When Dr. Edwin Cordero arrived as the incoming president of Sherman College of Chiropractic, he inherited a deeply entrenched set of organizational problems. Departments were siloed. Academic professionals had been placed in leadership positions without the business acumen the roles required. The ability to prioritize work efficiently was absent across the institution.
Attendance was at an all-time low. Board members and donors were dissatisfied. And Dr. Cordero's sense of urgency combined with his business-like approach (exactly what the situation called for) did not immediately endear him to staff and faculty accustomed to a different pace and culture.
The institution needed a clear strategy, a path to operational alignment, and a way to get the entire organization moving in the same direction without losing the people already inside it.
The engagement began with a comprehensive SWOT analysis to identify major opportunities for smart growth and surface the structural issues beneath the surface-level dysfunction.
From that work, two powerful pathways emerged as clear and compelling priorities: "Obsessed with Student Success" and "Obsessed with Employee Success." These became the organizing principles around which the institution's leadership strategy was rebuilt.
Rather than positioning this as an outside consulting engagement that ends when the contract does, a train-the-trainer process was implemented, teaching, certifying, and licensing select individuals among Sherman College's own staff in the processes and tools needed to conduct ongoing training internally. The goal was to give the institution the capability to sustain and continue the work independently, without perpetual dependence on outside support.
Within Dr. Cordero's first three years at Sherman College of Chiropractic, enrollment more than doubled, one of the most significant institutional growth achievements a college of its type could demonstrate in that timeframe.
The college reached an all-time high in diversity. Hispanic students accounted for more than 20% of total enrollment, a meaningful demographic shift reflecting the institution's genuine commitment to broadened access and student success.
Sherman College also completed a $22 million campus master plan investment, including the construction of the Gelardi Student Center, a physical representation of the long-term confidence the board and institution had developed in the direction of the college under this leadership alignment.