Mike Bills ’20 (GSLC, PhD) joined the Antioch University Board of Governors in June of 2024. His dissertation topic for the PhD in Leadership and Change—“Turning Around Small, Private, Tuition Dependent Colleges: How Boards of Trustees Impact Decline and Turnaround”—is part of why he was asked to join the Board. He also brings his experience as President of AtlasRTX, a leading AI-powered chatbot provider. We caught up with Bills recently to ask about his passion for higher education, why he cares deeply about social justice, and what he hopes for Antioch.
You are both a board member and an alum. What drew you to Antioch University and what do you find most compelling and interesting?
Coming to Antioch seems like it was my destiny. In 2008 I was asked to join the board of trustees of Westminster College by its then-president, Michael Bassis. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was my first connection to Antioch—due to Michael having been Antioch’s Provost earlier in his career. Michael’s professional mentor was Al Guskin, former Chancellor of Antioch University, who helped found the GSLC. Al was actually on Westminster’s board, and his last year on the board was my first. I became aware of the PhD in Leadership and Change then, but I didn’t think that it was a possibility for me. When another friend on the board, Tom Ellison, actually enrolled in the PhDLC program, that got my attention. And as I observed Tom’s growth personally and intellectually over several years—and please know, that Tom was already one of the most intellectual people I had ever met—I decided that I wanted some of what he was having.
What do you hope to contribute as a member of Antioch’s Board of Governors?
As an entrepreneur, I have engaged in a great deal of M&A—mergers and acquisitions—activity. My background and experience is a natural fit for Antioch’s position in the Coalition for the Common Good—both as it is today and, more importantly, where we’re going to be in the next several years.
What do you hope to learn as a Board member, helping to lead our University in today’s complicated world?
How to thread the needle of being true to our social justice mission while under attack. The potential loss of federal funds is no joke, and there’s no mission if there’s no margin. Antioch’s board (with the notable exception of me) is an all-star team, and I don’t know what I’m going to learn from these extraordinary people, but I’m sure that I’ll get more out of it than I deserve.
Five years from now, what do you hope for Antioch? And for your own service on the Board of Governors?
I hope that 1) we’ve firmly established a strong and sustainable financial position; 2) the new Chancellor has thrived; and 3) we’ve executed on the vision of the CCG. For my own service, the indicator of success is: have I made a distinct difference, however small, that enhanced the University?
You’re now working in the realm of AI and enhanced chatbots. Do you see any ways that this work might intersect with and inform your service on the Board?
Absolutely. As the leader of an AI business, I have a front-row seat into the reality and the hype surrounding AI. I tend to find most of the claims about AI to be histrionic or self-serving—largely from the CEOs of OpenAI, NVIDIA, Google, Apple, etc. I am a pragmatic optimist when it comes to AI, and I hope that my perspective helps us embrace AI in a manner that sets our students up for success in this brave new world.
What would you like our readers to know about you that they might not know from your official biography?
While I had some success as an athlete in my day, I’m a distant fourth when it comes to being the best athlete in my family. My wife was an NCAA champion gymnast, my son is a professional big-mountain skier, and my daughter is ranked top 10 in the world in U19 freeride skiing.
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