Dr. Adrian K. Haugabrook serves as Senior Director for Strategy at StrategyForward Advisors, a national postsecondary policy, strategy, and intermediary firm serving at the intersection of education and industry. He is a strategic advisor, systems thinker, and equity driven innovator with more than three decades of executive leadership across higher education, nonprofit, and social impact sectors. Throughout his career, he has advanced initiatives that expand access, strengthen institutional performance, and align strategy with measurable outcomes. He brings a distinctive blend of organizational insight, strategic foresight, and a sustained commitment to helping organizations become more inclusive, future ready, and mission aligned.
Dr. Haugabrook has held senior leadership roles at nationally recognized institutions, where he led enterprise strategy, equity centered transformation, and cross sector partnerships. He is also the Founder and Principal of Quinta Essentia Ventures, a consultancy dedicated to equipping social sector organizations with the strategy, capacity, and performance frameworks needed to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Social Impact at Southern New Hampshire University, where he advanced national and global initiatives in competency-based education, technology enabled learning, and social mobility.
A nationally recognized thought leader on educational equity, systems change, innovation, and institutional resilience, Dr. Haugabrook was featured at TED 2021. His talk, “3 Ways to Lower the Barriers to Higher Education,” reached more than one million views within its first six weeks. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Upswing International and Complete College America, including its National Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence. His prior leadership includes board service with the Postsecondary National Policy Institute and Ascend at the Aspen Institute, and selection to the inaugural cohort of Designers in Residence with the Education Design Lab.
In addition to his professional commitments, Dr. Haugabrook is a devoted husband, father of two, grandfather, and Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Boston, an M.S. in Social Administration from Georgia Southwestern University, and a B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of West Georgia.