Kimberly Novak, CEO NovakTalks is an independent consultant for Campus Safety, Student Risk Management and Student Organization Development. Additionally, she serves Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity as their Health & Safety Officer. She is recognized as a national expert in student-focused risk management, organization conduct, hazing prevention, and involving students in campus safety efforts. She has been invited to speak at national conferences and on college campuses around the country and has served as faculty for several nationally sponsored professional institutes and leadership programs. Her work in the field of hazing prevention resulted in the development, design, and facilitation of the Novak Institute for Hazing Prevention, a successful ten-year program which in 2018 became the Interdisciplinary Institute for Hazing Prevention.

Kim served as a Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education Higher Education Center and on several national advisory boards including the Board of Directors for The Association of Student Conduct Administrators. Kim currently serves as the Fraternity Executive Association’s Dean for the Interfraternity Institute (IFI) and on the Advisory Board for the University of Vermont Higher Ed Law Conference.

Prior to embarking on her consulting career, Kim served as the Director for Student and Campus Community Development at Arizona State University, Downtown Phoenix campus. She was also the Assistant Director for Student Affairs Risk Management at Arizona State University, Tempe Campus where she led the design and implementation of a comprehensive and proactive risk management model for The Division of Student Affairs. Prior to joining the ASU community, Kim worked for eight years at Texas A&M University where she served as Program Coordinator for Risk Management and Organizational Development and led the implementation of the University's internationally recognized proactive risk management plan for student organizations.

Kim approaches her work with college students and those that support them with the heart of an advocate and is committed to the advancement of communities of care on college campuses across the country.

Dr. Keith Ellis currently serves as the Executive Director of Campus Housing at the University of Illinois Chicago. In this role, Keith oversees the operations for a 3500+ bed campus housing organization employing 100+ full and part time professionals and 100+ student employees. Keith also serves as a Curricular Fellow for the Division of Student Affairs at UIC where he leads divisional efforts to transition to a curricular approach for student affairs.

Prior to this role, Keith served 3 years (2020-2023) as the Assistant Dean of Students for Community Standards at UIC, overseeing the Student Disciplinary Process, and serving on the Student Threat Assessment Team and Student Care Team. Keith spent seven years (2013-2020) as the Director of Residence Life at the University of South Carolina integrating the work of student leadership, student conduct, residential education, behavior intervention, crisis management, prevention education, Title IX, and professional staff development. Keith spent three years (2008-2011) working at the University of Kentucky as Assistant Dean of Students and one year (2011-2012) at the University of South Carolina as Associate Director working in Fraternity and Sorority Life. In these roles, Keith worked directly with the fraternity and sorority communities to create change and advance the fraternal movement. Keith was responsible for the on-going risk reduction education of fraternities and sororities and challenged the communities to uphold their fraternal values during periods of crisis that received national attention. In 2010, Keith assumed responsibility for the Students of Concern and Behavior Intervention Team at the University of Kentucky, advancing the work of student safety across many platforms including Mental Health, Physical Safety and Student Conduct and spent seven years on the Behavioral Intervention team at the University of South Carolina. Additionally, Keith spent 3 years (2005-2008) as the Assistant Director of Student Involvement at the University of Kentucky working with the Student Activities Board and Student Leadership Programs.

Keith has served as a consultant and speaker as a member of the NovakTalks! group since 2012 and has been a faculty member for the Interdisciplinary Institute for Hazing Prevention since 2010. At IIHP, Keith uses this platform to engage participants in conversations of research, partnership, policy development, and the application of prevention science to the topic of hazing. Keith’s goal in this work is to help students, faculty, and staff create environments where each party can come together in partnership and shared responsibility.

Keith completed his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 2018 with research focus on the examination of hazing case law as applied between 1980-2013. Keith has a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Kansas (2005) and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Memphis (2002).

Keith is the father of three beautiful daughters, Amelia (age 9), Annabeth (age 3), and Charlotte (age 0) husband to an amazing wife Nichole, and spends his free time volunteering as a youth softball coach and leader in his local F3 Parks and Wreck community. Keith maintains his membership with Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and volunteers with them when he can.

Dr. Linda Langford is an independent consultant specializing in campus- and community-based prevention, strategic planning, health communications, and program evaluation, with special interests in violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, environmental approaches to prevention, practitioner-researcher collaborations, and translating research to practice. 

From 1998 to 2012, she served as an Associate Center Director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, initially managing the Center’s evaluation projects and from 2002-2012 serving as Director of Violence Prevention initiatives. During her time at the Center, Linda developed a framework for violence prevention in higher education based on a public health approach that promotes campus and community collaboration and systematic data-driven planning based on the best available prevention science. She authored a widely-used working paper on campus hazing prevention and has worked collaboratively with the faculty to incorporate the prevention framework into the Hazing Institute curriculum. She has presented at other national hazing prevention trainings and consulted on related initiatives including the criteria for the Zeta Tau Alpha Award for Innovation in Campus Hazing Prevention and Education and the National Agenda for Hazing Prevention. She trains, speaks, and consults widely on effective campus and community prevention and has served on numerous national advisory boards and expert panels. 

Since the Higher Education Center’s funding was eliminated in 2012, Linda has worked with campuses, communities and national organizations to improve their health and safety initiatives through her consulting practice Langford & Associates. Example projects have included conducting prevention reviews, conducting online and in-person trainings and presentations, and providing short- and long-term consultation on an array of issues related to effective prevention, including “prevention 101,” strategic planning, effective communications, bystander intervention, social norms, effective partnerships, environmental approaches to prevention, the intersection of alcohol and sexual violence, maximizing synergy across prevention efforts, and other topics. Dr. Langford also currently works part-time as an Evaluation and Communications Scientist at the Education Development Center (EDC). She holds a doctorate in behavioral sciences from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dan Wrona is the CEO of RISE Partnerships, where has provided training and consulting to leaders on more than 200 campuses over the past 25 years. He has held positions as a university administrator, national fraternity staff member, staff member for the North-American Interfraternity Conference, advisor to several student organizations, and volunteer for multiple hazing prevention workgroups.

Through his work with RISE, Dan guides institutions and organizations in assessing hazing and developing comprehensive strategies for preventing its emergence in their communities. He is the co-creator of multiple award-winning educational initiatives addressing hazing.

Dan earned his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Albright College and his graduate degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina. He is a perpetual student of neuroscience, systems theory, strategy, instructional design, risk prevention, and social change.

James “Trey” Robb currently serves in a role that fulfills his desire to work directly with college students to create safer environments for members and guests as the Director of Member Services for the Delta Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity. Prior to being selected to lead DKE’s inaugural Health & Safety initiative, Trey served at both Texas Tech University and the University of Tennessee where he worked with the IFC men and oversaw all health and safety initiatives for the communities.

As a Lead Facilitator for NovakTalks, Trey is a highly sought after by clients for undergraduate student, volunteer, staff, and community Health & Safety education. Trey adamantly believes that students have the capacity to do the work of Fraternity, and that students MUST have a role if we want to make real changes within the fraternal movement.