Steven M. Bloom is the Director of Government Relations in the Office of Government Relations at the American Council on Education. Steven joined ACE from the Independent Sector, where he served as senior lobbyist and director of government relations. As director of Government Affairs at ACE, Bloom’s primary focus is on tax issues, health care reform and student health insurance, immigration, and labor and employment. In fall 2002, Bloom served as counsel to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Labor Policy Office of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA). He also worked at the United Jewish Communities as a senior legislative associate. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Bloom was a practicing attorney in Boston for 10 years, focusing on employment law, federal civil rights, torts and commercial disputes. He also clerked for the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Before attending law school, he served as a fellow of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association in India. Bloom graduated from Oberlin College (OH) in 1983 and the Northeastern University School of Law (MA) in 1992.

Gregory Brown is the Director of the 13-person Transactional Law Services Group in the Office of the General Counsel at the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the university's legal staff, he practiced with Stinson Leonard Street in Minneapolis. Greg's practice at the university centers on intellectual property law. He principally advises the university's Office for Technology Commercialization on technology licensing transactions. He also counsels the university on copyright, corporate and complex commercial matters. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he teaches a seminar Intellectual Property Transactions. Greg is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Sara Gross Methner is General Counsel of the University of St. Thomas, the largest private university in Minnesota. She joined St. Thomas in 2011 as its first general counsel and also served as Chief Human Resources Officer from the time of her hire through May 2014. Before joining St. Thomas, Sara served in a number of positions in the Hong Kong and Minneapolis offices of Piper Jaffray Companies, an investment bank and asset management firm. Starting as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, she subsequently became a Managing Director, serving in the dual roles of Assistant General Counsel and Head of Compensation, then as General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer for the firm’s Asia business, and finally as the firm’s International General Counsel. Sara previously practiced law in the corporate group of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. She began her career as a legislative assistant for U.S. Representative David Minge in Washington, D.C. Sara graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature and received her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School.