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Janel Highfill
Associate Vice President of Workforce, Partnerships & Resource Development at Community College of Aurora
Professional Background
Janel Highfill is a seasoned professional recognized for her dynamic leadership and innovative approach to workforce development and strategic partnerships. As the Associate Vice President of Workforce, Partnerships & Resource Development at the Community College of Aurora, Janel demonstrates a profound commitment to enhancing educational access and opportunities for diverse populations. Her role involves collaborating with various stakeholders to create impactful programs that align with community needs and economic demands, showcasing her strength in program design and launch.
Before taking the helm at the Community College of Aurora, Janel distinguished herself as the Director of Strategic Partnerships & Resource Development at the same institution. This role honed her ability to engage partners effectively and secure funding to support critical educational initiatives. Her strategic vision and results-oriented mindset allow her to navigate the complexities of educational administration while fostering collaborative environments.
Janel's career path also includes significant contributions to Stand for Children Colorado, where she served as the Denver Director. In this position, Janel leveraged her expertise in public policy and community engagement to advocate for educational equity and support for children and their families.
Prior to her work in Denver, Janel was the Vice President of Programs & Policy at Florence Crittenton Services. Here, she developed and advanced policies that contributed to the organization’s mission of empowering at-risk young women and supporting their educational journeys. Her leadership in program development laid the groundwork for innovative services that meet the evolving needs of the community.
Earlier in her career, Janel served as the Executive Director of Performance Solutions at the Community College of Denver, where she drove initiatives to enhance organizational performance and accountability. Her tenure in this role was marked by her ability to analyze data effectively and implement strategic plans that resulted in measurable outcomes.
Janel’s foundational experience at the Centers for Workforce Development & Community Learning at Front Range Community College further solidified her reputation as a knowledgeable leader in workforce development, equipping her with the skills necessary to bridge education and employment effectively.
Education and Achievements
Janel Highfill's educational background is a testament to her commitment to public service and social impact. She studied for her Master of Arts in Public Policy at the prestigious University of Chicago, a program known for fostering critical thinking and strategic analysis. This advanced degree armed her with robust analytical skills and a deep understanding of the mechanisms of policy development and its implications for diverse communities.
Prior to her graduate studies, Janel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis. Her undergraduate education laid a strong foundation for her career in public service and policy advocacy, nurturing her passion for making a difference through strategic action and community engagement.
Personal Attributes and Philosophy
Janel is described as an activator and ideator, qualities that resonate deeply with her mission-driven approach to leadership. Her collaborative spirit makes her approachable and a well-liked figure among colleagues and community members. Known for her curiosity, Janel continually seeks knowledge and strategies to enhance her impact in the sector. Her humor is another attribute that contributes to building positive relationships in the workplace, facilitating open communication and fostering teamwork.
Through her career, Janel Highfill has developed a keen understanding of strategic analysis, enterprise planning, and management. She is recognized for her ability to engage partners effectively, design and launch innovative programs, and grow organizational resources and capabilities. Her results-oriented mindset consistently drives her towards meaningful outcomes in all her endeavors.
Achievements
- Leadership role in transforming workforce development initiatives at the Community College of Aurora, leading sustainable partnerships and resource development efforts.
- Successful advocacy for educational policy reform while serving as Denver Director for Stand for Children Colorado.
- Recognized for implementing impactful programs at Florence Crittenton Services that empower young women and enhance educational access.
- Instrumental in developing evaluation processes that bolster organizational performance at the Community College of Denver.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.