McCeil J Johnson
Phoenix,AZ
Summary
Dynamic leader with over 20 years of experience in the higher education sector, specializing in accreditation and regulatory compliance at the University of Phoenix. Committed to upholding the highest standards of quality, integrity, and innovation in academic programs and operations, successfully managed over 14 accreditation visits in the past nine years, including both institutional and programmatic reviews. Recognized by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for expertise, participation in national focus groups has further refined accreditation criteria. A robust background in compliance, accreditation, and student affairs fosters a culture of inclusion and excellence while empowering teams to achieve meaningful outcomes through positive leadership training.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
Vice President, Accreditation & Regulatory Compliance
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
01.2020 - Current
- Advise on state board and regulatory guidelines by working in collaboration with college stakeholders. Build strategic plans related to regulatory, legal, and educational planning and accountability. Introduce and utilize tools for monitoring and reporting.
- Hired to guide and direct multi-state programmatic accreditation process to ensure successful outcomes, review, and manage institutional accreditation while maintaining compliance and providing ongoing status updates.
- Communicate with academic affairs staff, faculty, campus staff, personnel, regulatory agencies, external organizations, and University Legal Services.
- Build and sustain relationships with education, business, and government leaders to identify opportunities for improvement and enhancement.
- Central point of contact for Higher Learning Commissions (HLC) communications, ensuring alignment with accreditation standards, maintaining current knowledge of HLC policies and procedure, disseminates and clarifies HLC policies and procedures across the institution, provides oversight and direction to data team to ensure accuracy in Institutional Update submissions, notifies HLC promptly regarding significant actions by regulatory bodies, ensuring compliance with federal and state requirements, notifies HLC of any changes in the institution’s operations or academic offerings immediately, provides oversight and direction for timely submission of required report and requests and ensures the institution meets its financial obligations with timely payment of membership dues and fees to HLC.
Dean of Programmatic Accreditation & Regulatory Compliance
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
01.2016 - 01.2020
- Advise on state board and regulatory guidelines by working in collaboration with college stakeholders. Build strategic plans related to regulatory, legal, and educational planning and accountability. Introduce and utilize tools for monitoring and reporting.
- Hired to guide and direct multi-state programmatic accreditation process to ensure successful outcomes, review, and manage institutional accreditation while maintaining compliance and providing ongoing status updates.
- Communicate with academic affairs staff, faculty, campus staff, personnel, regulatory agencies, external organizations, and University Legal Services.
- Build and sustain relationships with education, business, and government leaders to identify opportunities for improvement and enhancement.
Chief Compliance Officer/Vice President of Compliance
SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY
01.2014 - 01.2016
- Promoted an institutional tone and culture of integrity, ethical decision-making, and coordination of university compliance efforts across all programs, whether online or on campus. Developed, led, and continually evaluated internal policies and regulatory assessments and reviews for the institution-wide compliance program, promoting adherence to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations and University policies, standards, and procedures.
- Collaborated with Student Affairs, Student Conduct and Wellness and Public Safety to create protocols regarding state-by-state mandates.
- Assisted adherence to US Department of Education’s standards for Federal Title IV and State Aid programs.
- Provided strategic vision for compliance to effectively manage and mitigate risk, consistent with risk tolerances, while identifying benchmarking compliance monitoring practices, implementation strategies, and corrective action plans to resolve issues.
- Managed State Authorization specialists with ultimate responsibility for University’s State Authorization Compliance Program.
- Participated in administrative and academic management teams, consulting on matters of regulatory compliance.
- Improved compliance practices through systematic and ongoing risk assessment conducted with senior leadership and network of university compliance liaisons in various academic and administrative units to provide leadership and build consensus on compliance priorities campus wide.
- Coordinated complex compliance activities within decentralized environment, establishing common performance reporting, compliance monitoring framework, and consistent codes of conduct.
- Developed and delivered training courses and communication related to federal or state laws and other matters as identified in collaboration with senior leadership to enhance internal compliance awareness and adherence to regulations, rules, and policies.
Chief Legal Officer/Executive Director of Legal Affairs
NATIONAL LOUIS UNIVERSITY
01.2009 - 01.2014
- Collaborated with the President, other executive officers, and the 26-member Board of Trustees. Managed outside counsel and provided consultations regarding litigation strategy. Engaged seven to eight outside firms. Recipient of the Annual Achievement Award for Technical and Programmatic Excellence for the 2006 fiscal year. Served as lead project controller for the launch of newly formed division, which included standardizing the financial infrastructure of platform.
- Offered legal counsel to university and supervised staff and budget commensurate with duties of office. Provided legal updates for labor and employment, business matters, contract review, litigation, copyright, information technology, property acquisitions, as well as student and faculty issues.
- Represented the University before quasi-judicial or administrative agencies and retained counsel for representation in courts of law.
- Developed training and compliance for Title IX (Sexual Misconduct) investigators.
- Spearheaded development of financial reports that aided in business decision-making processes.
Executive Director of Legal Affairs/Special Assistant to the President
NATIONAL LOUIS UNIVERSITY
01.2003 - 01.2008
- Managed provision of legal services to seven campuses at university and an affiliate campus in Poland. Served on University President Pappas’ Executive Leadership Team and University Leadership Counsel.
- Provided advice, counsel, and opinions to all other senior officers of the University on all legal and policy issues affecting University. Such issues included, but were not limited to, contracts and transactional matters (tax, facility use, real estate, construction, intellectual property, and copyright law).
- Managed litigation; compliance and regulatory matters (ADA); labor and employment; civil rights and other constitutional issues; and policy development.
- Assisted with strategic initiative team to restructure College of Business, which had been losing students and money for five years. Specific areas of focus included students, diversity, fundraising, Security Council, shared governance, and training and development.
- Previous roles: Corporate Legal Specialist (Northwestern Mutual 2001-2003) and Law Clerk (Davis & Kuelthau 1999-2001)
Education
Juris Doctorate (J.D.) -
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
01.1999
Master of Arts (M.A.) - undefined
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
01.1999
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) - Political Science and AAWS
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
01.1994
Skills
- Team leadership
- Relationship building
- Decision-making
- Critical thinking
- Accreditation maintainance
Accomplishments
University of Iowa College of Law, Alumni of the Year 2024 Award
Affiliations
Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA); Council on Higher Education (CHEA); Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE); University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA); Higher Learning Commission, Peer Review Corps (HLC Peer Reviewer) University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) Board member and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) representative.
Community Engagement & Leadership
Board Member, Mill Falls Charter School, Manchester (2015-to present), YWCA Manchester, NH (2015-2016)
Timeline
Vice President, Accreditation & Regulatory Compliance
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
01.2020 - Current
Dean of Programmatic Accreditation & Regulatory Compliance
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
01.2016 - 01.2020
Chief Compliance Officer/Vice President of Compliance
SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY
01.2014 - 01.2016
Chief Legal Officer/Executive Director of Legal Affairs
NATIONAL LOUIS UNIVERSITY
01.2009 - 01.2014
Executive Director of Legal Affairs/Special Assistant to the President
NATIONAL LOUIS UNIVERSITY
01.2003 - 01.2008
Master of Arts (M.A.) - undefined
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
Juris Doctorate (J.D.) -
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) - Political Science and AAWS
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
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