Presidential Search Committee

Eric Hildenbrand ’00, Board of Trustees (Co-Chair)
Eric Hildenbrand is senior vice president and chief legal and strategy officer of McLane Company, one of the largest supply chain companies in the United States. A Muhlenberg College trustee since 2024, Hildenbrand serves on several committees, including as chair of the Educational Policies and Faculty Affairs Committee. He graduated from Muhlenberg College with a degree in political science and received his law degree from Georgetown University.

Raymond McDaniel, Jr. P’17, Board of Trustees (Co-Chair)
Ray McDaniel is the retired president and CEO of Moody’s Corporation. He joined Moody’s in 1987, serving on its Board of Directors from 2003 through 2023, nine of those as chairman, and as president and CEO from 2005 through 2021. McDaniel has been serving Muhlenberg as a trustee since 2015, chairing the Compensation Committee and serving a wide variety of board committees. He also has served as a member of the Campaign Cabinet, and as an Observer from 2013 until he became a trustee. He earned his BA from Colgate University and his Juris Doctorate from Emory University School of Law.

Kimberly Anderson G’25 P’25 P’27, Associate Vice President for Engagement/Operations & Campaign Director
Kimberly Anderson is assistant vice president for engagement/operations and campaign director at Muhlenberg College, a role she has held since January 2019. She has been with Muhlenberg for 32 years, previously serving as executive director of special projects and as director of the Muhlenberg Fund. Anderson earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Elizabethtown College and her master’s in social and public policy from Duquesne University.

Sandra L. Smith Bodnyk ’73, Board of Trustees
Sandy Bodnyk retired from BB&T as an executive vice president and senior loan administration manager after a 43 year commercial banking career encompassing leadership positions in risk management and commercial lending. She has also chaired and served on a wide variety of board committees. Other service to Muhlenberg includes membership on the Board of Associates, the Boundless campaign’s Leadership Gifts Committee and on the Board of Observers. Bodnyk graduated from Muhlenberg College with a degree in economics, and from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

James Bolton P’17 P’18, Director, Plant Operations
Jim Bolton is director of plant operations at Muhlenberg College, a role he has held since May 2016. Having joined the college in 2009 as the assistant director of plant operations, he has now been with Muhlenberg for 17 years. Previously, he served as assistant director at Philadelphia University, where he began his career in facilities in 1990. Bolton earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Philadelphia University.

Lance R. Bruck ’89 P’21, Chair, Board of Trustees
Dr. Lance R. Bruck is a professor and executive vice chair of clinical affairs and strategic development at Montefiore Einstein. Prior to this he served as the vice president and chair at the RWJBarnabas Health System and was a clinical professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In addition to his professional roles, Dr. Bruck serves as the board chair of Muhlenberg College and board member at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Elected to the Muhlenberg College Board of Trustees in 2011, he chaired several committees and served as a board officer. Bruck graduated from Muhlenberg with a degree in biology and philosophy and earned his medical degree at New York Medical College.

José Dieudonné, Vice President for Operations and Chief Information Officer
José Dieudonné is vice president for operations and chief information officer at Muhlenberg College. He joined the college in 2020, after having held positions at Wilson College, Point University, and Acadia University. Dieudonné earned his BA in Computer Sciences from Arcadia University, along with a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration and an MBA in International Management, also from Arcadia.

Laura Furge, Provost
Laura Furge is provost of Muhlenberg College, a position she has held since June 2021. At Muhlenberg she has guided the faculty through a major curriculum revision to build the Pathways for Discovery general academic program, co-chaired the most recent MSCHE re-accreditation, and worked with faculty on academic program restructuring. She spent the previous 22 years at Kalamazoo College, most recently as the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry, where she served in a variety of leadership roles including associate provost, interim provost, and as acting president in the president’s absence. She was also an active member of the Chemistry Department contributing to more than $10M in grant funded teaching, learning, and research activities during her time at Kalamazoo with over 20 peer-reviewed publications, many with student co-authors. Furge earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Oberlin College and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Vanderbilt University.

William Gryc, Professor and Department Chair, Mathematics, Computer Science & Statistics
William Gryc is professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science & Statistics at Muhlenberg College. He is trained in functional analysis, and most of his research with students focuses on applying mathematics to auction theory. He is the 2016 winner of the Robert C. Williams Faculty Award, which honors a junior faculty member for distinguished scholarship and research or public performance, and has won the Bridge Builder Award multiple times. Gryc earned his B.A. from Amherst College and his Ph.D. and M.S. from Cornell University.

Kassandra Hartford, Associate Professor and Department Chair, Music
Kassandra Hartford is associate professor and chair of the department of Music at Muhlenberg College. A scholar of 20th-century American, French, and Brazilian music, her first book, Sounding Nation, Hearing Race in Modern Music (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2026) examines transnational musical exchange and its influence on ideas of racial and national identity between the two World Wars. Her current book project focuses on music education broadcasts for US schoolchildren between the World Wars, which were imagined not only as an introduction to musical styles, but as exercises in citizenship pedagogy that would bolster American democracy as fascism advanced across Europe. She has performed with Samba New York, Manhattan Samba, and Maracatu New York. Hartford earned her A.B. from Mount Holyoke and her Ph.D. and M.A. from Stony Brook University.

A. Benjamin Miles III ’13, Board of Trustees
Ben Miles is a strategic initiatives and relationship manager at Western Union, where he manages product strategy, partner relationships and go-to-market execution for the bill payments and corrections portfolio for U.S. Consumer Services. He earned his BA from Muhlenberg College, MA from Johns Hopkins University and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Miles served on the Muhlenberg’s Alumni Board for four years before becoming the inaugural recipient of the College’s Weiss Fellowship Program. In 2022, he was elected to the Muhlenberg College Board of Trustees, where he serves on the Student Experience, Asset Management and Educational Policies & Faculty Affairs Committees.