Cameron C. Staples
President/CEO
Cameron C. Staples, an attorney and former Connecticut State Representative, has been President/Chief Executive Officer at NEASC since 2011. Mr. Staples has a breadth of educational and legislative experience.
NEASC accredits over 1600 independent schools and public schools throughout New England as well as 500 international schools in over 85 countries. As President/CEO, Staples manages a staff of 50 employees and a volunteer base of nearly 8000 individuals. As the leader of the organization, he develops and implements the Association’s strategic direction, ensures the value and relevance of the NEASC accreditation process, and builds partnerships with education agencies, as well as domestic and foreign government leaders, to strengthen the role of accreditation as a mechanism for educational accountability and institutional improvement.
Staples has over twenty-five years of experience with accreditation, having been a member of NEASC’s Commission on International Education from 2000 to 2010. Prior to joining the NEASC staff, he participated on several international accreditation team visits throughout the world.
Staples also has extensive experience with accreditation of higher education institutions, both when NEASC included colleges and universities within its membership through 2018, and through his service on and leadership of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). In 2010, Staples was appointed by the US Senate and later elected Chair of NACIQI, a committee that advises the Secretary of Education on higher education accreditation and other policy matters.
Prior to joining NEASC in 2011, Staples served as a Connecticut State Representative, Chairing both the Education Committee and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committees. Staples also served as Commissioner of the Education Commission of the States, Co-Chairman of the Connecticut International Education Advisory Committee, Vice-Chairman of the New England Board of Higher Education, and member of the Budget and Review Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
As an attorney in private practice from 1989 through 2011, Staples represented medical organizations and physicians in successful national class-action cases challenging unfair business practices of health insurance companies. Following court settlements, he was appointed through a federal court order to serve as the national advocate for physicians and patients with complaints against several health insurers.
