
June 14-16, 2023
InterContinental Boston–Boston, MA
Featured Keynotes
Eduventures Summit 2023
Remastering—the evergreen theme of Eduventures Summit—makes the old new again. New technology, techniques, voices and ideas are needed to make the timeless fundamentals of higher education shine again.
Higher education’s burning issues are all-too familiar: shrinking enrollment, a looming “demographic cliff”, allegations of privilege and inequity, concerns about affordability and doubts about value. Throw in sky-high inflation, a tight labor market and the aftermath of a global pandemic—not to mention culture wars and politicization—and the sector appears more beleaguered than ever.
Reality is more complicated. Innovation is everywhere: flagship universities are expanding and diversifying their classes, states are passing new funding compacts, schools are consolidating and reorganizing, and low price fully online universities continue to thrive. So-called “direct admissions”, where a college offers a student admission without an application, seeks to cut through misperceptions of price and fit. Degree and certificate combinations, integrating academics and real-world skills, are increasingly common. Instituting rigorous feedback loops and intervention protocols, some schools have pulled off game-changing gains on student retention and academic performance.
The problem is that too often systems—at institutional, state and national levels—overwhelm green shoots of change. Habits, divisions, inertia and day-to-day priorities make it hard for new ideas to take root and become institutionalized. But that embeddedness is essential if we are to leave higher education stronger for the next generation. Colleges and universities are among our nation’s most enduring institutions, built on a legacy of adaptation, renewal and inclusion.
Join us for Eduventures Summit 2023, live in Boston, to learn from mold-breakers inside and outside higher education, who are challenging the status quo.
2023 Keynote Speakers
Confirmed keynote speakers as of January 2023


Paul LeBlanc
President, Southern New Hampshire University
Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc is President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Under the 18 years of Paul’s direction, SNHU has grown from 2,800 students to over 175,000 learners and is the largest non-profit university in the country.
The university was #12 on Fast Company magazine’s “World’s Fifty Most Innovative Companies” list and was the only university included. Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of its 15 “Classroom Revolutionaries” and one of the “most influential people in higher education.” Washington Monthly named him one of America’s ten most innovative university presidents. In 2018, Paul won the prestigious TIAA Institute Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence in Higher Education, joining some of the most respected university and college presidents in American higher education.
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Paul served as Senior Policy Advisor to Under Secretary Ted Mitchell at the U.S. Department of Education, working on competency-based education, new accreditation pathways, and innovation. Paul serves on the American Council of Education (ACE) Board, and served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Board on Higher Education and Workforce.
Paul is the author of Students First: Access, Equity, and Opportunity in Higher Education was published by Harvard Education Press in 2021, and Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How We Can Fix Them published in 2022.
Paul immigrated to the United States as a child, was the first person in his extended family to attend college and is a graduate of Framingham State University (BA), Boston College (MA), and the University of Massachusetts (PhD). From 1993 to 1996 he directed a technology start up for Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company, was President of Marlboro College (VT) from 1996 to 2003 and became President of SNHU in 2003. His wife Patricia is an attorney and they have two daughters, Emma and Hannah.


Trabian Shorters
Founder & CEO of BMe Community, Social Entrepreneur, and Author
Trabian Shorters is one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and the catalyst of a national movement to first define black people by their aspirations and contributions, then to secure their fundamental freedoms to Live, Own, Vote and Excel.
He is a retired tech entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and former vice president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation where he was responsible for $300M in active grants and endowments in 26 US cities.
His nonprofit social impact network, BMe Community, is award-winning for innovation, impact, and storytelling and boasts more than 400 black leaders plus institutional allies committed to building “equity without stigma.”
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Shorters is the international authority on an award-winning cognitive framework called “Asset-Framing®” which is in high-demand by heads of influential philanthropic, journalism and social impact networks.
Asset-Framing equips its practitioners to have far greater social impact, raise more money, engage broader populations, and make fundamentally stronger cases for equity and systems-change.


Joy Moore
Executive Director of the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success at Boston College
In July of 2020, Joy was appointed the inaugural Executive Director of the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success at Boston College. Prior to this position she served as vice president for Student Affairs at Boston College.Â
A secondary school and higher education administrator, she has served at a variety of independent schools and universities over a 35-year career. Prior to returning to Boston College in 2011, Joy served four years as the interim and deputy head of school at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has also served as the head of school at the Archer School in Los Angeles, California, and as the associate head/director of Upper School at Dana Hall in Wellesley, Massachusetts. As a university administrator, she has held a variety of leadership positions at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, and Boston College. Her experience extends into the field of alumni engagement and fundraising.Â
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An active local and national volunteer she has served as a trustee and board member for the National Coalition of Girls Schools, the Nashoba Brooks School, Dana Hall School, the South African Heads of Independent Schools Association, and the South African Girls’ School Association. Joy chaired the annual joint conference of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and served as a trustee on the CASE board. As a community volunteer, she served for many years as co-president of the Wellesley chapter of the national A Better Chance Organization. She has also served on the boards of the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston and the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Foundation board. A 1981 graduate of the Lynch School of Education and recipient of an honorary doctorate degree in 2010 from Boston College.
Agenda
Wednesday, June 14 | |
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6:00pm - 8:00pm | Welcome Reception and Remarks Dennis Syracuse, Division President, Encoura |
Thursday, June 15 | |
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9:00am - 9:10am | Opening Remarks Dennis Syracuse, Division President, Encoura |
9:10am - 9:15am | Agenda Review Richard Garrett, Eduventures Chief Research Officer at Encoura |
9:15am - 10:00am | Keynote Presentation Trabian Shorters, Founder & CEO of BMe Community, Social Entrepreneur, and Author |
10:00am - 10:45am | Research Update Kim Reid, Eduventures Principal Analyst at Encoura |
10:45am - 11:00am | Break |
11:00am - 11:45am | Keynote Presentation The Defining Decade Dr. Meg Jay, Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Human Development at the University of Virginia |
11:45am - 12:30pm | Research Update Richard Garrett, Eduventures Chief Research Officer at Encoura |
12:30pm - 1:45pm | Lunch Presentations |
1:45pm - 2:00pm | Ed Tech Analyst Break James Wiley, Eduventures Principal Analyst at Encoura |
2:00pm - 2:45pm | Keynote Presentation A conversation with Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University and, Richard Garrett, Eduventures Chief Research Officer at Encoura |
2:45pm - 3:30pm | Featured Panel Learning, Earning and Experience: The Past and Future of Post-Secondary Education Louis Soares, Chief Learning & Innovation Officer at the American Council on Education |
3:30pm - 4:00pm | Snack Break |
4:00pm - 5:00pm | Keynote Presentation |
5:00pm - 5:30pm | Innovation Award Winner Presentation Cara Quackenbush, Eduventures Executive Vice President of Research at Encoura |
5:30pm - 7:30pm | Innovation Award Reception |
Friday, June 16 | |
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9:00am - 9:45am | Keynote Presentation Joy Moore, Executive Director of the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success at Boston College |
9:45am - 10:15am | Keynote Presentation |
10:15am - 10:30am | Break |
10:30am - 11:15am | Keynote Presentation |
11:15am - 12:00pm | Keynote Presentation |
12:00pm | Closing Remarks |

Sponsorship
Become a Summit Sponsor
Sponsorship of Eduventures Summit provides an exclusive opportunity to extend your brand and meet with 500 senior leaders from higher education institutions across the country. Sponsors can network with high-level decision makers and join the discussion on the disruption and innovation transforming the higher education sector. Our conference will focus on the big issues facing higher education leaders, discuss ways to align strategy and innovation, and provide role-based workshops for higher education leaders.
Eduventures Summit will explore the newest ideas in student enrollment management, online and continuing education, program student success drivers, and the impact of technology innovation in all of these areas.
Limited Attendance
Senior Leaders from
Colleges and Universities
2022 Sponsors
Platinum Sponsors


Gold Sponsors


Silver Sponsors


Innovation Awards
Eduventures Research Innovation Awards Program was created to recognize and showcase the achievements of organizations that share Eduventures vision for a responsive, innovative higher education sector.
Recognize your work and team efforts with an Innovation Award.
Each year Eduventures Research solicits award applications, completes judging, and announces winners in 3 categories (listed below). We welcome submissions focused on enrollment, student experience or outcomes innovation during or inspired by the pandemic. Award winners will be featured at Eduventures Summit 2022.
About the Program
Eduventures Innovation Awards Program honors higher education institutions, companies and other organizations in the following categories: Enrollment, Student Experience, and Outcomes.
Judges select winners from written applications and, if needed, follow-up interviews. Entries are scored on value to the institution, innovation, and relevance to the mission of the school.
Innovation Categories
Enrollment
A new enrollment management strategy in a fast-changing environment.
Student Experience
A new approach to teaching and learning or student support.
Outcomes
A new effort to define and report student outcomes.
Congratulations to our 2022 Innovation Award Winners

Washington & Jefferson College

University of Arizona

Colorado Technical University

Florida Atlantic University
Washington & Jefferson College
University of Arizona
Colorado Technical University
Florida Atlantic University
Hotel Accommodations
Encoura has secured a heavily discounted block of rooms for Summit 2023 attendees. Please refer to your registration confirmation email for information on how to become part of our room block. The beautiful and centrally located Intercontinental Boston Waterfront Hotel will host all of our activities.

InterContinental Boston Waterfront Hotel
510 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02210
Phone: 1-617-747-1000 | Fax: 1-617-217-5169
Attendees will receive a discounted rate of $375 per night.