9,800 members dedicated to school and campus violence prevention, intervention, and mental health resources. and was president of ASCA.

Lewis has worked with the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women and the Department of Education’s Offices of Civil Rights as a trainer and consultant, training staff and investigators. He was a consultant to the Office of the Vice President and the White House Task Force on issues of Sexual Misconduct, as well as a core member of the United States Olympic Committee’s Task Force that proposed and created the United States Center for SafeSport, both of which he consults with and trains. He also consults with and trains numerous sports organizations and governing bodies at all levels from High Schools to Olympic Level athletes, trainers, coaches, and staff, including working with the NCAA and NJCAA.

Mikiba W. Morehead, M.A., Ed.D., is a Consultant with TNG Consulting and provides focused support for the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA). Mikiba has extensive experience in Higher Education in the area of Student Affairs. Mikiba began her career in Residence Life before becoming a Student Conduct practitioner specialized in the areas of student development, crisis management, and Title IX.

Prior to joining TNG, Dr. Morehead held key positions as Title IX Coordinator and Director of Student Disability Services at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, Director of Community Standards at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Program Coordinator for Student Conduct at Texas A&M University in College Station. With a deep-rooted passion for creating a more equitable educational environment for students, she has committed herself to finding effective and sustainable solutions for colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.

Dr. Morehead's work is guided by a strong commitment to social justice, ensuring that the needs of students and campus communities are met. Her work extends to critical areas, including issues related to technology-facilitated sexual abuse, supporting pregnant and parenting individuals, informal resolution processes, and ADA/504 compliance. Dr. Morehead's extensive expertise has been instrumental in developing and delivering training programs for Title IX Coordinators, investigators, individual decision-makers and hearing boards, appeal officers, and support personnel across a diverse range of educational institutions. Dr. Morehead holds a B.A. in Communication, an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, and an Ed.D. in Education, Ethical Leadership from the University of St. Thomas – Houston. Her research focuses on the emerging area of technology-facilitated sexual abuse and its effects on college students and college-aged individuals.

Rick Olshak is an experienced practitioner in civil rights compliance (Title VI, Title VII, Title IX, ADA, Section 504, etc.) who most recently served as the Director of Title IX and Student Conduct Compliance for The Texas A&M University System. In that role, Rick worked on behalf of eleven universities, eight state agencies, and system offices to ensure compliance with federal and state law, and to provide training and resources to civil rights personnel. Rick also directed the review process for A&M System regulations governing civil rights compliance and served as a hearing officer, appellate official, investigator, and compliance reviewer. Rick also served as an adjunct faculty member at the Texas A&M University School of Law.

Prior to this, Rick worked at Illinois State University (Normal, IL) where he served as Associate Dean of Students (2004-2016) and as Director of Student Dispute Resolution Services (1996-2005). He also worked as Assistant Director of Residential Services for Judicial Programs at the State University of New York College at Cortland (1993-1995) and as the Coordinator of Student Judicial Services at Georgetown University (1990-1992). Rick is a past president of the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA).

Rick has served as a mediator in the community and court settings, as well as within higher education. He has written extensively on conflict resolution, mediation, program development, implementation, and assessment, and he has trained mediators at institutions across the nation. A native of Albany, NY, Rick received his formal education at The College of Saint Rose (NY), Western Illinois University, and Illinois State University. Rick now resides in Los Angeles.

Kim Pacelli is a Partner with TNG who possesses substantial experience with the day-to-day challenges facing colleges, universities, and schools. She provides practical advice that empowers institutions to confidently manage high-risk issues on their campuses. Her practice includes:

• Policy and procedure development and consultation;
• Program review, assessment, and compliance consultations; and
• Tailored on-site training programs, among others.

She regularly trains and advises on Title IX policy and procedures, Clery Act reporting and compliance, student mental health interventions and policies, FERPA and student privacy issues, free speech issues for both public and private institutions, and student conduct issues, among others. She has also served as an invited speaker at regional and national conferences.

Ms. Pacelli’s solution-oriented approach to her work stems from her extensive experience as a student affairs practitioner. Kim served as Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College, where she provided leadership, operational, budget, and personnel oversight to many central offices of the college, including the Dean’s office, Health Services, Counseling Services, Residential Life, and other student support offices. She also served as Associate Dean of Student Life for Harvard University.

Ms. Schuster is a recognized expert in preventive and civil rights law for education, notably in the fields of harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct and violence, ADA and disability issues and the First Amendment. 

Ms. Schuster has extensive experience and expertise in, and routinely advises clients on, the First Amendment and campus access issues; risk management and liability; behavior intervention and threat assessment; student discipline and campus conduct; intellectual property and employment issues. Ms. Schuster provides assistance nationally to both public and private educational schools and colleges in policy development, faculty handbooks and employee manuals, and training for state and federal compliance. She has provided extensive consultation to and training for the U.S. Justice Department, Office of Violence Against Women, the White House Task Force on Sexual Assault and the Futures Without Violence organization. She also provides litigation consultation, expert witness support, and conducts civil rights-based investigation for educational institutions. She provided contraceptive support and rape crisis counseling and served on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Butler County.

TNG Consulting LLC is the risk management touchstone for thousands of schools, colleges, universities, and workplaces across the country. Since 2000, TNG, along with membership organizations the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA) and the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA), has been dedicated to empowering schools, colleges, workplaces, and organizations to create safer and healthier communities. We leverage hundreds of years of combined expertise in education-sector risk management to support clients in mitigating risk, advancing compliance, avoiding litigation, enhancing reputations, and preventing crises.

Brett A. Sokolow is recognized for his national leadership on systems-level solutions for safer schools and campuses and is widely considered one of the foremost Title IX experts in the nation. TNG Consulting, LLC (“TNG”) is a national multidisciplinary risk management consulting and law firm with more than 5,000 education-sector clients, 50 executive and support employees, and a roster of 25 attorneys and consultants who are at the forefront of the field in their areas of expertise.

With more than 25 years in the field, Sokolow has been a consistent innovator with his roles at TNG and the two industry associations it manages, the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA).

Equity is not just a professional interest for Sokolow, but a passionately held value system to which he has dedicated his career. In 2000, Sokolow founded TNG, then known as The National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, with the mission of impacting civil rights law to enact a positive change in the industry.

He is currently the Chair of TNG and Advisory Board Chair of ATIXA. ATIXA has more than 12,000 members and has provided more than 65,000 certifications to Title IX professionals across the US since 2012. Since June 2017, Sokolow has also led TNG’s west coast practice group in Los Angeles, California. Sokolow supports the Resolution Services Group at TNG by helping to oversee investigations and firm work as external decision-makers for school and campus hearings. In addition to his consulting work for schools and colleges, Sokolow has served as an expert witness in more than 80 significant federal and state lawsuits affecting college, university, and school liability. Sokolow also leads the firm’s efforts to shape and address federal and state policy as they relate to school and campus safety, violence prevention, and non-discrimination. Sokolow has served as both an interim Title IX Coordinator and an interim Title IX Case Manager for college clients.

In addition to his work on sex discrimination, civil rights, and the promotion of campus safety, he has deep expertise in campus conduct training and authoring codes of conduct, having trained conduct administrators from over one thousand college campuses and created an Academy for advanced conduct training.

In 2009, he founded NABITA and served as Executive Director until 2015. He served as Board Chair until 2022. Together with TNG Managing Partner W. Scott Lewis, Sokolow pioneered the NABITA model for campus Behavioral Intervention Teams and co-authored the validated NABITA Threat Assessment Tool, which is to-date the most widely used campus risk assessment rubric.

Sokolow has been interviewed on CNN and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Newsweek, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, EdDive, District Administration, USA Today, and The Boston Globe. He has applied his expertise in a wide range of student affairs, preventative law, and risk management topics to hundreds of published articles, peer-reviewed journal publications, and 25 books.

Sokolow earned his B.A. in East Asian Studies from the College of William and Mary and his J.D. from the Villanova University School of Law.

Sokolow lives in Southern California, though he was born and raised in Philadelphia and New Jersey. His wife and two children have long-suffered with Title IX tales at the dinner table. In accordance with California law, Brett attempted to become a vegan, but has only unlocked Seagan status so far. He compensates for this weakness with regular Yoga and diligent compliance with the statewide Necktie Abolition Act. He enjoys tennis, hiking, pickleball, and escape rooms. His colleagues think that the ATIXA listserv is his third child, but he considers the listserv to be far needier than his biological offspring.

Lauren Starnes, J.D., is a consultant with TNG who is passionate about solving problems and supporting clients. She has experience with Title IX and Civil Rights investigations and compliance. Lauren’s experience is wide-ranging, but primarily based in Title IX compliance for both K-12 school districts and  higher education institutions. Lauren also has experience navigating the compliance and risk management complexities associated with dual enrollment programs, nursing and allied health programs, as well as  pregnant and parenting. In addition, Lauren  has experience with Section 504/ADA and Clery Act compliance.

Lauren enjoys training at every level. She has experience creating and presenting custom trainings on Title IX compliance, mandatory reporting, and Section 504/ADA compliance.

Prior to joining TNG, Lauren served as the Director of Institutional Equity at South Texas College, as well as the college’s Title IX Coordinator and Section 504/ADA Coordinator. During her tenure at South Texas College, Lauren served on the college’s Clery Committee, participated in Behavioral Intervention Team meetings as the Title IX and 504/ADA Coordinator, and served as a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Negotiated Rulemaking Committee.

Before dedicating herself to Title IX compliance , Lauren practiced law as a commercial litigation associate at Husch Blackwell, LLP. At Husch Blackwell, Lauren litigated a variety of cases ranging from breach of contract, trade secret disputes, and class action defense. Lauren also had a significant pro bono practice, representing clients in adoptions, post-conviction relief, and victims of human trafficking. Before pursuing a legal career, Lauren taught middle school English and coached swimming and cross-country at a private K-12 school.

Lauren holds a B.A. in English from Washington and Lee University. At W&L, Lauren was also a college athlete all four years of her undergrad, competing as member of the women’s swim team. Lauren has a J.D. from the Tulane University Law School where she was anassociate justice on the  school’s moot court board, competed and coached several moot court teams, and served as a student-attorney for the domestic violence clinic.

Lauren lives in Kansas City, KS with her husband, daughter, and Cavalier King Charles

Max Sullivan, Ph.D. is an educator with over 10 years of progressive experience in higher education, specializing in student conduct, academic integrity, Title IX, and risk management. Throughout his career, Max has worked across multiple institutions, gaining expertise in policy development, investigations, case management, behavioral intervention, and Clery reporting. He is passionate about supporting organizations in navigating challenges to create safer, more equitable environments.

Before joining TNG, Max served as the Executive Director of Student Accountability, Safety, & Restorative Practices and Title IX Co-Coordinator at the University of Mount Union. In this role, he oversaw the university’s student conduct system and supervised the Office of Campus Security. His responsibilities included conducting Title IX training, implementing preventive bystander intervention programs, providing supportive measures, and facilitating informal resolution processes. Max was also the university's primary decision-maker for Title IX matters and served on the CARE team. Using his training, Max regularly utilized restorative justice practices as part of informal resolution pathways. Max also served as the Clery Compliance Officer for the university and was responsible for ensuring compliance with various federal and state requirements.

Prior to his role at Mount Union, Max held several positions at the University of Dayton in both student conduct and residence life. Some of his responsibilities included Title IX investigations and decision-making, student organization and NCAA athletic team investigations, hazing prevention efforts, case management, and serving on the CARE team. Max was also actively involved in Title IX informal resolution processes as the university prioritized the implementation of restorative justice practices.

Max holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education from Wittenberg University, an M.S.E. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Dayton, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education Administration from the University of Education.

Daniel Swinton is Chief Consulting Officer and Partner with TNG. Daniel consults frequently with colleges, universities and K-12 on issues of Title IX, the Violence Against Women Act and sexual violence, alcohol and other drugs, behavioral intervention, bystander intervention, student conduct policies and procedures, hearing board training, mediation and legal issues in education. Daniel often serves institutions as an external investigation support provider for issues of sexual misconduct and other complex student conduct matters as well as employment concerns, retaliation and harassment. He also serves as an expert witness in cases of sexual assault, Title IX, negligence, academic integrity and civil rights. He has authored a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics ranging from student conduct to civil rights investigations. Daniel is also a frequent presenter and invited speaker at national and regional conferences.

Prior to his work with TNG, he served as Assistant Dean and Director of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity at Vanderbilt University.

Daniel serves on the Advisory Board of NABITA (National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment). He has also served on the Board for the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA), having served as its President in 2011-2012.

He has also been interviewed and/or featured by The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, USA Today, Inside Higher Ed, Student Affairs Today, and the Washington Post, as well as other publications and sources.

Joseph Vincent is a Partner at TNG, LLC (“TNG”), a national multidisciplinary risk management consulting and law firm with more than 5,000 education-sector clients, 35 executive and support employees, and a roster of 25 attorneys and consultants who are at the forefront of the field in their areas of expertise. TNG was founded in 2000.

Joe rose to prominence as a civil rights trainer, investigator, and educator began when he served as a Title IX Coordinator for a graduate healthcare professions university system.  In 2018, TNG recruited Joe as a consultant because of his track record as an effective leader, trainer, and administrator. He contributes unique insight and valuable experience that is rooted in his “boots on the ground” work as a Title IX Coordinator and civil rights investigator.  His expertise includes employment matters, broad policy development and implementation, and specialized experience in the dynamics that bear on healthcare education and power differentials.

In 2019, Joe developed and launched TNG’s Mentorship in Professionalism and Appropriate Conduct (MPAC) program to help support schools’ efforts to educate and train employees subject to school sanctions for discriminatory and/or harassing misconduct. Consistent with his prior campus-based experience, Joe continues to serve as an external investigator and adjudicator and an advisor for policy development and implementation. He frequently contributes as an expert witness in lawsuits affecting college, university, and school liability.