Tom Ellett, PhD, joined Quinnipiac as the chief experience officer in August 2020, overseeing all student-facing functions, including enrollment management, student affairs, registrar, bursar, public safety, veterans’ affairs and career services.
Prior to joining Quinnipiac, he served as senior associate vice president for student affairs at New York University. He oversaw student-facing functions and residential life for 11,000 students spread across New York City. He led the university’s logistical response to COVID-19, a complex undertaking in a city that was initially the country’s epicenter of the coronavirus.
Ellett brings deep expertise and a student-centered mindset, focusing on improving the student experience on the NYU campus as well as across its 14 global centers. He led the creation of living-learning communities to enrich students’ intellectual and personal growth, and lived with his family throughout his time at NYU in a student residence hall. He was instrumental in creating a new Center for Student Life, which integrated student activities and the student resource center into a single cohesive unit.
Ellett has an undergraduate degree in English from Fordham University, a master’s degree in fine arts from Catholic University, and a doctorate in educational leadership, administration and policy from Fordham.
David Fryson is an experienced higher education leader in the area of equity of inclusion. He is working to build out the full team of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, including a new position Quinnipiac has added to increase retention of first-generation and diverse students.
He has most recently served as interim vice president for diversity at Brandeis University, and prior to that served as deputy general counsel at West Virginia University before becoming the founding vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Fryson practiced law for more than 25 years, serving as the city attorney for two different municipalities in West Virginia. Additionally, he has served in ministry for more than 35 years and currently serves as the senior pastor of the New First Baptist Church of Kanawha City in Charleston, West Virginia.
He is an alumnus of West Virginia University where he earned a JD degree, and he earned an undergraduate degree from West Virginia State University.
Dan Kim has extensive experience in marketing, communications and social media with a successful track record for excellence and impact at several significant higher education institutions.
He oversees the Office of Marketing and Communications at Quinnipiac, including the Quinnipiac University Poll and the Center for Survey Insights.
Most recently, he served as senior vice president for communications, marketing and external relations at Brandeis University, where he developed a highly successful brand platform and communications plan which aligned messaging across the entire institution, including the Offices of Admissions and Advancement. He also led the university-wide communications strategy during COVID-19 and other moments of challenge.
Before Brandeis, Kim served as vice president for marketing and communications at the College of the Holy Cross, where he oversaw crisis communications, government and community relations, and strategic marketing to enhance reputation, support admissions and drive fundraising.
Prior to Holy Cross, he served as executive director of communications and marketing at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. Earlier, he held the position of director of news and information at West Virginia University.
Before West Virginia University, Kim’s roles included serving as vice president of media integration for the Detroit News and Free Press, and editor and publisher of the ABA Journal of the American Bar Association.
Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.
Debra Liebowitz is an innovative leader with an impactful record of creating partnerships and launching initiatives that enable university growth, promote diversity, strengthen shared governance, and immersive learning opportunities. She oversees all academic programs at Quinnipiac, the university’s nine schools, and all other academic units and centers. She is also a professor of political science at Quinnipiac.
Liebowitz most recently served as provost and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, where she led three schools with approximately 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. Liebowitz joined Drew in 2000 as an assistant professor teaching international politics and gender studies. She assumed positions of increasing responsibility, including director of the women and gender studies program, and associate dean for curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and associate provost, before her appointment as provost in 2017. Liebowitz earned the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Center for Civic Engagement’s Faculty Leadership Award while at Drew. She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Human Rights.
She holds degrees in political science — an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University.
Mark Varholak was appointed vice president for finance and chief financial officer in July 2015, after serving as associate vice president for budget and financial planning since July 2013. Prior to that he was the university's associate controller for 10 years.
Varholak earned his MBA with concentrations in finance and international business from New York University. He also has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and international business from Pennsylvania State University.
Nick Wormley ’00, MBA ’02, has extensive alumni and development experience and deep roots at Quinnipiac.
Throughout his nearly 20 years working in higher education, he has demonstrated a clear track record of excelling as a donor-focused adviser with strong regional community ties. He has an impressive track record of securing major gifts and has developed a reputation for developing strong teams to use various digital and traditional media and events to engage alumni and parents in positive and productive ways.
Wormley began his career in the athletics department at Quinnipiac before moving to Tucson, Arizona and working in secondary finance. In 2006, he and his wife, Michelle Wormley ‘02, MPT ’04, moved back to Connecticut to start his career in development and alumni affairs. He later worked at at Sacred Heart University and Fairfield University where he also focused on athletic development, endowment, capital fundraising — all in senior management roles.
He returned to Quinnipiac in 2022 as associate vice president for development and alumni affairs before being named vice president of development and alumni affairs in March 2024.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA in finance from Quinnipiac.
Bethany Zemba joined Quinnipiac as vice president and chief of staff in December 2018. Previously, she served as a senior associate dean, chief of staff and senior adviser to the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Yale University. Before that, she worked at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Zemba brings a range of strategic higher education leadership and expertise to her role at Quinnipiac, where she is responsible for working closely with the senior management team to direct the formulation and execution of the university’s strategic plan; coordinate institutional research; oversee community relations; and serve as the primary liaison to the board of trustees.
Zemba earned a bachelor of science and a master of public administration from the University of Rhode Island, and a doctorate in education, with a focus on higher education administration, from Johnson and Wales University.
