Thomas Waite. Ph.D.

Dr. Thomas Waite is an expert in building infrastructures, scaling operations, and creating the solutions that grew an early adopter of online technology from $1.5M to $900M in annual revenue. Pioneering the application of transactional distance as a key differentiator, he created the Integrated Model for Student Retention, which reduces the gap between online students and learning to deliver substantial performance gains.

Dr. Waite earned his Ph.D. in higher education administration with published research focusing on student retention and transactional distance theory. His clarity on how to improve student outcomes was gained over 24 years of experience in applied research and proven methodology while he was immersed in higher education as chief academic officer, provost, dean, director of faculty and programs, and faculty at various institutions around the country. He has attracted and retained leading innovators and built high-performing teams because of his low-ego servant leadership model.