Hill Day
Agenda
Speakers
Registration
Hotel & Travel
Hill Day
2024 Hill Day

The briefing meeting will occur at the Capitol Hill Club on March 12, 2024 with a reception to follow. Hill Day meetings will take place the following day on March 13th.

CECU's Hill Day is an opportunity for institutions of higher education to get more involved in our political outreach program. The Hill Day agenda is designed to provide attendees with a peek into the future of the sector as well as the most recent and comprehensive update on the latest federal events and sector research.​ 
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Interested in learning more about how you can support your school's government relations work? Contact Joanne Zurcher at joanne.zurcher@career.org .
A look back at the 2023 CECU Hill Day!
CECU members blanketed Capitol Hill as our school leaders and students visited more than 130 congressional offices to discuss higher education legislation pending in Congress. Thank you also to the more than 100 attendees at Tuesday’s policy conference, the largest the sector has seen in many years. The show of force for our sector made a difference, as several members of Congress indicated support for our sector’s legislative priorities.
Agenda
March 12, 2024 | Briefing Meeting
Capitol Hill Club | 300 First St SE, Washington, DC 20003 | 4th Floor
  • 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Briefing Meeting
March 13, 2023 | Meetings on the Hill
  • ​​9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Break Room & Lunch 
    • Capitol Hill Club | 300 First St SE, Washington, DC 20003 | 3rd Floor
  • Contact the CECU Government Relations team to schedule your meeting today! Contact Jordan Wicker, Senior Vice President of Government Relations, at jordan.wicker@career.org or Joanne Zurcher, Vice President of Government Relations, at joanne.zurcher@career.org.
By registering, you will automatically be added to the CECU database and will receive emails according to your member status. If you have questions regarding this please email events@career.org.  ​
Speakers

Featured Speakers of the 2023 Hill Day


​Congressman James Comer (R-KY)
Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability​

Congressman Comer was elected to Congress in 2016 to represent the 1st Congressional District in Kentucky. He currently serves as the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and is a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. In 2000, Congressman Comer was elected to serve the first of six terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives and in 2011, he was elected to serve as Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture. Congressman Comer has championed legislation to reduce burdensome regulations and boost government transparency, and he is an advocate for balancing the federal budget and reducing wasteful spending.

​Ben Miller
Deputy Under Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education

Ben Miller is Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education where he focuses on regulatory and accountability policy. He previously served as the Vice President for Postsecondary Education at the Center for American Progress and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.
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Ted Mitchell
President
American Council on Education (ACE)

Ted Mitchell has served as president of the American Council on Education (ACE), the major coordinating body for the nation’s colleges and universities, since September 2017. Mitchell and his team work closely with Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector to develop policies and innovative practices that serve our country’s postsecondary learners. Mitchell’s leadership of ACE and the entire higher education community is informed by a career committed to increasing access to high-quality education and improving outcomes for all students. Mitchell served in the Obama administration as U.S. Under Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2017 and was responsible for all postsecondary education policies, such as initiatives focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, minority serving institutions, and federal student aid. Mitchell and his team at the Department of Education (ED) reinstated Pell Grants for incarcerated adults, created the College Scorecard, and restored millions of dollars to students who were defrauded by their institutions. Before joining ED, Mitchell served in a variety of higher education leadership roles, including as president of Occidental College (1999–2005); vice chancellor and dean at the University of California, Los Angeles; professor and department chair at Dartmouth College; and a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Mitchell has also been a leader in K–12 education. He served as chief executive officer of the NewSchools Venture Fund—a venture philanthropy that invests in K–12 innovation to support low-income students, schools, and communities—and as president of the California State Board of Education. Throughout his career, Mitchell has worked to create an educational system that serves the goals of excellence, equity, and social justice.
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce
 
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, represents North Carolina’s 5th District in the United States House of Representatives. Congresswoman Foxx is known as a champion of conservative values and consistently advocates for America’s students, parents, workers, and job creators.

Congresswoman Foxx has served as the top Republican on the Committee since 2017. As Ranking Member during the 117th Congress, Foxx played a pivotal role in holding the Biden administration accountable for its overreach, sending 140 oversight letters in two years.

As the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce during the 115th Congress, Foxx led the Committee through the bipartisan approval of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which empowered state and local community leaders to connect workers with in-demand jobs. This bill was later signed into law by President Trump in 2018.
Panel: The sector’s perception of Capitol Hill: How to most effectively advocate for your school in a polarized environment. ​ 
Dr. Jason Altmire
President and CEO
Career Education Colleges and Universities

Dr. Jason Altmire is President and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU), the national trade association representing private postsecondary career schools. Since joining CECU in 2020, Jason has led the association to double-digit percentage increases in membership, revenue, and media coverage. In addition, CECU has during this time exponentially increased its member service, communications, and multimedia capabilities, including the acquisition of Career Education Review magazine and initiation of the association’s popular podcast. He also spearheaded the association’s creation of two new subsidiaries, the Alliance for Career Education in the States (ACES), and the CECU Research Foundation.​

​Former Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA)

Former Congressman McKeon represented California's 25th Congressional District from 1993 to 2015. He was Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Armed Services. He also was the Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force on Higher Education Financing and Student Outcomes, which released a report titled “A New Course for Higher Education.”

​Former Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC)

Former Congressman Shuler represented North Carolina's 11th Congressional District from 2007 to 2013. He was a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of moderate-to-conservative House Democrats, initially serving as whip and eventually rising to the role of co-chairman. He was also a former NFL quarterback for the Washington Commanders.

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​Former Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)

Former Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen served for nearly three decades representing Florida's 27th Congressional District. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve in Congress. She was also Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2011–2013.
Panel: Current Topics on Higher Education Policy
Michael Stratford
Education Reporter
Politico Pro

Michael Stratford is an education reporter for POLITICO Pro. He most recently covered federal higher education policy and student loans at Inside Higher Ed, with previous bylines at The Associated Press, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Stratford grew up in Belmont, Mass. and graduated from Cornell University, where he was managing editor of The Cornell Daily Sun.
Jinann Bitar
Director of Higher Education Research and Data Analytics
The Education Trust

Jinann leads an ambitious, innovative effort directed at advancing the opportunity and equity agenda at colleges and universities. She manages and carries out the organization’s higher education research and analytical work, supports the policy work through data modeling and thought partnership and works with teams of researchers, analysts, collaborators, and consultants to create original research tools and products. Prior to joining The Education Trust, Jinann worked in higher education research and policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the American Council on Education, equipping higher education leaders and policymakers with the information they need to make data-driven decisions. Before moving to Washington DC, Bitar worked and studied at several public universities, including the University of Montana, UC Davis, and UCLA.
Jinann holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of Montana. On her quest to PhD, she obtained her master’s degree in education and is currently a doctoral candidate in Higher Education and Organizational Change at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Jason Delisle
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Center on Education Data and Policy

Jason Delisle is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute. His work focuses on higher education finance and regulation. Delisle has published papers and articles on student debt, college enrollment, the for-profit higher education sector, and international higher education. He has testified before Congress and as an expert witness in federal court. He also served as an adviser to former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign. Delisle’s work has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, NPR, PBS NewsHour, The Washington Post, and National Review. Delisle started his career on Capitol Hill, first in the office of former US Representative Thomas Petri (R-WI) and then as an analyst for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. He has also been a project director at New America. Before joining Urban, he was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Delisle holds a BA in government from Lawrence University and an MPP from the George Washington University.
Lanae Erickson​
Senior Vice President for Social Policy, Education & Politics
Third Way

A true believer in listening to all sides of an argument, Lanae draws on her extensive background in Constitutional and civil rights law to advance the case for expanding opportunity and freedom on a wide range of issues that impact the lives of Americans every day. Lanae loves working on the hardest and most divisive subjects, and as Senior Vice President for Social Policy, Education & Politics, she does just that, tackling hot-button issues like immigration, abortion, religious liberty, and guns, as well as helping to drive crucial policy conversations like how we can ensure our higher education system is delivering for students. Lanae spearheaded Third Way's Commitment Campaign, which mobilized moderate Americans to support marriage for gay couples by changing the conversation from legal rights and benefits to the importance of making a lifetime commitment in front of family and friends. This is an issue particularly close to Lanae's heart—as it was only a week after her own wedding that President Obama became the first president to voice his support for marriage equality, saying he didn't want to deny committed couples the ability to make that promise to take care of one another for a lifetime. Lanae served as a member of President Obama's third Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Before coming to Third Way, she was Legislative Counsel at Alliance for Justice, where she investigated the backgrounds of federal judicial nominees on civil and human rights and advocated for progressive policies on issues from detention and interrogation policy to equal pay. Before that, she was a “real" lawyer at the Legal Rights Center and the Center for Victims of Torture. Lanae's commentary has been featured in a variety of news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Politico, The New Yorker, and PBS News Hour. She has also appeared on NPR, Fox News, CSPAN's Washington Journal, CNN, Bloomberg Television, Air America, and Minnesota Public Radio.
Registration
Registration

Registration for the 2024 Hill Day will open in late 2023.
Hotel & Travel
Suggested Hotels

Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC Downtown
​Located 1.5 miles from Capitol Hill
​Website

Washington Marriott at Metro Center
​Located 1.2 miles from Capitol Hill
Website
Airport Options

Reagan National Airport (DCA)
2401 Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Access Rd
Arlington, VA 22202
3.7 miles/10 minutes from Capitol Hill

Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) 
1 Saarinen Cir
Dulles, VA 20166
28 miles/40 minutes from Capitol Hill

BWI Marshall Airport (BWI)
7050 Friendship Road
Baltimore, MD 21240
33 miles/50 minutes from Capitol Hill
CECU Hill Day
March 12 - 13, 2024
In-person
Interested in sponsoring at Hill Day? Contact kelley.blanchard@career.org.