Tom Wheeland Named Board Chair

We’re excited to introduce Tom Wheeland as the new Access Board Chair. He was elected in November and succeeded Brian Day, who has served since 2020. Tom joined the Access Board in 2021 and is a member of the Finance Committee. Professionally, he is the National Practice Leader at FORVIS accounting and consulting firm. He earned a J.D. from Saint Louis University and a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame. A good friend of the late John Vatterott, Tom is enthusiastic about the opportunity to further John’s mission and is especially excited to help Access accomplish new milestones as we approach our 20th anniversary in 2025.

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Brian for his tireless dedication and skillful leadership over the last three years. No small feat, Brian guided Access through the pandemic and ensured that we never wavered in our commitment to the students and families we serve. During Brian’s tenure, we launched our ‘Access 2 College’ program, expanded our College & Career team threefold, increased our college scholarship, advanced our comprehensive multi-year program evaluation, and successfully returned to an in-person Celebration Dinner. Naturally, we are thrilled that he will remain on the board and continue to serve Access as Vice Chair.

In other board news, Dr. Tiffany Patton was recently elected Chair of the Programming Committee while Nicole Jobe took the helm of the Governance Committee.