David has over 15 years of experience as a higher education researcher and strategic consultant dedicated to improving and creating more equitable educational outcomes and economic mobility.

While at EAB, the global research and technology firm, he led teams that produced in-depth studies on academic advising, student success change management, academic program evaluation, and overcoming barriers to equitable outcomes. He was responsible for serving over 300 chief academic officers and over 200 community college presidents in the firm's research membership programs.

He also led the consulting team for the Moon Shot for Equity, an initiative that convenes community colleges and four-year institutions to eliminate equity gaps in graduation rates across entire regions of the United States. In both his research and consulting capacities at EAB, he led dozens of interactive workshops for college and university leaders including provosts, presidents, deans, and department chairs. 

At the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, David served as the Director of Research and Knowledge Management. He oversaw the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in 2022 and 2023, including the site visits to the ten finalist institutions and supported the Prize jury with documentation of the strengths and weaknesses of each institution. David's research team produced studies on rural community college excellence and equity in STEM programs. Finally, David led the research and cohort management efforts for the joint Aspen-Community College Research Center Unlocking Opportunity Network, a coalition of ten community colleges dedicated to moving more students into high-value academic programs that contribute to economic mobility and talent development. 

David’s career in higher education began when he staffed the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Academic Plan Steering Committee in the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. He holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Spanish from UNC Chapel Hill. 

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Academic advising reform

Guided pathways strategy

Program portfolio management

Academic program review

Student success technology utilization

Student onboarding redesign

Qualitative research.

Kate has over 14 years of experience in higher education leadership, specializing in guided pathways strategy, equity-centered institutional transformation, and strategic planning. A cultural anthropologist by training, she brings a systems-thinking approach to complex organizational change, combining project management rigor with facilitation expertise to help institutions execute large-scale student success initiatives.

Kate's higher education career includes eight years of direct experience implementing state-mandated policy in Washington State's community and technical college system. As Executive Director of Guided Pathways at Seattle Central College, she managed a $1.6 million portfolio to execute Washington State Legislature's HB 2158 (2019), successfully integrating multiple transformational projects into long-term college operations. These initiatives included English and math directed self-placement, Black solidarity decision-making processes, comprehensive program mapping, and pathway website redesigns. She also played a major role in aligning the college's federal Title III grant with pathways implementation goals. Prior to this role, Kate served as Associate Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, where she managed 100+ union employees across 19 departments while launching the college's initial guided pathways work.

Since founding Learn Consulting in 2024, Kate has expanded her impact at the systems level. She serves as both coach and consultant for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, where she is building and executing statewide learning communities for AI and guided pathways implementation. Her focus is developing administrator capacity for leading student success initiatives and transformational change across Washington's 34 community and technical colleges. Her consulting work extends nationally through partnerships with organizations including Complete College America, where she provides planning and implementation support and strategic guidance to state systems and institutions.

Kate's approach combines her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification with her background in cultural anthropology and ethnographic research. She has designed and taught curriculum on race, class, gender, globalization, and environmentalism, and brings this equity lens to all her consulting work. Her methodology emphasizes building effective interdepartmental teams, establishing clear priorities and work structures, and executing change through proven project management tools and techniques. 

Kate holds a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology and a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology. She is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and maintains extensive facilitation training.

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Guided pathways strategy and implementation

Change management and organizational transformation

Project management and interdepartmental team building

Strategic planning and systems-level coordination

Facilitation and workshop design

Leadership development and coaching

Student success initiative design and execution

Equity-centered program development

Grant management and alignment

Community of practice development

Assessment and data-informed decision-making

Qualitative and ethnographic research methods.

Marisol Garza, Ph.D., is a practitioner-scholar with more than twenty years of experience in higher education, blending research, strategy, and practice to build equitable systems that center student voice. A first-generation Latina whose educational journey began at a community college, Marisol is guided by a lifelong commitment to access, belonging, and transformation.

Her career began as a work-study student at Lone Star College and evolved through leadership roles in academic advising, student engagement, and institutional development. At the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE), she established the Center’s first professional development division and led initiatives that helped colleges use data-informed storytelling to improve the student experience. She also contributed to Higher Endeavor, a Gates Foundation–funded project supporting guided pathways and institutional transformation.

As an Institutional Support Consultant with Trellis Company, Marisol provided technical assistance to minority-serving institutions across multiple states, leading enrollment assessments, communication mapping, and strategic planning to strengthen institutional capacity. At Houston Community College, she was the first Program Manager for Advising, leading a system-wide guided pathways implementation for 70,000+ students and designing professional development for more than 130 advisors each semester.

Marisol’s work sits at the intersection of leadership, research, and equity. She has published and presented nationally on Latinx student engagement, transfer equity, and organizational change. Her approach combines data analysis with relational practice to translate complex information into actionable strategies that foster sustainable improvement.

She holds an A.A. from Lone Star College–CyFair, a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Houston, an M.Ed. in Counseling and Guidance from Texas State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from The University of Texas at Austin. Marisol also holds certifications in leadership psychology from Cornell University and in career and education advising from Indiana University.

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Advising program design and implementation

Guided pathways strategy and implementation

Student experience improvement

Data storytelling and narrative development

Strategic planning and institutional transformation

Project management and multi-stakeholder coordination

Facilitation and workshop design

Community of practice development

Technical assistance and coaching

Equity-centered change management

Enrollment management and strategic growth planning

Workforce skills alignment

Professional development and capacity building

Student communication strategy

Qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Kerry Condon is a strategic advisor and higher education leader with over a decade of experience designing, evaluating, and scaling learner-focused innovations that improve access, affordability, and economic mobility. She brings deep expertise in financial aid policy, institutional transformation, and workforce alignment to help postsecondary institutions, state agencies, and philanthropic organizations achieve equitable, sustainable impact.

Kerry most recently served as Strategic Advisor to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, where she staffed the design, launch, and setup of the MA DHE Innovation Hub, directing $3M in strategic investments across capacity-building, non-degree credentials, cooperative education, and financial aid innovation. She negotiated and managed complex grant agreements and led innovation pilots across Massachusetts with postsecondary institutions, third-party providers, and nonprofit partners to identify and scale promising practices in student success.

Prior to this role, Kerry served as Principal at Tyton Partners, a national strategy consulting firm, where she led client engagements in postsecondary education, workforce development, and philanthropy. Her work included directing a $1M impact evaluation of foundation investments in education-to-workforce data systems and co-authoring longitudinal research on institutional practices and policies that close equity gaps. Earlier in her career, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she led strategic finance initiatives including co-directing over $100M in COVID relief funds and designing budget allocation models for approximately $1B in tuition and state appropriations.

Kerry's career is rooted in a commitment to equity and student success shaped by her own educational journey as a high school dropout and community college transfer student. As Special Assistant to the President at Paul Quinn College, she raised $3M for the institution and contributed to the growth of the Urban Work College model. Her consulting portfolio has spanned research and evaluation, strategic planning, and partnership development with organizations including rpk GROUP, Duke University, Say Yes to Education, and SRI International.

Kerry holds a Master of Public Policy from Duke University, where she was a Rubenstein Public Service Fellow, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science from UNC Chapel Hill, where she graduated summa cum laude. She serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate with Boston CASA, representing the best interests of children in foster care.

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Equity-focused systems change

Financial aid policy and strategy

Impact and program evaluation

Institutional transformation and change management

Non-degree credentials

Strategic finance and resource allocation

Strategic planning and implementation

Workforce development and talent pathways.

Lori Lindenberg is a higher education executive with more than a decade of experience leading institutional research, data strategy, strategic planning, and budget optimization across community college and university systems. Her work is driven by a commitment to expanding access, strengthening public institutions, and building data-informed cultures that enable transformative student and organizational outcomes.

Lori currently serves as Senior Associate Vice President of Institutional Research, Planning, and Budget at Scottsdale Community College, where she leads analytics, grants, and fiscal teams while overseeing strategic and operational planning. As a member of the President’s Cabinet and chair of the Strategic Planning and Resource Allocation Committee (SPARC), she is guiding the college through a multi-year budget reallocation, mission and vision development, and a comprehensive strategic plan refresh.

Previously, Lori served as Senior Director of Data Strategy and Asset Orchestration in Arizona State University’s Provost Office, where she led enterprise-wide data initiatives, data  governance programs, and the ASU Datacademy professional training platform. She also served as District Director of Enterprise Analytics & Strategy for the Maricopa Community Colleges District, where she led a team to build the organization’s first ever enterprise dashboards, developed compelling and action-driving data products, and scaled modern data infrastructure serving more than 100,000 students and 10,000 employees. Earlier in her career, Lori held leadership and analytic roles at Phoenix College and the University of North Dakota, advancing enrollment forecasting, incentive-based budgeting, and institutional research capabilities.

Lori is a frequent national presenter at higher education conferences and her work advancing institutional analytics was a part of the project that earned Maricopa’s Innovation of the Year Award in 2022. She serves on the Complete College America AI Council and is the co-founder of Kea Consultants, where she supports colleges and universities in strengthening analytics, planning, and decision-making systems.

Lori is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University and holds both a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Public Administration from the University of North Dakota.

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Data strategy and analytics

Strategic and operational planning

Institutional research

Financial process improvement and budget optimization

Dashboard and data product development

Data storytelling & process visualization

Data governance and infrastructure

Agile project and portfolio management

Higher education analytics and decision support

Institutional effectiveness and performance management.

Dr. Katie O’Brien is a passionate mixed-methods researcher and educator with a deep commitment to advancing educational equity and well-being for students and teachers. With a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from Georgia State University, Dr. O'Brien specializes in designing and conducting research that drives data-informed improvements in higher education programs. She has extensive experience leading both mixed-method and qualitative evaluations, particularly in projects focused on supporting underrepresented students and enhancing learning environments.

Dr. O’Brien’s work spans grant evaluation, program assessment, and instructional design. She has led research on Title V and NSF-funded grants that support Hispanic and low-income students, conducting program evaluations that inform institutional decision-making. She collaborates with stakeholders to translate research findings into actionable strategies that improve student success and foster inclusive learning environments.

Dr. O’Brien also served as Project Manager for the NSF-funded Teaching to Teach AI workshop at Emory University’s Center for AI Learning, designed to equip high school STEAM educators with the skills to integrate artificial intelligence into their teaching practices. Dr. O’Brien also completed program research on this initiative to improve future AI education. Her collaborative approach to research and evaluation empowers stakeholders to make meaningful, evidence-based decisions that foster inclusive educational practices. Her background in educational psychology has also led her to study performance anxiety and student engagement, with her research presented at leading conferences such as the Max Planck Institute.

Beyond research, Dr. O’Brien has extensive experience in teaching and curriculum design, working at K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. She has mentored preservice teachers, developed innovative curricula, and co-authored a forthcoming Oxford Press book chapter on humanizing online teaching. With dual bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Ithaca College and an M.A. in Music Psychology from the University of Sheffield, Dr. O’Brien is committed to leveraging research to enhance the transformative power of education and create equitable opportunities for all students.

Expertise and Practice Areas:

Mixed Methods and Qualitative Research

Educational and Performance Psychology

Behavior Change

K-12 and Higher Education

Program Implementation and Evaluation.