Mindy Best

On a micro level, I enjoy being a part of a collaborative, supportive community that helps learners achieve success in school and life. On a macro level, I believe that education is key to solving the world’s issues — economic instability and mobility, human rights, social equity and justice, climate change, public health and safety, and more. Through higher ed, I strive to be a catalyst that helps drive forward transformational change and fuels the future of students, institutions, and education at large.

Serendipity. As an English major, I was encouraged to either go to law school or become a teacher, but neither felt like the right fit for me. Instead, I took my first job at a newspaper with the goal of working my way up the copy desk. After helping the newspaper launch its digital edition, I realized the letterpress — and my dream — was on its way to the archives. But the wife of one of my colleagues had worked down the street for a higher-ed tech startup, doing some innovative work in software and creative services, and introduced me. Since then, my path has changed direction several times, but it’s always led me back to higher ed.

“Best Day of My Life” by American Authors. It’s about endless possibilities, moving forward, and reaching dreams — with a hint of mischief.

As an English major, I love to draw inspiration from literary and historical texts. Two quotes I often come back to: “Adventure beckons” from Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and “Progress is impossible without change” from George Bernard Shaw.