• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, May 1, 2019

As Julia Berg was tooling around Minneapolis one morning on her way to work at Capella University, she was listening to NPR ("because, you know, adulting") when she heard the announcement of the merger of the university’s holding company, Capella Education Company, with Strayer University’s parent companies. (Strayer University is headquartered in Washington, D.C.) It was, she added with understatement, "hard not to be distracted. Not many saw that coming."

Now with Strategic Education, a marriage of the two, she is working on integrating the two cultures, not an easy thing.

"My theme for 2019 is survival," said the mother of a 3 1/2 year old and a seven-month-old. I miss sleep."

As the manager overseeing the media investment team, Berg is looking to put together some "quick-win opportunities" as well as a way to create brand boundaries by letting Capella focus on the graduate program and Strayer on the undergrads.

There's also the matter of focusing the Strayer search account on Millennials and those with mobile phones, mostly female, while Capella skews older. "We have to coordinate our strategies," she said.

The work load has doubled and so has the team. "Our paid search team manages accounts for both universities. There is a dedicated manager on each but everyone is cross-trained. It's a work in progress."