75 Days

Seventy-five days into this role, I want to share what I've been learning and how it's shaping the way I think about our year ahead.

I've spent these weeks listening, observing, and pressure-testing EMERGE from different angles: our model, our market position, our capacity to grow. I've heard from district leaders, funders, board members, peer organizations, and many of you. What's clear is that we're at an inflection point between proven impact and sustainable future.

What I've Learned

A few things stand out.

First, our advising model works. When executed well, we change student trajectories. That's not up for debate. But we also need to ask which aspects of our model actually drive that impact. We can't assume every element is equally critical. The questions are whether we're maintaining our bar for excellence, executing consistently, and being honest about what's essential versus what we do out of habit.

Second, the landscape around us has shifted. Districts are under pressure from enrollment declines, budget constraints, and new accountability requirements. Competition in the college access space has increased. Funders and partners are pushing organizations to prove their value more clearly than ever before.

Third, we have real assets to build from. The commitment to students across this team runs deep. Our brand holds strong credibility. Districts, funders, and partners believe in our mission and want us to succeed.

But I also see places where we need to get stronger. We need to sharpen how we articulate what makes EMERGE essential. We need systems that help us execute consistently. And we need to be honest about what's working and what isn't.

A Shift in How We're Framing the Year

Earlier this fall, I introduced a framework for thinking about our work: prove the model still works, discover what version scales best, and build the foundation that enables scale. That framing helped us focus on learning and experimentation as priorities.

I still believe in that spirit. But as I've gone deeper, I've realized we need to anchor our work around a clearer question: What kind of organization should EMERGE become?

That's the question driving our FY26 priorities, and it's what the board and I are aligned around. To answer it, we're organizing our work around three strategic priorities:

Build Stakeholder Confidence: Do external partners believe in us? This is about strengthening our outcomes story, deepening district partnerships, and making sure the people who invest in us, whether with dollars or with trust, see clear evidence that EMERGE delivers.

Evolve Our Model: Are we building for the future? This is about testing whether there are ways to deliver our work more efficiently without compromising quality. It's about understanding what the market needs from us and whether there are new approaches worth exploring.

Execute with Excellence: Can we execute reliably? This is about building the internal foundation that makes everything else possible. Clear goals. Strong leadership. Accountability systems. The basics that let us deliver consistently.

These three priorities are how we'll measure our progress this year. They're reflected in the KPIs we're tracking as an organization, and they'll shape the decisions we make about where to invest our time and energy.

Why This Matters for You

I know frameworks can feel abstract. So let me make it concrete.

The work most of you do every day, building relationships with students, guiding them through applications, supporting them toward graduation, that's the heart of what we do. That doesn't change.

What changes is the context around it. We're being more deliberate about asking whether our model is set up for the future. We're paying closer attention to how external partners experience us. And we're building stronger systems internally so that excellence becomes consistent, not dependent on individual heroics.

All of us are connected to the same question: what kind of organization should EMERGE become?

Over the coming months, you'll hear more about how these priorities translate into specific work. At our Q2 staff meeting, we'll roll out goal-tracking systems that create more visibility across teams.

More on all of this at the Q2 staff meeting.