Brandon Boulter
AVP Strategic Enrollment Management
New Mexico Tech
What drew you to the world of college admission counseling?
I started in admissions more than 20 years ago, working with adult and high school students in Salt Lake City, many of whom had never been told college was an option. Watching a student and their family move from “not for us” to “we can do this” in a single conversation hooked me. From there, I built a career around widening that door: advising at Utah State’s prison sites, directing admissions at Dixie State, and later leading enrollment at institutions from community colleges to Johns Hopkins. I also founded School 4 Less, a consulting practice built on the idea that access and affordability are inseparable. That early exposure to what stands between students and higher education is what shaped me into an architect of enrollment growth. I’ve spent my career designing the strategies, teams, and systems that turn access from a hope into a measurable outcome.
What is your favorite part of the job?
Building the machine and watching it work for students. I’ve had the privilege of leading enrollment growth at every stop: an 8% year-over-year increase in targeted programs at George Washington; a 9% first-year, 43% transfer, and 47% graduate enrollment jump at Dominican in a single fall; and the campus-wide reforms that helped Dominican earn MSI, HSI, and AANAPISI designations while growing Latinx enrollment by 15%. The numbers matter because they represent real students who arrived because we built something deliberate. Now, as the senior enrollment officer at New Mexico Tech for 18 months, my team has grown new student enrollment by 36% year-over-year, and the best part is that I get to bring that tried, tested, and proven architecture to institutions where presidents, provosts, and boards are facing enrollment pressure and need a partner who has actually solved it.
How has NACAC played a role in your career?
NACAC has been my professional compass. The Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission shaped how I lead. Growth is only worth pursuing with integrity toward students and their families, and I’ve carried that standard into every strategic enrollment management plan, financial aid model, and staff training program I’ve built. The annual conference and regional groups, including RMACAC and WACAC, have been where I’ve tested ideas, recruited talent, and learned from colleagues on both sides of the desk. As enrollment work has become more data-driven and competitive, NACAC has been the community that keeps the student at the center of the conversation.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing our profession today?
Sustainability, on two fronts. Institutionally, the demographic cliff, affordability concerns, and public skepticism about the value of a degree are producing structural enrollment declines, and too many campus leaders are being asked to solve this without deep enrollment expertise in their cabinet. Professionally, the relentless pressure to hit the number is burning out admissions staff and pushing talented people out of the field. We have to get better at building enrollment strategies that are financially sound and humane at the same time. Only then will the profession be able to keep the people who make access real.
When you aren’t working, what do you like to do?
I coach a college men’s club soccer team, which is its own lesson in recruitment, development, and building a program around the players you actually have. I also own a franchise STEM academy for K–8 students in Utah, so even my off-hours tend to circle back to getting young people excited about learning. Like at New Mexico Tech, I happen to have a great team of teachers who help make my load light. Beyond that, I enjoy visiting historical areas like Mesa Verde, White Sands, and the many historical pueblos with my family. Other hobbies include fishing, camping, motorcycling, restoring late-model cars, and watching a good sci-fi movie.
What five words would you use to describe yourself?
In my professional life: Strategic. Access-driven. Builder. Steady. Mission-first.
Published Sept. 28, 2026