About Solve Higher Ed Marketing
Solve Higher Ed Marketing specializes exclusively in higher education marketing and enrollment strategy.
We have been on your side of the table.
We've sat through the Cabinet meetings. Managed the budget cuts. Navigated the campus politics. Built teams, rebuilt teams and occasionally wondered why something that should be simple had become so complicated.
We've also done the work. We've developed institutional brands, led enrollment campaigns, built marketing operations, managed reputational challenges and helped institutions figure out how to move forward when the path wasn't obvious.
That's why Solve Higher Ed exists.
Solve is the kind of consulting firm we would have wanted to hire when we were leading marketing and communications inside universities. One that understands why the obvious answer isn't always the possible answer. One that tells you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. And one that brings a roadmap that helps turn recommendations into reality.
We bring decades of experience in higher education marketing, enrollment strategy, brand development and organizational leadership. But what matters most is what we've learned along the way: how to ask better questions, bring people together, make difficult decisions and get things moving.
Solve is proudly Small, Women and Minority Owned (SWAM) certified in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Commission on Equity and Inclusion’s (CEI) Business Enterprise Program (BEP) certified in the state of Illinois. We would be happy to pursue small/woman-owned certification in your state.
Our team
Jaime Hunt
Founder and President
I've spent more than two decades working in higher education marketing and communications, including a decade as a Cabinet-level chief marketing officer. I've built departments from scratch, led large teams, managed eight-figure budgets, navigated institutional crises and helped universities tackle the kind of organizational challenges that don't come with easy answers.
Along the way, I've learned that the hardest problems in higher education rarely belong to just one department. Enrollment challenges can be marketing challenges. Marketing challenges can be organizational challenges. And sometimes the strategy is perfectly sound, but the people responsible for carrying it out are working within a structure that makes success nearly impossible.
That understanding shapes how I approach consulting. I believe in asking difficult questions, listening carefully, challenging assumptions and helping people move forward. I also believe that empathy and accountability aren't competing leadership philosophies.
Before founding Solve Higher Ed Marketing in 2024, I held executive-level marketing and communications leadership roles at Old Dominion University, Miami University and Winston-Salem State University. I also served as interim chief marketing officer at Agnes Scott College in 2026. Earlier in my career, I held leadership roles at Radford University, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Northwestern Health Sciences University.
Beyond my consulting work, I'm the author of Heart Over Hype: Transforming Higher Ed Marketing with Empathy, host of the Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO podcast and a faculty member at West Virginia University. I'm a frequent conference speaker and have received more than 40 industry awards.
I hold a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree in integrated marketing communications from West Virginia University. I'm also an alumna of the Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership at Georgetown University and Arizona State University and hold a certificate in disruptive strategy from Harvard Business School Online.
Dave Hunt
Senior Consultant
I started my career as a graphic designer, which probably explains why I still believe good marketing should be both smart and interesting. But somewhere along the way, I became just as fascinated by what happens after someone sees the work. Did it change their mind? Did they take action? Did it actually help the institution accomplish something?
That curiosity has taken me from designing visual identities and developing brand campaigns to leading multimillion-dollar enrollment marketing operations. I've spent more than 18 years in higher education, and one thing I've learned is that beautiful creative work and measurable results aren't competing priorities. The best marketing delivers both.
Most recently, I led the brand and enrollment marketing team for ODUGlobal at Old Dominion University, overseeing a 10-person team and approximately $15 million in annual digital advertising. Working alongside our admissions colleagues, we helped achieve a 34.1% increase in new online undergraduate students, a 43.7% increase in new online graduate students and a 16.2% increase in out-of-state online students for fall 2026. Those results reflected a coordinated effort across marketing and enrollment, supported by strong creative work, audience insights and a willingness to keep refining what we did.
Before Old Dominion, I led digital marketing and communications at Miami University, where I helped build marketing operations for online and graduate programs. At Wake Forest University's School of Business, I served as an art director and marketing strategist, developing recruitment campaigns, brand communications and creative work for undergraduate and graduate business programs. Earlier roles at Virginia Tech and Lawrence University gave me experience in everything from institutional branding to alumni engagement.
I believe in asking good questions, following the evidence and being willing to change course when something isn't working. And I believe the best marketing happens when creative thinking, strategy and execution are working together instead of competing for attention.
I hold a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and a master's degree in marketing from Western Governors University.