SPH Consulting: Mergers and Acquisitions in Higher Education with Karla Leeper Oct 2025

Episode notes

Karla Leeper is the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communication and Marketing and Chief of Staff to the Chancellor at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center She has provided communications guidance and other consulting support on college mergers throughout the United States Here are the questions Karla addressed during the podcast. What are the primary drivers or 'tipping points' that lead a college's leadership to seriously consider a merger as a viable option for the future? When you help an institution build its "case for a merger," what are the most critical components to include to get key stakeholders, like the board and senior faculty, to buy in from the start? The period when a merger is just a 'consideration' is incredibly sensitive. How do you advise leaders to balance the need for confidentiality with the desire for transparency? Could you walk us through a best-practice communication timeline? Who are the very first groups you should talk to, and how does that circle of communication widen over time?

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