Cary Claiborne, Chief Program Officer, is responsible for overseeing the portfolio of partnerships that College Advising Corps forms with our university and funding partners, including traditional in-school advising, hybrid and virtual advising, and advising performed by artificial intelligence. Cary raises the organization’s profile through external communications, providing mentoring, guidance, supervision, and professional development to program staff, and enhances the structure of the organization by staying abreast of developments in postsecondary education and college access policies.

Cary has led strategic student success initiatives for over a decade. He brings experience developing, implementing, and scaling student success programs at two- and four-year levels. At Georgia State University, he served various roles, from serving students as an academic advisor to leading the university’s first-year strategy for over 8,000 students. Most recently, Cary served as Director of Diagnostic and Implementation Services at the National Institute for Student Success, where he partnered with institutions nationwide to improve student success outcomes. Cary’s storied path through Georgia State University and his passion for the work of student success is well documented in “Won’t Lose This Dream: How an Upstart Urban University Rewrote the Rules of a Broken System” by Andrew Gumbel.

Cary is pursuing his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from Georgia State University, where he earned an MBA in Business Analysis and a BS in Economics. When he’s not enthralled with Student Success, Cary collects vinyl records and retro technology or travels with his wife, Danielle, and two children.