Four members of Guilford College’s leadership team have been promoted from interim or contracted appointments to permanent roles, President Jean Bordewich announced this week, emphasizing the importance of leadership stability as the College moves through a process to sustain its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Effective immediately, the following leaders will serve in these roles: Chief Operating Officer Keith Milner ‘82, Provost Kami Rowan, Associate Provost Associate Academic Dean Kathryn Shields and Chief Financial Officer Bruce Baden ‘77.

“All of these individuals have served Guilford with distinction since early this year, and I am delighted we can continue forward as a team,” said Jean. “Their leadership, energy and commitment to Guilford’s mission have already made a difference, and I look forward to what we will accomplish together.”

Keith graduated from Guilford with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. After Guilford, he earned an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and had a successful three-decade career in senior executive corporate roles before transitioning to entrepreneurship. He served as President of CertusBank Georgia, COO of InvestAtlanta, President of Nationwide Financial Network, and held other leadership positions. He is co-founder of a coaching and business advisory firm and co-owner and COO of Social Capital, LLC, which operates Jersey Mike’s Subs franchises in the Atlanta area.

Kami has been teaching at Guilford since 1994, part-time at first and full-time since 2005. She served as Chair of the Music Department from 2014-20. She earned her doctorate and master’s in Music at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University (Va.), and her bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Kami has built three programs from scratch including the College’s classical guitar program, the Classical Guitar Summit for the Eastern Music Festival and the U.S. Guitar Orchestra.

Kathryn has been deeply involved in the operations of Academic and Student Affairs as an Art faculty member at Guilford since 2007 and Associate Academic Dean since 2017. She earned her doctorate in Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences from Virginia Tech. Most recently, Kathryn participated in the 2024-25 cohort of the American Academic Leadership Institute and the Council of Independent College’s Senior Leadership Academy.

Bruce, a Certified Public Accountant who graduated from Guilford with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, spent more than 40 years in financial accounting and business support for small and large companies – most recently as Vice President of Finance at LF Distribution Holding – before retiring in 2022. He has extensive corporate and divisional experience in both domestic and international operations. Bruce came out of retirement earlier this year to help Guilford’s Finance Department.