Meet the Forum Team
We’re here to help
WICHE staff coordinate Western Academic Leadership Forum activities, communications, and membership, and undertake logistics for the Forum’s Annual Meeting each spring. For support on Forum programs and initiatives, contact:
Sarah Leibrandt
Director of Strategy, Impact, and Academic Partnerships
303.541.0221sleibrandt@wiche.edu
Sarah Leibrandt, Ph.D., is the director of strategy, impact, and academic partnerships at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and has over 15 years of experience working in secondary and postsecondary education. Since joining WICHE in 2013, Leibrandt has led several initiatives including WICHE’s Recognizing Learning in the 21st Century, a large-scale research study and landscape analysis of the scaling of prior learning assessment policies and practices. Sarah has also helped state agencies share education and workforce data with each other through the Multistate Longitudinal Data Exchange as a way to provide better information to students and their families while also improving education, workforce, and economic development policy. Prior to joining WICHE, Leibrandt worked for the Colorado Department of Education and Red Rocks Community College. Leibrandt earned a B.A. in Spanish from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Kay Hulstrom
Associate Director of Operations and Leadership Initiatives, Programs and Services
303.541.0294khulstrom@wiche.edu
Kay Hulstrom serves as WICHE’s associate director of operations and academic leadership initiatives. She works on a variety of projects including Interstate Passport®, the Western Academic Leadership Forum, and the Western Alliance of Community College Academic Leaders. The latter two are membership organizations for the chief academic officers of WICHE-region two and four-year institutions and system offices. She holds a B.S. in finance from Colorado State University.

