After partnering on a pilot program last year, a Buffalo CEO and an education consulting firm have merged.
Concourse Global Enrollment — whose CEO, Joe Morrison, lives in Buffalo — was acquired this month by EAB, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm specializing in educational institutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“That network and resources with our tech is just a perfect marriage,” Morrison said.
Concourse’s platform flips the college admissions process on its head, allowing students to create profiles with test scores, grades and interests. Those profiles can be used by college admissions offices to recruit diverse populations of students and offer merit-based scholarship and skips the application process.
The startup, created in 2017, was as a spinout from Grok Global, founded by Morrison’s wife, Kim, and created a communications platform between potential college attendees and recruiters. The business pivoted to its current focus early on in the pandemic.
EAB provides institutions with services related to marketing and enrollment. One resource, called College Greenlight, is for organizations across the country that help underserved students get into college, a mission that aligns with Concourse’s.
That’s why the two businesses teamed up last fall to launch Greenlight Match, a pilot program in Chicago that takes Concourse’s technology – which had previously focused on international students – and brings the model to U.S. students.
The program started with 658 students who received almost 2,000 admission offers from 10 Chicago area colleges. The success of the pilot led to conversations about whether the two companies should become one entity, which in turn led to the acquisition, Morrison said.
This fall, the Chicago program — which is focused on students in the U.S. — added six regions: New York City, the Twin Cities, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. The program for international students is now called Global Match. Colleges can sign up for both.
EAB’s network of thousands of colleges, the shared mission and the resources will fuel growth at Concourse, which employs eight remote workers, Morrison said. Greenlight Match is projected to target about 13,000 students this application cycle.
The number of colleges has grown from 10 in the pilot program to 70.
Morrison, who will now be managing director at EAB, expects to add to his team in the coming year. He will remain in Buffalo.
“I think college admission has always been a real challenge,” he said. “The whole traditional application process has been kind of a nightmare for students. One thing that we hear over again is the whole process needs to be simpler and fairer for students. My hopes for this partnership, by working together we’re actually going to deliver that rather than just talking about it.”
