About
P R I N C I P A L
Laurie Koehler
Laurie Koehler, principal of Koehler Consulting, LLC, is an innovative strategist and transformative leader with over twenty-five years of experience in enrollment management, retention, student success, and marketing across public and private universities and liberal arts colleges. She brings her first-hand experience and extensive expertise to serve as a consultant, executive coach, advisor, thought partner, and facilitator for colleges and universities, their leaders, and their teams.
Before establishing her consulting firm, Laurie served as Vice President for Marketing and Enrollment Strategy at Ithaca College, where she played a pivotal role on the President’s Cabinet, advising on institutional strategy and leading significant organizational transformation. Prior to Ithaca College, she spent six years at George Washington University (GW), where her success in delivering positive results and transforming teams led to multiple expansions of her portfolio. Laurie simultaneously led a significant organizational design and change initiative, re-envisioning work across institutional functions and silos to connect strategy, structure, and culture to purpose. The result was the creation of a new unit intentionally aligned to ensure a more cohesive experience for students. Laurie also held leadership roles at Bryn Mawr College, Miami University, Cornell University, and the University of Virginia, where she earned her B.A. and M.Ed. degrees. She was awarded her Certified Executive Coach credential in May 2024 through the Center for Executive Coaching.
Throughout her career, Laurie has managed areas including undergraduate and graduate admission, enrollment strategy, student success/retention, financial aid, registrar, enrollment systems, analytics, institutional research, career development, summer/pre-college programs, student affairs, and institutional marketing and communications. Her work with presidents, provosts, CFOs, deans, trustees, and other institutional leaders has honed her ability to see across an institution, break down internal silos, and develop integrated strategies. Laurie, a first-generation college graduate, is known for her commitment to equity, and inclusion, as well as her warm and values-driven leadership style. She employs a data-informed and human-centered approach to assist both individuals and higher education institutions arrive at holistic, effective solutions.
Areas of Expertise
● Strategic Enrollment Management
● Student Success and Retention Strategy
● Organizational Alignment, Change, and Development
● Data-Driven Decision Making and Analytics
● Executive and Leadership Coaching
● Marketing and Communications: Enrollment, Admissions, Financial Aid
T E S T I M O N I A L
“Laurie went far beyond our expectations by developing a data-driven approach to enhancing student retention and graduation.
This involved systematically identifying what factors led students to leave; working with faculty and staff across the campus to address the numerous factors that contributed to students dropping out; reengineering some of our systems to address obstacles to student success; and making sure that a broad swath of the campus community understood the importance of retention and graduation. She led by creating a strategy, but also by becoming an evangelist and making student success a campus-wide mission. Thanks in large part to her efforts (Laurie would be the last person to claim credit) and the incredible team she built, GW made strong gains in our graduation and retention rates.”
Forrest Maltzman, former Provost and Professor of Political Science
Listen
Higher Ed Marketing Lab - A podcast by ECHO DELTA
Enrollment management veteran Laurie Koehler joins Jarrett Smith to talk about the challenges facing enrollment management and key ways the practice needs to evolve. Topics include:
How the practice of enrollment management has evolved over the last two decades
Why enrollment strategy can’t be separated from institutional strategy
Five ways to improve how we attract, retain, and develop the next generation of enrollment leaders
Why it’s time for everyone to stop talking about discount rate.
Read
When thinking about growing future enrollment leaders, it’s sometimes easiest to turn to the practical and tactical skills that are expected of today’s chief enrollment officers. Analyzing data, developing strategy, and understanding markets are clearly necessary. Those seeking greater leadership roles, including as VPs, would be wise to consider some of the other key areas of focus we have identified.