From bold idea to operational reality.
Innovation in Higher education is hard to start and harder to finish. Educated Guess Consulting helps college and university leaders move from vision to launch.
You want to innovate to improve outcomes for your students. You know what problems need to be solved. But no one on your team has time to lead one more project. That is where we come in.
We bring structure to complex projects, align to real-world student impact, and build the operational plans that turn your ideas into action.
You don't always have time to wait for all the information. Sometimes you need to move forward with an educated guess. Let us help you make a better guess.
About
We've been in the room. We can help you navigate it.
Most consultants advise from the outside. Dr. Shelly Blair has held the institutional roles her clients are navigating: dean, program architect, accreditation lead, and faculty union negotiator. She understands how change moves through a complex institution governed by overlapping regulatory bodies because she has moved it.
At Coastline College, Dr. Blair led the launch of Pace+, the California Community College system's first Direct Assessment Competency-Based Education degree. That meant writing regulatory language for accreditation, state, and federal approval, designing and negotiating a new faculty labor model, and managing the full operational build from concept to enrolled students.
Our name is deliberate. Institutional change is not about certainty. It is about bringing rigor, evidence, and judgment to the questions that matter most, then having the courage to act. When you stop looking for a guarantee and start looking for possibilities, educational systems can change. Your team can change.
Educated guesses. Better outcomes.
Dr. Blair took us from bold idea to operational reality. She built a practical roadmap, set up cross-functional decision rights, and facilitated the tough conversations that typically stall progress. The difference was discipline, momentum, and trust. Dr. Blair brought all three.
— Vice President, Community College
What We Do
Complex problems. Practical results.
We work at the level of engagement your institution needs: embedded project lead for a major initiative, periodic strategic advisor at critical decision points or technical assistance for specific initiatives. We work alongside institutional leaders, faculty, and staff to build practical solutions that fit your culture and can be sustained after the engagement ends.
We coach as we implement. Your team is in the work with us at every step, building its own muscle for innovation, strategic thinking, and results. You get the capacity you need now, and you keep a stronger, more capable team when the work is done.
Organizational Transformation & CTE Redesign
When divisions reorganize, leaders depart, or programs need rebuilding for a changing student population, we bring the analytical rigor and facilitation capacity to move from diagnosis to design. We map dependencies, surface friction points, and build structures that hold.
Competency-Based Education (CBE) Implementation
Direct Assessment CBE is one of the most complex program types in higher education, touching accreditation, financial aid, faculty contracts, and student services at once. We have done this before. We can help you do it right.
Policy & Process Development
Clear, collaboratively developed policy is what makes institutional change stick. We draft regulatory language, reduce ambiguity, map processes end to end, strengthen accountability, and build the operational infrastructure that keeps programs running after launch.
Strategic Advisory
Not every engagement needs an embedded consultant. For leaders who want a sharp outside perspective at key inflection points, we offer periodic advisory: pressure-testing assumptions, clarifying options, and keeping decisions moving.
We got exactly the right level of lift, no bloat. She joined our discussions at key inflection points, pressure-tested assumptions, and turned ambiguity into choice-ready options. We made better decisions, faster, and stayed accountable.
— Vice President, Community College
Leadership Coaching
One-on-one coaching for senior leaders navigating institutional complexity, team dynamics, or significant transitions. Grounded in organizational communication research and shaped by real executive experience.
Shelly is a one-of-a-kind coach who brings a wealth of experience to bear on our sessions. Indeed, she goes out of her way to listen carefully to each situation and applies time-tested recommendations based on empirical research. As my coach, Shelly asks pointed questions that prompt deep reflection, often bringing me right back to my own beliefs and values, which is where the true work begins. Additionally, her experience as a higher education leader lends itself to helping me solve on-the-job problems that I regularly encounter. I always leave our sessions with at least one useful reading and an action step. Each time I take action, I'm pleased with the results. I cannot recommend Shelly highly enough. Higher education needs more consultants like her!
— Associate Provost, Boston, Private College
Grant Development
Strategic grant applications aligned to your institution's direction, not generic templates. We help you identify fundable ideas, build the narrative, and write for the reviewers who matter.
What Clients Say
Across the institution. Across the work.
She guided our institution through complex accreditation and Department of Education approvals, helped develop and negotiate a contract with the faculty union, created faculty training, and provided vital project management for technology implementation. Simply put, we would not have launched this program without her.
— Dean, Community College
Her ability to build strong relationships, listen deeply, and co-develop practical solutions makes her an invaluable collaborator. As a faculty member, I've appreciated that she's been in the faculty role herself. She brings people together and helps move projects forward with shared ownership.
— Faculty Member
The Team
Senior expertise. Right-sized support.
Dr. Shelly Blair, PhD
Founder & Principal Consultant
Organizational transformation, CBE, accreditation, faculty labor relations, leadership coaching
Dr. Shelly Blair partners with college and university leaders to drive transformation that is both ambitious and executable, from policy and accreditation to faculty labor relations and full program launch.
Her work is grounded in experience most consultants don't have: nine years in the classroom, followed by institutional leadership roles at the center of higher education's most complex change initiatives. As Dean of Innovative Learning and Career Education at Coastline College, she led the launch of Pace+, the California Community College system's first Direct Assessment CBE degree, navigating simultaneous regulatory, labor, financial aid, and technology workstreams to get a groundbreaking program to enrolled students.
She understands faculty concerns because she has been faculty. She can negotiate at the union table because she has sat at it. She can manage accreditation filings because she has written them.
Ph.D., Communication (Organizational Development), Texas A&M University
M.A., Communication, San Diego State University
B.A., Communication (Public Address), Point Loma Nazarene College
Kristen Peterik
Consultant
Project management and financial aid
Kristen leads project management and financial aid workstreams across EGC engagements, keeping complex, multi-party initiatives organized, on schedule, and accountable to clear deliverables and successful outcomes.
Kristen brings more than 10 years of experience in financial aid, including serving as a financial aid director. Her institutional experience gives her a practical understanding of the operational, compliance, and student service considerations that shape college initiatives.
She brings that perspective to her consulting work, helping teams work through decisions and move projects from planning into implementation.
Dr. Shannon Sheppard, PhD
Consultant
Program evaluation and implementation, higher education, learning science, organizational improvement, data analytics
Dr. Shannon Sheppard is a behavioral scientist and research and evaluation consultant who helps colleges, universities, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations use rigorous evidence to guide strategy, implementation, and improvement.
She brings more than a decade of experience as a faculty member and researcher, with expertise in higher education, learning science, program evaluation, implementation science, stakeholder research, and mixed-methods analysis. She has designed and led research across academic, nonprofit, and applied settings, including at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington, and has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.
Her work has included translating research on learner differences into practical guidance for educators and educational technology developers, with a broad focus on turning complex data and research findings into actionable strategies that support organizational improvement and student success.
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Behavioral Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Ph.D., Language & Communicative Disorders (Cognitive Science), University of California, San Diego & San Diego State University
B.A., Psychology, Chapman University
Erin Thomas
Consultant
Competency-Based Education (CBE), curriculum innovation, faculty engagement, workforce-aligned program development
Erin Thomas brings 17 years of higher education leadership and 17 years of executive-level industry operations experience to her work in competency-based education and curriculum innovation. As Faculty Lead for the launch of California's first public community college Direct Assessment CBE degree program, she built the competency frameworks and assessment practices that took the program from concept to rapid expansion across multiple degrees and certificates. She is a lead contributor to the California Direct Assessment CBE Blueprint and a frequent presenter at statewide and national conferences, including ASCCC and CBExchange.
Get In Touch
Ready to move?
Whether you have a defined project or are still working out what you need, we're glad to have a direct conversation about whether and how EGC can help.
Make a better guess.