Dr. Courtney Hills McBeth is the chief academic officer and provost at Western Governors University, a nonprofit, online higher education institution. She oversees WGU’s schools of Business, Education, Health, and Technology; program development; accreditation; and the university mentoring operation. Previously, she was senior vice president at Strada Education Foundation, overseeing the operations and strategy for its research and insights, philanthropy, and policy teams. At Strada, Courtney also coordinated strategy and relationship-building with institutions and employers, positioning Strada as an instrumental thought leader in transforming the postsecondary education-to-workforce system. Prior to joining Strada, Courtney served as the special assistant to the president at the University of Utah. In that role, she led university-wide strategic planning, presidential initiatives, and innovation efforts between four major research universities working to ensure the economic mobility of America’s middle class. Her background also includes managing the Sorenson Social Impact and Data Science centers at the U’s Eccles School of Business and developing large-scale domestic and global internship programs at the U's Hinckley Institute of Politics. Courtney, a former Academic All-American soccer player, earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the U in political science and education, respectively. She holds a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.