Five Leaders Shaping the Future of Higher Education Digital Experience

As we close out 2025, it's worth looking back at a year that felt different for higher education. The conversations shifted. The pressure points became clearer. And a handful of leaders stepped up with frameworks, tools, and ideas that actually moved institutions forward.

This wasn't a year for grand proclamations. It was a year for practical solutions. Students showed up with higher expectations and shorter attention spans. Search behavior evolved faster than most content strategies could track. Digital teams stretched thinner while being asked to deliver more. AI moved from theoretical discussion to real implementation. And across campus, silos started breaking down out of necessity, not aspiration.

Through all of this, certain voices cut through. People who make complicated transitions feel manageable. People who give stretched teams a clear path forward. People who turn abstract challenges into concrete next steps. People who show how to use AI without losing the human touch that makes higher education work.

Here are five leaders who shaped what 2025 looked like in higher ed digital experience and why their influence will carry into 2026.

1. Sameer Maggon – Founder and CEO, SearchStax Sameer Maggon helped colleges finally treat search like the front door it actually is. For too long, search sat in the background while marketing obsessed over homepage carousels and enrollment debated CRM sequences. Meanwhile, students were typing questions into search bars and leaving frustrated.

SearchStax now serves over 1,400 clients globally, with higher education as its largest vertical. Institutions like Texas Christian University, University of Illinois, Urbana and the University of Arkansas have deployed next-generation search solutions that understand student intent in real time.

Sameer has been relentless about one thing: student intent matters more than institutional structure. Campuses using AI-guided search models are discovering the language students actually use when looking for financial aid deadlines, major requirements and support services. That discovery is changing how content gets written, how information gets organized and how decisions get made.

What sets SearchStax apart is its practical approach to AI. The platform uses machine learning and large language models to understand search patterns, but maintains human oversight where it matters most. Business users and content teams can override AI decisions when needed, applying their knowledge of institutional context and domain expertise. It's AI with a human in the loop, not AI replacing human judgment.

The result? Reduced frustration. Faster answers. Content strategies driven by real behavior instead of committee consensus and assumptions. Search is becoming the lens through which institutions understand their audiences, and Sameer is showing them how to look through it clearly.

2. Ashley Budd – Senior Director, Advancement Marketing, Cornell University

Ashley Budd has become one of the most trusted voices in higher ed marketing, and for good reason. She writes and thinks with a clarity that cuts through the noise. Her work at Cornell and her training & workshops have pushed teams to focus on real audiences rather than internal assumptions.

At Cornell, where she has worked for over a decade, Ashley and her team launched a rapid-response advocacy campaign in under two weeks that mobilized thousands of alumni during a critical moment. The campaign demonstrated how universities can move quickly when digital teams have the right workflows and decision-making frameworks in place.

What stands out is her ability to make large institutions feel personal. She pairs data with storytelling without losing the human side. And she shows teams how to simplify workflows instead of layering on more channels, more tools, and more meetings. Her book Mailed It and her newsletter Ashley in Your Inbox have become required reading for advancement professionals looking to modernize their approach.

Her influence shows up in the way more institutions are starting to communicate: cleaner, more focused, and more honest about who they serve and what they promise. As digital channels multiply, Ashley's voice reminds teams that clarity beats volume every time.

3. Josh Koenig – Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Pantheon

Josh Koenig changed how higher ed thinks about web operations. Pantheon powers sites for over 800 higher education institutions, including nearly half of Division I schools, and seven of eight Ivies, with several large universities serving as early adopters who helped shape the platform's development.

Most campuses still manage dozens or hundreds of sites using outdated workflows on legacy platforms, which often leads to unexpected downtime and weekend panic. Josh has championed a platform-first approach that gives digital teams predictability. That predictability translates into faster publishing, calmer weekends, and more freedom to focus on real improvements instead of firefighting broken sites.

He is also helping bridge a critical industry gap. Marketing and IT have historically operated in different worlds with different vocabularies. Josh explains technical concepts in ways that everyone can understand, which helps both sides collaborate without friction or frustration. His work has positioned him as a Top 25 Software Product Executive by The Software Report, and his leadership on WebOps continues to shape how institutions approach their digital infrastructure.

It comes down to this: Teams using modern WebOps practices move faster, break less, and work with more confidence. As digital demands increase, infrastructure matters more than ever, and Josh is helping teams build for scale, not survival.

4. Katie Condon – Vice President for Enrollment Management, Eastern Michigan University

Katie Condon is one of the sharpest voices in enrollment strategy today. Since joining EMU in 2023, she has navigated some of the most challenging enrollment conditions in recent memory while simultaneously launching innovative programs that expand access and affordability.

During the 2024 FAFSA challenges, Katie led EMU through a crisis that saw 20% declines in FAFSA submissions among both first-year and continuing students. She estimates some students left upwards of $25,000 on the table by not completing the form. Her advocacy work on the issue, including serving on panels organized by Bridge Michigan, helped shine a light on systemic problems affecting students statewide.

But Katie hasn't just managed crises. In 2025, she expanded EMU's Eagle Guarantee program to include a $2,000 housing grant for new students, building on the university's position as one of the first in Michigan to offer free tuition. She also scaled the Loan Repayment Assistance Program from education majors to 16 additional academic areas, achieving a 10% increase in yield after implementation.

At West Virginia University, Katie increased applications from ethnically underrepresented students by 35% and grew international first-year student applications by 220% following the pandemic. At EMU, she led the development of a five-year strategic enrollment management plan, approved in October 2025 and built from over 150 listening sessions with faculty, staff, and students across campus.

She understands how student behavior is evolving and how digital channels influence every step from interest to deposit. EMU's enrollment approach reflects this mindset. Students receive communication that feels timely, relevant, and coordinated.

Katie's leadership is helping more institutions rethink the entire journey, not just the top of the funnel. The institutions winning enrollment battles are the ones treating digital experience as enrollment strategy, and Katie is proving it works.

5. Pete Mackey – Founder, Mackey Strategies

When presidents, boards, cabinets, CCOs, and CMOs face high-stakes moments, Pete Mackey is often the person they call. Since founding Mackey Strategies in 2016, he has worked with more than 65 colleges and universities. He has created communications for campaigns that have raised more than $2 billion, coached numerous executives and executive teams, guided communications through crises of every kind, and even served as interim head of communications at six institutions.

Pete brings a level of clarity that helps campuses cut through pressure and confusion. His message maps, training workshops, crisis strategies, campaign creativity, and collaborative models help institutions avoid the endless second-guessing that exhaust teams and delay decisions. His session at the AMA Higher Ed Symposium was a masterclass in strategic communication, demonstrating exactly how to build alignment across campus stakeholders.

What Pete does better than almost anyone is create alignment. When academic units, leadership, marketing, and enrollment all pull in the same direction, everything gets easier. Leadership becomes clearer. Campaigns move faster. Governance becomes an asset.

Pete has the playbook for making it happen.

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These five leaders represent a shift that is already underway in higher education digital work. The focus is moving away from performative innovation and toward systems, strategies, and decisions that reduce friction for real people.

What connects them is not a shared toolset or philosophy, but a shared outcome: clarity. They help institutions move faster without cutting corners, adopt new technology without losing trust, and respond to pressure with intention rather than reaction.

As colleges look toward 2026, the institutions that will stand out are not the ones chasing every new trend, but the ones building digital experiences that are understandable, resilient, and human. The leaders highlighted here are helping make that future practical, not theoretical.

The work is far from finished. But the direction is clear.