Eduventures' Consulting Services Team

Eric W. Bassett, Managing Director
ebassett@eduventures.com
(617) 532-6019

Eric specializes in helping organizations grow and change through strategic planning, marketing, and product development. For more than six years, his work has focused exclusively on the education industry. Eric has played key roles in Eduventures’ research and consulting practices, leading Industry Solutions Research and later managing the Postsecondary Solutions business. From 2006-09, Eric developed new businesses for SunGard Higher Education, expanding the company’s footprint in the academic and online learning markets. For the past two years, Eric has also co-chaired the IMS Global Learning Consortium’s Targeted Retention Systems group to develop industry best practices in retention management. Prior to 2003, Eric consulted to Boards and senior managers of organizations in sectors such as health care and financial services to identify growth opportunities and mobilize to take advantage of them. His work has given him significant international experience, including periods living and working in Russia, Spain, and Canada. Eric holds an MS in international business from Georgetown University and a BA from Duke University.

Laura Boothroyd, Managing Director

Laura brings 15 years of consulting experience to Eduventures' Consulting Services practice. Her most recent engagements in the higher education and K-12 space include devising an international expansion strategy, evaluating ROI of a new product launch, and offering existing programs and services via new delivery channels. Laura has completed several benchmarking studies with higher education and K-12 clients related to enrollment processes, sales strategies, pricing, curriculum, and student support services. Laura brings a broad business perspective to engagements having worked with clients in a variety of industry verticals including financial services, loyalty and incentives, HR outsourcing, technology, and travel. Prior to joining Eduventures, she was VP of the Financial and Business Services practice at Fuld & Co., a leading competitive intelligence consulting firm. She also launched and headed up three business units at Dalbar, a leading financial services research and consulting firm in Boston. Laura holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has completed graduate level coursework at Harvard University.

Mr. Gerald M. DiGiusto, Senior Analyst and Research Manager
Gerry serves as the Program Manager and Senior Analyst for Eduventures' Enrollment Management Learning Collaborative, playing a lead role in the development of major research studies and helping member institutions to use Eduventures' data and research to improve operations and enhance strategic decision-making. He has more than 10 years' experience in various roles across higher education in the United States and abroad as a teacher, researcher, and consultant. Gerry has recently advised universities on enrollment management issues ranging from how to better recruit and provide student services to veterans, create strong international partnerships, and implement a streamlined marketing structure. Gerry brings a broad perspective to his role, having previously played a management role in Eduventures' Academic Leadership, Continuing and Professional Education, Development, Online Higher Education, and Schools of Education Learning Collaboratives. Prior to joining Eduventures, Gerry served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, as an Assistant Professor in Bowdoin College's Department of Government and Legal Studies, and as a researcher at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division. He graduated from Bowdoin College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science/international relations from Duke University.

Kristen D. Fox, Managing Director
Kristen leads Eduventures' Learning Collaborative teams focused on Academic Leadership, Development, Enrollment Management, and Schools of Education. Kristen has over 10 years of experience as a consultant and advisor to the higher education, government, and non-profit sectors and has worked with hundreds of universities across the United States. Kristen was previously a Senior Consultant in Eduventures' Higher Education Consulting practice, where she managed complex consulting engagements with postsecondary clients. Her client engagements have included strategic market research projects to guide growth and branding strategies, support to help universities successfully achieve accreditation, benchmarking studies to help institutions identify cost-savings opportunities, and university-wide strategic planning. Kristen has presented at national industry conferences, including AACTE, AASCU, and ACHE, and her work has been cited in publications such as Inside Higher Education and the Boston Globe. Prior to joining Eduventures, Kristen held positions at the U.S. Department of State, the International Equity Research Team at the Evergreen Investment Management Company, at Colgate University in the Development Office, and was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow. She also taught undergraduate global history and writing courses at the University of California, San Diego. Kristen holds an M.A. from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. from Colgate University. Kristen is active in community service and serves on the Boston board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Richard Garrett, Managing Director
Richard leads Eduventures Continuing & Professional Education Learning Collaborative (CPE-LC) and Online Higher Education Learning Collaborative (OHE-LC), membership programs for institutions seeking to grow their adult and online enrollment and enhance their operations. The CPE and OHE programs are unique sources of intelligence on adult and online higher education enrollment and programming trends, evolving consumer demand, school positioning and operational strategies. Richard has over 12 years' experience researching higher education trends worldwide, particularly online learning, non-traditional students, internationalization, and commercial activity. Prior to joining Eduventures in 2005, Richard was Deputy Director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education in the United Kingdom, a position he held from 2001 to 2005. Publications include Benchmarking Online Operations: Snapshots of an Emerging Industry (Eduventures, 2009), Online Higher Education Market Update 2008 (Eduventures, 2008), Competing in Online Higher Education 2008 (Eduventures, 2008), Blending In: The Extent & Promise of Blended Learning in the United States (Sloan-C, 2007), Online Higher Education: Retention Benchmarks and Strategies (Eduventures, 2007), E-Learning in Tertiary Education: Where Do We Stand? (a 2005 book commissioned by the OECD, Paris), and The Global Education Index 2005 (a study of 50 firms worldwide operating in the postsecondary education market, OBHE, 2005). Richard has also worked as a researcher in the School of Education, University of Surrey and at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, both in the United Kingdom. Richard earned both a B.A. and an M.A. from King's College, University of London, as well as a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education from the University of Cambridge.

Cara A. Quackenbush, Senior Analyst and Research Manager
Cara plays a leadership role in designing and executing the Development Learning Collaborative's annual research agenda. She applies her quantitative and qualitative analysis skills to develop actionable insights and support for Eduventures' clients, assisting them with key strategic and operational decisions to support their fundraising success. Cara is an advancement professional with a decade of fundraising, accounting, management, and marketing experience at institutions of higher education. Cara’s experience spans annual giving, leadership giving, volunteer management, alumni engagement, parent fundraising, and planned giving. She has also conducted research on management practices and strategies in higher education, including higher education accounting practices, presidential leadership techniques, and legal policies affecting planned giving. Prior to joining Eduventures, Cara was the Associate Director of Gift Planning at Boston College, where she helped launch the university’s $1.5 billion capital campaign as well as its first-ever legacy gift campaign. Cara also worked in both the annual fund and the office of planned giving at her alma matter, Santa Clara University, where she earned her B.A. in journalism. Cara holds an M.B.A. and an M.S. in accounting from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, where Cara won the MBA Business Plan Competition.