Noodle Grows Network Though Acquisition of HotChalk

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Noodle, which helps dozens of top US universities build and grow their online and hybrid programs, today acquired key assets of HotChalk, a leading online program manager (OPM), effective today, November 19, 2020. The industry leader will absorb HotChalk's portfolio of programs and their acclaimed marketing, enrollment, and technology teams. HotChalk CEO Rob Wrubel joins Noodle as Chief Marketing Officer. 

With this acquisition, Noodle assumes HotChalk's partnership with NYU's Steinhardt School, for its Teacher Residency and EdD Leadership and Innovation programs, #10 ranked in U.S. News and World Report. It also welcomes one of the nation's leading higher education marketing agencies, Creative Communication Associates (CCA), which brings 40 years of experience in the higher education marketing space and HotChalk's programs with Concordia University, Nebraska, and Concordia University, Chicago.

HotChalk brings Noodle a deep bench of talented staff trained in the higher ed market. Rob Wrubel is a proven operator and Silicon Valley entrepreneur with decades of success. The acquisition also presents an opportunity for Noodle to integrate CCA's award-winning creative and marketing services into their offerings for university partners. 

Noodle's mission to lower the cost of higher ed now accelerates by expanding its in-house marketing and recruitment services for its university partners, in addition to providing outstanding learning design, technology, student and faculty support and remote clinical placement services. It has become the leading source of such support; in fact, Noodle has launched as many online degree programs with elite U.S. universities as all other competitors combined for the past two years, according to HolonIQ.

"Noodle is growing quickly. What is most important to us as we achieve scale is that we are extremely thoughtful about who joins our ranks," said Noodle CFO Meredith Ruble, who spearheaded the acquisition. "HotChalk had been on our radar for years as a competitor. This represents a crucial step for our growth not just as a network, but as the most trusted source of expertise in all of online higher education."

Incoming Noodle CMO Rob Wrubel has spent more than 25 years working as an education, consumer, and marketing technology entrepreneur in Silicon Valley as a founder and CEO of multiple public companies including Apollo Education Group, Ask Jeeves, and Yoga Works. States Wrubel, "The HotChalk team is thrilled to join forces with Noodle, which is strategically positioned to accelerate the digital transformation of the student learning experience, through innovation, transparency and scalability. HotChalk's programs, technology, and capabilities, which have been refined over a decade, can become a critical tool in Noodle's mission to make higher ed more agile, accessible and affordable."

"Our promise is not just to build excellent programs with our university partners— it's to plug them directly into our network of the best and brightest minds focused on online higher education," Noodle President/COO Keri Hoyt said. "The HotChalk team exemplifies our commitment to growing and enhancing that network in new and creative ways that directly benefit our partners and their students," added John Katzman, Noodle CEO.

Noodle Chief Strategy Officer Lee Bradshaw said, "As Noodle continues to reimagine and reinvent the role our network plays in the higher ed space, our university partners will have an increased demand for a full range of support services. By lowering the cost of student recruitment and remote clinical support services, we can substantially lower our partners' overhead costs, and thus, tuition costs -- a critical asset in the increasingly fierce competition for enrollments." 

"After years of incredible growth, this acquisition makes sense for us operationally and more importantly, it enhances what we are already offering our partners," Noodle Chief Program Officer Stephen Green said. "More expertise, more capacity, and more resources, which we are confident will translate into stronger programs and a better experience for every student who enters our network."

About HotChalk and Creative Communications Associates (CCA):
HotChalk is a leading online education services provider in the U.S. Headquartered in Campbell, California, HotChalk supports universities in successfully developing and running online degree programs, assisting with marketing activities, program development, student recruitment, and student support. Creative Communications Associates (CCA) is a brand-driven marketing agency that specializes in higher education. Small by design, with expertise in strategy, research, media, creative and digital, Based in Troy, NY. CCA has partnered with over 300 colleges and universities to produce award-winning, record-breaking results.

About Noodle:
Noodle is a network of universities, higher education leaders, providers and students whose mission is to fuel innovation, imagination, agility and efficiency in learning design, marketing, student recruitment, technology, student and faculty support and remote clinical placement. The network's mandate is two-fold: transparency and the transformation of the higher ed landscape into a collaborative, accessible, affordable universe to lower the cost of higher ed. According to HolonIQ's research, Noodle has partnered with as many elite U.S. universities as all other competitors combined, since January 2019. For more information, visit partners.noodle.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Renee Young
VP, Communications
Noodle
914-523-5320
[email protected]

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SOURCE Noodle Partners