Headshot of a smiling man with short dark hair, a beard, wearing a light gray suit jacket and a white collared shirt against a plain light gray background.

Nicholas Apelquist

Founder & CEO

Nicholas Apelquist is a higher-education technology and ERP transformation leader known for turning complex system overhauls into data-driven success stories. As Founder and Principal Consultant of Apel Consulting, Nicholas partners with colleges and universities nationwide to modernize operations, strengthen governance, and drive measurable outcomes across ERP, SIS, and enterprise integrations.

With a career spanning leadership roles in enterprise project management, IT governance, and higher-ed transformation, Nicholas brings both strategic and functional expertise. He has guided institutions through multi-year ERP implementations—including Ellucian Banner, Workday, DegreeWorks, and Ethos integrations—with a focus on interoperability, fiscal accountability, and user adoption.

Nicholas’s consulting philosophy centers on three pillars:

  • Higher Ed Experts: a team of industry-seasoned leaders who understand institutional culture, complexity, and the student-success mission from the inside out.

  • Data integrity always: building single sources of truth for real-time, actionable insights.

  • People at the core: aligning technology change with stakeholder readiness, communication, and training.

At Apel Consulting, Nicholas leads a team of professionals who have lived the higher-ed reality—from registrar’s offices to CIO suites. The firm helps institutions streamline processes, reduce waste, and strengthen student-success outcomes through a blend of strategic planning, system optimization, and operational execution.

The goal is simple: help higher-ed leaders make smarter, faster decisions with trusted data, strong governance, and technology that works for people—not the other way around.