Washington Update (February 2023)

Bryan Dickson is the director of student financial services and educational programs for NACUBO. As part of NACUBO’s leadership development team, he is responsible for supporting the advancement of an array of member programs and services, including educational programming for new chief business officers.

In addition, he is a staff liaison to NACUBO’s Student Financial Services Council, working on behalf of the NACUBO membership to assist bursars and student accounts staff on a national level through advocacy with federal agencies and members of Congress. Prior to joining NACUBO in 2007, Dickson was a member of the legal and compliance practice at CEB, Inc., a best practice insight and technology company in Washington, DC. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Neil Gavigan is the policy and advocacy manager at NACUBO. A member of NACUBO’s policy and research team, Gavigan represents the association on advocacy priorities, manages several policy-related communication streams, and helps NACUBO members stay abreast of the latest happenings in Washington. He holds undergraduate degrees in history and Spanish from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in public administration from George Mason University

Ashley N. Jackson, director of government affairs for NACUBO, leads advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill on issues affecting business officers such as higher education reauthorization, tax and accounting policy, and annual appropriations. Prior to joining NACUBO, from 2015 to 2022, Jackson worked with the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) to secure $3 million for the asphalt airfield pavement research program as part of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization. She focused on surface transportation and aviation authorizations, annual appropriations bills, highway funding, and asphalt research as NAPA's point person on Capitol Hill. In addition to managing the NAPA Political Action Committee, Jackson led the planning and execution of the annual Transportation Construction Coalition Legislative Fly-In, which brought more than 500 highway contractors to Washington each spring to discuss issues affecting highway and airport infrastructure funding with lawmakers.

Sue Menditto is NACUBO’s expert on financial accounting and reporting, managerial analysis, and financial viability. She is charged with fulfilling higher education advocacy needs with the GASB, FASB, AICPA, and Department of Education. She was appointed to the IPEDS Finance Survey Workgroup in August 2023 as one of its financial reporting experts. She has also represented higher education on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (2006–2012), AICPA’s Revenue Recognition Task Force (2016–2017), and the Department of Education’s financial responsibility subcommittee (2017–2018).

Menditto informs the association’s research efforts on accounting issues, endowment management, and tuition discounting; writes member communications: news, advisories, accounting tutorials, and articles; and supports members’ professional development needs by providing subject matter guidance. She has also co-authored chapters of publications addressing accounting, public health, and analytics and regularly speaks on accounting and financial management topics at conferences.

Menditto began her career in public accounting, was a CFO and Controller for a not-for-profit organization, and a vice president for Bank of America where she specialized in change management and accounting policy. She holds degrees in psychology and accounting and is a certified public accountant.