Testimonials

It is my pleasure to provide this recommendation for Alka Singh. My observations are based on her work at Glendale Community College as well as her leadership role as a Vice President at the Maricopa Community College system level with the Guided Pathways/Integrated Student Support initiative. She is a proven leader in a variety of complex organizations, which certainly translates into her effectiveness in a consulting role. She is an exceptional systems thinker who understands the nuances of organizational learning and change. Alka is skilled in leading both at the tactical and strategic levels and is an especially strong listener. She clearly understands the detailed need for an actionable project plan and, at the same time, exhibits the keen insight to track and target at the vision level. She maintains extremely high standards for her personal performance and professionalism and has the credibility to garner the same from her teams. Her work is tireless, with a commitment to work and leadership until the initiative is successfully completed. I would welcome Alka as a consultant and highly recommend her.

Dr. Paul Dale, Retired President
Paradise Valley Community College, Arizona

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If you want to know who the smartest person in the room is, look no further than Alka. She is the rare embodiment of academic brilliance, outstanding organizational skills and excellent management capabilities. She is able to quickly grasp complex issues, articulate the nuances and drive to a sound resolution. If you are in executive management, you want Alka on your team. If you are a staff person who wants sound leadership and mentoring, then you want to be on Alka's team. If you are serving on a committee that has a challenging directive, you want Alka as one of the chairs. With Alka, things get done, and they get done right.

John Heckenlaible, Director of Marketing & Public Relations/Public Information Officer
Glendale Community College, Arizona

Dr. Alka Arora Singh is one of the most committed and dedicated professionals in the world of higher education. It has been my great fortune to work with Alka for the past several years. She has helped to guide Glendale Community College through transformation and leadership changes, ensuring that her functional areas of Strategic Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Effectiveness, never skipped a step. Through her leadership, she developed her team to engage in top-notch research on questions that plague community colleges across the country. Questions such as: Why are our students leaving? Why do some students have higher success than others? In addition to leading the college through several initiatives that are all focused on student success.

Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz, Retired President
Glendale Community College, Arizona

I have served with Alka specifically in Strategic Planning and more generally as a partner in the effort to bring quality higher education to our students at Glendale College. She exemplifies the spirit of professionalism, has an acute insight into strategic issues in education, takes a careful, broad perspective, engages effectively with all stakeholders, produces top-shelf, world-class work product, and is a delight to work with as a diligent, dedicated team member and leader. One of the absolutely finest colleagues it has been my privilege to work with over the years.

George W. Gregg, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs, Director of Strategic Planning, and Residential Faculty, Chemistry
Glendale Community College, Arizona

I had the honor and pleasure of working and collaborating with Alka for approximately five years at Glendale (AZ) Community College where she served as the Associate Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness. Alka embodies all of the standard qualities you see in stellar employees. She’s a remarkably intelligent, resourceful, hard-working, and driven individual whose excellent interpersonal and communication skills allowed her to successfully collaborate with a variety of internal and external stakeholders in order to effectively execute the goals of the organization. In addition to these traits and skills, what separates Alka apart from other professionals is her ability to understand and effectively execute at both the strategic and operational levels; her poise and resiliency to keep focused on the strategic goals of the organization in the face of an ever-changing environment and landscape; and her ability to provide level-headed and prudent leadership. In more plain terms, she says what she means and means what she says and is able to get things done.

Alka’s areas of expertise are wide-ranging and span from institutional research and strategic planning to compliance and accreditation. She is a very adaptable self-directed learner who is able to quickly skill- and knowledge-up as needed to meet the evolving needs of an organization. In short, Alka is a rare gem who makes those around her more efficient and effective.

Dr. Phil Arcuria, Director, Actionable Analytics
Arizona State University

Alka represents the best of a true leader and a team builder. In my five years at Glendale Community College, Alka grew the previous institutional research office to a team of strategic planners and data miners. Under her auspices, the college came to understand the incredible importance of data-informed decision-making and the strategic link between student outcomes and the success of the college.

Beyond her defined role, Alka proved to be a trusted confidant and insightful builder of coalitions that enabled the college to align the forward thinking and concomitant synergy to ensure that the direction of the college at the higher level and the detailed work to get us there coalesced. She was sought by other institutions in the District to outline her work and that of the college in order to garner true direction and results. Her work with accreditation also kept GCC compliant and an exemplary college in meeting the goals of higher education.

Alka is a consummate professional and dedicated employee. I recommend her with the highest regard.

Dr. Irene Kovala, Retired President
Glendale Community College

I’ve had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Alka while she was the VP of Guided Pathways and Integrated Student Support. Alka is a great communicator, an excellent strategist, and a "true" mentor and leader. With ease, she was able to communicate and paint a clear picture of what the goals and outcomes were for large-scale projects/initiatives for a multi-campus community college system, one of the largest in the nation.

She has a knack for inspiring others, finding solutions, and implementing successful change. Any organization would be lucky to have her! I hope to have the opportunity to work with Alka in the future.

Briana Haas-Arvidson, Project Management for Integrated Student Support
Maricopa Community Colleges

Alka is a very collaborative and solutions-oriented colleague. I have always found her a pleasure to work with. She is open to creative solutions and mutually beneficial problem-solving techniques. She promotes a positive and "get it done" atmosphere when working on projects and leading meetings.

Steve Kadel, Residential Faculty
Glendale Community College

I have known and had the pleasure of working with Alka for several years. During this time, she has been an integral senior leader within MCCCD/Glendale Community College. Alka utilizes her credentialed skills in leadership, strategic planning, research, project management, etc. to lead the institution in issues pertaining to accreditation, data-informed decision-making, assessments, compliance, team integrations and efficiencies, to name a few.

Alka has the unique ability to quickly grasp team dynamics and customize team-based recommendations accordingly to empower others to fulfill organizational objectives. Her varied background and skills have yielded numerous positive institutional outcomes and make her a very highly regarded talent.

Isaiah Washington, Chief Information Officer
Glendale Community College

I had an opportunity to work for Alka in the past few years. She was a great leader and provided directions for our department by ensuring that the vision and goals were shared by team members. She focused, managed, and organized to get things done in a timely way. She provided support to the team in completing tasks and projects. I hope to have the opportunity to work with her in the future.

Dr. Busaba Laungrungrong, Coordinator of Institutional Effectiveness
Glendale Community College

When I think of Alka, I think of the following attributes: Organized, Planner, Considerate and Friendly. Alka has a wonderful talent for organizational planning. When she starts a project, she gives it 100% and she invites the key players to the table. She is patient and encouraging as she raises the bar for her organization. I always appreciated her need to seek input in order to solve a problem, and then she could explain the process thoroughly to all of the key players, ensuring a complete understanding. She evokes a wonderful balance of compassion and brilliance and uses both skills to make a meaningful difference.

Louise So, Exercise Science Faculty & Program Director
Glendale Community College

I serve in Rotary and while Alka was a member of our club I had much interaction with her. She is dependable and is focused on the situations that arose at Rotary. She always followed through. Alka is a brilliant woman and has a wonderful personality. She volunteered to do some strategic planning for our club. She provided excellent insight into some of the things that we were dealing with. I recommend Alka as a leader of any team. You won’t be disappointed.

Cindy Christner, President
Ron Swartz Construction Inc.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Alka on a large project for more than a year. She’s a hard-working leader who is able to successfully traverse the complexities of a large organization. She is a systems thinker and understands the importance of collaboration in getting work done. I look forward to future opportunities with her.

Dr. Steven Gonzales, Chancellor
Maricopa Community Colleges

Alka is knowledgeable, thorough and a premier leader in higher education. She is a team player whose mentorship and honest guidance have been invaluable to the many who are fortunate enough to have worked with her.

Alka's ability to synthesize data and create a clear picture, along with an engaging presentation, helps to communicate a project or program’s data and direction in a manner that has garnered great support.

I wholeheartedly recommend Alka for any role she wishes to pursue. Any organization that employs Alka would be far ahead of the competition.

Jeanine Edaakie, Human Resources
MCCCD

I had the pleasure of working with Alka in her role as VP for Guided Pathways implementation. She has exceptional organization and communication skills. This is a complex endeavor that entails working with multi-faceted projects and cross-functional teams for 10 colleges. Alka was inclusive, respectful of differences, and juggled competing priorities while she coordinated several large events. Alka is a valued and respected leader within the Maricopa Colleges.

Gia Taylor, Dean of Students
Scottsdale Community College

Dr. Alka Arora Singh is one of the most professional, thorough, genuine and inspiring leaders. I enjoyed Alka's warmth and enthusiasm as she made everyone in the team feel welcome and valued. Alka responded quickly to any requests and her staff were detail-oriented and fantastic communicators when it came to fielding questions and work requests. Dr. Arora Singh allowed us all to benefit from timely data-informed decision-making.

Nicola Perry, Director, Strategic Enrollment Management
Saddleback College

It gives me great pleasure to write this recommendation regarding the character and professionalism of Dr. Alka Singh. I had the pleasure of supervising Alka during my tenure as President at Estrella Mountain Community College. I was tasked to be one of the three Maricopa Community College Presidents charged with implementing a Guided Pathways and Integrated Student Services Project. I was allowed to hire a Vice President to support the Course Mapping piece of the project. I selected Alka after my initial meeting with her. She had a depth of knowledge about institutional effectiveness, leading teams, change and project management, accreditation and outstanding interpersonal skills. I will honestly admit that she provided most of the leadership for this transformational project. She was highly organized and managed a group of diverse faculty from all areas of the 10 Maricopa colleges. Additionally, she kept the various groups and outside consultants organized and on task. She provided me continual updates and kept me informed of issues that required my attention. During this process, I learned to appreciate her willingness to do whatever was needed to complete our required tasks. She soon became an extremely valuable colleague whom I could trust on any matter. I have been in education for over 45 years, and I can sincerely say that I have only met two or three individuals as skilled and able to perform at her level. I would highly recommend her as a consultant for any project that requires her skill set.

Ernie Lara

Interim President of Glendale Community College (2022-2023)

Retired President of Estrella Mountain Community College (2007-2019)