CMOLab 2026:
Get Bold in Boulder

Please plan on arriving to Boulder before 5pm.

6:00pm – 9:00pm: Welcome Social Event @ Hotel Limelight

7:30a – 8:45a: Breakfast and Networking

8:45a – 9:00a: Welcome to the CMOLab!

9:00a – 10:00a: Overcoming the Alignment Gap

Ten years into our Higher Ed CMO Study, and the data is clear: CMOs have the strategy. They have a seat at the table. But the system is lagging behind. The “alignment gap” is the space between what marketing leaders know and what the rest of the institution actually believes, acts on, or funds. In this session, Jenny Petty and Murray Simpson unpack the root causes of this gap, share what the research says about how CMOs are navigating it, and offer a framework for closing it—before it closes in on you.

10:00a – 10:15a: Coffee Break

10:15a – 11:45a: Navigate Crisis Communications with Confidence

Higher ed is under pressure from every direction, and when a crisis hits, most institutions discover they don’t have a real plan. Michele Ehrhart does, backed by 30 years of experience in crisis communications and reputation management, and she’s bringing lessons from her latest book, “Crisis Compass: How to Communicate When It Matters Most,” to CMOLab. This interactive session will deliver a clear, practical framework for leading through any major disruption with confidence. You’ll discover tools you can use, develop a sharper read on your own brand’s resilience, and leave with the courage to manage through uncertainty. When you’re hiking through the wilderness, you need a compass. This session is yours.

11:45a – 1:00p: Lunch and Networking

1:00p – 2:00p: How AI Can (and Can’t) Shape Higher Ed Marketing Teams

Nobody has the answers yet, and anyone who says otherwise is probably trying to sell you something. This structured roundtable flips the script on the tired AI conversations in higher ed. In this session, you’ll work together with peers across the industry to share what’s working, what isn’t, and what senior marketing leaders are still trying to figure out. Facilitated by experts across SimpsonScarborough, this is the time for open discussion and honest exchange. No gospel allowed.

2:05p – 3:05p: Navigating the Exposure of the CMO Role

The higher you climb in higher ed marketing, the more visible you become, and visibility comes with risk. This is the session nobody puts in a conference program, but everybody needs to hear. You’ll hear from three CMOs, speaking candidly about navigating the moments when the exposure of the role turned into real professional consequences: what led them there, what they learned, and what they’d tell their past selves if they could.

3:05p – 3:30p: Break and Refreshments

3:30p – 4:15p: Building Resilience in the Face of Exposure

Knowing what happened matters. Knowing what to do next matters more. Part two of our two-part session shifts from story to strategy, bringing in a panel of professionals who can speak to the practical realities CMOs face when navigating career disruption: your legal rights, how to frame the experience in your next search, and what life looks like if the next chapter isn’t with a College or University.

4:15p – 4:45p: Lightning Talks – “Other Duties As Assigned”

You were hired to build a brand. Nobody mentioned you’d also be asked to manage the homecoming parade, approve the mascot costume, or serve on the university’s parking advisory committee. It’s a wild time in higher education, and we’re ending the day with a series of light-hearted, rapid-fire lightning talks where higher ed marketing leaders share the most gloriously absurd things they’ve been asked to do. You’ll laugh. You’ll relate. You’ll feel a little less alone.

4:45p – 5:00p: Day 2 Wrap-Up and Day 3 Preview

7:00p – 10:00p: CMOLab Social at the Colorado Chautauqua

This year’s CMOLab Social is at the Colorado Chautauqua, a National Historic Landmark sitting at the base of the iconic Flatirons. The evening starts with dinner at the Chautauqua Dining Hall, a Victorian landmark that has fed and delighted Boulderites since 1898. The menu leans into Colorado’s finest, with locally sourced ingredients and dishes built around regional flavors.

From there, you choose your adventure. Lace up for a sunset hike through the foothills as golden light pours across the rock faces, or step back in time with a guided historical walking tour of the Chautauqua grounds, a campus that once served as an outdoor university for culture, education, and mountain air. Both options promise good conversation and a side of awe.

The night closes on the Chautauqua lawn under a Colorado sky built for stargazing. Away from city lights, the stars above the Flatirons put on a show. Bring your curiosity and a willingness to look up.

7:30a – 8:30a: Breakfast and Networking

8:30a – 9:15a: A New Era of College Athletics in Power, Pay, and Brand

NIL changed the game. Conference realignment changed the map. And both are changing the job of the higher ed CMO in ways nobody fully anticipated. This session takes an honest look at how the seismic shifts in college athletics are reshaping brand strategy, alumni engagement, and institutional fundraising, and what marketing leaders need to be thinking about right now to stay ahead of it.

9:15a – 10:00a:  Your Research Matters, Your Audience Just Doesn’t Understand It

Research universities produce world-changing work. But for decades, higher education has assumed the public would connect the dots between discovery and daily life, and largely, they haven’t. This session explores how marketing leaders are rethinking that assumption: not just translating complex research into cleaner language, but building shared platforms that invite faculty, alumni, patients, and advocates to tell the story themselves. Drawing on real campaigns that moved from institutional defense to public clarity, we’ll examine what it takes to make research feel immediate, personal, and worth protecting.

10:00a – 10:15a: Coffee and Refreshment Break

10:15a – 11:15a: Preparing for the Advancement Cliff

University foundations have always played a supporting role. But lately, they’re stepping into the spotlight: building their own brands, driving their own strategies, and operating with a speed and flexibility that campus-based marketing teams simply can’t match. This session examines the evolving role of foundations in the higher ed brand ecosystem: where they’re headed, what it means for the campus CMO, and whether this new era of foundation branding is an opportunity, a complication, or something in between.

10:40a – 11:40a: Maximising Campus Milestones as Brand Amplifiers

Every campus hits major milestones: anniversaries, leadership transitions, conference realignments, and major designations. Too often, these moments are treated as events rather than brand opportunities. This panel brings together marketing leaders who have turned institutional milestones into strategic proof points, using them to tell a bigger story about who their institutions are and where they’re headed.

11:45a – 12:00p: Wrap-Up and Thank You

Takeout lunches will be available starting at noon. CMOLab participants are welcome to take lunch to go or stick around for extra time with SimpsonScarborough folks and other CMOs.