Staff

Andrea Anania joined the Board Office staff in March 2000. Previously, she was with the Iowa Department of Management. Prior to that, she served as Office Manager for the Iowa Seed Capital Corporation (1991-1998), a private, state-funded venture capital fund, and as Office Manager for the Iowa Savings and Loan...

Brock Ascher joined the Board of Regents staff in January 2016. Previously, he served as Communications Specialist for the Iowa State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for four years. There, he managed all aspects of the department’s marketing and communications strategy. Prior to his time at ISU, Brock...

Brad Berg joined the Board of Regents staff in October 2005. Since being employed by the State of Iowa in 1990, he was previously a Division Administrator and a Fiscal and Policy Analyst for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services-State Accounting Enterprise and a Revenue Examiner for the Iowa Department...

Rachel Boon joined the Board of Regents in October 2016. She previously worked in the Academic Affairs division at Ivy Tech Community College, and prior to that held roles at the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, Drake University, Indiana University-Bloomington and Waukee Community Schools. Her experience is in higher education...

Jillian Carlson joined the Board of Regents staff in 2023. Prior to her position with the Board of Regents, Jillian worked for the Iowa Senate for six years. During her time in the Senate, she worked on the Senate Republican Caucus Staff as a Legislative Research Analyst for the Education,...

Emily Cataldi joined the Board of Regents staff in October 2020. She previously worked as a Senior Research Education Analyst at RTI International. Her experience is in secondary, postsecondary, and graduate education research, as well as project management, data management, and quantitative and qualitative survey research. Emily holds a master’s...

Jason Chapman joined the Board of Regents staff as a state relations officer in October 2025. Prior to joining the Board Staff, Chapman served for 18 years with the Iowa House of Representatives, first as a senior research analyst for the republican caucus and then as assistant chief clerk. He...

Aimee Claeys joined the Board of Regents staff in April 2007. Aimee received her B.S. in Political Science from Idaho State University and her J.D. from Drake University.

Kent Farver joined the Board of Regents staff as Chief Budget Officer in November 2025. He has a wealth of budgeting experience in state government, including most recently having served as Director of Finance for the Iowa Judicial Branch since 2022. He holds two bachelor’s degrees from Grand View, in...

Ann Goff joined the Board Office in 2017 with a dual appointment as the Transparency Officer for the University of Iowa and the Director of Legislative Operations for the Board Office. In April 2023, she became the Director of Legislative Operations and Information Systems at the Board Office. Ann oversees...

Stephanie Griffin joined the Board of Regents Office staff in May 2019. For the previous five years, she served as assistant office manager at Lithia Motors in Urbandale. Stephanie received her bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies from Purdue University Global in August 2018.

Jennifer Harbison joined the Board of Regents in February 2020. Her work focuses on state and federal legislative and regulatory matters across the health care spectrum. Prior to joining the Board Office staff, she worked with UI Health Care the previous five years. Over the course of her 20 years...

Carolann Jensen joined the Board of Regents staff as a state relations officer in August 2019, and was named chief operating officer in July 2025. She most recently worked for eight years at the Iowa Finance Authority, serving as Interim Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Programs Officer during...

Josh Lehman joined the Board of Regents staff in June 2015. Previously, he served as Senior Director of Public Affairs for Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma for six years, where he was responsible for all public relations and marketing functions for the university. He also has more than 15 years...

John Nash joined the Board of Regents staff in October 2015. Since being employed by the State of Iowa in 1999, he has worked for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services as a Design/Construction Engineer-Senior and for Iowa State University as a Facilities Project Manager III. John is a licensed...

Jason Pontius joined the Board of Regents staff in October 2012. He has previously worked at Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Education, the University of Maryland at College Park, and Wesleyan College. He has experience in assessment and evaluation work, institutional research, data management, and college administration in...

Keith Saunders currently serves as associate general counsel and facilities coordinator for the Board. He joined the Board Office staff in September 2004, having served eight years at the University of Northern Iowa in a state governmental relations position. After joining the Board Office, he was assigned to UNI as...

Chad Sharp was named Board of Regents Chief Audit Executive in January 2024. In his role, he is responsible for overseeing the auditing efforts of the Regent enterprise. Sharp joined the University of Iowa’s internal audit staff in October 2002. During his time there, he has served as a senior...

Brynn Stroup joined the Board Office staff in April 2025. Prior to joining the Regents staff, she worked as a project coordinator at PureLight Power, a fraud presentation and solutions consultant at Co-Op Solutions, and a fraud analyst for Wells Fargo.