I coach current and aspiring academic leaders to lead change, build thriving teams, and sustain their well-being—so they can lead with confidence and effectiveness. “Amanda helped me move from reacting to every challenge to leading with intention. I left coaching with greater clarity, stronger boundaries, and the confidence to make decisions I could stand behind.” I work with higher education leaders navigating the realities of academic leadership: leading organizational change, balancing competing demands, managing faculty and staff, and preparing for the next chapter of their careers. Whether you’re stepping into leadership for the first time, facing a difficult transition, or seeking greater impact without sacrificing yourself, I help you lead authentically and effectively. What we work on: Leading Change: You’re responsible for moving people through uncertainty. Together, we build the confidence and strategy needed to lead transformation. Managing Faculty & Staff: Difficult conversations, performance concerns, and team dynamics become opportunities for clarity, accountability, and growth. Career Advancement: You want to move into a chair, dean, or a further executive role and position yourself strategically for the next opportunity. Preventing Burnout: Leadership can consume your energy, time, and identity. We create practices that support resilience and sustainable success. Authentic Leadership: You […]
Ava is a faculty and leadership coach with more than 25 years of experience in higher education. Drawing upon nearly a decade of experience as an on-air television news reporter, she brings a keen awareness of communication and presentation skills. She helps clients work through major transitions in their professional and personal lives by focusing on the little things that lead to big successes. Ava believes it’s important to minimize distractions to maximize YOUR agenda. She earned her coaching certification through Coach Training EDU. Ava leads a faculty mentorship program at Northwestern University. She is particularly adept at addressing the unique challenges and opportunities facing women and faculty of color. Ava is author of Ladies Leading: The Black Women Who Control Television News; and director of “Mandela in Chicago,” a documentary film about the city’s anti-apartheid movement. She is also the executive producer of “Hearing Silences (2025),” a film about the history and experiences of Black women faculty at Northwestern University. In addition to teaching, she has held several administrative posts including associate dean for curriculum, department chair, co-curator for the nationally recognized Ida B. Wells award and co-director of the South Africa Journalism Residency Program. Ava holds both a […]
Jess is a Senior Leadership Development Partner at Academic Impressions, where she leads the organization’s team development practice and serves as a core member of the coaching team. Her work spans team dynamics, organizational culture, group and individual coaching, and custom facilitation for senior leaders across higher education. Jess brings a practitioner’s lens to her work grounded in years of experience in student affairs, conflict resolution, and Title IX. Before joining Academic Impressions full-time, she served as Assistant Dean of Students and Title IX Deputy Coordinator at Loyola University Chicago and Title IX Coordinator at DePaul University, where she was also a subject matter expert for Academic Impressions. She holds a BA from John Carroll University and an MA from the University of Cincinnati, a certificate in Women in Leadership from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead Executive Education Program, and completed Chicago’s Center for Conflict Resolution 40-hour Mediation Skills Training. She is also a trained Co-Active Coach working toward certification.
Tiara joined the AI team as a Membership Eligibility Specialist. She has spent 10+ years in the Healthcare industry as an administrator and eligibility specialist here in the beautiful state of Colorado. Originally from the Heartland of the Mid-West, the wonderful state of Iowa, she attended the University of Iowa (GO HAWKS!). Upon coming to Colorado, she obtained her Associate of Business Administration from Colorado Technical University. She’s very excited to bring her knowledge and skills to Academic Impressions as well as to learn and grow within the organization.
Rod is currently Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Innovation in the Benerd School of Education at University of the Pacific in California. His work is focused on helping leaders of all types nurture human and organizational potential. Rod’s professional practice focuses on organizational learning, organization development, strategic planning, and evaluation. In his current role at Pacific, Rod leads school-wide academic program development, innovation facilitation, and enrollment services. Rod facilitated the development and implementation of the school’s strategic plan, Benerd Reimagined, which is resulting in a major academic and organizational transformation. He’s currently a key leader in the school as it merges with the university’s continuing and professional education unit in 2019-2020. In his previous role at Pacific, he led the startup of the Benerd School in Sacramento, designed to be a hub of innovation and creativity for learning, leadership, and change. Prior to his work at Pacific, Rod worked at Drexel University’s startup campus in Sacramento and led the transformation of a program group at University of Louisville, which tripled in enrollment to 550 students during his time there. Before becoming a faculty member, Rod managed a group of online programs at the University of Illinois. In his previous […]
Vickie Cook is a nationally recognized higher education leader specializing in enrollment strategy, online and digital learning, organizational transformation, team development, and leadership growth. With more than three decades of experience across university and system, private and community college settings, she has led large-scale academic, strategic, and operational initiatives that have strengthened institutional capacity. Most recently, Dr. Cook served as the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment & Retention Management at the University of Illinois Springfield. She holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and an M.S. in Adult Education. Dr. Cook has been actively engaged in providing consulting in strategic enrollment, digital transformation and leadership capacity building with educational leaders across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. She has provided consultation to over 55 institutions seeking to expand or evaluate their online learning programs and leadership. Her recent publications on AI leadership in enrollment management, digital transformation, and credential innovation. Her work has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2024 The Mildred B. and Charles A. Wedemeyer Award for Outstanding Practitioner in Distance Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UPCEA.
As a child, Lisa was fascinated with the art of storytelling just as much as understanding how the world worked. She was that curious kid who would ask “why” a million times to understand the root cause of everything and then tell you an epic tale about what she had just learned. Flash forward, not much has changed. Having spent most of her career in leadership positions focused on operations and training within the education and healthcare industries, she carved a career path that allowed her to ask “why” to solve business problems and train others to do the same. She’s a proud alumnus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) two times over, having received both a Bachelor of Science, Biology and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Now at Academic Impressions, she enjoys sharing her passion for learning with others by creating exciting training opportunities for leaders in higher ed. A focus of her work includes working with Department Chairs and Academic Deans. When she is not designing and facilitating professional development programs, Lisa can be found wandering with her camera, photographing the world. Her number one bucket […]
Greta has a Master of Fine Arts in History from California State University, Fresno where she researched Early Modern print culture, tradesmen, and consumerism. Prior to joining Academic Impressions, she worked at her alma matter supporting post-graduate education by offering digital support services to graduate students. She’s excited to have joined the Academic Impressions’ team where she can continue to apply her passion for online learning and higher education.
In her current role, Alicia leads the Content team and helps the company think through strategy and how that translates to products and user experiences. A lifelong learner and visionary at heart, she’s worked in government research in Washington D.C. on the topic of cross-cultural communication in the military, healthcare and advertising in New York City, and various roles at Academic Impressions related to research, content development, and product design. Alicia holds a BA in Linguistics and Romance Languages from Colorado College and an MS in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University. In November 2022, she earned the Harvard Business School’s Leadership Principles certificate of completion. Alicia is a Denver native and lives with her family in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.
Rabia (she/hers) is a Senior Learning & Development Manager who partners with higher education leaders to design and facilitate both open-enrollment and custom programs for individuals and teams, with a particular focus on academic affairs and department chairs/heads. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Elmhurst College (now University) and is a proud double alumna of Loyola University Chicago, holding master’s degrees in Higher Education and Human Resources. Before joining Academic Impressions in May 2018, Rabia spent 17 years in Student Affairs, primarily in leadership roles within residence life and Title IX. She served as the Director of Equity Issues and Title IX Coordinator at Columbia College Chicago, as well as the Assistant Dean of Students/Deputy Title IX Coordinator at Loyola University Chicago. In addition, she has taught undergraduate courses and served as a guest speaker in Loyola’s Higher Education graduate program. Rabia has been a subject matter expert and presenter for Academic Impressions since 2013 and is also a Five Paths to Leadership certified instructor. In 2022, she earned her Leadership Principles Certificate from Harvard’s Online Business School, and in 2016, she was honored with Loyola University Chicago’s Higher Education Distinguished Alumna Award. A full-time remote employee, Rabia […]
