2024 Foundation Leadership Forum

AGB welcomes Jeffrey Selingo

Thought Leader, Washington Post Columnist, and Best-Selling Author on Leadership, Higher Education, and the Future of Work

Jeffrey Selingo is a New York Times best-selling author of three books on education and the future of the job market. For more than 20 years, his in-depth reporting and powerful storytelling have provided practical insight about the future of higher education and the workforce of the future to university leaders, corporate executives and organizations, as well as students and parents.

Whether delivering a keynote talk or engaging in a fireside chat, Selingo has addressed scores of colleges, businesses, healthcare organizations, and financial services companies and helped leaders understand what’s next for education and how companies can better compete for talent, especially among Generation Z. He has appeared at the Milken Global Institute, Dartmouth College, Ohio State University, Salesforce, Spain’s Bankinter Innovation Foundation, the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions, and Deloitte, as well as before the boards of Carnegie Mellon University, the Duke Endowment, and Amherst College, among others.

Selingo’s newest book, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, was published in September 2020 and was named among the 100 Notable Books of the year by the New York Times. It takes readers on a journey through the selection process from inside three admissions offices, revealing what really matters to the gatekeepers and how the ultimate decision is often based on a college’s priorities.

As both an observer of higher education and an insider with an academic appointment at one of the largest universities in the country, Selingo occupies a unique position to explain the intersection between work, life, and learning. He writes regularly for The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Selingo’s research focuses on the changing nature of work and its impact on education, paying for college, the student experience, and shifting expectations for what the public and employers want from colleges. He is co-host of the podcast Future U. and writes a biweekly newsletter, NEXT.

Selingo is a special advisor for innovation and professor of practice at Arizona State University, where he is the founding director of the Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership. He has also served as a visiting scholar at Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities. In addition, he regularly counsels universities and organizations on their innovation strategy.

Previously, Selingo was the top editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education, where he worked for 16 years in a variety of reporting and editing roles. His work has been honored by the Education Writers Association, Society of Professional Journalists, and the Associated Press.

Selingo received a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College and a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the board of trustees at Ithaca College. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Washington, DC.

Walter Parkes is a motion picture producer, writer, former studio executive and currently the Co-Founder and CEO of the location-based virtual reality company Dreamscape Immersive. Films produced or executive produced by Parkes have garnered numerous awards and have grossed over $6B worldwide, and include Gladiator, Minority Report, the Men In Black series, Free Solo, Flight, Catch Me If You Can, Awakenings, The Kite Runner, Amistad and many others. As a screenwriter, Parkes is largely acknowledged as a pioneer, along with writing partner Lawrence Lasker, in the development of the “tech-thriller” genre with WarGames, a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominee, and Sneakers, starring Robert Redford. As the founding co-head of Dreamworks Studios, Parkes, along with partner and wife Laurie MacDonald, was responsible for the development and production of the studio’s diverse slate of films which included, for only the second time in Academy history, three consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners American Beauty, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind. Parkes’ current focus is on “Dreamscape Learn,” a partnership with Arizona State University aimed at redefining remote and in-person learning through the implementation of emotional narrative and mixed reality technologies. Previous experience in education incudes serving on the Yale University Council for ten years, and as its President for four. He is presently a Director of Para Los Ninos, a service organization that operates three charter schools in Downtown LA.

Dr. Chris Howard is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of ASU. Howard works closely with President Crow and the other executive vice presidents to coordinate enterprise-wide initiatives and advancement, oversee ASU Enterprise affiliates, advance new enterprise relationships and opportunities, and integrate ASU Enterprise planning and strategy.

Previously, Howard served as the eighth president of Robert Morris University, a nationally ranked doctoral granting university in suburban Pittsburgh. Before serving at RMU, Howard was President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

He is a trustee on the Harvard University Board of Overseers and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Young Presidents Organization, the Aspen Strategy Group and Trilateral Commission, and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

He is a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Academy and earned a doctorate in politics as a Rhodes Scholar from the University of Oxford. He also has an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.