M&A or Closure? Complex Considerations, Critical Choices

Tracey S. Pachman is Vice President and General Counsel of Saint Joseph’s University. Pachman has over 20 years of deep and varied higher education and corporate legal experience, specializing in contracts, intellectual property, research, employment and student matters, and other higher education law issues. 
 
Before joining Saint Joseph’s in April 2020, Pachman served as the deputy general counsel at Villanova University, assistant general counsel at Aramark and senior counsel at Comcast. She was also previously in private practice at Pepper Hamilton LLP (now Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP) in Philadelphia.  
 
Pachman has been a member of NACUA since 2014 and has served as a moderator and panel member for NACUA Annual Meeting sessions. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of a nonprofit arts organization and volunteers with and supports other local non-profit organizations. She is a member of the Bar of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Pachman has spoken and moderated panels on topics including in-house legal careers, employment law and other legal issues in higher education. 
 
Pachman earned her bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude, in both psychology and political science. She received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law.  

Mike McGrath is a partner in the Colleges & Universities practice at Ropes & Gray. Mike advises educational institutions, research institutes and nonprofit organizations on a variety of transactional, corporate governance, compliance, and regulatory matters. Mike is also a member of the firm’s public finance practice and has served as borrower’s counsel, underwriter’s counsel, and bond counsel in connection with both public and private tax-exempt and taxable financings.  

Mike advises numerous colleges and universities in connection with accreditation, affiliations, and corporate transactions with other educational institutions, including: Berklee College of Music in its merger with The Boston Conservatory; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in its transfer of the School of Museum of Fine Arts to Tufts University; Albert Einstein College of Medicine and its spinout from Yeshiva University; Boston University in its merger with Wheelock College; Saint Joseph’s University in its mergers with University of the Sciences of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences; Antioch University in its first-of-its-kind affiliation with Otterbein University.   

Mike advises various health care systems and community hospitals in connection with both affiliations and mergers with other health care and academic organizations. He counseled Tulane University in connection with the reorganization of its clinical and academic enterprises and relocation of its primary teaching hospital.  

Mike is a member of the Boston Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Mike graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Health Care Management and Policy. He graduated cum laude with a JD from Duke University School of Law, where he also served as research editor for the Duke Law Journal.  

Tracey L. Schneider serves as the Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). She has more than 15 years of legal experience with a primary focus on education law. In her role, Tracey oversees all legal aspects of the complex substantive change process and all strategic transactions proposed by MSCHE’s member institutions. In addition, Tracey oversees MSCHE’s regulatory work, engaging with state and federal partners in the regulatory triad on all institutional matters. Prior to joining MSCHE, Tracey served as general counsel for an educational institution, represented public and private educational entities in private practice, and held a faculty position teaching in organizational leadership in a doctoral program. Tracey frequently publishes and presents on a wide variety of legal and organizational topics. Her academic credentials include a B.S in Business Administration from the University of Richmond (VA), a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Planning & Leadership from the College of William & Mary (VA).