Lindsey López, ApplyBoard

Introduce yourself in three words or phrases.  

Adoptive mother, traveller, leader.

What do you like most about your job? 

The scalability of delivering student outcomes. I’ve never worked in an organisation [ApplyBoard] before that has been able to support this many students at scale, and so quickly and efficiently.

Best work trip/Worst work trip? 

I’m not going to say the worst work trip. I definitely won’t say that. 

I’d say my best trip was around 2015, when I was a sales director for a third-party provider in the pathway space. We had formed a band, a real band, and I think we called ourselves The Bangkok Beavers.

It was the founding partner of the organisation, one of our key US university partners, someone from operations in the UK, myself on bass and guitar, and a US sales director as the singer.

We ended up playing a rooftop show for all our recruitment and US/UK university partners, and it was an absolute blast.

What genre did you guys go for?

It was punk!

If you could learn a language instantly, which would you pick and why? 

Sign language, because, I mean, what a way to support people. It’s highly impactful, supporting others through communication. And there are so few people willing to learn it unless they have a family member who needs it. And of course, I could teach my family, we’d have our own secret language!

What makes you get up in the morning? 

My adoptive children waking me up. Two years ago, I adopted two children through the foster care system, and it was monumentally life-changing. Now, they’re the reason I get up, the reason I go to work. I want to ensure that kids just like mine get a second chance, a chance to have access to the best of everything.

Champion/cheerleader which we should all follow and why?

Well, I don’t think anyone should blindly follow anyone. I believe we should always question and always think critically about any leader.

That said, I do think there are some highly influential leaders in this space. It’s a really tough one. I think we’re in a bit of a leadership vacuum in many areas, especially in the US. That said, I’d highlight the brave, relentless leaders at NAFSA who continue to champion international education despite the unique challenges facing the US market.

Best international ed conference and why 

Oh, the Top Recruiters Workshop (TRW). I think you can really see that the way we’re engaging with our partners in meaningful ways is on another level. The types of sessions we had in the past few days are focused on initiatives that move the needle and support students. We’re highly data-driven here, and we don’t do any activities unless we know they’ll have an impact. We test everything. So for that reason, I’d say TRW. And following that, probably ICEF.

Worst conference food/beverage experience

No comment. I’ve had some pretty bad ones. 

Book or podcast recommendation for others in the sector?

There’s a great TED Talk podcast called Fixable by Frances Frei, a professor at Harvard Business School and a contributor to Harvard Business Review. It’s absolutely fascinating. Frances and her partner offer unsolicited, direct advice to companies that are on the brink of collapse. Because they haven’t been hired, their feedback is completely unfiltered and honest. They get straight to the point about what a company needs to do to turn itself around.

When the Democrats lost the US election in November, they even analysed the party’s failure and explained why Trump won. It was incredibly insightful. They’re independent consultants, and the podcast is also hilarious. 

Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you. 

At ApplyBoard, we’re revamping our US advisory board. We have some fantastic US university partners; data-driven individuals with deep experience and intuition, who can really help take both our company and the sector to the next level.

Last year, we had four US university partners. This year, we have 17 who were a part of TRW. So, the level of engagement has increased significantly. It’s an exciting time for the company.

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