American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education competitors

Diane Regas is Senior Vice President for Programs at Environmental Defense Fund, where she is responsible for providing overall vision, strategy and leadership for current and new program development.Prior to joining EDF in 2006, Diane spent 20 years developing and supporting scientifically sound responses to environmental challenges at Environmental Protection Agency. Today, her extensive management and policy experience is driving success throughout all of EDF’s programmatic efforts in the United States and beyond. The solutions EDF seeks require a commitment to strong science and bi-partisan solutions, both of which Diane has demonstrated time and again throughout her career. As a senior policy analyst for President Clinton, she advised the president, through the Domestic Policy Advisor on environmental and natural resource issues. Award-winning work protecting and strengthening our rivers, lakes, bays and oceans defined her tenure at EPA, and she also chaired President George W. Bush’s interagency task force on Oceans. She’s been equally productive at EDF. Among numerous accomplishments, thanks to Diane’s teams and their partners, protecting one of the largest ocean areas in history—more than 195,000 square miles—bigger than the state of California; and one out of two fish caught in U.S. waters is from a catch share-style fishery.With the unmatched expertise EDF staff bring to all of our program areas, she’s confident that even greater successes are yet to come. Prior to joining EDF, Diane spent 20 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she served during four presidential administrations in some of the agency's highest positions, including Deputy Assistant Administrator.Her EPA accomplishments included: receiving the Presidential Rank Award for ''exceptional long-term accomplishments,'' and leading a path-breaking monitoring strategy, establishing the first-ever scientifically valid national report card on fresh water quality. Diane is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and California Bar.Diane received her BA in history, her MS in environmental science and her JD at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including one of the most prestigious, the Presidential Rank Award.

Wrong N. Anderson? is a President and Chief Executive Officer at National Urban League and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fidel A. Vargas is President and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF). After serving on HSF’s Board of Directors from January 2010 through December 2012, he assumed leadership of the organization on January 2, 2013. Mr. Vargas sets HSF’s overall direction; develops and oversees the execution of strategy; leads the senior management team; plays an active, leadership role in development and outreach activities for all constituencies, and advocates for HSF, throughout the country. Prior to joining HSF, Mr. Vargas was a Founding Partner of Centinela Capital Partners, an alternative asset management firm that invested nearly $1 billion in and alongside leading emerging private equity and venture capital funds. Prior to joining Centinela, Mr. Vargas was a Founding Principal and Managing Director of Reliant Equity Investors, a private equity investment firm investing in lower middle market companies. At the age of twenty-three, Mr. Vargas became the country’s youngest elected Mayor of a major city: Baldwin Park, California, with a population of 85,000, twenty miles northeast of Los Angeles. In addition to having served on HSF’s Board of Directors prior to becoming its President and CEO, Mr. Vargas has served on a number of public and private sector boards and commissions, including: the New America Alliance; Sponsors for Educational Opportunities; Operation Hope, Inc.; President Clinton’s Advisory Council on Social Security; President Bush’s Commission on Strengthening Social Security; and Presidents Bush and Obama’s Commission on Presidential Scholars. He currently serves on the boards of the California Community Foundation, the Latino Donor Collaborative, and The Los Angeles Theatre Center. Mr. Vargas has been recognized for his accomplishments by numerous organizations and media outlets, throughout his career. Time Magazine named him as one of the Top 50 Young Leaders in the United States, Hispanic Magazine named him one of the Top 30 Young Hispanics in the United States, he was named one of the country’s 100 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine and one of the 101 Most Influential Latinos by Latino Leaders magazine. Mr. Vargas graduated with honors from Harvard University with an A.B. in Social Studies. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and General Management.

Maria A. Pallante (born February 5, 1964) is the president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers, a publishing industry trade association. Pallante is an American attorney who previously served as the 12th United States Register of Copyrights. She was appointed Acting Register effective January 1, 2011, succeeding Marybeth Peters, who retired effective December 31, 2010. On June 1, 2011, she was appointed to the position which was intended to be permanent.