Laura K. Ipsen

Laura K. Ipsen is President and CEO of Ellucian, the leading global provider of technology solutions for higher education, serving more than 2,900 institutions across 50 countries. Since joining Ellucian in December 2017, she has led the company’s global expansion and transformation to the cloud and SaaS, modernizing how institutions use data to drive student success. With more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Ipsen has held transformative roles across Silicon Valley — at Oracle, Microsoft, and Cisco—helping shape the future of data, cloud, and digital innovation. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at PwC, Acer America, and Hitachi Data Systems.

Ipsen has been widely recognized for her leadership. Recent honors include being named to Calibre One’s Top 25 Women Leaders in U.S. PE-Backed Software (2022, 2023, and 2025), Globee's Female CEO of the Year (2022), and the Virginia Business Power 500 List (2024-2025). She has also been recognized by EdTech Digest, The Software Report (Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS, 2022), ASU+GSV, and Women in Technology for her contributions to digital transformation and advancing women in tech leadership.

Beyond her role at Ellucian, Ipsen serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) and sits on the Supervisory Board of Daimler Truck Holding AG based in Stuttgart, Germany. She is also a member of the Fast Company Impact Council, the Fortune CEO Initiative, Women Corporate Directors (WCD), the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and in 2025, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC).

Ipsen holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Virginia and studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Jordan.