Ardis Kadiu

Ardis Kadiu is the founder and CEO of Element451. After graduating from NYU with an MS in digital media and an MBA, Ardis helped found Spark451, a higher ed communications company, and began realizing his vision to transform traditional and outdated student recruitment with the tools of the future.

As the chief technology officer at Spark451, and with more than 15 years of higher education experience, he designed what is now known as the Element451 student engagement CRM. In 2018, Element451 broke away from Spark451 to focus solely on the business line of developing intelligent, modern CRM solutions for higher education professionals, combining his extensive technology and higher ed experience.

Element451 relieves colleges of the limitations and usability issues that come with technology that either wasn’t designed for higher ed or hasn’t kept pace with advances in technology and user experience. Under Ardis’s direction, Element451 has seen rapid growth and increasing partnerships with leading institutions including Wake Tech Community College, San Jose State University, Howard University, RIT Certified and more.

During the 2020 pandemic Element451 doubled in size, and in 2022, doubled its customer base. Most recently under Ardis’s leadership, the company has procured another round of growth equity investment to continue their work in advancing their full student journey engagement efforts.