Introducing our Staff

Our team is staffed with highly competent individuals who have expertise in financial aid administration and statistical research.

Gregory S. Nichols, Ph. D., Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Relations – Greg has held various positions of responsibility in public affairs, educational policy research and practice, educational administration, and organizational leadership. Prior to joining Iowa Student Loan, Greg served as special assistant to the president and a lecturer at Iowa State University. He also served as executive director of the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa, as policy director for Governor Tom Vilsack. Prior to that, Greg was a member of the research and administrative staff of the Iowa State Senate.

In addition to his duties at Iowa Student Loan, Greg holds a collaborating adjunct faculty appointment with the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies department at Iowa State University, serves as chair-elect of the board of Iowa Dollars for Scholars and is involved in numerous community organizations.

Greg earned a Ph.D. in education and Bachelor of Arts degree at Iowa State University and holds a master’s in public policy from Rutgers University.

John Parker, Ph.D., Director – John began his career in education in 1968 as a junior high school teacher. In 1974, he moved into higher education. He has since served in a variety of student service, financial aid and enrollment management roles at Iowa colleges and universities – private and public, large and small. Prior to joining Iowa Student Loan, John spent 15 years as dean of student financial aid services at Drake University.

John has held various roles in budgeting, supervision, operations and office management. He has served as a project director for research on student retention and has led a task force on the development of a student services center. John has also served as chairman and/or president of national, regional and state financial aid professional associations, and taught graduate-level courses on college student development.

John received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees at Iowa State, and earned a Ph.D. in college student development at the University of Iowa.

Marc Hendel, Senior Research Analyst – Marc earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Iowa State University and taught high school mathematics for nine years. While teaching, he earned his Master of Science degree in mathematics from Iowa State University. Marc worked as a statistician in the health care industry and co-authored several important papers published in respected medical journals. Marc’s next career move brought him to a large national mortgage company. Hired as a statistical modeler, Marc soon became the lead modeler, overseeing a team working to develop four complex portfolio risk models to forecast default and loss. Marc joined the Community Services and Educational Research team in 2005 to provide statistical support to research efforts. He has developed several statistical models, has led various research projects and has become a corporate-wide resource for survey implementation as well as statistical analyses and reporting.