Advisory Board

Our advisory board brings a diversity of perspectives and a powerful commitment to the mission of higher education to bear on our work. They have led pioneering universities, and written about the disruption of education. They have launched breakthrough programs to reach a generation of “new normal” students and overseen the U.S. Department of Education’s often complex relationship between states, institutions and accreditors.

Paul LeBlanc

Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc is President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Under the ten years of Paul's direction, SNHU has more than tripled in size and is the largest provider of online higher education in New England, one of the five largest in the country, and the first to have a full competency-based degree program (untethered to the credit hour or classes) approved by a regional accreditor and the US Department of Education. In 2012 the university was #12 on Fast Company magazine's ''World's Fifty Most Innovative Companies'' list and was the only university included. Paul won a New England Higher Education Excellence Award in 2012 and was named one of ''New Hampshire’s Most Influential People'' by New Hampshire Business Review. In 2012 Forbes Magazine listed him as one of its 15 ''Classroom Revolutionaries,'' and he was featured on Bloomberg TV's ''Innovators'' series. He speaks frequently to industry, IHEs, national policy makers, and other higher education stakeholders and often appears in the media.

Michael Horn

Michael Horn is a co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute and serves as the executive director of its education program. He leads a team that educates policymakers and community leaders on the power of disruptive innovation in the K-12 and higher education spheres through its research. His team aims to transform monolithic, factory-model education systems into student-centered designs that educate every student successfully and enable each to realize his or her fullest potential. Michael is the coauthor of the recently published book Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, with Heather Staker. Blended is a practical field guide for designing and implementing blended learning in K-12 schools. The book is the followup to the award-winning Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, which Michael coauthored in 2008 with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton M. Christensen and Curtis W. Johnson. Newsweek cited the book 14th on its list of “Fifty Books for Our Times.” Michael has written several white papers about blended learning and is coeditor with Frederick Hess of the book Private Enterprise and Public Education. He has also written articles for numerous publications including Forbes, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Huffington Post, and Education Week.

Phil Regier

Phil Regier became the dean of ASU Online in July 2009. He is responsible for guiding Arizona State University’s expansion into online learning and leadership role in education innovation. In five years, ASU Online has grown from 400 to nearly 10,000 students and from six to more than 60 degree programs. The university has received recognition from The New York Times and Bill Gates for its work in adaptive learning and use of data in student advising, as well as earning the top ranking by U.S. News & World Report for online student services and technology. Dean Regier previously served as executive dean at the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. He is an accounting faculty member and has published research in leading academic journals on postretirement benefits, corporate restructuring and market-based accounting. Dean Regier earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and mathematics from St. John’s College and his Ph.D. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gerald Heeger

Dr. Gerald Heeger was President of University of Maryland University College. Under his leadership, UMUC became one of the largest universities in the United States and received national and international recognition for its innovative leadership in online learning and in providing educational access solutions. Most recently he served as founding president of Whitney International University System (WIUS), a system of Latin American institutions and as President of the American College of Education. Earlier in his career, Jerry served as a Dean at NYU, Dean of the New School, and Executive Vice President at Adelphi University. From 2000-2005, he was a Commissioner with Middle States. Jerry earned political science degrees at the University of California, Berkeley (BA) and the University of Chicago (MA, PhD).

Paul LeBlanc

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Michael Horn

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Phil Regier

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Gerald Heeger

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