Laurie T.
Heacock

Laurie joined the ATD coaching cadre in 2010 and has coached colleges in AL, CT, FL, IL, MD, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA, and WA. Laurie also served ATD as the vice president of data, technology, and analytics and senior advisor of data and analytics. In those roles, she was responsible for recruiting, managing, and training data coaches, launching the ICAT, and building network colleges’ data, analytics, and technology capacity through coaching, training, facilitating peer learning, and sharing curricula, tools, and resources. Laurie led the annual ATD Data and Analytics Summit, managed ATD’s engagement with the Postsecondary Data Partnership, and worked with partner organizations on postsecondary metric alignment and policy advocacy.

Laurie has over 35 years of community college experience, including practitioner roles in institutional research, applied research, IT, academic advising, and instruction. She serves on the Data/Metrics Advisory Panel for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and on the National Student Clearinghouse’s Data Collective Advisory Council. She is a graduate of the League for Innovation’s Executive Leadership Institute. Laurie is trained in facilitation, appreciative inquiry, design thinking, process mapping, equity-minded data storytelling, guided pathways, racial equity and poverty, Kotter Change Essentials, and Franklin Covey’s 4DX.

How has education changed your life?

My father was a first-generation college student, and earning a degree advanced his military career and bettered our lives. With my parents’ support, I attended an in-state public college where I earned a five-year master’s degree. My first job out of college was at a community college where I worked as a research analyst and taught math as an adjunct. I fell in love with the mission of community colleges and for the past 35 years, I’ve helped institutions transform to better the lives of their students. One could say I went to college and never left!