September 13, 2007. Brad was working at Butler University at the time, and after work he went to a local Starbucks in Indianapolis to chat with the 2 guys behind FJ Gaylor Photography, a premier higher ed photography firm.  They were in town to shoot photos at two colleges in the area, and decided to get together. Brad and Joe chatted for nearly 3 hours about all things higher ed. Brad went home and blogged it on SquaredPeg. Joe also blogged it, saying “Brad is an up and coming talent in the higher-ed space.. He has some unbelievable ideas and is really on the ball when it comes to Higher Ed Marketing.”

They met up several more times in 2008 and kept in touch through Twitter and email. Both couldn’t stop thinking about the ‘what if’ of a company dedicated to helping institutions figure out the web and use it to meet their goals.

After nearly a year of discussion about the company, they decided it was time to light the higher ed world on fire, and BlueFuego was ignited in December 2008.

BlueFuego provides colleges and universities the help they need to effectively utilize web-based tools for admissions, marketing, yielding and more. Our tried and tested experiences and knowledge in higher education will benefit any client.

About Joe (Chief Combustion Officer)

Joe has several years of experience in higher education from his other business, http://www.fjgaylor.com, a premier higher education photography firm. He travels to dozens of universities and colleges every year and has the unique opportunity to see many schools, as well as the students who attend, in a very candid manner. His success in the photography industry is echoed by his numerous pleased clients in the US and UK, and his work is prominently displayed in print and web material at schools all over the United States. Joe is always ahead of the curve, blogging about the latest and greatest tools months before other people (even Brad).

You can find Joe on Twitter at @fjgaylor.  You can email him at joe(at)bluefuego.com.

About Brad (Chief Explosion Officer)

Brad has been working in the Higher Education setting since college, starting as a student assistant in the Marketing Department at the University of Illinois at Springfield. As a student in 2003, he created a website with photos, forums, and videos for both current and prospective students, which was later used as a primary recruitment tool by the University. In 2005 he served as a student blogger for the University. After graduation, he acted as the Marketing and Recruitment Specialist at UIS for 1 ½ years, starting many web-based recruitment efforts.

Brad then went to Butler University, where he served as the Electronic Communication Coordinator in the Office of Admission for nearly 2 years. As one of the few higher education professionals whose work is focused in social media / social networking, web content, email, and data research, Brad has taken web-based recruitment and admissions to new levels. His work at Butler has been featured in several magazines and websites such as Campus Technology, University Business, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Wired, CNET, New York Times and more. He has spoken across the globe at over 30 events about web marketing in higher ed.

During his time at Butler, the University had 2 record years of enrollment in the school’s 152 year history. The numbers of applications for Fall 2009 had already surpassed the totaly number of apps in 2008 at the time of his departure in January 2009. His efforts, in addition to the hard work of everyone in the Butler Admission Office, has helped them achieve these goals year after year.

Brad created and oversaw the popular Butler Bloggers and the BUForums community and is the co-creator of http://www.bloghighed.org, a site that aggregates many popular higher education blogs. Brad blogs at http://squaredpeg.com. To read what others say about Brad and his work, please visit http://tinyurl.com/aboutbrad.

You can find Brad on Twitter at @bradjward.  You can email him at brad(at)bluefuego.com.