About ParentLead — Parent-to-Parent Enrollment Connections

Why We Built ParentLead

The founders of ParentLead sent our own children to private K–12 schools because we genuinely believed in the educational missions, values, and communities those schools offered.

We built ParentLead based on our years of observing how families actually make enrollment decisions. We sat on school boards, served on committees, ran open houses, and recruited new families. Academic quality, cost, and school reputation all mattered — but the final decision always came down to something more human: Would we feel like we belong here?

Again and again, that confidence came after families had an authentic conversation with current parents. Not by reading marketing materials. Not through videos or website testimonials. Just real conversations with families already living the experience.

As we became advocates and recruiters for the schools our children attended — sharing our experiences with other prospective families and explaining why we chose the school community mattered the most to families considering enrollment.

Over time, we realized something important: schools invest heavily in websites, CRM systems, advertising campaigns, and enrollment events. Yet those most influential enrollment conversations were happening informally — often too late in the decision process.

So we built ParentLead to give schools a tool that would naturally create those conversations early on in a way schools could realistically manage.

Built Specifically for Schools

ParentLead was designed with the realities of K-12 private school enrollment in mind. We understood that enrollment offices are often understaffed, implementation must be simple, parent privacy matters deeply, and parent ambassadors should never feel overburdened.

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Easy to Launch

All our schools go live in under an hour. Setup involves placing a banner on your website, and asking at least one current parent ambassador to opt-in to participate.

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Easy to Manage

Enrollment officers spend under five minutes/week reviewing their emailed reports. The system is automated — matching, introductions, and notifications happen without staff intervention.

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Voluntary Opt-Ins

Every participant — prospective parent and ambassadors alike — explicitly opts in before joining the program. Phone numbers and last names are masked throughout.

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Flexible for Admissions

Admissions chooses their level of involvement: They are part of every conversation but let the parents lead conversations. Admissions can monitor or actively engage. Admissions always has access to the entire chat transcript.

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Respectful of Ambassador Parents

Each one handles no more than two prospect conversations per month — keeping the experience genuine and manageable without burning out your advocates.

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Full Visibility

Your dashboard and reports shows all opt ins, all connections, and can offer full transcripts. Download new prospect leads directly to your CRM.

What Makes ParentLead Different

Asking prospecitve parents to fill out an inquiry form, come to an open house, or participate in a meeting are all big asks. ParentLead is a low-pressure ask.

It is a designed to help schools engage families earlier through trusted parent conversations — conversations that shape enrollment decisions. We make them happen early on, when a prospect's opinions and intentions are taking shape.

We believe the most influential enrollment conversations happen when a current parent has the chance to share their experience with a prospective parent. ParentLead creates the pathway for those conversations to happen.

Looking Ahead

After introducing ParentLead to school leaders and enrollment teams we knew, interest has spread quickly through referrals and conversations within the independent school community.

Today, schools across the country are preparing to participate in ParentLead's free 90-day pilot launching September 1, 2026.

We believe trusted parent conversations will always remain one of the most important parts of the enrollment journey — no matter how much technology changes around them. ParentLead simply helps schools make those conversations happen!

Our Leadership Team

Built by parents, school supporters, and technology leaders who believe enrollment decisions are deeply personal.

Founder

Brian Lawe

Brian believes families thrive when they find schools aligned with their values and community expectations. After relocating his family, he served on the board of his children's independent Catholic school — helping grow enrollment from fewer than 100 students to more than 600. He led open houses, supported recruitment campaigns, and personally welcomed new families into the school community.

Professionally, Brian holds an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University and a masters degree from Harvard University. He has held strategic planning roles at American Airlines, IBM, and The New York Times Company. He has founded multiple SaaS businesses in communication and enrollment, including HelloCampus, a platform that connected colleges with prospective students during COVID.

ParentLead reflects Brian's belief that trusted parent conversations remain one of the most important parts of the school selection process.

School Support

Michelle Atkins

Michelle brings years of hands-on school community involvement to ParentLead. As a parent of two children at a STEM-focused charter school in the Atlanta area, she actively supported enrollment, parent engagement, and student programs — founding the school's Robotics Booster Club and helping develop updated family and student commitment standards to strengthen school culture.

She believes schools thrive when families feel connected, informed, and personally invested in the community. Her experience as both a parent and school volunteer gives ParentLead valuable insight into how families evaluate schools and what makes parent conversations meaningful and trustworthy.

Before focusing on school and family initiatives, Michelle worked as a researcher for a specialty chemical company.

Head of Technology

Arturo De Laguardia

Arturo leads the technology development and operational infrastructure behind ParentLead, specializing in scalable communication systems that are reliable, secure, and easy for schools and families to use. He holds a degree from the National University of La Plata (UNLP) in Argentina and has spent his career building software platforms focused on communication, automation, and user experience.

At ParentLead, Arturo oversees the parent matching engine, messaging workflows, reporting, and platform reliability — helping schools engage families through simple, seamless technology.

We help mission-driven schools enroll more students.