Aims McGuinness is a Senior Associate with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), a private non-profit policy centre in Boulder, Colorado. At NCHEMS, he specialises in state governance and co-ordination of higher education; strategic planning and restructuring higher education systems; roles and responsibilities of public institutional and multi-campus system governing boards; and international comparison of education reform. Prior to joining NCHEMS in 1993, he was director of higher education policy at the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Before joining ECS in 1975, he served as a congressional staff member and was executive assistant to the Chancellor of the University of Maine System. Over the past 20 years, he has advised many of the states that have conducted major studies of their higher education systems and undertaken higher education reforms. He has participated in OECD reviews of higher education in regional and city development in the Galilee (Israel) and Penang (Malaysia).