My Renewed Vision For HCM Strategists

A message from Kristin Hultquist, CEO and Founding Partner

Since HCM Strategists (HCM) was founded in 2008, we have seen much progress but also profound loss and changes in American higher education. In that time, we lost 600,000 Black learners from colleges and universities. The value of college is now questioned by cross-partisan majorities, and affordability remains stubbornly a cause. The innovation economy is transforming how talent clusters in regions and deepens the disparities in opportunities Americans have to live lives supported by reliable, middle-class incomes. Human talent drives this innovation economy, and the location of talent is changing rapidly. A long-predicted demographic transition is not just underway already in our northeastern and midwestern states, but the world’s “demographic sweet spots” are rapidly changing and the global innovation economy will migrate to these places unless the U.S. invests more in a transformed postsecondary education ecosystem. 

To help courageous leaders navigate these changes on behalf of our individuals seeking a better way of life and new skills, HCM is now a postsecondary education and career competitive learning-focused consulting firm. As we focus on our proven areas of deep expertise, we remain a small, woman-owned organization committed to the radical notion that finding bi-partisan common ground is not only necessary but in service to a durable democracy and vibrant republic. 

HCM will continue to elevate the voices of learners who need educational opportunities beyond high school. With our existing and new clients, we will support pathway and policy development, new accountability and financing approaches, practical tools for decision-making, strategic planning, and peer-supported leadership development. We will continue to analyze, align, advocate for, incubate and build alliances around well-designed and adequately-funded public institutions, need-based financial aid programs built upon systems of accountability and transparency, and holistic wraparound services and learner navigation resources that meet students where they are and propel them to better lives.

New clients foreshadow new areas of impact. We have begun to expand our state-centered work into school districts to center pathways in the career exposure, advising and work-based learning necessary to expand economic and postsecondary opportunities. We have begun to translate our knowledge of state ecosystems and apply new organizational partnerships with evidence-based tools that inform new financing strategies in Illinois, Nevada and Ohio; new approaches to statewide enrollment management in New York and Virginia; and advocacy and community mobilization strategies in Florida and Michigan.  

Kristin Hultquist with her mother and brother at her graduation from Georgetown University.

HCM is growing and promoting its bench of talent to support this dynamic postsecondary ecosystem. The firm has: deepened its state policy expertise by retaining Dr. Chris Mathias, the sole member of the Idaho legislature’s Black Caucus, and elevating Martha Snyder to partner; expanding our bench on affordability with the addition of Lauren Asher, and on STEM pathways with the promotion of Dr. Darryl Hill to partner; and added data and research capacity with the hiring of Brenae Smith. The team widened its lens for advice and counsel with the addition of political scientist and civil rights connector, Dr. Julie Ajinkya, and the advocacy acumen of our new policy fellow, Marissa Molina. And we are honing our ability to support clear communication with partnerships with EDGE Research and community building with organizations like the Institute for Educational Leadership and Helios Education Foundation. 

I am #firstgen. This means my life trajectory has been powered by sound public policies, a little hard work and those with privilege who mentored me and gave me opportunities. It also was powered by the encouragement of my single mother, who always taught me to “dream in color.” As I assume the role of CEO and Founding Partner of HCM, I carry all of these blessings and share my dream in color with you.

Before the firm’s 25th anniversary in 2033, the employee owners of HCM Strategists will be known for:

Kristin’s first career navigator and mentor, Dr. Hazel Scott. Dr. Scott advised Kristin when she was ASI President and encouraged her to move to DC and pursue higher ed work at the system-level. Dr. Scott retired after being part of the leadership team that transformed Georgia State into a national leader in student success. 

• The firm’s sustained reputation for postsecondary state policy excellence and strategic advice to public and private investors in talent, including elected officials, philanthropies and private equity investors. HCM’s unique intellectual property and client base will be harnessed by policymakers and influencers to align learner needs, common ground, cross-partisan solutions, state leadership, and postsecondary innovations. 

• HCM’s ability to apply this expertise to more equitable and efficient dual and concurrent enrollment and more prevalent career advising and integrated work-based learning. 

• The impact of the firm’s efforts to coalesce business and business voices around the need for federal policies and investments that acknowledge the profound transitions in learning and work brought about by technology. 

• The trailblazing way HCM designs, speaks out and collaborates for greater wealth generation and economic mobility through more inclusive STEM policies and pathways. 

• The sustained relationships we nurture through customized, high-quality service to under-resourced institutions, their boards, and their membership organizations.

• The firm’s track record in providing content-rich, collaborative professional opportunities that propel the careers and economic mobility of its own, largely first-generation workforce. 

• The service of these HCM employees across governing boards of public university systems, open access colleges, minority-serving institutions, scholarly associations and community-based organizations.

In a nation that feels like it is coming apart at the seams, we embrace collaboration and shun divisiveness. The team at HCM Strategists invites you to join us in this road we envision together.