Supporting Your Best Professional Self in Higher Education

Community-Building — Strengthening a collaborative and supportive professional network across the higher education landscape.

Actionable Learning — Equipping attendees with concrete takeaways and strategies they can immediately apply to their work and career development.

Working Smarter

AI, productivity, efficiency, and tools that help you do more with less.

Growing Your Career

Advancement, positioning, career navigation, and owning your professional trajectory.

Building Relationships

Mentorship, networking, influence, and building the connections that matter.

Leading in Complex Environments

Managing up/down, navigating teams, communication, and leading through uncertainty.

Expert-Led Presentations

Research, best practices, and case studies with clear implementation strategies.

Interactive Workshops

Hands-on learning experiences that equip you with actionable tools.

Networking Roundtables

Focused peer discussions with opportunities to connect, share insights, and grow.

Strategic Impact Partner is a consulting firm that partners with colleges and universities across the U.S. to strengthen leadership, performance, and long-term capacity. Their work spans everything from assessing university or college plans for large higher education systems to driving change within smaller institutions.

We bring cross-sector experience from private industry, government, and nonprofits to the work of higher education, offering executive coaching, strategic planning, organizational analysis, talent acquisition, and capacity building tailored to the realities of academic institutions. Our human-centered approach means we immerse ourselves in each campus’s culture and challenges rather than applying generic playbooks, helping institutions invigorate professional learning communities and advance equity-minded practices.

Guided by principles of diverse perspectives, collaborative partnership, and sustainable impact, we act as genuine partners, building internal capabilities that continue to create value long after our engagement ends. Strategic Impact Partner is committed to helping higher education institutions achieve their full potential through continuous improvement and forward-thinking leadership.

myFootpath is a Chicago-based higher education services company that helps colleges and universities identify, re-engage, re-enroll, and support former students through graduation. By combining institutional data analysis, campus immersion, institution-specific outreach, hands-on re-enrollment support, and ongoing coaching, myFootpath turns historical student data into enrollment and degree-completion opportunities. Its core offerings, Operation ReEngage and Operation Graduate, connect returning and new adult learners with a path back to their degree. Led by Founder and CEO J.T. Allen, myFootpath partners with colleges and universities nationwide — including Indiana State University, Regis University, and Utah Valley University — and collaborates with organizations such as the National Student Clearinghouse and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning to expand its reach across higher education.

The Bo-Tree is an executive and leadership coaching practice founded by Raashi Bhatia, PCC. The practice supports leaders and professionals as they navigate complexity, transition, and meaningful growth in their work. Drawing on Integral Coaching®, reflective inquiry, and embodied approaches to development, Raashi helps clients deepen self-awareness, clarify what matters, and expand how they lead, relate, and respond to challenging situations.

In addition to individual coaching, The Bo-Tree offers leadership workshops and facilitated learning experiences focused on listening, communication, professional development, and leading in complex environments. Raashi brings more than 500 hours of coaching experience and is pursuing a PhD in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her work bridges practical leadership development with a deeper understanding of human experience, attention, and meaning-making.

Megan Akatu Coaching & Culture helps leaders and teams navigate the human side of leadership with greater clarity, confidence, and connection.

Drawing on 20 years of leadership experience and a decade within higher education, founder Megan Akatu, partners with colleges, universities, and mission-driven organizations to strengthen leadership capacity and improve team dynamics.

Through leadership development programs, executive coaching, and retreats, Megan helps leaders increase self-awareness, communicate more effectively, navigate workplace tension, make clearer decisions, and take greater ownership of their impact.

Her approach combines practical leadership tools with neuroscience, psychology, nervous system regulation, and behavior change, helping leaders move beyond simply knowing what good leadership looks like to actually practicing it.

At the heart of Megan Akatu Coaching & Culture is a belief that stronger organizations begin with leaders who know how to lead themselves, build meaningful relationships, and create the conditions for people to thrive.

Early bird rate (until September 15): $85 per attendee (plus applicable transaction fees)

Regular rate (after September 15): $115 per attendee (plus applicable transaction fees)

Registration fee includes lunch (breakfast is not provided).

Sessions will not be recorded; resources and materials will be shared with all registered attendees after the event.

Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with event details.

We have limited space due to room capacity, so early registration is encouraged!

If you are unable to attend, your registration may be transferred to a colleague by emailing board@higheredcollective.org no later than October 15, 2026.

Cancellation requests must be submitted via email to board@higheredcollective.org.

Cancellations before October 1, 2026 will receive a full refund minus any processing/service fees.

Cancellations between October 1–14, 2026 will receive a 50% refund minus any processing/service fees.

No refunds will be issued for cancellations after October 15, 2026.

Registration fees are non-transferable to future events.

In the rare case that the event is canceled due to weather or other emergencies, full refunds will be issued to all registrants.