I am so excited and grateful to serve as your NCACES President this year. Thank you for this opportunity to continue to serve our region in this way. We have many exciting initiatives planned for the 2024-2025 year and I encourage you to reach out and get involved!

First, I am thrilled to report that our NCACES 2024 conference in Rosemont, IL, is shaping up to be a tremendous success. With over 350 attendees and 237 education sessions, you’ll be sure to have an opportunity to connect with people who share your interests and topics you find meaningful. I am particularly excited to hear our keynote speaker, former NCACES President and current ACES President, Dr. Cassie Storlie, talk to us about Strategizing and Leading Program Wellness in Counselor Education & Supervision.

We have a robust conference committee, led by our fantastic Conference Co-Chairs, Drs. Beth Gilfillan and Yenitza Guzman. The success of this conference is due to the hundreds of hours of service provided by over 50 volunteers. Please see our conference page on this website for additional information and event details.

We have an amazing group of Emerging Leaders, led by Emerging Leader Co-Chairs, Drs. Hulya Ermis and Dana Isawi, who will be gathering to share ideas and make plans at our conference. They have been partnered with mentors who are leaders in our field and will be providing service to NCACES through service at the conference and on NCACES standing committees. For more information on this truly impressive group of professionals, please see the Emerging Leaders tab on the website. If you would like to serve as an Emerging Leader or mentor for the 2025-2026 year, please keep an eye out for the next application cycle!

We also have an excellent lineup of webinars this academic year, thanks to the brilliant leadership of Drs. Laura Caputo and Jess Danielson and the rest of the webinar committee. You can find the most up-to-date webinar information by using the Events tab on the website.

You may have noticed that I keep directing you toward our website. I must now take a moment to thank our Past-President from 2023-2024, Dr. Victoria Sepulveda, on spearheading the creation and launch of our new website and serving as our webmaster. We are grateful for your leadership and technical assistance!

I’d also like to take a moment and highlight our current NCACES Leadership: Dr. Tonya Hammer (Past-President), Dr. Jenna Alvarez (President-Elect), Dr. Beth Gilfillan (Treasurer), Dr. Melissa Fickling (Secretary), Dr. Jacqueline Swank (Member-at-Large), Ms. Kailey Bradley (Graduate Student Representative), Dr. Robin Dufresne (Parliamentarian), Dr. Zori Paul (Member-at-Large Elect), and Mr. Andrew Eisenman (Graduate Student Representative-Elect). I couldn’t ask for a better team of colleagues to serve with this year and I am so grateful for your contributions. 

While I’ve highlighted a few individuals above, our region is supported by so many other volunteers, past and present. Our collective energy, passion, expertise, and service are what make this organization work. If you are looking for an opportunity to get more involved with NCACES and to serve the Counselor Educators and Supervisors of the North Central Region, I encourage you to click the “Get Involved” tab on the website or nominate yourself for one of the open Board positions. We would welcome your service and contributions!

I look forward to seeing many of you at our conference! Thank you, again, for this opportunity to serve NCACES!

Amber Randolph, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, PEL: School Counselor

NCACES President 2024-2025