Accelerated adoption by clients and new partnerships boosts growth in strategy, service and product development
06/01/2020 – Needham, MA
PlatformQ Education, the leader in online engagement strategies and software for higher education, recently added new team members in both operations and leadership to support the rapid growth and adoption of the Conduit online engagement platform.
Mallory Willsea has joined PlatformQ Education as its new Vice President of Strategy and Operations. Willsea joins the team from mStoner, a digital-first creative agency for higher education. While at mStoner, Willsea was most recently the Director of Marketing and Business Development. Willsea is responsible for producing and transforming Higher Ed Live, a professional development network operated by mStoner, into one of the most respected professional development resources in .edu marketing and communications. Prior to transitioning to marketing and consulting, Willsea served in a variety of digital marketing and recruitment capacities at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. Willsea will bring more than a decade of higher education marketing and strategic planning experience to the team as she oversees the PlatformQ Education operations, production and engagement marketing strategy teams.
PlatformQ Education executive vice president Gil Rogers said, “Our recent acceleration has brought a lot of great talent to our team in support of our growing list of strategic clients and partners. We have added 10 new team members in just the last two months. Having had the opportunity to work with Mallory as a partner at various companies over the years, I have known her to be nothing short of a transformative leader who is the perfect fit to bring our team to the next level. I look forward to the energy and digital expertise she will bring to our team to help drive our client’s strategic engagement initiatives.”
Driven in part by the COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in most colleges and universities in the country pivoting to move their physical admissions, enrollment, orientation, financial aid and development events online, PlatformQ Education has more than doubled its support staff in the areas of online event production, student marketing, and engagement strategy.
“In looking at recent digital admissions research, I believe the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating a shift towards virtual recruitment that has been a long time coming for admission teams,” says Willsea. “The Conduit platform enables meaningful engagement with prospective students — but any technology in a college’s admissions toolkit must be underpinned by an engagement strategy in support of institutional goals. I believe that’s where PQE shines. Virtual events are a standard now. There’s no going back. Institutions must thoughtfully integrate virtual content into their activities for student recruitment and admissions, new student orientation, and alumni and donor engagement.”
Willsea is one of many key arrivals that bring a unique combination of higher education and technology experience to the PlatformQ Education team.
Jim Phelan recently joined the PlatformQ team as VP of Video Engineering. Phelan brings more than a decade of experience in video streaming development. Phelan will lead the continued development and enhancement of PlatformQ’s video streaming software integrations within Conduit and the broader company technology stack.
Marie Elliott joined the team as its new Interactive Marketing Manager leading the development and execution of email and global SMS campaigns on behalf of college and university partners. Prior to joining PlatformQ Education Marie was the Associate Director of Admissions at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. She also served in numerous recruitment and marketing capacities at Indiana State University and Saint Joseph’s College of Indiana.
Anthony Pinto is the company’s newest Director of Engagement Marketing Strategy. Anthony was a client of PlatformQ Education for 10 years while most recently serving as Assistant Director of Enrollment Management at the University of Tampa in Florida. Anthony will leverage his industry experience and platform expertise to guide and support the company’s growing list of clients in developing and executing strategic online engagement programs in support of their prospective students.
Keren Vestal has also joined the company as a Marketing & Operations Associate where she oversees development and execution of virtual events for college and university partners. Prior to joining PlatformQ Education, Vestal served in numerous education capacities including an eCademy Teacher for Elevation Church as well as an Academic Evaluator at LIberty University in Virginia.
About PlatformQ Education
PlatformQ Education helps colleges and universities evolve their online engagement strategies. With its suite of products and managed services, including Conduit, Campus Connect live chat, Global SMS and email automation, PlatformQ Education enables institutions to meaningfully engage with students, parents, and counselors at every stage of the engagement process. Whether the goal is to increase applications or influence accepted students’ decisions, or reach and engage alumni, hundreds of institutions rely on PlatformQ Education to support their conversion and yield goals every day.