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Lisa Strasman
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Lisa Strasman is president and COO of Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). Lisa was one of the first competitive female ice hockey players in Illinois and went on to captain the women’s hockey team at Yale University. After earning her degree at Yale, Lisa played professional hockey in Switzerland.
In 2004, Lisa joined NCSA as a recruiting coach and was instrumental in creating the digital platform that continues to help hundreds of thousands of student-athletes and their parents through the college athletic recruiting process. During her tenure as president, NCSA has seen steady growth in the number of active profiles, college commitments, as well as the expansion of its recruiting services into more sports. Under her leadership, NCSA has been consistently recognized as a top workplace; named one of the “Top 100 Digital Companies in Chicago” by Built In, “50 Best Companies to Work for in Chicago” by Forbes, and a “Best Places to Work” by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Lisa was recently named one of the 2019 Top Women in Sports by Cynopsis Media. She is a frequent speaker and featured panelist at events including SXSW and has also written articles for Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and more.
Lisa resides in the Chicago area with her husband and two children and helps coach her son’s youth hockey team.
In 2004, Lisa joined NCSA as a recruiting coach and was instrumental in creating the digital platform that continues to help hundreds of thousands of student-athletes and their parents through the college athletic recruiting process. During her tenure as president, NCSA has seen steady growth in the number of active profiles, college commitments, as well as the expansion of its recruiting services into more sports. Under her leadership, NCSA has been consistently recognized as a top workplace; named one of the “Top 100 Digital Companies in Chicago” by Built In, “50 Best Companies to Work for in Chicago” by Forbes, and a “Best Places to Work” by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Lisa was recently named one of the 2019 Top Women in Sports by Cynopsis Media. She is a frequent speaker and featured panelist at events including SXSW and has also written articles for Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and more.
Lisa resides in the Chicago area with her husband and two children and helps coach her son’s youth hockey team.
1. Tell US a little about your story and how you came to be President of NCSA.
As a child, I grew up a competitive ice hockey player. I started playing in kindergarten and always had the aspiration to play hockey in college. I had a long and stressful recruiting process, but ultimately attended and played hockey at Yale so my recruiting story had a happy ending. After graduation, I had the opportunity to extend my playing career in Switzerland. When I came back to the States, I started my career in technology sales and found that I enjoyed the competitive side of sales. However, I wanted to do something more fulfilling and make a larger impact on society.
I switched career paths and worked in the non-profit space.. I knew I was making a bigger contribution; however, I missed the fast pace and competitive environment that was fostered in sales and sports. I found Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) around 15 years ago when the company was still a start-up with only 20 to 30 people. I started with the company in an entry level role and have had the opportunity to help grow the organization over the past 15 years.
I switched career paths and worked in the non-profit space.. I knew I was making a bigger contribution; however, I missed the fast pace and competitive environment that was fostered in sales and sports. I found Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) around 15 years ago when the company was still a start-up with only 20 to 30 people. I started with the company in an entry level role and have had the opportunity to help grow the organization over the past 15 years.
2. Can you give us a brief background on NCSA and what the mission and vision is?
NCSA was founded in 2000 to help educate and support student athletes and their families through the college recruitment process. Today, we work with families, club teams and coaches to simplify the recruitment process. Our mission is to help every student-athlete and college program benefit from a successful recruiting process. We help student athletes find the right college fit where they can play the sport they love, be a part of the team, have a meaningful experience and earn a meaningful degree.
NCSA has always been at the forefront of technology. Even in the early days, we were the first company to offer a platform where athletes could post their highlight videos for college coaches. It used to be difficult for student-athletes to get video footage from their high school or club coaches and share it with college coaches. Today, there are so many means for student-athletes to get footage and data is so much more accessible. NCSA has been able to pair cutting-edge technology and data with our professional expertise and personal relationships to help student-athletes and their families through every step of the recruiting process.
NCSA has always been at the forefront of technology. Even in the early days, we were the first company to offer a platform where athletes could post their highlight videos for college coaches. It used to be difficult for student-athletes to get video footage from their high school or club coaches and share it with college coaches. Today, there are so many means for student-athletes to get footage and data is so much more accessible. NCSA has been able to pair cutting-edge technology and data with our professional expertise and personal relationships to help student-athletes and their families through every step of the recruiting process.
3. How do you tell the story of your core outcome areas and demonstrate the impact made to those unfamiliar with your work?
Each year, there are roughly 500,000 students that play sports in college. Last year, we helped over 24,000 high school seniors commit to play at the next level. We manage the largest network for high school student-athletes and college coaches in the world. We help the student athletes curate their academic and athletic achievements and help identify colleges that match their abilities and preferences. Our platform helps them to connect directly with colleges, and NCSA continues to provide support throughout the entire recruiting journey.
4. Can you go into further detail about NCSA’s All In Award and Seat At The Table programs?
These are really important programs for our organization. A huge part of our mission is to never turn a family away for financial reasons. We believe that a financially disadvantaged student-athlete who wants to play in college, is dedicated to the process, and has the ability to compete deserves our help just as much as a student-athlete who is in a better financial situation.
The All In Award grants a student-athlete access to our highest level of service at no cost to the families, which is roughly a $3,000 value. These student-athletes receive access to our MVP level of service, which includes a personal recruiting coach to mentor them throughout high school. In order to be considered for this grant, a student needs to demonstrate financial need, meet the standard NCAA qualifications and demonstrate a commitment to playing sports in college. Last year, we granted over 2,000 of these awards, which is over $6 million in in-kind donations.
The Seat at The Table program is a part of our pledge to help every student-athlete regardless of income. This program helps students who are a part of the free/reduced lunch program at school. Anyone who is a part of this program automatically qualifies for a 50% reduction in fees when they go through our enrollment process.
In addition to the All in Award and Seat at the Table program, we also offer discounted services to military families.
In 2018, NCSA donated over $15 million in services through all of our give-back programs.
The All In Award grants a student-athlete access to our highest level of service at no cost to the families, which is roughly a $3,000 value. These student-athletes receive access to our MVP level of service, which includes a personal recruiting coach to mentor them throughout high school. In order to be considered for this grant, a student needs to demonstrate financial need, meet the standard NCAA qualifications and demonstrate a commitment to playing sports in college. Last year, we granted over 2,000 of these awards, which is over $6 million in in-kind donations.
The Seat at The Table program is a part of our pledge to help every student-athlete regardless of income. This program helps students who are a part of the free/reduced lunch program at school. Anyone who is a part of this program automatically qualifies for a 50% reduction in fees when they go through our enrollment process.
In addition to the All in Award and Seat at the Table program, we also offer discounted services to military families.
In 2018, NCSA donated over $15 million in services through all of our give-back programs.
5. What was the impetus for you leading an initiative to pledge $1M in college recruiting support to Chicagoland student-athletes in 2019? How do you determine who receives financial support from NCSA?
NCSA has alway supported Chicagoland athletes, and we want to play an even larger role and have a bigger presence in our own backyard. We know that many student-athletes in the Chicago Public School system and the Chicagoland area are in need of help in the recruitment process. For some families, it’s a lack of recruiting education and for others it’s limited funds. We pledged to give $1 million in services in 2019 in order to help those student-athletes find a path to college through sports. As a result, we are working with Chicago Public Schools to create a formal partnership that gets coaches involved and reaffirms NCSA’s commitment to helping our local community.
6. How do you utilize current and past student-athletes to raise awareness for your services?
We’ve seen that most student-athletes and parents have a successful recruiting experience with our help. This compels these families to tell their friends and teammates about NCSA.. Our student-athletes are our best ambassadors because they communicate an authentic message from one athlete to another. For example, we recently had a great story posted on our blog from Jonathan Woodward, a former NCSA client who currently plays in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins. He wrote about his football journey and how NCSA was a catalyst for his college and professional career.
7. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had as an organization?
The biggest challenge we face as an organization is the education of parents. Specifically, some parents get too hung up on the “name game.” They will over-emphasize one school over others. While a Division 1 program may be the right fit for some student-athletes, there are several other Division 2, Division 3, NAIA and JUCO programs. Parents sometimes see the glitz and glamor of being associated with certain schools, and this can limit a student-athlete’s options. We’ve tried to counter this by educating families about all opportunities, both big and small.
My biggest challenge as president is constantly adapting to the rapid growth year over year that we’ve experienced. With our success and growth, our team has grown dramatically. As a result, we’ve had to be conscious that nothing is sacrificed in terms of our commitment and value that we provide to families and coaches. For example, when we were a smaller organization, it was easy to walk the floor and hear people on the phone. If something was off, we could course correct it immediately. Since we’re now at over 700+ employees, it’s tough to have those same controls in place. We’ve developed outstanding training practices and a strong management team that are focused on developing the rightskills. In addition, as our business has scaled and our in-office and remote teams have grown, we’ve needed to find creative ways to expand our culture and to enhance the incredible culturewhat we’ve built over the past decade.
My biggest challenge as president is constantly adapting to the rapid growth year over year that we’ve experienced. With our success and growth, our team has grown dramatically. As a result, we’ve had to be conscious that nothing is sacrificed in terms of our commitment and value that we provide to families and coaches. For example, when we were a smaller organization, it was easy to walk the floor and hear people on the phone. If something was off, we could course correct it immediately. Since we’re now at over 700+ employees, it’s tough to have those same controls in place. We’ve developed outstanding training practices and a strong management team that are focused on developing the rightskills. In addition, as our business has scaled and our in-office and remote teams have grown, we’ve needed to find creative ways to expand our culture and to enhance the incredible culturewhat we’ve built over the past decade.
8. What’s the greatest success story or proudest moment with NCSA?
Most of my favorite success stories are about our student-athletes. Several years ago, we worked with a women’s soccer player. It was late in her season, and we were having trouble getting in touch with her. We came to find out that her father has passed away earlier in the year and finances had become an issue. As a result, she had been thinking about not attending college. However, she was willing to attend college if she had an opportunity to play soccer as well. We reached out to a few coaches and fortunately, there were still some looking for athletes. Within a few weeks, she enrolled and was a freshman at an NAIA school. She ended up having a great athletic career – playing soccer all four years – and a successful academic career, met her college sweetheart who would become her husband, and built a close relationship her coach who became a father figure to her. It is always extremely rewarding to see the lasting impact we have on the lives of our student-athletes.
9. Where do you see the collegiate sports industry moving over the course of the next 5 years?
I see the integration and immersion of data and technology playing an even larger role in the recruiting process. Data and technology help athletes and coaches make more informed decisions. When you look at a college coach today versus in the past, they have access to so much more information. Years ago, coaches could only recruit athletes who they could see live at a tournament or game. Today, they have troves of data at the tip of their fingerprints. The same holds true with student-athletes. With all of the information online, they have more power than ever before. Athletes can simply go online to see how they’d fit in with the schools they’re being recruited from. Our goal is provide as many resources as possible to help student-athletes and their families find that perfect fit.
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