Let’s Talk! with Anthology Strategic Consultant Adam Hopkins
Name: Adam Hopkins
Alma Mater: Hope College
What is your role at Anthology? Strategic Consultant
What brought you to where you are now? After finishing my degree at Hope College, I was fortunate to begin my career as a member of the Admissions team. During my time, I saw all sides of Admissions and Enrollment Management from recruitment to operations as well as collaborated on many projects with offices across campus. During the early part of my career, I was introduced to the world of CRM which led to implementation and administration of several solutions along with eventually overseeing Admissions Operations as Associate Director of Admissions Operations. After 17 years of hands-on experience in higher ed, I was afforded another great opportunity in coming to Anthology. I wanted to explore and understand the many challenges, pain points, goals and aspirations that different institutions have across both the country and globe. As a strategic consultant for Anthology, this role has provided unique opportunities to better understand, learn from and support many different types of institutions.
How are you helping to revolutionize higher education? It is truly a pivotal time for higher education – emerging from a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic with continued questioning of the worth of a college degree has pushed this higher education to the brink. The call and effort to revolutionize higher education cannot be about one person—the collective effort both within our respective organization and institutions collectively working toward a better overall sector in our society is what is going to move higher education forward. At Anthology, I work every day to better understand the wants, needs and issues that both institutions and their students face. Whether it is supporting a conversation about how one of our solutions can help to achieve their defined goals or reading the daily group of emails that arrive in my inbox from a variety of sources covering higher education, I try to keep my finger on the pulse of what is going on and pass along any insights and perspective. Currently, two areas that have my attention are conversations around Enterprise CRM and the student skills gap identified by employers. Having served in a higher education setting, being able to have conversations with individuals within our organization and aid in the development of strategies and solutions to solve both today’s and tomorrow’s challenges is my strongest contribution to this overall effort.
In a recent article, you said “it is imperative that institutions and employers collaborate, partner and align on strategies that will benefit both sides in achieving their goals.” Can you talk more about what institutions need to do on their end, to accomplish this type of partnership? The path forward for institutions, employers and most importantly student success requires collective understanding and the desire to improve. On the institution side, institutions must identify where the skills gaps lie and address them in updated academic programming. We live in a different world that is changing faster than ever. Institutions must continually be evaluating their academic programs to assure that they are offering relevant academic offerings and that the skills that they are developing within their programs are addressing the needs of both today and tomorrow.
Can you talk about some of the ways you are helping institutions make themselves more valuable to students as well as ways they can run more efficiently? Creating value for students and running more efficiently, I hope, is top of mind for every institution given the current conditions and pressures that exist. I am a firm believer in the power of technology and how it can solve many of the challenges that institutions face today. Right now, I am involved in supporting two of our products that directly address these two items – Anthology Occupation Insight and Anthology Reach. Occupation Insight allows institutions to see trends and current conditions in the labor market so that institutions can continue to evolve and offer programming and skill development that directly meets the needs of today’s employers, thus providing great value for the investments that students are making knowing that what they are learning is going to translate into today’s economy. Additionally, with Anthology Reach, the capabilities that exist to automate a great number of processes that were at one time tedious and manual, along with harnessing intelligence and engagement information and tools, allows institutions to have the additional time in order to devote to their reason for being—student success. Participating in the effort to create awareness and educate institutions about how these two solutions (in addition to our entire portfolio) can change the conversation as it relates to demonstrating value and efficiency is extremely gratifying.
Which of Anthology’s missions & values resonates the most for you? And why? Stay Passionate. While I resonate with each of the values and they play out in different ways in the work, in my opinion, the other four values do not meet their full potential without having the passion that is necessary to continue to move and drive forward both higher education and our organization. This is and has to be more than a job and career, it is a passion and calling.
Do you have a favorite quote or personal mantra? I can remember from a young age, my Mom always emphasized giving everything you do your best. She would go on to explain that “as long as you give your best, you can hold your head up high knowing that you gave it your all”. She was a constant example of working hard throughout my life. Seeing what she accomplished instilled a fire in me to always give my all in everything that I do.
Read Adam’s recent article for Entrepreneur.com.