
CMO Study Dashboard
Each year SimpsonScarborough conducts a study on the experience of higher ed CMOs and their teams.
How do we make better decisions using data? How can we build to improve student experience and outcomes? I believe data-empowered decision-making only comes about intentionally. I build data products and infrastructure to enable leaders with the information they need. I believe in democratizing information. I’m an advocate for education.
My name’s Alex Ahlstrom and I’m the Assoc. Director of Data Products at SimpsonScarborough. During my time at SimpsonScarborough, I’ve helped grow the analytics team from one person in 2020 to five. I built our data tech stack that services dozens of clients, and data products. I’m leading the design of SimpsonScarborough’s brand equity index. My passion for my work stems from my belief that better data provides better and more equitable outcomes. As the son of educators, I know the power of education. While studying development economics at American University, and time living in Madagascar, I came to understand that education is an unrivaled force for good and unparalleled in its ability to expand opportunity.
Educators must be able to make better decisions. They need insights at their fingertips without the effort of costly analysis. I build products that are force multipliers for the institutions I work with – allowing them to focus on what matters most – delivering for students. In my approach to data, I have 3 guiding principles that set me apart – equity, innovation, and creativity.
September 2016 - May 2019
American University — Washington, D.C.
August 2024 - May 2026
University of Virginia, Darden School of Business — Charlottesville, V.A.
May 2024 - May 2026
University of Virginia — Charlottesville, V.A.
Google Analytics 4, Universal Analytics, Google Optimize, and Google Search Console
Google Tag Manager and JavaScript
Adverity, R Plumber, Google BigQuery, and Google Cloud
testthat, devtools, GitHub, and Google Cloud
Tableau, Google Data Studio, and R Shiny
R, ggplot2, tidyverse, tidymodels, SQL, and Excel
Qualtrics
R, Rvest, Selenium, and BrandWatch
Each year SimpsonScarborough conducts a study on the experience of higher ed CMOs and their teams.
In 2020 Higher Education was dealing with the unprecedented disruptions resulting from COVID-19.
Have you ever wanted to see how users are interacting with your website?
Prometheus.edu is where I’ve started running into trouble. I think this was partially my fault, although it was interesting to kick the tires on chatGPT and start to hear where things rattle about a bit.
Read MoreI’m not a web developer (although I have some experience in this area).
Read MorePrometheus University is the first, fully AI generated university. I’ve been tweeting and thinking a lot about chatGPT lately.
Read MoreAre you accounting for uncertainty in your paid media and digital reporting?
Read MoreConference Talk Description In a world where data is abundant, organizations must go beyond metrics and KPIs to become truly data-empowered.
Keynote Conference Page AI tools like chatGPT and bing chat are going to affect how prospective students conduct their college search.
Analytics Panel Link This panel discussion is hosted on Google Meet to allow for enhanced attendee participation.
Chances are — if you’re doing web analytics — you’re using Google Universal Analytics.
ahlstrom.alex@gmail.com
281-995-1211
Charlottesville, Virginia