Jill Derby is a Senior Fellow and Consultant with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges based in Washington, DC, where she has worked internationally for 20 years, to advance governance effectiveness in higher education institutions.
Derby is a cultural anthropologist who received her PhD from the University of California, Davis with a concentration on the Arab Middle East. She served on two Nevada college faculties before transitioning to a policy role on the Nevada Board of Regents, where she served for 18 years, with three terms as Board Chair. In 2011 she received a U.S. Senate appointment to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), which advises the U.S. Secretary of Education on higher education policy and oversees the accreditation process.