3 Questions for Katie Shaver, Managing Director at EAB

I’ve been collaborating with Katie Shaver, managing director at EAB, on researching potential online programs at my institution. Her advice, counsel and data-driven recommendations have been extraordinarily helpful in my work. Katie graciously agreed to answer my questions about online learning, her professional trajectory and the career advice she would give to early and midcareer professionals.

Q: Help us understand your role at EAB. How does EAB differ or differentiate itself in the crowded marketplace of companies that work with universities in online program marketing and enrollment management?

A: As a managing director at EAB, I lead strategic partnerships with colleges and universities focused on adult learner recruitment, online program growth and full-funnel enrollment strategy. My role sits at the intersection of market intelligence, marketing strategy and institutional change management.

We don’t just help institutions “market programs.” We help them make smart, data-informed bets—grounded in evidence—about which programs to launch, who to target, how to position them and how to build enrollment infrastructure that is sustainable long term.

What differentiates EAB in a crowded enrollment management landscape is threefold.

First, we start with strategy, not tactics. We support more than 2,500 institutions across enrollment, advancement, student success and strategy. That gives us a national lens on what’s working and where markets are saturated. When we advise on growth opportunities for an online M.B.A., M.S.N. or J.D. program, we’re not operating in a vacuum. We’re looking at search demand, competitor pricing, program density, student behavior trends and historical enrollment performance.

In today’s market, that matters. Institutions that skip rigorous demand validation often struggle to meet enrollment expectations.

Second, we build institutional capacity—not dependency. There are models in the market that outsource growth. Our approach is designed to help institutions build internal marketing muscle, enrollment operations discipline and data visibility. In a market where more than half of adult students now take at least one course online, online learning is no longer an auxiliary strategy. Institutions need embedded expertise, not just outsourced execution.

Third, we focus on the entire adult learner journey. Adult enrollment isn’t just about generating leads. It’s about aligning program design, website UX, inquiry response time, credit for prior learning policies, employer alignment and financial packaging. The institutions that win remove friction at every stage of the funnel.

Ultimately, our work is about helping universities grow in ways that are mission-aligned and financially sustainable—particularly as traditional undergraduate demographics decline over the next decade and international student growth faces continuing headwinds.

Q: How do you advise traditional decentralized residential institutions on developing a comprehensive online learning strategy? What common pitfalls, misconceptions and missteps do you see leaders at universities making as they consider expanding their online program footprint?

A: The first thing I tell leaders is this: Online strategy is not a modality decision—it’s a portfolio and positioning decision.

Many decentralized institutions approach online expansion as a collection of faculty-led initiatives. That rarely produces scale.

Comprehensive strategies often share these three core elements.

1. Market validation before program approval. Too often, institutions green-light programs based on internal enthusiasm rather than external demand. I call this the Field of Dreams strategy—“If we build it, they will come.” Adult learners are highly pragmatic. They ask, “Will this improve my earnings? Is it flexible? Is it recognized by employers?”
2. Clarity about target audience. Adult learners are not a monolith. A 24-year-old completing a bachelor’s degree behaves very differently from a 38-year-old career switcher or a 45-year-old seeking advancement. Institutions often design one-size-fits-all messaging that resonates with no one.
3. Strategic portfolio discipline—and the courage to invest appropriately. Not every program should go online at once. Institutions that scale effectively prioritize a focused set of high-demand, workforce-aligned programs rather than launching broadly across departments. Sequencing matters. A disciplined portfolio strategy creates operational focus and allows marketing investment to compound over time. The strategy is not just about choosing the right programs. It’s about resourcing them appropriately once we commit.

The above is another issue I see frequently: Institutions underinvest in the marketing of a new program.

There’s often a “toe in the water” approach to marketing spend. Leaders want to test demand cautiously, so they allocate a minimal budget and then evaluate results quickly. The challenge is that insufficient investment can make it nearly impossible to generate meaningful data.

This creates what I call a chicken-or-the-egg problem.

If a new program underperforms, is it truly misaligned with market demand? Or did we simply not invest enough in marketing to give it a fair opportunity to gain visibility and traction?

Digital markets reward consistency and scale. Algorithms optimize over time. Brand awareness builds gradually. A modest, short-term spend may not generate enough signal to determine whether demand exists.

That doesn’t mean institutions should spend recklessly. It means marketing investment should be aligned to realistic enrollment targets and ramp timelines. If we believe in the program—and the market data supports it—we need to fund it accordingly.

When institutions are able to secure resources and agree on investment, one of the most common issues I see is an undue focus on top-of-funnel lead generation with far less attention paid to mid- and down-funnel conversion strategy.

Institutions will often say, “We need more leads,” when in reality they need stronger funnel performance and yield discipline.

In adult markets especially, lead volume is only one part of the equation. Adult learners shop differently. They inquire at multiple institutions simultaneously, expect rapid follow-up and make decisions quickly. If inquiry response times stretch beyond 24 to 48 hours, the likelihood of conversion drops significantly.

Yet many institutions lack structured inquiry-to-applicant nurturing workflows, often don’t track contact attempt cadence or speed-to-lead rigorously, and fail to monitor stage-by-stage conversion metrics in real time.

In other words, marketing may be optimized, but enrollment operations are not.

I also frequently hear leaders say, “We have a fantastic recruiter.” And that’s wonderful—strong individual recruiters matter tremendously.

But one exceptional recruiter is what I would call hand-to-hand combat.

The question I ask in this analogy is “Where is the air support? Where is the ground support?”

Who is building the automation workflows, the CRM triggers, the segmented nurture campaigns, the content strategy and the outreach infrastructure that allows that recruiter to focus not just on the applicant in front of them—but on the next 100 prospective students moving through the pipeline?

A full-funnel strategy creates scale. It ensures that while one enrollment counselor is having a meaningful conversation today, the institution is simultaneously nurturing the broader inquiry pool with personalized, timely, behavior-based engagement.

Institutions often underestimate the compounding impact of this approach. A 5 to 10 percent lift in inquiry-to-application conversion—paired with stronger application coaching and financial clarity—can produce more sustainable growth than simply increasing digital ad spend by 20 percent.

Online growth is not just a marketing problem. It is an integrated systems challenge—and institutions that build coordinated funnel infrastructure win not because they shout louder, but because they convert smarter.

Additional pitfalls often include:

• Overestimating brand strength in national markets. Strong regional brands don’t automatically translate online. Digital competition is national and often price-driven.
• Underestimating speed-to-lead. High-performing teams respond within minutes or hours—not days.
• Confusing modality with flexibility. Simply putting a program online doesn’t make it adult-friendly. Session length, start cadence, credit for prior learning and employer partnerships matter just as much.
• Treating lead volume as the primary KPI. Sustainable growth comes from disciplined funnel management—not just digital ad spend.

Online growth works best when leaders treat it as a strategic transformation effort—not a side project.

Q: What was the career path that brought you to your current leadership role at EAB? Based on your professional experiences, what advice do you have for early and midcareer professionals in the online learning, marketing and enrollment management space?

A: I’ve spent more than 15 years in higher education consulting, partnering with hundreds of institutions to help them grow enrollment in ways that are both strategic and mission aligned.

What drew me to this work—and what has kept me here—is that it is both an art and a science.

There is the science: market demand analysis, pricing elasticity, funnel modeling, attribution strategy, predictive analytics. The data matters deeply. The institutions that succeed make disciplined, evidence-based decisions.

But there is also the art: understanding institutional culture, building trust with faculty, navigating decentralized governance structures, shaping messaging that resonates with adult learners who are balancing work and family. Higher education is relational work. Strategy only succeeds when people believe in it.

Enrollment strategy isn’t just about numbers; it’s about access. Every seat filled represents someone advancing their career, supporting their family or changing their trajectory. That intersection of analytics and impact is what makes this field so compelling to me.

Throughout my career, I’ve learned that the most effective leaders in this space are those who can operate in complexity. Higher education is decentralized, relationship-driven and often change-resistant. Progress requires patience, data fluency and the ability to align diverse stakeholders around shared outcomes.

For early and midcareer professionals, I would offer three pieces of advice.

1. First, develop both quantitative and relational fluency. Understand the metrics that actually drive enrollment performance—click-through rates, cost per inquiry, cost per enrollment, inquiry-to-application conversion, application-to-start yield and stage-by-stage funnel velocity—but also build trust with deans and faculty. Strategy lives at that intersection. Data literacy builds credibility—but relationships create momentum.
2. Second, stay close to the student … and your differentiators. It’s easy to get caught up in dashboards. The best enrollment leaders regularly listen to call recordings, read inquiry forms and deeply understand their prospective students. They also have a command of their institutions’ key differentiators in a crowded market. Each year at EAB, we survey adult learners nationwide to gain insight into their decision-making process—what drives enrollment, what causes hesitation and how they define value in an increasingly competitive and cost-conscious environment.
3. Third, embrace change—especially AI and automation. The next decade will reshape enrollment marketing through predictive analytics, personalization and workflow automation. Professionals who learn how to use data responsibly and ethically will lead the field.

This is mission-driven work. Adult learners are balancing careers, families and financial pressure. When we design systems that reduce friction and expand access—and when we blend the art and the science effectively—we don’t just grow enrollment. We transform institutions.