Miles Howland Education Partners LLC

TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Richard Beyer, CO-FOUNDER and managing Partner                                                 beyer@miles-howland.com

Rick Beyer co-founded Miles Howland Education Partners LLC in 2013.   Rick is currently the Executive Chairman of Core Education Services PBC, a Miles Howland portfolio company. Previously, Rick was Chief Executive Officer of Lumerit Education, a Miles Howland portfolio company that was sold to Pearson Education. Rick has a unique combination of experience in higher education and business. A former college president and board governance chair, successful technology CEO and senior operating executive of a $1 billion public company, Rick has consistently been at the forefront of industry leading initiatives and has a successful history of leading organizations through change and growth. 

Business Executive 

Rick has more than twenty years of senior executive operating experience including serving as a corporate officer at Trimble Navigation, a $1.2 billion public company (NASDAQ:TRMB).  He was also part of the senior management start-up team at QUALCOMM, serving as Vice President Marketing and Sales for OmniTRACS, which became the country's most successful mobile satellite communications business.

From 2002 to 2010 Mr. Beyer held senior executive positions at Trimble  including being a Member of the Executive Committee and over that eight-year period built a global software as a service (SAAS)solution business. Mr. Beyer also served as Chief Executive Officer of TracerNET a wireless sensor solution business which was acquired by Trimble Navigation.

During Rick’s career, he was involved with the origination, oversight and implementation of fifteen merger and acquisition transactions. 

Higher Education Experience

Rick has maintained a long-term affiliation with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the nation's premier board governance organization.  He currently serves as a Senior Fellow and leads the AGB Consulting practice area on mergers and affiliations in higher education.

From 2010 to 2013, Rick served for a three-year special project as president, president emeritus at Wheeling Jesuit University. At a time when the institution was challenged with enrollment, fundraising, and overall strategy, Rick’s presidency included record-setting enrollment, expanded student services, the doubling of alumni giving participation and funding of four major capital projects, including three private public partnerships (P3).

With over twenty years of board governance experience in higher education, Rick has served on the AGB Council of Board Chairs and was a member of the AGB Board of Directors.  As an AGB board member, Rick served in a number of capacities including chair of the compensation committee, chair of a special task force on new business opportunities, and chair of the AGB development and finance committees. Additionally, Rick serves as trustee emeritus of Olivet College, where he has served as the chair of the board, and was also a member of the board of trustees at American University, Washington D.C.  Rick was also the founding managing principal for AGB Institutional Strategies.

REID R. MILES, CO-FOUNDER and managing Partner                                                      miles@miles-howland.com

Reid Miles co-founded Miles Howland Education Partners LLC in 2013 and was the Founder of Miles Howland & Co. LLC in 2005.  Mr. Miles has over 25 years of executive experience as a Founder, Managing Director or CEO of three private equity and alternative assets firms. Over the past 25 years Mr. Miles has served on 23 corporate boards and fund boards. Mr. Miles has board committee experience including audit, compensation, executive, finance and nominating committees.

Since 2005 Mr. Miles Has been Chairman and CEO of Miles Howland & Co. LLC. From 2001 to 2015 Mr. Miles was a Partner and Managing Director at BV Group Ventures LLC, a global alternative assets investment firm. From 1995 to 2001 Mr. Miles was a Founding Partner and Managing Director at Blue Water Capital LLC, a venture capital firm. Mr. Miles started his career in the technology sector at IBM Corporation.

Mr. Miles graduated with honors from Claremont McKenna College, B.A., 1984.

Dr. Cornelius (Neil)  M. Kerwin, Senior Advisor                                            Miles Howland Education Partners LLC

Dr. Kerwin became American University’s 14th president in September 2007 and retired from that role in 2017.  He led an institution of about 13,000 students, 1,300 teaching and administrative faculty, and 2,500 staff in the nation’s capital; oversees a $640 million operating budget and a nearly $600 million endowment.

Dr. Kerwin joined AU in 1975 and holds a faculty appointment in the School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Administration. He was dean of the School of Public Affairs from 1988 to 1997; provost from 1997 to 2005; and acting—then interim—president of American University from 2005 to 2007.

A nationally recognized specialist in public policy and the regulatory process, Dr. Kerwin is actively engaged in research and periodically teaches courses in administrative process, policy implementation, and American government. He founded AU’s Center for the Study of Rulemaking and is the author of Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy (CQ Press). The fifth edition of Rulemaking will be released in early 2017. Dr. Kerwin is also the author of numerous scholarly articles and professional publications.

Dr. Kerwin is a Senior Fellow , Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB),  a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration; a former president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration; and founding chair of the Section on Public Law and Administration of the American Society for Public Administration. He received degrees from American University (BA), the University of Rhode Island (MA, political science), and Johns Hopkins University (PhD, political science).

Dr. Kerwin served as a member of the board of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE) from 2012 to 2015 and on the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) from February 2012 to February 2014. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade; he is also a member of the DC Chamber of Commerce and the DC Government's Economic Strategy Advisory Committee. Dr. Kerwin chaired the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area Board of Trustees (2013 to 2015) and the Patriot League Council of Presidents (academic years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015).

Dr. Kerwin serves on the Board of ACE and was a member of the United States Senate/American Council on Education Commission on Regulation of Higher Education.  Dr. Kerwin also serves on the International Advisory Committee of APCO International.