Bridget Burns

And I have the privilege of helping the most innovative universities hold themselves accountable by working together and driving rapid innovation, prototyping, scaling to try and solve student problems. And we've been able to, over the course of 10 years, we've been able to produce over 150,000 more graduates than we were on track to at even stretch capacity when we formed.

And I have the privilege of helping the most innovative universities hold themselves accountable by working together and driving rapid innovation, prototyping, scaling to try and solve student problems. And we've been able to, over the course of 10 years, we've been able to produce over 150,000 more graduates than we were on track to at even stretch capacity when we formed.

and 89% more graduates of color, 41% more low-income graduates. So it's been wildly successful because of, I think, the willingness to hold the tension between competition, collaboration, innovation, and how you get universities to really be serious about the painful process of change and the painful process of redesigning what they do around the students they need to serve.

and 89% more graduates of color, 41% more low-income graduates. So it's been wildly successful because of, I think, the willingness to hold the tension between competition, collaboration, innovation, and how you get universities to really be serious about the painful process of change and the painful process of redesigning what they do around the students they need to serve.

It originally wasn't my idea. It was Michael Crow's and he had already found the 11 total. So it was him and 10 other presidents. But I will say there was a baseline commitment to a willingness to figure that out together. And I think that, I think at the time, these presidents, they were willing to see and they signed up for the chance to figure out how they would do this together.

It originally wasn't my idea. It was Michael Crow's and he had already found the 11 total. So it was him and 10 other presidents. But I will say there was a baseline commitment to a willingness to figure that out together. And I think that, I think at the time, these presidents, they were willing to see and they signed up for the chance to figure out how they would do this together.

And I think that They had a shared, they share interest in addressing the scale question and Ultimately, they realized that they were all wrestling with the same challenge of needing to improve outcomes for populations that we've historically failed. But when I got involved, it was not moving as quickly as it should.

And I think that They had a shared, they share interest in addressing the scale question and Ultimately, they realized that they were all wrestling with the same challenge of needing to improve outcomes for populations that we've historically failed. But when I got involved, it was not moving as quickly as it should.

And it was because these people had not really spent time building relationships together. And I was willing to actually fly to each of their campuses and spend time. If there's anything distinctive about me, it's that I'm an incredibly curious person. I find people fascinating and just from a human interest perspective, but also I find just all of this work is just endlessly interesting to me.

And it was because these people had not really spent time building relationships together. And I was willing to actually fly to each of their campuses and spend time. If there's anything distinctive about me, it's that I'm an incredibly curious person. I find people fascinating and just from a human interest perspective, but also I find just all of this work is just endlessly interesting to me.

And I find watching leaders figure out like how they lead, how they drive teams, how they advance, how they, these jobs are just so fascinating and difficult. And so each of them was like its own case study that I could observe. And what my job was at the time was to get this moving. And the way I did it though, was because through my experience,

And I find watching leaders figure out like how they lead, how they drive teams, how they advance, how they, these jobs are just so fascinating and difficult. And so each of them was like its own case study that I could observe. And what my job was at the time was to get this moving. And the way I did it though, was because through my experience,

deep curiosity about them, I could see that they had the same problems and they didn't know it. And there was no way they were going to come to that conclusion because of the architecture of the sector. Higher education is highly competitive. It is hierarchical. We are all a bunch of people who are trying to prove ourselves to each other with our pedigree and our publishing and our rankings.

deep curiosity about them, I could see that they had the same problems and they didn't know it. And there was no way they were going to come to that conclusion because of the architecture of the sector. Higher education is highly competitive. It is hierarchical. We are all a bunch of people who are trying to prove ourselves to each other with our pedigree and our publishing and our rankings.

And it's just very much set up that the rewards and trappings pit you against others. And as a result, there's very little space to share about shared problems and to really understand that maybe it's not you that's the problem. Maybe it's actually that these systems are problematic in their design. They were not designed around students. It turns out leading a complex bureaucracy with a

And it's just very much set up that the rewards and trappings pit you against others. And as a result, there's very little space to share about shared problems and to really understand that maybe it's not you that's the problem. Maybe it's actually that these systems are problematic in their design. They were not designed around students. It turns out leading a complex bureaucracy with a

And that it's also hard to be a human doing that. These people are humans. Right. And so I had to do a lot of the weaving of the relationship because they don't have time to get to know each other. They would come to a meeting every three months and it was they were interested, but I don't think that they would have kept going had I not been able to weave together.

And that it's also hard to be a human doing that. These people are humans. Right. And so I had to do a lot of the weaving of the relationship because they don't have time to get to know each other. They would come to a meeting every three months and it was they were interested, but I don't think that they would have kept going had I not been able to weave together.

a sense of perspective between them and for them to know that, hey, Michael Crow struggles with that thing too. Or Chancellor Wilcox, they're having that same issue at UC Riverside. And in fact, here's some anecdotes from that experience. That makes them realize that maybe there's other value in working together beyond just teaming up to see if this works.

a sense of perspective between them and for them to know that, hey, Michael Crow struggles with that thing too. Or Chancellor Wilcox, they're having that same issue at UC Riverside. And in fact, here's some anecdotes from that experience. That makes them realize that maybe there's other value in working together beyond just teaming up to see if this works.