From Debt to Differentiation: Student Loan Innovation as the New Retention Strategy

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Maggie Ruvoldt, Chief Human Resources Officer at LEARN Behavioral; Dan Macklin, President at Summer, PBC; and Mike Clementi, Chief Human Resources Officer at ChangeBridge People Solutions.The speakers explored how student debt was no longer simply a personal finance issue, but a strategic workforce challenge. In this fireside chat, leaders examined how organizations were rethinking student loan benefits as part of broader talent, retention, and workforce strategies.This conversation focused on how new tax-advantaged programs were enabling companies to transform student loan support into a cost-effective retention and engagement strategy. Drawing on large-scale deployments across enterprise and public sector institutions, panelists discussed what was working, what was not, and how organizations could design benefits that strengthened recruitment, improved retention, and enhanced long-term workforce resilience.At its core, this session examined how student loan innovation could move from debt management to strategic differentiation—helping employers build stronger talent pipelines, increase employee loyalty, and create more competitive, future-ready workforce systems.