Current Position and Past Experience
As Vice President of Marketing for Colleges of Distinction and Abound, Tommy leads the efforts to cultivate student and institution audiences for both brands, and to develop content and partnerships that are valued by those audiences. Abound levels the playing field for adult learners and institutions, connecting students with programs best suited to their academic and career goals, and helping institutions engage students most likely to thrive in their programs as lifelong learners -- and to develop meaningful careers as a result. Abound recognizes institutions on the basis of the Four As: Affordability, Accessibility, Acceleration and Advancement. Founded two decades ago as an alternative to college rankings, Colleges of Distinction provides similar services for traditional-aged students and the institutions that serve them. CoD schools are recognized on the basis of the Four Distinctions: Engaged Students, Great Teaching, Vibrant Communities and Successful Outcomes. Tommy joins Abound and Colleges of Distinction after over a decade working with emerging technology companies, including four years helping Civitas Learning guide over 200 colleges and universities in the use of advanced analytics to improve student success outcomes. After an early career as a newspaper reporter, Tommy specialized in bringing to market emerging technology solutions in predictive analytics, ecommerce, mobile technology, social commerce, content marketing and more to industry sectors including education, retail and media. His roles with startups span sales, business development, marketing and consulting.

Education, Honors and Achievements
Perkins earned an MBA in Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin’s Red McCombs School of Business in 2005. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1997. There, he was a recipient of the HOPE and Alumni scholarships.

Personal Details and Community Involvement
Tommy enjoys time with his wife, two children and dog; running, biking and hiking on Austin’s many trails; and playing guitar (and anything else with strings). He has served on the boards of several non-profits, including KOOP Community Radio and as a founding board member of MPACT Memphis, an 800-member organization that engages young professionals around social, civic and cultural matters, completing a long list of volunteer projects, events and campaigns among young professionals in Memphis. As befits his years in the South and Texas, Tommy has strong opinions about barbecue and tacos.

Connect
You can connect with Tommy Perkins on Linkedin and Twitter.