SCLI Board of Directors Announces New Leadership

EVANSTON, IL (OCTO­BER 9, 2024) — The Sig­ma Chi Lead­er­ship Insti­tute (SCLI) Board of Direc­tors, with the sup­port of the Inter­na­tion­al Fra­ter­ni­ty, is pleased to announce that Dr. Bran­don Gross, MIA­MI (FLORI­DA) 2009, Assis­tant Vice Pres­i­dent for Aca­d­e­m­ic Affairs at Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty, has been unan­i­mous­ly vot­ed into the role of Chair­man of the SCLI Board. Dr. Charles Nies, WASH­ING­TON STATE 1988, the 10th Chan­cel­lor of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta – Duluth, has been unan­i­mous­ly vot­ed Vice Chairman.

“Drs. Gross and Nies are two of the most respect­ed indi­vid­u­als in high­er edu­ca­tion. As lucky as we are to have them on our board, we are even more for­tu­nate to have them as our broth­ers,” said SCLI Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Jim Cog­dal, BRADLEY 2003. ​“Bran­don has served on our Board of Direc­tors since the organization’s incep­tion in 2019. He is a change agent, in and out­side of SCLI, pas­sion­ate about build­ing those around him. Brandon’s ded­i­ca­tion to our mis­sion and team, but most notably, his authen­tic desire to form con­nec­tions and ensure every­one has a voice inspires every­one around him to do, and be, more.”

“I am hum­bled to assume the role of chair­man of the Sig­ma Chi Lead­er­ship Insti­tute. I look for­ward to work­ing with our incred­i­ble staff, board, and part­ners to fur­ther enhance our accred­it­ed trans­for­ma­tion­al lead­er­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said Gross. ​“Togeth­er, with a focus on engage­ment, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and feed­back, our broth­ers and part­ners will be pre­pared to pos­i­tive­ly impact their orga­ni­za­tions and the world for years to come.” 

Gross has been com­mit­ted to edu­ca­tion and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment through­out his pro­fes­sion­al career and his time as a Sig­ma Chi. Pri­or to his cur­rent role at Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty, he pre­vi­ous­ly held roles in the Offices of the Pres­i­dent and Provost at Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty, the Office of Stu­dent Con­nec­tion and Com­mu­ni­ty at Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty, and the Office of Admis­sion and the Stu­dent Cen­ter Com­plex at his alma mater, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mia­mi (FL). Gross also works in sports sta­tis­tics for the NBA, NFL, and NCAA. 

Gross is a Hori­zons Hunts­man Lead­er­ship Sum­mit grad­u­ate and has re-ascend­ed the moun­tain as an alum­ni guide numer­ous times. He has been a facil­i­ta­tor at the Bal­four Lead­er­ship Train­ing Work­shop and the Krach Trans­for­ma­tion­al Lead­ers Work­shop for over a decade, most recent­ly as a Val­ues-Based Lead­er­ship Track Lead. Gross has served on and chaired sev­er­al com­mit­tees for the Sig­ma Chi Fra­ter­ni­ty and is a for­mer Chap­ter Advi­sor and Grand Praetor. 

“Charles is the per­fect fit for Vice Chair­man of the SCLI Board of Direc­tors,” said 59th Grand Con­sul (Inter­na­tion­al Pres­i­dent) and SCLI Advi­so­ry Board mem­ber Dick Hes­ter, BALL STATE 1977. ​“His strengths and tried his­to­ry in high­er edu­ca­tion lead­er­ship com­ple­ment the strate­gies need­ed to achieve the organization’s mis­sion, which is to build trans­for­ma­tion­al lead­ers. I am con­fi­dent that Dr. Nies will help lead the orga­ni­za­tion for­ward while hav­ing a mean­ing­ful impact on all Sig­ma Chi programming.” 

“I am very hon­ored to have been elect­ed as Vice Chair­man. I believe strong­ly that the Sig­ma Chi Lead­er­ship Insti­tute will con­tin­ue to edu­cate trans­for­ma­tion­al lead­ers. By doing so, we will sup­port our Fra­ter­ni­ty and have a pos­i­tive impact on our world,” said Nies. 

Nies, ini­ti­at­ed while a stu­dent in grad­u­ate school, has over two decades of high­er edu­ca­tion and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment expe­ri­ence. Nies has served as a lead­er­ship, orga­ni­za­tion and stu­dent devel­op­ment the­o­ry Instruc­tor, a Pro­gram Direc­tor for the minor in Lead­er­ship Stud­ies at Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty, Assis­tant Dean of an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary school at Mia­mi Uni­ver­si­ty (OH), and as the Asso­ciate Vice Chan­cel­lor, Dean of Stu­dents, and the Vice Chan­cel­lor for Stu­dent Affairs at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia – Merced.

Nies served as one of the found­ing fathers of the Sig­ma Chi Hori­zons Hunts­man Lead­er­ship Sum­mit, team­ing with oth­er ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers to craft a week-long immer­sive expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for Sig­ma Chi under­grad­u­ate broth­ers in the moun­tains of Snow­bird, Utah. Since then, not only has he served as a ses­sion coor­di­na­tor for decades as a vol­un­teer, but he has also become a lead train­er of future Hori­zons Guides and still serves in that capac­i­ty. He also sits on the Endur­ing Lead­er­ship Com­mit­tee, which over­sees Hori­zons. Nies played a sig­nif­i­cant role in Sig­ma Chi’s Jor­dan Ini­tia­tive in 2015, which built the frame­work for what would become the Prepa­ra­tion for Broth­er­hood pro­gram, and which now serves as Sig­ma Chi’s Foun­da­tion­al Lead­er­ship Com­mit­tee. Nies has served on the SCLI Board of Direc­tors since 2020. 

“Bran­don Gross exem­pli­fies the type of broth­er the Fra­ter­ni­ty is excit­ed to see lead­ing the Sig­ma Chi Lead­er­ship Insti­tute vision for Sig­ma Chi into the future. He defines Trans­for­ma­tion­al Lead­er­ship in his dai­ly actions and behav­ior, and his strengths will con­tin­ue to dri­ve the Fraternity’s edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram to new pio­neer­ing heights for the devel­op­ment of all Sig­ma Chi broth­ers. We look for­ward to see­ing the suc­cess­es Bran­don and Charles devel­op and deliv­er in their new roles and stand ready to sup­port them and SCLI,” said 73rd Grand Con­sul Bob Wil­son, FORT HAYES 1981.

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The Mis­sion of the Sig­ma Chi Lead­er­ship Insti­tute is to pro­vide high-qual­i­ty lead­er­ship train­ing that com­ple­ments and enhances the skills and knowl­edge of Sig­ma Chi Fra­ter­ni­ty mem­bers and oth­er con­tract train­ing part­ners, expand­ing their capac­i­ty to serve as trans­for­ma­tion­al lead­ers in any indus­try and pos­i­tive­ly impact the com­mu­ni­ties around them.