the raven eye team
Alby Salsa, CEO and Principal Consultant
Alby is passionate about helping Higher Ed. clients improving their Enrollment and Retention functions. He has spent 20 years building Enrollment teams and developing student coaching programs to serve colleges and universities from all industry segments.
As an RVP for InsideTrack's adult learning division, a Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Operations for Brandman University, and Sr. Director of Enrollment and Retention at Blackboard, Alby is at the forefront of Enrollment and Retention next practices. He's helped hundreds of Higher Ed. institutions to reimagine and improve their operations and his work has positively touched hundreds of thousands of adult learners.
Alby is the host of the Going the Distance with Alby Salsa podcast, and interview based podcast where he speaks with Higher Education leaders about the marketing and enrollment topics that you care about the most.
Gary Brahm, Senior Advisor
Gary was the Founding Chancellor of Brandman University, growing the private, nonprofit university to serve over 16,000 students at 26 campus locations plus a thriving online division.
He’s a Higher Education entrepreneur and pioneer in adult learning strategies and operations. As Chancellor at Brandman, he successfully oversaw the merger between Brandman and University of Massachusetts and served as the Founding Chancellor of UMass Global.
Gary has periodically served as chair or a member of numerous WSCUC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) accreditation visiting teams. He also completed a 3-year term as a member of the WSCUC Interim Review Committee. He has presented on non-traditional education, online, and competency-based education at the American Council for Higher Education annual meeting, the Association of Governing Boards National Conference on Trusteeship, the Credit Suisse Global Conference, the WSCUC Academic Resource Conference, the ASU GSV Conference and many others. He has served as director and officer at numerous nonprofit and public organizations.
Gary has also served as the CFO at National University and the EVP/COO at Chapman University.
Paul Bowers, SVP and Senior Consultant
Paul Bowers is an industry leader in online program management. He has spent over 30 years consulting and leading higher education institutions to improve, enhance, and innovate online teaching and learning, and student engagement.
As a Vice President and Dean at Hiram College and Buena Vista College, Paul was a pioneer at standing up online and adult programs. As a Senior Consultant for Blackboard, Pearson, and Symplicity, Paul has consulted with over 100 clients to support them with enhancing their online program management, including the enrollment, retention, and career services functions.
Dana Gelfand, VP Enrollment Management and Service Delivery
Dana Gelfand is higher education and strategic enrollment leader with 20 years of experience working in organizations of diverse populations, program offerings and learning modalities.
Prior to consulting with Raven Eye Consulting, Dana was Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Operations for UMass Global, formerly Brandman University of the Chapman University System. In addition, she served for 10 years at University of Phoenix as Director of Enrollment as well as Senior Enrollment Manager. Dana values creating a culture of student success and educational access.
She is skilled in areas core to enrollment and retention including operations, performance management, leveraging technology, analytics, communication strategies, and team development.
Ernest Courant, Head of Talent Development
Ernest Courant is a coach, consultant, and facilitator with a focus on building thriving and equitable organizations. Over his 20+ year career in learning and development and talent management he’s helped start-ups scale, mid-sized companies achieve their goals, and global organizations radically improve their workplace cultures.
Ernest leverages global leadership experience at Amazon and LinkedIn, as well as at several fast-scaling start-ups, to create transformative experiences for individuals and groups as well as culture-shifting change in organizations. He has specialized expertise in developing and training coaching and consultative sales methodologies, especially in the technology and higher education spaces.
Ernest has a PhD in Philosophy, applying his research to create real-world results.
Maria Bascetta, Partnership Consultant
Maria brings a deep passion for making human connections, problem solving, relationship building, and organization development to her work as our Partnership Consultant.
Maria also serves as our project manager, a critical role as we scale our business. Her operational and systems skills, combined with her strong communication skills and passion for excellence, makes her an invaluable member of the Raven Eye team.
Maria has worked in various settings, from small and growing nonprofits to large private sector companies. She is passionate about building community, engagement, and working together.
Ron Gilliland, Executive Coaching Lead
For nearly 20 years, Ron Gilliland has thought-partnered with higher education professionals that they may thrive in their careers, full cycle–from job search to securing positions, to onboarding, and beyond. Certified in the Co-Active Coaching Model, one of the most rigorous professional coach training programs in the industry, Ron is able to consult with leaders on change management as a certified practitioner in Prosci's ADKAR® Change Management Model.
Ron holds a Bachelor’s in Integral Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies and an academic background in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Ron combines different methodologies grounded in anthropology, sociology, psychology, organizational development, and environmental science - in unexpected ways, providing clients with “out of the box” perspectives and creative avenues for career success.