Elsmere Education, HCRC, and Kennedy and Company Are Now Human Capital Education
September 4, 2026
Human Capital Education is the strategic partner for higher education
Since our January announcement, I have spent a lot of time explaining to college and university leaders what Human Capital Education is and why we came together. I am even more excited about this collective team than I was when we first made the announcement in January, and I wanted to take a minute to share some of the answers to questions I’ve received about how and why Human Capital came to be.
How three teams became Human Capital Education
In February 2025, Elsmere Education and HCRC joined forces to become Human Capital Education to deliver technology and enablement expertise alongside enrollment research and consulting. Then, in January 2026, Kennedy and Company Education Strategies joined the team adding institutional strategy and operations consulting as well as complementary technology enablement expertise. I have watched plenty of vendor mergers in higher education over the past several years, each making broad promises and too often falling short.
We had a simple logic for coming together. We kept finding ourselves in the same conversations, working on the same set of connected and increasingly complex problems (a list that keeps getting longer). Our teams naturally aligned around a shared purpose, mission, and approach to helping colleges and universities grow. Our naturally curious approaches were grounded in data and driven by experience gained while working on campuses across the country. We realized that by coming together, we could serve as a unified strategic resource for our institutional partners, with research driving strategy, and technology improving outcomes.
Research and data that drives informed strategy
HCRC’s foundation is at the center of Human Capital Education’s approach to building sustainable internal capabilities and anchors our enrollment optimization and analytics work. We are committed to delivering on HCRC’s core promise of supporting enrollment decisions built on evidence about your students and your market, not on industry averages. Before we recommend a strategy, we take the time to understand your campus, your challenges, and your students. We are the trusted partner because we deliver the data that drives solutions customized to your campus.
Strategy that connects the whole campus
Kennedy and Company is a recognized leader in delivering consultative solutions for higher education’s biggest challenges. The same consultants, disciplines, and dedication to our partners’ success are now a central component of everything we do at Human Capital Education. The team and philosophical approach were built to deliver long-range planning, financial modeling, enrollment and pricing strategy, organizational design, and CRM expertise to campuses across the country. Human Capital Education’s higher education strategy and operations consulting practice carries on Kennedy and Company’s mission to ensure financial and enrollment success with thought leadership and expertise from the most respected higher education consultants. Whether it’s adapting your budget model, updating your growth strategy, or developing a strategic plan, the Kennedy and Company experts, now part of the HCE team, are here to support you.
By joining Kennedy and Company with Human Capital Education, we are expanding our impact by better connecting strategy, research, and technology. Strategy in higher education fails most often because it fails to build the critical connections across campus. An effective strategic plan requires data to ground it, integrated systems to deliver it, and an understanding of the institution’s unique challenges and opportunities. We now put the industry’s leading strategists at the same table as our researchers and technologists, which means the plan you receive was built to be implemented.
Aligning technology, strategy, and execution
Technology connects the modern campus. Our higher education technology consulting practice covers Slate and Salesforce implementations, enrollment and advancement systems, and AI enablement. We are a Slate Platinum Partner and a Salesforce Solutions Integrator working exclusively in higher education. What separates us from most implementation consultants is that we are also experts in student marketing and enrollment management. Through our [outsourced enrollment management services](https://humancapital.com/solutions/growth-services/), our team works as an extension of yours to identify, recruit, engage, enroll, and retain students for high-demand programs. Technology, people, and processes, working together to drive growth while building internal capacity.
Data drives performance
For nearly twenty years, our researchers have fielded and publicly shared the Admitted Student Review . The findings of this report shape not only enrollment and admissions policy, but also operations from pricing to academic offerings. Real data and insights from those that elected to enroll at your school and, perhaps more importantly, those that elected to enroll elsewhere. We help institutional leaders develop strategic plans that address core operational, academic, technological, and financial gaps based on real data and insight from real students.
Helping college leaders navigate the new era of higher education
For the over 300 institutions we already serve, nothing you relied on has gone away; it now comes with over 150 colleagues committed to your growth and sustained success. Ready to see what an integrated team can do with your hardest problem? Start a conversation. Bring your toughest challenges. And to the leaders who have trusted Elsmere, HCRC, and Kennedy and Company over the years, thank you for the confidence you placed in each of us. We intend to earn it again as one team.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to Elsmere Education?
Is HCRC still in business?
Is Kennedy and Company the same as Human Capital Education?
Yes. Human Capital Research Corporation (HCRC) merged with Elsmere Education in February 2025 to form Human Capital Education. Human Capital’s research practice operates today as the analytical core of Human Capital Education. The enrollment research, benchmarking, and admitted student analysis HCRC was known for since 1991 continue under the Human Capital Education name.
Who leads Human Capital Education?
Justin McMorrow, founder of Elsmere Education, serves as CEO of Human Capital Education. Ben Kennedy, founder of Kennedy and Company, serves as the President of Strategy and Enrollment Services of Human Capital Education. Chris Browning, President of Technology Solutions, leads the Technology Solutions team. Human Capital Education is headquartered in Denver and has offices in Chicago and Washington D.C., with over 150 consultants, coaches, and technologists serving over 300 colleges and universities.
