2020 NASS Speaker Lineup

Dr. Nick Nissley serves as the 11^th president of Northwestern Michigan College, a position that he assumed on January 1^st of this year. Within 73 days he was ‘thrown into the deep-end’ having to lead the campus closure and transitioning from face-to-face to remote learning. Over these past three months he has showed his mettle leading the College’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) was the first comprehensive community college chartered in the State of Michigan. Since its founding in 1951, NMC has provided quality, affordable access to higher education for learners of all ages and backgrounds. The College enrolls approximately 4,000 students, offering associate degrees and professional certificates, bachelor’s degrees through the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. And, six partner universities grant bachelor’s and master’s degrees through NMC’s University Center.

Nick earned his doctorate of education degree from the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development, in Washington, D.C. His professional experiences span from k12, to community college and university settings, to the social profit and corporate workplaces – across the US and Canada.

Prior to assuming the NMC Presidency, Nick served as Executive Director of The School for Creative and Performing Arts, the country’s only k-12 arts magnet school. He also served as Dean of the Business School at Cincinnati State Community College. Nick even lived five years in Canada, where he served as Executive Director at The Banff Centre – Canada’s renowned institution of arts, creativity, and leadership development. His previous work experiences have included – serving as Vice President of Organization Development and Learning for a large US Catholic healthcare system, and serving his alma mater, the Milton Hershey School, as Vice President and Chief Learning Officer. He even spent seven years in an Australian-based mining company (making use of his undergraduate degree in Geology and Mineralogy). Nick has also served as a professor in the School of Education at the University of St. Thomas, in Minneapolis. And, he has served as an adjunct faculty in leadership development programs around the world, including – the Copenhagen Business School’s Master’s Degree Program in Leadership & Innovation, as well as Oxford University’s Strategic Leadership Programme.

Nick, who calls himself a possibilitarian, notes that he is inspired by the life of Milton S. Hershey, the man who gave him a second chance, after his childhood of emergency foster care placements and ultimate ‘ward of the state’ status. Nick says,

“I am forever grateful for the lessons that I learned while a student at the Milton Hershey School. Having been labeled an ‘at risk’ kid, I am well aware of the power of the strengths-based approach to human development – the magic that happens when we treat a student, or any human being, as ‘at promise’ versus ‘at risk’. That lesson has profoundly shaped me and my relationships with those around me.”

Nick says his greatest joy in life is being a father to his two wonderful daughters, Isabel Francesca and Meredith Claire, who keep him grounded and grateful. Meredith will be a 10^th grader at Central High School and Isabel will be heading off to Ohio University this fall, as a Journalism major. Most of all, Nick is looking forward to his wife Elise, joining him here in Traverse City, after a six-months long at-a-distance relationship. They have purchased a home on Old Mission Peninsula and look forward to continuing to explore the great outdoors and get to know the people and places of northwest Michigan.