Higher Digital is a digital transformation management company that provides consulting, software, and data benchmarking tools that significantly reduce the time and cost for higher education executives to assess, plan, and measure their technology strategies.
We are a pioneering breed of experienced, hands-on practitioners who combine sound strategy with innovative delivery processes to guide organizations through their unique digital transformation journeys.
Wayne Bovier
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Colleen Baker
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Joe Gottlieb
President
Kelley Bradder
Vice President, CIO Services & Security
Michael Agnew
Senior Vice President, UK and Europe
Jason Pyle
Vice President, Digital Integrations & Architecture
Henry DeVries, Ph.D.
Vice President, Analytics & Finance
Alan Hansen
Vice President, Product and Platform Management
Gwen Kerdiles
Vice President, UK and Europe
Amy Shaw
Senior Director, Customer and User Experience
“When I joined Higher Digital in the spring of 2017, we knew we were onto something. Wayne's vision of what higher education needs to not just survive but thrive in challenging times – even before COVID-19 – might have sounded radical then, but a few short years later, the world is catching up, and we're ready with the skills and experience to propel higher ed into the future.”
Paul Hyland
Senior Director, UX Development & Operations
“I love working at Higher Digital because everyone shares and is dedicated to the same vision. This allows all of us to have a say in the direction of not only our products, but the direction of company as well.”
Barry Hill
Senior Director, Software Development
“It has been an exciting time joining a company that continually innovates to meet the needs of their customers. I can see myself working at Higher Digital long-term as it gives me the opportunity to make a large impact while continuing to learn from my team members who are experts in their fields. We’re also growing so there’s a lot to look forward to!”
Joy Yamasaki
Software Engineer
“After spending more than 20 years in IT management within higher education, I’ve been fortunate to have managers who trusted me to make independent decisions. When I joined Higher Digital, I found I had that trust, but it was amplified to a new level. I have been given the ability to both use my expertise to help our clients and afforded the freedom to learn and expand my horizons.”
Jeff Butera
Senior Enterprise Architect
“Becoming a part of the Higher Digital team has been a positive experience because of the culture, the friendly people and the core values. Not only are you working with a team that is experienced, highly skilled, masters of their domain, but everyone is open, understanding, and friendly. It feels like being part of a community with a common goal. Being a part of Higher Digital has been different than my previous positions because I am given the space, time and freedom to focus on creating positive outcomes.”
Darryl Rodriquez
Enterprise Architect & Senior Software Engineer
Chuck Spence, Ph.D.
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Jonathan Kaplan
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Mojdeh Mehdizadeh
Member, Advisory Board
Brian Kraff
Member, Advisory Board
Saundra Wall Williams, Ed.D.
Member, Advisory Board
Paul Butler
Member, Advisory Board
Kim R. Wells
Member, Advisory Board
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Co-founder and CEO Wayne Bovier leverages his expertise in the higher education ecosystem to build upon his vision to help institutions dramatically improve their approach to digital transformation initiatives. With over 20 years of experience leading global product teams and organizations that have consistently delivered strong results, Bovier lends his strategic perspective to the development of products and services that are laser-focused on solving his customer’s biggest pain points.
Bovier has spent over ten years working in global higher education. Most recently, Wayne led the digital transformation for the Laureate Education (LAUR) Global Products and Services division, including Walden University, University of Liverpool, and University of Roehampton.
Prior to Laureate, Bovier led the mobile, portal, analytics, document, and teaching and learning business lines for Ellucian, which served over 2,400 institutions and 20 million students, faculty, and staff in 40 countries. Bovier was responsible for creating and delivering groundbreaking solutions like Ellucian Mobile and Colleague Student Planning, which generated historical adoption across the global Ellucian client base.
Bovier also served in a leadership capacity at Blackboard, the global leader in learning management systems for higher education, K-12, and professional education. Bovier led Blackboard’s international, portal and mobile product strategy across all global regions (APAC, EMEA, and LAC).
Bovier has held product management roles with Wired Magazine and four start-up companies in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. His notable product awards include University Business Magazine’s Top Product for Intelligent Learning Platforms, a Horizon Interactive Award for Ellucian Mobile, Internet Telephony magazine’s Product of the Year, and Computer Telephony magazine’s Best User Interface of the Year.
Bovier holds a B.A. in English from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a concentration in international business.
M.B.A. with a concentration in international business.
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
B.A. in English
Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Charles (Chuck) Spence has a career in education spanning 50 years, with 30 of those years as a CEO. He was instrumental in founding and leading a group of higher education CEOs committed to transforming higher education into more responsive institutions. His leadership in marketing, strategic planning, faculty development, and implementation of technology has been recognized nationally.
Dr. Spence has an extensive background in teaching board effectiveness and managing the creation of outcomes for board focus. He also led an international human rights organization for six years following his retirement as chancellor and has been recognized for his leadership in assisting people with disabilities and minority student success. He was a founding board member of Datatel and assisted in the transition to a global company: Ellucian. He is currently an emeritus board member.
Chuck now resides in Lake Arrowhead, California , where he is attempting to improve a golf game and master bike riding in the mountains. He has just become the proud owner of a SuperPedestrian wheel which blends technology and biking in the mountains.
Vice President, CIO Services & Security
Kelley Bradder has spent her entire career working for or supporting higher education. She recently wrapped up over 20 years as CIO and VP of Information Technology Services at Simpson College – a key member of the senior executive team that set the mission and vision of the institution and drove its strategic technology initiatives. While at Simpson, Kelley managed multimillion dollar budgets and a large IT staff deployed over three campuses; formed a Learning Environments Committee; successfully navigated federal compliance and HLC accreditation processes; and oversaw multiple deployments of ERP, LMS, and other technology platforms.
Kelley also founded the successful Midwest Ellucian Client Association (MECA); served as President of the Datatel Users Group (DUG); served on Ellucian’s Mobile and Portal Advisory Boards; and was a participant on the EDUCAUSE CIO Panel determining the Top 10 IT Issues of 2016. Prior to Simpson College she served as Director of Information Services for Grand View College, and in software application development and database management at Quodata Corporation (now Jenzabar Software Company).
Kelley earned a B.A. in Business Management and Management Information Systems at the University of Connecticut, and has multiple certifications from Datatel Corporation, and in customer service from the Disney Institute for the Council of Independent Colleges.
B.A. in Business Management and Management Information Systems
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Jonathan Kaplan has served in a variety of leadership positions in higher education, business, and the public sector. In addition to working with Higher Digital, he currently advises private equity firms, education technology companies, and other organizations on market trends, investment opportunities, strategy, digital learning and operations. Jonathan also is a lecturer at Georgetown University in higher education leadership and ethics.
Jonathan previously held a number of senior executive positions over a 16-year career at Laureate Education, the leading global higher education company. Most recently, he served as President & CEO of Walden University and CEO of the Laureate Online division. Earlier in his career, Jonathan served in the White House as special assistant to the President for economic policy under President Bill Clinton, and he practiced law as an associate at Covington & Burling, a leading international law firm.
Jonathan graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a BA in government. He received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Boston University Law Review. He resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with his family.
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Co-founder and COO Colleen E. Baker leads the digital transformation initiatives for Higher Digital customers, with client success as her key driver, leveraging her innovative thinking and expertise in her field. She has spent the last 20 years transforming IT and software development in the insurance, education, and healthcare industries, optimizing teams and aligning organizations across departments and functions.
Baker created a new framework (Simplified Enterprise Agile™), and has deep experience in software development, digital transformation, strategic planning, program management, technology operations, and end-user adoption, and she fully understands the challenges involved in improving how organizations can create world-class digital experiences.
Prior to Higher Digital, Baker led digital transformation initiatives for the Laureate Education Global Products and Services Division, a $1.1B division of over 9,000 employees, including Walden University, University of Liverpool, and University of Roehampton, all specialists in online learning. She oversaw the transformation and change management for over 350 developers, testers, architects, product management, and technology executives.
As a specialist in transformation management, and with the ability to apply agile technology expertise, Baker created a cohesive institutional readiness and change management plan across 84 campuses, and oversaw the transformation of the user experience for online school prospects.
Before Laureate, Baker provided technical leadership to the IT operations of several insurance companies. She has been able to apply her technical prowess and strategic thinking to higher education engagements that drive progressive change.
Baker has certifications as a SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), Agile Alliance Scrum Master (SM), ITIL 4.0 Professional, and Project Management Professional (PMP).
B.S. in Information Systems
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
Senior Vice President, UK and Europe
Michael Agnew has over 25 years of experience as an international software development executive. He has lived and worked across Europe, and overseen product teams from Australia to California. Michael has a proven business background, running development organizations with over 200 employees, managing budgets and payroll, securing governmental subsidies, and generating revenues. He combines his deep technical ERP and CRM skills with a truly global understanding of higher education.
Most recently, Michael was Vice President International at Ellucian, managing numerous large distributed development groups. These centres focused on international customer requirements, internationalization and localization, and were funded either internally or by securing new product development capital from customer consortia. He has presented at international conferences and seminars, on topics such as The 4th Industrial Revolution at the Education Strategy Forum, and on Higher Education Data Models at Ireland’s HEAnet Conference.
Michael is a Certified SCRUM Product Owner who is passionate about Agile methodologies. He has an MBA from University of Bradford/TIAS NIMBAS and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Strathclyde. Michael speaks English and Dutch fluently.
M.B.A.
University of BradfordSchool of Management/TiasNimbas Business School
Bradford, United Kingdom
B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, Scotland
Member, Advisory Board
Mojdeh Mehdizadeh is President of Contra Costa College. Ms. Mehdizadeh, who once was student in the community college district and later taught speech classes, has been an administrator at the districtwide level since 1998. She oversees changes to district policies and procedures as they pertain to instruction at the district’s three community colleges as well as to their student services and the work they do helping students transfer to four-year institutions or go straight into a job after graduation.
Ms. Mehdizadeh holds a similar role in the colleges’ information technology, grants management and their data-driven research that tracks matters like student racial diversity and attrition. In addition, she wears multiple hats at the state level, serving on a committee of the Community College League of California and other groups to help shape the directions that community colleges take.
Ms. Mehdizadeh also co-chairs the Contra Costa County Adult Education Consortium, which brings K-12 districts and the Contra Costa Community College District together to come up with ways of providing the adult education courses that they all offer more cost-effectively.
Headquartered in Martinez, the multi-campus college district is one of the largest of its kind in the state of California, serving a region with a population of just over 1 million people. Ms. Mehdizadeh earned a bachelor’s from San Francisco State University and a master’s from California State University, East Bay.
Vice President, Digital Integrations & Architecture
Jason Pyle has over 17 years of experience as a software developer/architect, leading both small and large product development organizations, almost entirely in the higher education domain. He has overseen server-side technology efforts involving integration, data modeling, APIs, SDKs, identity management, and more. Additionally, Jason led a joint effort between front-end development and user experience teams that introduced design systems to an organization. He has a wide array of expertise both leading and building on-premise software and implementing SaaS solutions.
Prior to joining Higher Digital, Jason managed a large development organization at Ellucian that focused on building out core technologies supporting the Ellucian Ethos Platform, including Ethos Integration, Ethos Identity, the Ethos Data Model, and Ethos APIs for two very different ERP products. Jason has also spent a great deal of time as a developer and architect leveraging both Java and .NET technologies to build web applications and middleware to support various software platforms.
Jason is a Certified Scrum Master who has led many teams transitioning from waterfall to agile methodologies. He is passionate about solving customers’ problems and incorporating their feedback into the product development lifecycle. He has an M.S. in Software Engineering from George Mason University and a B.A. in Mathematics from McDaniel College.
M.S. in Software Engineering
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
B.A. in Mathematics
McDaniel College
Westminster, Maryland
President
President Joe Gottlieb is responsible for corporate strategy, product portfolio management, analytics and marketing. His role ensures that Higher Digital’s business, product lines, and supporting functions are continuously pursuing an intentional vision through an explicit and well-understood strategy for customer value. He also supports customers with strategy development, change management, and strategic operations, energized by the complex challenges and profound opportunities facing higher education.
Gottlieb has spent his entire career helping enterprises to digitally transform, combining the broad view needed to grapple with heterogeneous IT architectures with the specialized perspectives required to address disruptive challenges and opportunities in identity management, security, cloud computing, databases, and networking. Along the way, he has managed hypergrowth (Nokia), built technology ecosystems (McAfee and SailPoint), raised startup capital (Sensage and Aerospike), taken companies public (META Group and SailPoint), and managed acquisitions — both being acquired (Sensage) and acquiring companies (Nokia and SailPoint).
In his last five roles, he has owned the strategic planning process for his company (McAfee, Sensage, Aerospike, SailPoint) or division (Nokia). A strategic thinker and change agent, Gottlieb considers himself fortunate to have been actively engaged in digital transformation throughout his career.
Gottlieb holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
B.S. in Electrical Engineering
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Member, Advisory Board
Brian Kraff founded Market Hardware, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kraff was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of eStudentLoan.com, the world’s largest comparison marketplace for student loans, which partnered with national lenders such as Citibank, American Express and Bank of America to serve over one million users. He also served as Division President of the EDU and ScholarAid divisions of Student Advantage. He was also founder of Advanced Network Systems, an IT services business headquartered in Washington, DC and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 1995.
Mr. Kraff was also a Partner at Hearthstone Vanguard Group in Washington DC, where he placed and managed venture capital investments in numerous start-up ventures. In addition, he served as the Director of Network Services for the American Bankers Association where he managed the Telecom, Training and Technical Services teams. He was a founder and Chairman of the Board of 13 Colonies Software, Inc. Mr. Kraff serves as Director of Pivotry Corporation. He served as Member of Advisory Committee at Transactis, Inc. He has a Bachelors of Arts degree from Cornell University and a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from Columbia Business School, where he focused on Managing New Ventures and Transactions.
Vice President, Analytics & Finance
Henry DeVries has over 44 years of experience in higher education, in positions ranging from graduate teaching assistant to faculty member to Chief Information Officer. Most recently he was as a Management Consultant, Principal at Ellucian, an international higher education software company. His client-facing activities included business process modeling, departmental governance planning, IT organizational assessment, reporting review, data governance, performance metrics, and business analytics reporting. He was also a regular presenter at client user groups and national conferences.
Prior to Ellucian, Henry served as the first Vice President for Information Services/CIO at Calvin University, directing operations of IT, the library, the college archives, and instructional/AV resources; he eventually assumed responsibility for the Administration and Finance Division of the college as its CFO, overseeing all financial services, physical plant, the college architect, human resources, and auxiliary services. Before that, Henry served on the faculty in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, as well as Director of its Extension Electronic Technology Group; and previously spent time as an Assistant Professor of Agriculture at Dordt University.
Henry has served on several EDUCAUSE Expert Panels. and on the Boards of Directors of the Central Association of College and University Business Officers (CACUBO) and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
Henry DeVries received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College with a major in biology and minor in chemistry. He then received a Master of Science degree in Agronomy and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University.
M.S. in Agronomy and Ph.D. in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
B.A. with a Major in Biology and Minor in Chemistry
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Vice President, Product and Platform Management
Alan Hansen has over 30 years of software industry experience leading both engineering and product management teams, with over 20 years of that servicing higher education. He served as director of product management at Western Governors University and was previously director of product management at BYU Pathway Worldwide, where he created an English language learning solution, EnglishConnect. Alan served as the vice president of product management at Ellucian for many years, where he led the Banner product line, an ERP system used by more than 40 percent of the U.S. higher education market.
Alan has a wealth of experience and proven leadership in software and IT. Alan began his career as a software engineer, and then worked his way up to architect, manager, director, and then vice president of software development at WordPerfect, Novell, Inari, and Campus Pipeline. He then switched to product management and has led both product and technical teams to success at Ellucian, Symantec, BYU Pathway Worldwide, WGU, and SecurityMetrics.
Alan is steeped in lean and agile. He is a Certified SAFe® 5 Program Consultant, a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and is Pragmatic Marketing Certified. Alan holds a B.S. in Electronic Engineering Technology from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. from the University of Utah. Alan speaks English and Spanish fluently.
M.B.A.
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
B.S. in Electronic Engineering Technology
Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah
Member, Advisory Board
Dr. Saundra Wall Williams is the Chief Executive Officer of WMS Corporation and founder of the Vision Building Institute, which support emerging and established women leaders through professional development, mentorship, and coaching. She is also an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University, where her teaching focus is Technology and Leadership.
Dr. Williams previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief of Information Technology, Data, Business Intelligence, Library Systems, Distance Learning and Workforce Development for the North Carolina Community College System, the 3rd largest community college system in the world, where she led the implementation of the world’s largest higher education computer information system. She earned numerous awards during her tenure there, including, North Carolina Chief Information Officer of the Year and North Carolina’s Technology Woman of the Year.
Dr. Williams is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she earned a B.S. in Mathematics, an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and an Ed.D. in Adult and Community College Education. She also holds a Master of Divinity from Regent University; was awarded the Honorary Associate of Science degree from Richmond Community College; and is a North Carolina Certified Government Chief Information Officer via the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government’s Center for Public Technology.
Dr. Williams is an ordained minister, holds several ministry leadership positions, and founded T.E.A.C.H. Ministries, an international ministry for women ministers and women in ministry leadership. She lives in Raleigh, NC, with her family.
Vice President, UK and Europe
Gwen Kerdiles has over 20 years of experience working in Higher Education or with software for Higher Education. Gwen’s passion for usable data, concise syntax, complete semantics, and well-defined logical rules are a recurrent theme in his professional career.
Most recently, Kerdiles served as the lead architect of several core engines of the Ellucian Banner that are the cornerstone of Ellucian’s strategy for statutory reporting, extensibility, and the path to the cloud. He then managed the Technical Solutions Consulting team at Ellucian for EMEA and APAC.
Prior, Kerdiles served as a consultant in software risk management for the French National Aviation Agency and lead a project of the French Ministry of Transport that assessed the national traffic planning system prior to a reimplementation.
Kerdiles has been using the Ethos framework since its inception and developed integrations for universities, provided in-depth functional and technical training, and enabled partner solutions to become Ethos certified. Kerdiles has a research background with a specialization in knowledge representation and graphical-based reasoning methods. He completed his research and associated teaching career in Amsterdam and Montpellier and has been a guest researcher in Seattle, Darmstadt, and Copenhagen.
PhD. Humanities
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
PhD. Computer Science
Université de Montpellier II
Montpellier, France
Senior Director, Customer and User Experience
Amy Shaw has well over 20 years of experience in design and user experience leadership. A majority of those years have been spent in the higher education field. She has a passion for providing user-centric experiences that embody the needs and wants of end-users through research, testing, inspired design and new technology innovations.
Prior to joining Higher Digital, Amy lead the User Experience team at Ellucian, responsible for the entire digital user-experience of the Ellucian digital ecosystem for 60+ products with 4 large ERPs, 3 CRMs, and both responsive and native Mobile applications. In less than 5 years, Amy grew a team of 9 to over 30 global, multidiscipline members including UX Designers, Analysts, Researchers, and Developers, to address the demands for user-driven software.
Before joining Ellucian, Amy worked for several strategy and technology companies such as Booz Allen Hamilton, VCampus and General Dynamics designing web-based, animated training modules and websites. She also taught evening courses for design certifications in continuing education at Northern Virginia Community College for over 7 years.
Amy has a BS in Graphic Arts and Imagining Technology from Appalachian State University in North Carolina.
B.S. in Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina
Member, Advisory Board
Paul Butler is Director of Information and Library Services at the University of Greenwich in London. Paul’s career spans over 27 years at the University in various roles from Development Team Leadership through to the current Director role where he is responsible for all aspects of the provision of IT and Library services for over 35,000 students and 2,000 staff. As well as driving the Digital Strategy for the University, he has successfully helped introduce over the last few years both a new Library building and an award winning, refurbished Dreadnought building for Students and Staff.
Paul has also taught at university, being a visiting lecturer in applied computing at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. He was also a Student at the University gaining both a BA Degree and an MSc. In Computing and Information Systems.
In addition to serving as Director at the University of Greenwich, Paul acts as a committee member of the Board of Trustees of ucisa, the member-led professional body for digital practitioners within education (UK and Ireland). He is also a Trustee of Greenwich Students Union.
Paul lives in London with his family.
Member, Advisory Board
Kim R. Wells has been a leader in innovative higher education and corporate performance innitiavites for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of Executive Education and the Center for Career Excellence at the historic Howard University School of Business. At the Howard School of Business, Kim has been the leader in some of the school’s most innovative programs, including the Online Executive MBA, and the HUSB Mobile App initiative, which facilitates career and professional development services for School of Business Students. He is also a popular executive education instructor, career and performance coach within the business school’s executive certificate and professional development programs.
Kim’s progressive career path has included successful roles with leading corporate and performance development organizations, such as Educational Testing Service, Vantage HR Consulting, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Universum Communications. He has also been an influential voice as an advisor and board member with multiple professional development organizations including Monster.com (Campus), the Maryland Career Development Association, Boxwood Technologies, the National Association for Colleges and Employers, and Invertiew Stream.com. Kim is currently the Chairman of the Board with the Black Alliance for Colleges and Employers (BACE), and a National Board Member with the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).
Kim is deeply committed to global inclusion and equity in business and higher education, and as a Master Certified Executive Coach leads a private practice, Aksum Intelligence LLC, that provides executive coaching, diversity, and cultural transformation services to businesses and individual executives in the U.S. and abroad.
Kim completed his Masters Degree in Organizational Communications and Development at Howard University, and his Bachelors Degree at the College of New Jersey in Sociology with concentrated studies in Human Resource Development and Organizational Culture. Kim Completed his Master Coaching Certification with the Behavioral Coaching Institute, and Executive Education Programs with the Wharton School of Business and the Cornell University Johnson School of Management.