Dr. Chris Howard is the 8th President of Robert Morris University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He also earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Dr. Howard’s military career included service as a helicopter pilot and an intelligence officer, and he was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan.
Dr. Howard was previously president of Hamden Sydney-College in Virginia, a vice president at the University of Oklahoma, and also had a successful corporate career with GE and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Howard is also a former member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Since becoming president in 2016, Dr. Howard has made RMU a preferred strategic partner for corporations and organizations in the Pittsburgh region and beyond. Recently, the university opened the UPMC Events Center, which is the new home of the Colonials NCAA Division I basketball and volleyball teams and hosts concerts and other events.
RMU is the U.S. News and World Report list of Best National Universities, and completed a record-setting fundraising campaign, RMU 100: Ready to Rise surpassed its goal a year ahead of schedule. Dr. Howard is married to Barbara Noble Howard from Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Howards have two adult sons, Cohen (graduate of the The University of the South) and Joshua (graduate of Middlebury College).
Lezlie Poole is a life- long resident of Americus, GA. She holds certifications as a Certified Peer Specialist and a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner, as well as a degree in Psychology. Lezlie has past experience in developing, innovating, and implementing programs for crisis resolution within the mental health community. During her time working with mental health crisis resolution and community outreach, Lezlie and her team were able to cut down program dropout and recidivism rates within the community.
Lezlie is currently employed at the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers (RCI), as the Program Innovation Manager. Here she continues her work in the on-going implementation of evidence- based programs, as well as responsible for developing strategic initiatives to advance RCI’s mission through opportunity proposals, content and program development, and training to aid in supporting caregivers and their loved ones. More recently, Lezlie has worked with implementation and evolution of RCI’s Operation Family Caregiver and RCI REACH programs to help with understanding and reaching more caregivers in more ways. Lezlie has also developed and trained in RCI’s Virtual Empathy program to help professionals connect and engage with clients more holistically in virtual settings.
In her free time, Lezlie enjoys spending time with her two children and husband, as well as training and competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where she holds the rank of a blue belt.