Andy Dunn is director of campus retail and licensing, Lope Shops, Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ, a private four-year and graduate school. His institutional store has a $4.5 million budget (general merchandise only, no textbooks, as GCU creates its own digital course materials included in class fees).

Dunn has a bachelor’s degree and master of business administration from George Fox University, Newberg, OR, where he started his career as a student worker at the bookstore. In his 25 years in the industry, he has worked in both institutional and leased stores. At George Fox, he became textbook coordinator, then bookstore manager, and later director of bookstores. In 2010, the school decided to contract with Nebraska Book Co., which asked Dunn to remain as manager. The next year, the university hired him as director of purchasing and administrative services. In April 2015, he came on board with the Lope Shops to lead the store’s transition from contract management to self-operation. Over the past seven years Dunn has led a team that has grown from three FTE and three student workers with one store to 11 FTE, 50 student workers, three permanent stores, two seasonal stores, and a fully integrated e-commerce solution.

As an industry volunteer, he has served on the NACS Benchmarking Committee (chair 2006-07, member 2005-06) and assisted with NACS research projects. He also was a member of the Northwest College Bookstore Association’s Education Committee (2002-04) and Connect2One Advisory Council (2004-07), as well as chair of the Northwest Independent College Business Officers Association annual meeting.

For the past year he has served as NACS president-elect/secretary and previously served as a trustee-at-large on the NACS Board.

“One of the things I feel strongly about is how important it is for a college or university to own and operate its retail operations. When you have a team in place that has the responsibility and freedom to bring in product relevant to their customers, then morale is high and sales tend to be strong,” he said. “The three things I’ll be focusing on this next year is what I call the Three Ps: our People (NACS members), Partners (vendor affiliates), and PartnerShip. I’m excited to work with NACS CEO Ed Schlichenmayer, the NACS staff, and the NACS Board to continue the strengthening of our association.”

Ella Van Nort is director of the FIDM Scholarship Foundation and director of retail operations, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, CA. She oversees the institute’s two bookstores, museum shop, scholarship store, café, two retail websites, and all campus purchasing, with 10 FTE employees and 20 student workers.

Van Nort has been with FIDM since 1997, serving as a faculty member and lead instructor, writing curriculum, and teaching faculty in the areas of buying, merchandise, math, and assortment planning, before taking over the institute’s stores. Previously, she spent more than 15 years in apparel retailing, as a buyer of bridge dresses for Lord & Taylor department stores, a buyer of designer sportswear for Dillard’s, and then managing director for Polo Ralph Lauren. She holds an associate degree in fashion design and a bachelor’s in fashion merchandising from the American College, London, England.

Her volunteer service with NACS includes serving on the NACS Board of Trustees for the past three years, chairing the NACS Education Committee, and serving on the NACS Government and Industry Relations Committee (2019-2021) and the NACS Finance and Budget Committee (2021-present). She has been a frequent CAMEX presenter on sessions dealing with open-to-buy, merchandising, and retail math. She created the three-day Buyers Institute for the California Association of College Stores. She has also been involved with the National Retail Federation Foundation in assisting with student competitions and scholarships and with the Museum Stores Association.

“Although it is a challenging time in our industry, it is also a very exciting time. The pandemic taught us that we need to be open for change, and in the last two years we have embraced change, and we are stronger for it,” she said. “Thank you for your continued support and commitment to NACS, and I look forward to working with you all to bring NACS forward as we continue to embrace the changes in our industry, together.”

Adam Hustwitt is the vice president and provost of the Guild House Technical Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada. The institute has a small store with one employee and $100,000 budget.

He earned a bachelor of business administration with honours from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, and an executive master of business administration and innovation from the University of Fredericton, Fredericton, NB, Canada. Hustwitt became manager of the bookstore at Conestoga College, Kitchener, ON, in 2011, then moving to manager of campus services, followed by a promotion to director of ancillary services, where he was responsible for bookstore operations and course material services (including an e-text program), vending, food services, the print shop, and public transportation term sales (6,500 of these in the fall), other third-party contracts, and the ONE Card office (combined assets: 33 full-time employees and $14.5 million in revenues) plus an IELTS test center with $6 million in revenues, 36 venues across Canada, and more than 300 staff. In 2019, he was named academic chair of the School of Business at Conestoga College and was also a part-time faculty member, teaching courses in human resources and leadership development. He joined Guild House in 2021.

Prior to joining Conestoga, Hustwitt spent a number of years working in other types of retail. He was a store manager with Starbucks, a general manager with Cineplex Entertainment, and an assistant manager with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

From 2019-21, he served on the NACS Board as a trustee, president-elect, and briefly as president. He has been active with Campus Stores Canada, serving as president, past president, treasurer, and director. He also was a planning partner and volunteer with the 2017 Textbook Affordability Conference. He’s also a member of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services and National Association of Campus Card Users.

“My vision for the future is that our campus stores are able to fully deliver on academic course materials to support student success and the academic missions of the institutions our members belong to,” he said. “This is accomplished through advocacy and education on how to engage with faculty, staff, and students on the evolution of course materials and how the campus store can effectively deliver on these changes.”

Clay Ludlow is manager of the Cedarville University Bookstore, Cedarville, OH. The institutional store has five full-time staff members, with a budget of $1.6 million.

Ludlow was in camp management for eight years prior to entering collegiate retailing. He was a camp director and staff recruiter for Spring Hill Camps and then executive director of the PVM Camp. In 2015, he became manager of course materials for the Cedarville University Bookstore. In May 2021, he was promoted to bookstore manager. He holds a bachelor of arts and master of business administration from Cedarville.

For NACS, he has been an educational presenter and panelist, including at CAMEX and the Textbook Affordability Conference. He served on the Course Materials and Academic Resources Council for two years, and has been a Campus Store Insights beta tester since last spring. He has also served as a trustee and treasurer for the Ohio Association of College Stores, and presented sessions and facilitated roundtables at OACS meetings. Ludlow has also been active with the Independent College Bookstore Association.

“With many college stores and vendors experiencing financial difficulties, I think it is more important than ever for trade associations to justify the cost of membership. They must become essential. This creates an opportunity, though, to strengthen their connection and loyalty with members,” he said.