2026 Annual Convention Special Sessions

Sunday Session 3 | Sunday, April 19, 2026 | 2:10 PM – 3:00 PM

Rob Kaplan, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs

Rob is Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs and a member of the Management Committee. Previously, Rob served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Before joining the Fed, Rob was the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School (HBS).

Rob initially joined Goldman Sachs in 1983 and became a partner in 1990. In 2002, he became vice chairman of the firm with global responsibility for the Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions. He also served as co-chair of the Partnership Committee and chair of the Goldman Sachs Pine Street Leadership Program. In 1998, Rob became global cohead of Investment Banking and a member of the Management Committee. His previous roles included serving as head of Asia Pacific Investment Banking, co-chief operating officer of global Investment Banking, and head of the Americas Corporate Finance Department. 

Rob retired from the firm in 2006 to join HBS, becoming a senior director at that time.

Rob is chairman of Project ALS and cochairman of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. He is a board member of Harvard Medical School and St. Mark's School of Texas, and is a member of the George W. Bush Institute's Advisory Council. Rob is also an Advisory Board member of the Baker Institute. He serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center President's Council and on the Board of Directors at The Holdsworth Center. Rob is the author of three books on leadership, What You Really Need to Lead, What You're Really Meant to Do, and What to Ask the Person in the Mirror. Rob earned a BS from the University of Kansas in 1979 and an MBA from HBS in 1983.

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Kara Freeman, NACUBO President & CEO

Kara D. Freeman, a strategic leader with extensive national higher education experience, became president and chief executive officer of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) on June 1, 2023. 

Freeman brings more than three decades of experience to NACUBO and joined from the American Council on Education (ACE), where she had worked since 2006. She most recently served as senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO), with the responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the administrative and operational areas of the organization. She previously was ACE’s vice president of administration and chief information officer.

As an executive leader at ACE, Freeman’s portfolio included providing strategic thought leadership on organization-wide initiatives, representing ACE with constituency groups such as the ACE Women’s Network, and playing a leading role in ACE’s efforts to share advocacy information with presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and an MBA from The George Washington University. She also holds a Certified Association Executive credential from the American Society of Association Executives.