NACS Foundation Installs New President and Directors

OBERLIN, OHIO (February 19, 2020) – The NACS Foundation , the only philanthropic resource for the campus store industry, recently installed a new president and four new board of directors at CAMEX 2020, the National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) annual convention and trade show held this year in New Orleans, LA.

Loreen Maxfield , director of retail operations at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), was installed as the president of the NACS Foundation Board of Directors. Maxfield has supported the collegiate retail industry in a variety of volunteer leadership roles. She served on the NACS Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2016 and the executive committee from 2016 to 2019. She served as president of the NACS board in 2017. In addition to her contributions to NACS, she was a board member of the Illinois Association of College Stores from 2002 to 2005.

Maxfield was a district manager for Express, a division of Limited Brands, for 13 years. She made the transition into the bookstore business when she accepted a regional director’s position for Borders Books and Music followed by store manager positions for The Container Store and The Disney Store. Maxfield began her collegiate industry career at UIC in 2001. She started her professional career as a teacher in Wichita Public Schools.

In addition, the following new directors were installed to serve three-year terms:

Beth Christian of Verba/VitalSource, Scranton, PA. Christian, who works in sales operations for the bookstore channel at Verba/VitalSource, began her collegiate retail career in 1997 at Bloomsburg University Store. She has served in several university store management positions before moving to Sidewalk in 2014, and then Verba/VitalSource in 2018. Over the years, she has been very active in NACS where she previously served as chair of NACS Leadership and Store Operations Council.

T.J. Cochran, store director of the Brown University Bookstore, Providence, RI. Cochran has over 24 years of experience in operations management in academic retail and was previously employed by the Follett Higher Education Group. Cochran supports a program at Brown to help pay for course materials for more than 1,100 students, as well as offering inclusive access materials to lower textbook costs.

Sara Ellenberger, director of sales and account operations, RedShelf, Chicago. IL. In 2018, Ellenberger joined RedShelf, a Chicago-based education technology company that offers digital instructional resources. Before joining the team at RedShelf, she was the academic materials manager at The Cornell Store and the textbook director at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Ellenberger has been an active volunteer in support of the collegiate retail industry including which led to volunteer leadership roles with the Middle Atlantic College Stores Association and the NACS Leadership Institute.

Tammy Slone, manager of retail services at Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH. In her 26-year tenure at Cedarville, Slone has led three essential campus operations including the bookstore, postal, and print services. In her tenure, the store has adopted best-pricing strategies, added a robust rental program, improved the student course materials experience with comparison shopping, utilized alternative course materials sourcing, and implemented a variety of other innovations. She has been very active in NACS and is serving a second term as board president of the Ohio Association of College Stores.

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About The NACS Foundation: Operating for 38 years, the NACS Foundation has disbursed more than $3 million for industry education and research, and awarded more than 3,000 professional development grants to college store professionals. The NACS Foundation has touched the careers of thousands of campus store professionals and counts some of the industry’s leading vendors among its top corporate donors.

About The National Association of College Stores: The National Association of College Stores (NACS) is the professional trade association representing the collegiate retailing industry. NACS represents campus retailers and industry-related companies that supply course materials and other merchandise and services to campus stores. NACS provides education and other resources that help its member stores support student success, the campus experience and the academic missions of higher education institutions. NACS is headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio.