Chief Executive Officer
Chief Executive Officer and President of E&I Cooperative Services, Eric Frank is an entrepreneurial leader with a passion for education and a firm belief in the power of collaboration and cooperation. Eric joined E&I in March 2020 with a focus on advancing the Cooperative’s mission of helping members save time and money while increasing the value of services delivered to various stakeholders.
Eric began his career in the educational content and technology sector, selling college textbooks through Cengage Learning. He then moved into product development, marketing, and executive leadership roles within Pearson Education. From there he created, built, and led two technology-related companies in the education space: FlatWorld Knowledge, where he was Founder, President & Chief Marketing Officer from 2007-2012; and Acrobatiq Inc., where he served as CEO and Founder from 2013-2018. Most recently Eric served as the Vice President, General Manager of Vital Source Technologies, LLC.
Eric is currently an Advisor to the Center for Educational Technology in Tel Aviv, Israel. He holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Connect with Eric
efrank@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Operating Officer & Treasurer
John D. Orlando, CPA joined E&I in July 2004 as the Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. His current role is Chief Operating Officer & Treasurer. His focus at E&I has been on transforming the financial, information technology and human resource areas into a more strategic function that supports and provides organizational leadership to the Cooperative.
John began his career in public accounting with Grant Thornton where he gained experience in various industries over a seven year period. He was recruited by Powers Chemco, Inc., a multinational manufacturing and distribution corporation and quickly rose to the position of Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. The company was acquired by Konica Corporation and John continued to serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for over 11 years.
Following Konica, John joined General Media, a multinational publisher as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and later became President and Chief Operating Officer. John returned to manufacturing and distribution when he joined Country Life Vitamins as Vice President of Finance and Operations before joining E&I in his current role.
John has served as President of the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, which was instrumental in revitalizing the business sector in the City of Glen Cove during his tenure. He has also served as President of The Community Scholarship Fund of Glen Cove which awards scholarships to deserving high school seniors who will be attending college.
John holds a BS in Accounting from St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY.
Connect with John
jorlando@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Chief Operating Officer & Treasurer
Vice President, Strategy
Colin Anderson is the Vice President, Strategy at E&I Cooperative Services. In this role, he drives E&I’s overall approach to strategy and ensures alignment to the Cooperative’s mission, values, and objectives.
Colin works closely with the CEO and Leadership team to ensure effective formulation of E&I’s long term strategies while providing leadership across the organization to functional areas in their execution of these strategies and their support of the future direction of E&I. He engages with internal and external stakeholders in strategic problem solving of critical business opportunities and challenges.
In his career at E&I, Colin has also served as Vice President, Member Engagement; Vice President, Member Solutions; and Member Relations Executive. He brings over 24 years of higher education procurement experience from his prior positions at the University of Michigan.
Connect with Colin
canderson@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Vice President, Strategy
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Phil Grabfield is the Senior Vice President, Marketing at E&I Cooperative Services. In this role, he is responsible for developing and executing marketing initiatives to help the Cooperative’s members select contracts that best meet their needs. These include advertising, content marketing, website, social media, PR, newsletters, webinars, videos, podcasts, conference sponsorships, sales tools, and marketing materials.
Prior to joining E&I in 2017, Phil held positions across a range of industries: brand management at Kraft, marketing and brand consulting at Marketing Corporation of America and FutureBrand, and leadership positions at Mercer, Staffing Industry Analysts, and Teladoc.
Phil graduated from Trinity College with a B.A. in Economics and Spanish and from The University of Pennsylvania with an M.B.A. in Marketing and an M.A. in International Studies. He lives in Connecticut with his wife (and dog Joe Cocker) and has two children that are out of the nest. He is a jack of most sports and a master of none.
Connect with Phil
pgrabfield@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Senior Vice President, Member Engagement
James has worked with E&I since 2013, leading the Inside Member Representative team to support engagement with small and/or rural member institutions. In 2021 he led the newly formed Member Success department, where he and the team created new processes for improving the member experience and helping members maximize the value they receive from the Cooperative. As the Senior Vice President, Member Engagement, James and his team lead the strategy for Sourcing Consultants, Business Development, and Member Success teams to help all members leverage the benefits of E&I and maximize savings and value for their institutions.
In his free time, James enjoys playing music, hiking, reading, and spending time with his family.
Connect with James
jlampe@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Senior Vice President, Member Engagement
Vice President, Strategy
Casey Laurienzo is the Director, Contract Operations at E&I Cooperative Services. In this role, she is responsible for leveraging contracting best practices and ensuring the proper use of resources resulting in timely, effective, and compliant contracting activities.
Casey has 20 years of combined public, private, and higher education experience with a robust background in contract administration, contract management, and contract negotiation. In her position as Contract Administrator at Florida State University, she was responsible for developing, managing, and improving the Contract Administration Program, including contract review, compliance negotiation, and risk management. Prior to that she served as Bureau Chief, General Services at Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
She is a certified Project Management Professional and a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She won the 2020 NAEP Volunteer of the Year Award for her efforts as Chair of the NAEP Education Committee from 2020-2021.
Casey works out of her home office in Florida.
Connect with Casey
claurienzo@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Vice President, Strategy
Vice President, Operations
Melánie Lund is the Vice President, Operations at E&I Cooperative Services. She joined E&I in February 2006. Prior to that, she served as the Purchasing Services Director for the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. While at the University of St. Thomas she was also a Technical Process Analyst for a campus-wide implementation of the SunGard SCT integration process.
Melánie is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. She has been active in the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP), serving on the Minnesota/Dakotas NAEP regional board, including Regional President and the University of St. Thomas Alumni Board.
Melánie is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and Spanish International Business, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
Connect with Melánie
mlund@eandi.org | Linkedin
Vice President, Operations
Senior Vice President, Innovation & Insights
Erin is the Senior Vice President, Innovation & Insights at E&I Cooperative Services. In this role, she is responsible for the Cooperative’s eProcurement initiatives, VERVE, and Strategic Spend Assessments (SSAs). She also applies her expertise to sourcing analytics, benchmarking, and member pricing reviews, as well as bringing new innovative products to market.
Erin has over 20 years of supply chain experience in both public and private sectors. Prior to joining E&I, she was the Executive Director of Information, Analytics & Systems for Procurement Services at the University of California (UC) system. During her 10 years at UC, she established and executed strategic plans for systemwide procurement technology and procurement business intelligence functions. She also spearheaded the development of a systemwide savings program, including normalized definitions, processes, and software development which has captured $2 billion in savings since its inception.
In her spare time, Erin loves escaping to the mountains and spending time in the Napa Valley. You can usually find her working on a home improvement project and providing recommendations to her valued guests as an AirBnB Superhost.
Connect with Erin
eriley@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Senior Vice President, Innovation & Insights
Director of Culture
Lori Beth is the Director of Culture at E&I Cooperative Services. In this role, she is responsible for working collaboratively with senior leadership and internal stakeholders to develop and operationalize E&I’s Deliberately Developmental Organizational (DDO) and High Performance Principles & Practices (HP3). She is committed to fostering these values, principles, and practices for E&I’s staff in alignment with the mission and vision of E&I to create an environment for the continuous personal and professional growth of all employees.
Lori Beth joined E&I in 2017 as Senior Human Resources Generalist and was responsible for supporting the HR team with recruiting, HRIS, multistate legal compliance, benefits, and engagement and retention initiatives. She was promoted to HR Manager, Benefits & Employee Services in 2020, during which she was responsible for researching and strategically adding diverse offerings within E&I’s benefits portfolio and managing the full lifecycle of the annual company benefit plans. This included managing third-party affiliates and HRIS and benefit carrier data feeds, as well as supporting the implementation of self-service across the organization.
Prior to her career at E&I, Lori Beth held numerous positions within human resources in the restaurant, retail, and banking industries. Her experience has allowed her the opportunity to work in all disciplines such as performance management, succession planning, compliance, training, benefits administration, and recruiting. Lori Beth is an active member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and has obtained and maintained her Senior Certified Professional Certification (SHRM-SCP).
Connect with Lori Beth
lrodrigues@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Director, Culture
Senior Vice President, Sourcing
Jill Schunk is a Senior Sourcing Consultant at E&I Cooperative Services with more than 30 years of progressive procurement and strategic sourcing experience at Indiana University (IU). In this role, she is responsible for developing, leading, and managing the consultative relationship between E&I and its large market members. This is accomplished by presenting member-focused solutions utilizing data analytics, and proven strategies using strategic sourcing methodologies.
Jill began her career at IU as a Contract Manager and went on to serve as Director of Operations of the purchasing department, and then as Executive Director of the procurement department. In her most recent position at IU, Jill served as Associate Vice President, Procurement Services, where she was responsible for the successful consolidation, administration, and management of the IU system’s many individual campus purchasing departments to a single entity supporting the entire system. She managed over $900 million annually through purchasing.
Jill has been affiliated with and a member of several organizations such as NAEP, The Big Ten Academic Alliance, and Pro Leadership.
She works out of her home office in Indiana and supports the Southern Central region with large market members located in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
Connect with Jill
jschunk@eandi.org | LinkedIn
Senior Vice President, Sourcing