Nancy Zimpher, Ph.D.
President, National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH)
Nancy L. Zimpher is currently serving as Special Advisor to the President at the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH).
Dr. Zimpher is Chancellor Emeritus of The State University of New York (SUNY) and from 2009 to 2017, served as SUNY’s twelfth chancellor, the nation’s largest comprehensive system of public higher education. Prior to SUNY, she served as president of the University of Cincinnati, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and executive dean of the Professional Colleges and dean of the College of Education at The Ohio State University.
Throughout her career, Dr. Zimpher has embraced the expansive responsibilities of public higher education in the 21st century. “To educate more people and to educate them better” is at the center of her collective-impact theory of action: to drive regional and local economic development; to create seamless cradle-to-career education pipelines in every community; and systemically transform teaching and learning for students in urban and rural school settings.
Dr. Zimpher is co-founder of StriveTogether, a national network of innovative partnerships that holistically address challenges across the education pipeline, and served as chair of the National Association of System Heads, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the New York Academy of Sciences, CEOs for Cities, and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities. She is a board member of the national College Promise, former co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and co-director emeritus of the Association of Governing Boards’ Institute for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education.
Dr. Zimpher holds a BS in English Education and Speech, an MA in English Literature, and a PhD in Teacher Education and Higher Education Administration, all from The Ohio State University.
