Campus Innovations Group's leadership team and its Advisory Board is an unparalleled collection of nationally-recognized higher education leaders working with extraordinary colleagues in infrastructure, real estate, facility operations and mantainance, healthcare, public and private sector enterprise leadership, finance and not for profit business development.
David C. Ashworth
Managing Member
Mr. Ashworth brings extensive executive level experience to Campus Innovations Group (CIG) from both the not-for-profit and for-profit business sectors, with significant overlap between the two.
As the executive in charge for 25 years for strategy and system development for the two hospital Presbyterian Healthcare System in Dallas that eventually evolved into Texas Health Resources (THR), one of the largest not for profit health care systems in Texas, Mr. Ashworth was directly involved with the mergers, acquisitions, partnership development and new program and service development which consistently grew both revenue and market share for THR. This company, a unique business development arm of THR was co-founded and Chaired by Mr. Ashworth. TpHR was a for-profit, “controlled but independent” real estate/hospital/ambulatory/medical office building development arm of THR that largely through THR/physicianjoint ventures, developed numerous short stay surgical and acute care hospitals, ambulatory and, multipurpose medical office buildings throughout north Texas. As Chair of the Board of TpHR, Mr. Ashworth oversaw all aspects of project development from syndication of the project (including scope and size of each project and, programmatic and financial forecasting); land acquisition; real estate design, development, construction; hospital/ambulatory surgery program start up (leadership selection/hiring, staffing, equipment acquisition, policies and procedure development, credentialing/accreditation/licensure, start-up and on-going hospital operations). Mr. Ashworth’s experience successfully integrating culture, values, incentives, business acumen and legal/compliance/tax aspects of for-profit companies operating under a not-for-profit consolidated “umbrella” is demonstrated by the fact that every for-profit hospital developed and managed by TpHR exceeded forecasts and expectations by the end of its start up period.
Following his tenure at THR, Mr. Ashworth spent seven years as the president of Cambridge Healthcare Development, a national real estate development company specializing in and focusing on the not-for-profit health care sector. Project financing, partnership development, techniques to align the multiple parties necessary to improve the success potential of a project, capturing and aligning short and long term value/wealth creation, integrating client strategic and master campus plans with specific project real estate development plans and, creating ways to monetize client assets to finance other client projects were all techniques used and in some cases pioneered by Cambridge Healthcare Development.
Mr. Ashworth’s experience in health care and the not-for-profit and for-profit business sectors is directly relevant to many of the challenges facing higher education: changes in how programs and services are delivered, moving from friendly competition towards aggressive (and costly) competition, significant changes in funding and revenue streams, decision-making and alignment in the troika of “shared governance”, debt capacity and/or bond ratings driving decision-making, donor restrictions, internal competition for limited capital; updating aging property, plant, equipment while funding new models for program and service delivery are just a few. This experience in aligning a client’s culture, goals and business objectives with both not-for-profit and for-profit business strategies and partners brings a unique aspect, outlook and capability to CIG’s desires to be a long term thought partner for our higher education clients.
Jeffrey M. Stone
Managing Member
Jeff Stone is currently President of JMS Capital, Inc. in Dallas, TX and was formerly an Owner and Senior Managing Director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler in its Dallas office. He has over twenty four years of investment real estate experience, including investment brokerage, sale/leasebacks, and the negotiation of joint venture arrangements on behalf of institutional, corporate and development clients on a regional and national basis. Stone was jointly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Investment Sales group in the firm’s Dallas office, and has successfully closed some of the largest commercial real estate transactions nationwide. His institutional representations include such companies as Morgan Stanley, The Carlyle Group, TIAA, Equity Office, Crescent Real Estate, Citibank, LaSalle Investment Management, Goldman Sachs, MetLife, Hines Interests, Valero Energy, Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, CarrAmerica and GE Investments.
Prior to joining HFF Mr. Stone was Managing Director at Eastdil Realty, and before that was a Stockholder in Cushman & Wakefield, Inc, and a Senior Director with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas, Inc., where he received numerous awards for the national top producing financial services broker.
Stone has also actively invested in oil and gas ventures over the past 25 years with a private independent drilling company based in Dallas, Texas, and has invested in a significant number of private equity and real estate ventures. The private investment portfolio Stone has invested in consists of several early and mid-stage companies.
Stone is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a B.A.S. in Economics He is a former member of Central Dallas Association, Urban Land Institute, North Texas Commercial Assn. of Realtors and Real Estate Council.), Vogel Alcove (Children’s Day Care), and Golden Acres (Senior Assisted Living). Stone currently serves as board member for Cancer Support Communities North Texas, Determination, Inc. (In-home Senior Assisted Living Program), and Temple Emanu-El Congregation. He maintains his commercial real estate brokerage license.
Robert J. Brill, Esq.
Managing Member
Robert Brill holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Emory University and a law degree from the University of Houston. Dating back to the 1970’s, Mr. Brill has been a named partner in a business law firm with offices in Houston and Dallas. He developed expertise in complex commercial transactions which primarily focused on real estate and corporate transactions. Mr. Brill has a wealth of experience representing national and International clients regarding the purchase, sale, development, leasing and financing of real estate assets in the areas of healthcare, hospitality, retail, office and multifamily. Mr. Brill’s corporate experience includes strategic planning of appropriate entities, structuring of joint ventures and partnerships, acquisitions and mergers, as well as planning for public market entry issues.
Mr. Brill has led legal teams to privatize multi-billion dollar portfolio assets for a large regional hospital system, as well as a national banking client. His complex commercial law practice includes recognizing and resolving issues related to financing, accounting, tax and securities issues for both profit and non-profit organizations. He recently served as General Counsel for Cambridge Healthcare, a national healthcare company located in Dallas, Texas, where he was successful in helping close numerous large scale development projects in multiple states.
Harvey S. Perlman, JD
Senior Advisor
Harvey Perlman served as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 16 years from 2001 to 2016. He is credited with significantly increasing enrollment and research as well as moving the University into the Big Ten Conference. He convinced the Nebraska Legislature to move the State Fair Grounds in 2010 from its 100 year old location adjacent to the University to permit the University to construct Nebraska Innovation Campus, a public private partnership designed to attract private sector companies to interact with the University. The campus, planned for 2.1 million sq. ft., currently has 327,000 sq. ft under roof, all but a small portion of which was developed and owned by a private developer. There are currently 14 private companies located on the campus. Chancellor Perlman also engaged a private company to develop student housing as a wraparound to a University parking garage and involved the University in a number of other public-private partnerships. He was also personally involved with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce in recruiting companies to Lincoln.
Chancellor Perlman received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He served as a Professor of Law at the University from 1967- 1973 and at the University of Virginia Law School from 1974 – 1983. In 1983 he returned to Lincoln and spent 15 years as Dean of the College of Law. He also served as Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs from 1994-1995. His legal specialties are Intellectual Property and Torts. He has also periodically taught a course in Construction Law.
James T. McGill
Senior Advisor
James T. McGill retired as the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration of the Johns Hopkins University in July, 2010, having served in that role for twelve and a half years. McGill was in charge of the administrative, business, facilities, financial and human resource matters for the University, serving as the principal adviser to the President on non-academic matters. He was responsible for the development of administrative policies and operating systems essential to fulfilling the academic and research missions of the University. Among his accomplishments were the implementation of new administrative systems and structures, successful financial results in a highly decentralized institution, the expansion of campus facilities by more than 40%, the addition and development of off-campus land and facilities, and successful guidance of the University through the 2008/2009 fiscal challenges. He also established productive working relationships with the separately incorporated health system, Including the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Earlier, McGill was the Vice President for Administrative Affairs, followed with the Executive Vice President title, at the University of Missouri System for twelve years. His roles included the University’s chief financial and business officer of the four-campus, state-wide, land-grant University.
He also served as the chief financial/business officer at the Oregon Health Sciences University (now Oregon Health and Sciences University) for six years, following four years at the University of Illinois Medical Center and four years of service at the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Upon completion of his graduate degree, he was on the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses.
He has served on numerous not-for-profit service and membership organization boards, including the Evergreen Health Care Corporation, the Y of Central Maryland (chair of its board of directors), the American Council of Education, and the Charles Street Trolley Corporation and is a Fellow of the TIAA-CREF Institute. He conducts a higher education consulting practice from his Baltimore-area office, having served a dozen clients in recruitment of financial talent, reviewing organizational structure and effectiveness of financial and administrative operations, serving as a temporary CFO, and developing multi-year strategic and financial plans.
McGill received B.A. and B.S. (Honors) degrees in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1965. In 1969, he earned a Ph.D. in operations research from Stanford University.
Paul T. Williams Jr, Esq.
Senior Advisor
Paul T. Williams Jr., was formerly of counsel with the law firm of Arent Fox LLP and is presently co-founder and Managing Director of Williams Strategy Advisors LLC ("WSA"). He deploys his unique experience and expertise in the fields of law, government and finance to support his clients' key objectives. Williams is also a Senior Fellow with the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation.
At Arent Fox, he is was a member of the firm's Real Estate, International Affairs and Government Relations practice groups, largely representing infrastructure investors and project developers in public/private partnerships involving public sector sponsors as well as higher education institutions.
With WSA, he works with private sector infrastructure contractors and developers to identify potential project opportunities and inproject design, execution and management, in addition to serving as a bridge for building strategicpartnerships that benefit project development. His work also includes strategic advice and implementation in regard to increasing diversity and inclusion in infrastructure development, whether in regard to minority and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) in domestic projects or small and medium-sized locally-based companies in international projects.
In his former capacity as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (“DASNY”), from 2008 to 2015, Williams directed over $30 billion in bond issuance and managed the delivery of over $6.3 billion in construction expenditures, including ground up design and construction of hospital facilities [$250 million Harlem Hospital patient pavilion], educational facilities [$750 million CUNY applied science and research center] and innovative residence halls [SUNY Cortland LEED Platinum 220-bed residence hall]. He also promoted the use of public/private partnerships to deliver social infrastructure and led an effort to build a new $600 million public health laboratory complex as apublic/private partnership. He served as Chair of the Governor’s MWBE Task Force from 2008-2010 where he crafted and executed the strategy to overhaul the State’s procurement policies and procedures leading to significant expansion of opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses. Prior to his tenure at DASNY, Williams was a principal and officer in a boutique investment bank on Wall Street and for many years prior thereto practiced corporate law as a partner in a firm he co-founded and later as a partner in an international law firm.