The Adler University Board of Trustees elected Noland Joiner as chair and Nicola Idehen as vice chair during their quarterly meeting in February. They will both serve two-year terms.
Joiner has more than three decades of experience across multiple industries driving organizational effectiveness, nurturing client relationships, facilitating change management, inspiring innovation and driving strategy. He joined the Board in 2014 and served as chair of the Finance Committee and vice chair of the Board since 2019.
“It is a privilege to be nominated and elected by my peers as Adler University’s next chair. I look forward to championing our students, faculty, and staff as we continue building an anti-racist university that prioritizes diversity and inclusion for all,” said Joiner. “We’ve made significant progress over the past several years, and I will work to ensure we maintain our momentum in support of the University’s mission to educate, serve our communities and advance social justice.”
Joiner succeeds Joy MacPhail, who was elected in 2018 as the first Canadian to hold the chair position at Adler. A longtime leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) and an owner of OUTtv, the world’s longest airing LGBTQ+ television network, MacPhail joined the Board in 2013 and served as Vice Chair from 2014-2018. She will remain on the Board as a trustee through August 2022.
“It’s been an honor to work with our trustees and faculty to educate future leaders to be more loving, compassionate, and socially responsible. Over the past four years, I’ve seen how this passion for social justice inspires the kind of hands-on work that makes a very real impact at the community level,” said MacPhail. “Noland and Nicola share that passion. I know they will both bring their drive, energy, and focus to their new roles and continue to strengthen our Adler community.”
Throughout his career, Joiner has worked in various consulting and general management roles as an executive, adviser, board member, educator, entrepreneur, and executive coach. With expertise in process improvement, he has implemented change, built high-performance teams, and cultivated leaders. In his current role as a consulting leader with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Joiner drives innovation, transformation, and governance across various enterprises to drive business outcomes that achieve mission-critical objectives. Formerly, he was an executive partner for healthcare and life sciences at Dell Technologies.
In addition, Noland has also served as an adjunct professor of information technology for Northwestern University’s Information Systems Management graduate program and in the School of Applied Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a former board member of the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA).
Joiner graduated from Tennessee State University with a bachelor’s degree in applied science, earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University in strategy and management, and attended information technology executive management programs at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology. He also received his organizational leadership coaching certification through Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change program.
Joiner will work closely Vice Chair Idehen.
Idehen currently serves as the enterprise head of people at Citadel, one of the world’s leading financial services companies. Prior to this position, she served in leadership roles at Vistria, GCM Grosvenor, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow. Idehen began her career at JP Morgan Private Bank, where she was a fixed income product specialist.
In addition to her role on Adler’s Board, Idehen also sits on the Leadership Advisory Committee at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Idehen received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.