CoLab is the Community Higher Ed Marketing Leaders Have Been Waiting For.

Higher education marketing leaders have never had more influence. 

According to our CMO Study 2025-26, 70% of CMOs sit on the president’s cabinet, and 64% report directly to the president, a significant increase from a decade ago. The role has become more strategic, more visible, and more consequential than ever before. 

But one thing hasn’t kept pace. 

The support system. 

While presidents have ACE. Advancement leaders have CASE. Enrollment leaders have NACAC. Business officers have NACUBO. Trustees have AGB. 

Marketing leaders have largely had to build their own networks from scratch. 

That’s why we created CoLab. 

A private community built for higher education marketers. 

CoLab is where higher education marketing decision-makers can connect with peers who understand the job because they’re living it too. 

It’s a place to: 

• Ask questions before making high-stakes decisions.  
• Learn how peers are approaching their challenges.  
• Share ideas, templates, and resources.  
• Participate in workshops and conversations with industry leaders.  
• Access exclusive research and insights.  
• Build relationships with people who understand exactly what your role is like.  

Most importantly, it’s available year-round. 

Because leadership challenges don’t happen only during conference season. 

This idea didn’t start with CoLab. 

In 2021, during an episode of Starter Stories, our founder, Elizabeth Johnson, was asked what she’d build if she were starting the next chapter of her career. 

Her answer wasn’t another agency service. 

It was this. 

“It really frustrates me that there isn’t an association that provides the networking opportunities that I think are so important, collects the benchmarking content that other cabinet-level professionals have access to, or creates the professional development opportunities and resources. Everybody else at the cabinet level has resources. But Chief Marketing Officers, the newest person at the cabinet table—the biggest change in higher ed administration of the last decade— don’t have a support system in place. And I think that’s so necessary.” 

So, four years ago, we launched CMOLab to begin filling that gap.  

CMOLab proved the solution. 

We wanted to create a place where higher education marketing leaders could step away from their campuses, meet one another, solve problems together, and have conversations that simply weren’t happening anywhere else. 

Every year, we’ve watched something remarkable happen. 

People leave with new friendships. 

New ideas. 

New confidence. 

And perhaps most importantly, a realization that they aren’t the only one wrestling with these challenges. 

The feedback has made one thing abundantly clear. 

The community shouldn’t exist for only two and a half days each year. 

So we built CoLab for you, every day. 

CoLab is the natural next step. 

It extends the spirit of CMOLab beyond the conference, creating a year-round community where higher education marketers can continue asking questions, sharing knowledge, and helping one another navigate an increasingly complex role. 

Because no one should have to figure out cabinet-level leadership alone. 

If you’re a higher education marketing leader looking for thoughtful peers, practical resources, and honest conversations, we’d love to welcome you. 

Join CoLab and help shape the future of higher education marketing together.