Bill Ackmann l Back to office staff page 
Bill is the Finance and Administration Manager at NACA. He was born and raised in the small town of Muskego, Wisconsin. Having his degree in the Accounting field, he started working for a food wholesaler located in Milwaukee, WI. Over 20 years, he moved up from the Retail Store Accounting to Corporate Accounting and then Division Accounting.
When he and Donna, his wife for 33 years, moved to South Carolina in the spring of 1998, they started on a new adventure. When the company he was working at for 3 years when out of business, he was offered a job at NACA. The 7 years he has been working here have been very rewarding.
Bill and Donna have 3 cats, Baby, Charles and Dickens. He thinks all three should have been named Dickens! "They own the house. We just pay the mortgage," he says. They enjoy taking day trips, finding places to hike, and also do volunteer work for their church.
Angela Andrews l Back to office staff page
Angela is the Finance and Accounting Coordinator in the Accounting Department at NACA. She has been working for National Association for Campus Activities since December 2002.
She is responsible for all accounts receivable activities for NACA and NACA Foundation. Her main duties have included those pertaining to memberships, regional conferences, the National Convention, NACA Institutes, and advertising.
Angela is married with one adoring, unforgettable daughter. When not working, she loves shopping, basketball, and experimental cooking and baking.
Judy Bailey l Back to office staff page
Judy's responsibilities in the accounting department include paying the bills, reimbursing expenses and balancing the checking accounts.
She is a native of Atlantic City, New Jersey and a graduate of Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, DE. The degree she received at “Goldey” prepared her for a 30 year accounting career in the insurance industry. Most recently, she has worked in the non-profit arena since 2001. Her career at NACA began in September 2006.
As an avid bowler, she has worked with the youth bowling programs in Columbia and at the state level. For the last 18 years, she has been the state tournament director for the Pepsi Youth Championships for South Carolina that has 900+ youth bowlers competing for scholarships.
Judy is married her high school sweetheart, Lee, while he was a student at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. She earned her “PHT” (Put Hubby Through) and she's still a “Wolfpack Girl” at heart and an avid fan. (They were at NC State when the Wolfpack won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in 1974. GO PACK!)
Brenda Baker l Back to office staff page
Brenda joined the staff of NACA in January 2007 as the Director of Finance and Administration.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and an Associate Degree in Accounting.
Brenda has worked in the not-for-profit accounting field for more than 20 years. For ten years prior to coming to NACA, she worked for a national association of public television stations handling accounting and financial reporting for several member television stations.
While the structure of the public television association was similar to that of NACA, the membership is quite different. The past year with NACA has brought new challenges and learning experiences. Brenda enjoys working with a dedicated and professional staff. She also enjoys the youth and contagious energy of the members we serve and the volunteers who in turn serve us.
She and her husband enjoy traveling and spending time with friends and family. They also enjoy music and dancing. Brenda has one son who is married and has two children. Spending time with them is her greatest joy.
Amy Blanchard l Back to office staff page
Things to know about this Coordinator of NACA Member Relating:
· Native to the great state of South Carolina. Born in the rolling foothills of the upstate and found her way to the big city of Cola-Vegas/Columbia 10 years ago.
· Plundered down various paths before finding her calling with NACA. For almost 2 years (minus a regretful 5-month hiatus), she has joyfully spent her time directing the NACA newbies on their paths to success.
· When not perfecting her NACA registration skills, she enjoys country fried steak with thick gravy (and biscuits, of course), dueling banjo concerts, mashed taters, grits, pig pickin’ festivities, and long walks on the beach at sunset.
· Alternate areas of expertise include: Twizzler craving reconciliation, home-made baked creations, Lifetime made-for-TV-movies, and mocking her much appreciated Southern Culture.
Amy looks forward to many more years with NACA and interacting with all of the wonderful NACA members, staff, and volunteers.
Dr. Adam Brentnall l Back to office staff page
Adam is a self-proclaimed "Wizzard of electronics with mad skills" and the Information Technology Manager at NACA. He is highly educated with low motivational skills.
Adam has fifteen years of experience in information systems dealing with a wide spectrum of technology, specializing in complaining, cursing and kicking the computers. Often described as phat and phunny, and never taken serious.
Christine Condon l Back to office staff page
Introducing Christine Condon, your demure Member Relations Coordinator.
She's a displaced yankee in a land of sweet tea drinkers; a hockey fan in a snow-free zip code. She loves music, but can’t carry a tune (really, be in the car next to her at a stoplight, she double-dog dares you). It is her firm belief that there are only a handful of foods that should not be used as a vehicle for cheese and, if used correctly, diet coke can sustain a human for months. Christine love politics, but thinks it would all be more fun if elections were replaced by a cross-country scavenger hunt. Jeopardy is her favourite game show, except for the kid’s tournament… oh the humanity!
Her wicked groovy skill sets include: finding obscure holidays for every day of the year, decorating co-workers’ offices, and Peanut wrangling.
Alan Davis l Back to office staff page
Alan has served as Executive Director of the National Association for
Campus Activities since 1996. As Executive Director, he is responsible for working with Association volunteer leaders and members in the implementation of the Association’s strategic plan, and in managing the NACA Office. Davis devotes considerable time to the expansion and refinement of NACA’s relationships with the higher education and entertainment environments.
Prior to joining NACA, Davis was Associate Vice President for Campus Services at Tulane University (LA). Davis has been involved in several national and local organizations, including the South Carolina Society of Association Executives, the National Association of College Auxiliary Services and the Columbia Council for Internationals.
Davis holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Stetson University (FL), and attended the Management Development Program of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Dionne Ellison l Back to office staff page
As the Education and Research Coordinator, Dionne supports many of the organization’s education and professional development programs. Some of these programs consist of the NACA scholarships, summer institutes, regional and national educational sessions, webinars and featured speakers.
Dionne joined NACA in 1994 and has since worked in various departments within the organization. Prior to her current position, she served as the administrative assistant to the NACA Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Dionne has one beautiful 9 year old daughter, whom she loves very much. On the weekends you will find Dionne hanging out with family and friends or relaxing in front of a TV watching The Food Network, HGTV or The Suze Orman Show.
Glenn Farr l Back to office staff page
A long, long time ago in a galaxy so near you can call it your own, Glenn joined the NACA Office staff as editor of Programming magazine, a position he still holds. He works with NACA volunteers, like you, to develop ideas and articles that appear in the magazine to the benefit of students, professionals and others with interests in the campus activities field.
Additionally, he compiles and edits content for the annual National Convention Program, as well as for the bi-weekly electronic eNewz for Professional Staff. He has also been involved in compiling and editing video for posting on the NACA Web site. In real life, Glenn devotes his time to sci-fi and British television programs and films, acting in and directing area live theatre productions, and developing original novels, at least one of which he ultimately hopes to have published.
Jason Jeffers l Back to office staff page
Jason Jeffers came to NACA by way of the University of South Carolina. Before that he attended Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in New York and freelanced as a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Now a graphic designer for NACA, he still finds time to play video games, watch sports, waste money on DVDs and draw the occasional cartoon.
While he is no musician, he nonetheless lists George Clinton and Marc Bolan among his primary influences. His favorite movies include Soylent Green, The Apartment and Big Trouble in Little China. The last good book he read was Mr. Strangelove: a Biography of Peter Sellers.
Mr. Jeffers is currently single but if Sanaa Lathan is reading this, he would like to declare his availability and willingness to relocate.
Sheila Ruff Lacomba l Back to office staff page
Senior Graphic Designer at the NACA Office. “Senior” as in ”She's worked at the NACA Office for a long time” (12 years), not as in “senior citizen.”
Affectionately known as Staff Weather Girl. Extracurricular job duties include keeping the Executive Director apprised of all weather emergencies, such as the potential for snow flurries in S.C., tropical developments on the east coast, and earthquake probabilities (we are on a fault line!), school closings, or any such weather event that would allow us to close the NACA Office early.
Sheila loves her job designing Programming magazine and wouldn’t trade it for anything....unless working at the Publix bakery paid more.
Chris Neiger l Back to office staff page
Chris is one of the newest editions to the office as the new Web Content Coordinator, or "web guy" for short. He can be found in his office surfing the Internet all day... on the NACA website of course.
His primary jobs are: answering emails sent by Erin from her Blackberry while driving on Sunday nights, competing with Adam for the most amount of OTP's closed in a day, shooting the breeze with Jason about .bmp's and .eps', and trying compose the website into some sort of orderly chaos.
When not in the office, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife, reading the classics, writing, and trying to teach his dog not to jump up on people.
John Ogle l Back to office staff page
John joined NACA in June 2006 as the director of Education and Research.
He served as student activities advisor at Villanova University after he completed his bachelor’s degree there. John attended the 1993 NACA National Convention (in Nashville, of course!) and met some people from the University of South Carolina promoting their graduate program in higher education administration. The experience at USC gave him tremendous opportunities, particularly in the areas of research and assessment, housing, athletics and community service. Upon finishing his master’s degree, John stayed in Columbia, SC and worked for several years at USC’s Russell House University Union.
Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife Chrissy and daughters Kestlyn and Faith and he's actively involved with their church. John was also crowned the champion of the office fantasy football league in his first year, but some people on staff aren’t over that yet.
Alisha Parks l Back to office staff page
Alisha is the Marketing Manager at NACA and grew up in the Upstate of South Carolina. Coming to school in Columbia, she studied Sport Administration at the University of South Carolina. After school she made Columbia her home eventually meeting her husband, Garry.
Alisha and Garry have two young children, Annabel and Connor. They also live with a rescued Australian Shepherd named Steffi who keeps them all in line. The Parkses love spending time with their family and friends, college sports and traveling. Alisha has been with NACA since 2004.
Tracy Portillo l Back to office staff page
Tracy is a recent addition to the team here at NACA. With all of her experience in sales and customer service she knows she'll to do a great job as the Advertising Sales Representative for the NACA publications.
Raised in Richmond, VA, Tracy spent her freshman year at Ferrum College before transferring to and eventually graduating from Westhampton College at the University of Richmond in her home town. With a degree in Women’s Studies, she started her first “real job” in Boston, MA, but eventually made her way back down to the Mid Atlantic region. Tracy lived in Herndon, VA, for several years and that is where she met her husband. They now live Newport News, VA, where she juggles her position with NACA along with raising their 3 1/3 year old son, her 2 teenage stepdaughters and a 7-year-old beagle.
In her spare time (oh, that’s funny) she enjoys cooking, playing with her son and occasionally playing racquetball with her husband. She has lofty ambitions to garden, take up camping and own a coffee shop… all are goals in progress so please feel free to ask for updates!
Gordon Schell l Back to office staff page
Gordon came to NACA 10 years ago, some say because of the exciting cosmopolitan lifestyle available in Columbia, SC. Gordon loves his NACA job and what it offers, especially the chance to hear new bands. He appreciates people who read things thoroughly.
When not at work, he lives in a cozy house with his adorable wife and their hyperactive dog. He enjoys spending time with good friends over a good meal with a good glass of wine. His favorite spice is tarragon. Originally from SE Texas and having lived a few years in New Orleans, he likes his coffee strong and hearts all that there is to heart about gumbo, jambalaya and crawfish. While he can’t exactly eat his entire weight in oysters, he has been known to try.
Gwen Taylor l Back to office staff page
Gwen has been working as an Administrative Assistant at NACA for 3 years. She’s lived in places such as Germany and Norway and loves being around people with an open mind of the world.
When she’s not shopping, Gwen spends her free time with her husband of 24 years, her 3 kids and her grandson. Gwen strongly dislikes when people don’t use their turn signals, having been quoted saying, “What do you think they’re there for!?!”
Around the office, she can be heard telling John he can’t send out Next Day Air packages, but then sends them out anyways.
Dawn Thomas l Back to office staff page
Dawn has been with NACA since August 1997. She never thought she would be working at NACA this long, but the job keeps changing and keeps her interested. A native of the St. Louis area, Dawn transplanted to South Carolina from Indiana in 1994 to work at the University of South Carolina. Prior to working at NACA, she supervised women’s housing and on-campus Greek housing at the University of South Carolina.
Dawn completed her bachelor’s in business administration at Southeast Missouri State University with a major in Accounting. Thomas received her master’s in education from Eastern Illinois University with an emphasis in college student personnel. She has completed all coursework and passed the comprehensive exam for a PhD in higher education administration at the University of South Carolina. Now she just needs to write the darn paper!
Dawn and her trophy husband reside in Irmo with their three children (a daughter and twin boys) who are all under the age of 3. In her free time (please, she has three kids!), she enjoys sports, participating in neighborhood activities and fantasy football (she beat John Ogle three times this year).
Toire Vince l Back to office staff page
Toire grew up in Mt Pleasant, SC & moved to Columbia in 1996 to attend the University of South Carolina. She graduated in 2000 with a BA in Political Science with the intention of going to law school. Instead, she moved to England on a student work visa for a year. In 2002 Toire ended up in the NACA Member Relations Department. Five years later she's still here, but now on the planning end.
She and her husband have 1 dog (an 8 year old Shih Tzu -Pekingnese mix), no kids. In their spare time they like long walks on the beach, lawn darts & vacations in St Charles, IL.
Erin Wilson l Back to office staff page
As Director of Marketing & Communications for NACA, Erin has the pleasure of proofing many publications looking for, extraneous, commas, “unnecessary” quotes, and Phrases That Shouldn’t Be Capitalized!
Her likes include sour patch kids, NECCO wafers, fried okra and Cheerwine.
Her dislikes include global warming, tapioca and fuzzy slippers.
She is a University of South Carolina alumna (Go Cocks!) and won her first NFL football pool this year. Erin was a member of the NACA Harry Potter Book Club and always enjoys a good practical joke in the office (just ask Christine). Someday she hopes to zip line through the Amazon and learn the Latin names of every flowering plant grown in the southeast.