Speaker
Dennis H. Blumer is a partner in the Washington office of Arent Fox law firm, and chairs their higher education praction. He is Vice President Emeritus at The George Washington University. He holds degrees from Yale College and Yale Law School. After law school, Mr. Blumer served as Assistant to the President at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. From there he joined the University of Wisconsin system, ultimately serving as Special Assistant to the President. After Wisconsin, Mr. Blumer served as Executive Assistant to the President at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. While on leave from the University of Maryland, he directed a project for the Carnegie Corporation on collective bargaining in higher education. Mr. Blumer left Maryland in 1995 to join The George Washington University as Vice President and General Counsel. He has served as a member of several Boards, including Century National Bank, Strayer University, the National Cathedral Elementary School in Washington, DC, the Association Mutual Health Insurance Company, Incorporated, and NACUA.
Stephanie Gold is partner at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. Her practice focuses on the representation of colleges, universities, post-secondary institutions, education associations, distance education firms, student loan organizations, and investors in education-related companies. She has represented education clients in matters related to federal financial assistance, student financial aid, privacy, student discipline, campus crime, military recruiting, research activity, state education licensure, civil rights, foreign students, and accreditation. Ms. Gold has served as education regulatory counsel to a for-profit, publicly held higher education company in the disposition of controlling interest in the company by a venture capital firm. She negotiated a favorable settlement with the U.S. Department of Education in connection with an audit of a community college's administration of federal student financial aid programs and alleged overawards of federal student aid funds. Ms. Gold conducted a comprehensive assessment of a public university's compliance with federal requirements related to campus crime policies and reporting. She has advised degree and non-degree granting institutions on state education licensure requirements related to in-state and out-of-state institutions and has assisted such institutions in obtaining licensure where required. Ms. Gold was editor in chief of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. After law school, Stephanie served as a law clerk to The Honorable Cornelia G. Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Katherine R. Tromble is an associate in the Education practice of the firm’s Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. Prior to joining Drinker Biddle, Ms. Tromble served as Legislative Counsel to Senator Paul S. Sarbanes. She has also worked as Legislative Counsel to Representative Artur Davis, and Legislative and Policy Advisor to former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Ms. Tromble is a graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Law, where she was Order of the Coif, senior managing editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and a member of the Moot Court Board. She received her bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 1994. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.