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 March 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 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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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.
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.
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Dr. Meg Jay
Author of The Defining Decade and Supernormal, and Clinical Psychologist at the University of Virginia
There are 75 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 35, and Meg Jay makes the case for taking their work lives, love lives, and emotional lives seriously. The author of ‘The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now’ and ‘Supernormal: The Secret World of the Family Hero,’ she has elevated what it means to be a twenty-something and what it means to have grown up with hard times.
Jay has had the pleasure of speaking to audiences including TED, Goldman Sachs, University of Chicago, Merrill Lynch, Cosmopolitan, Aspen Institute, The New Yorker, Yale University, MTV, Young Presidents Organization, How To Academy, U.S. Government Office of Personnel Management, Family Action Network, and Sundance.
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Louis Soares
Chief Learning & Innovation Officer at the American Council on Education
Louis Soares serves as the Chief Learning & Innovation Officer at ACE. Soares incubates and scales ACE’s executive leadership networks, as well as catalyzes compelling research and innovation initiatives across the Council. Working with colleagues, Soares integrates the work of ACE’s leadership, research and innovation teams to optimize membership value for colleges and universities by developing programs and services to advance the success of senior leaders, diversify the executive talent pipeline, and facilitate partnerships to enhance institutional performance. While at ACE, he published landmark papers, including The Post-traditional Learners Manifesto Revisited: Aligning Postsecondary Education with Real Life for Adult Student Success and Evolving Higher Education Business Models: Leading with Data to Deliver Results.
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
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
Recognize your work and team efforts with an Innovation Award.
About the Program
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
Student Experience
Outcomes
Congratulations to our 2022 Innovation Award Winners




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.