A Conversation with Hayden Haubrich, Higher-Ed Account Manager at Offstreet.
The best parking experiences are the ones no one notices. That’s the bar Hayden sets with every campus he works with: engineer the quiet win. As a higher-ed account manager at Offstreet, he maps the hidden work behind department permits—events, contractors, guest passes, enforcement - and then helps universities make that work disappear for the end user.
“One of the biggest things that surprised me is just the sheer volume of what goes into making parking at an event run smoothly,” he explains. “I know the famous thing in the industry is, the best parking experience is the one that people don’t remember. But to get to that point takes a lot of work. And a lot of collaboration.”
That collaboration often begins with the biggest challenge Hayden sees over and over again: the transition from paper to digital.
“Everything’s transitioning digitally, which is great. But the campuses that I see struggling the most are the ones who aren’t making that transition, the ones still using paper permits - or they’ve transitioned digitally for general permits but they haven’t for guest and event parking. That is where things get messy,” he said.
The hesitation is understandable. “I understand switching to a new technology and process can be a big change. Not everybody’s ready for that, but I do think that once they see the value of it, they never go back.”
Still, once departments take the leap, momentum builds quickly. “Once they get one or two of the departments bought in, it usually spreads like wildfire,” Hayden said.
This viral adoption pattern has fueled one of Offstreet’s proudest statistics: 0% churn among universities. Every campus that has implemented Offstreet has stayed with Offstreet. For Hayden, that speaks volumes not just about the technology, but about the trust built through relationships.
“It’s not just that we’re solving a problem,” he said. “Universities see that the solution continues to work for them year after year, and it adapts as their needs evolve. Once departments experience the time savings and the simplicity, they don’t go back.”
That kind of staying power comes from listening, not dictating. Hayden is quick to point out: “I’d consider myself an Offstreet expert, but I’m not a campus parking expert. We rely on what they share with us and learn from them in order to be able to help them.” That mindset shapes Offstreet’s approach: meet each campus where it is, adapt the workflows, and integrate tightly so enforcement, departments, and guest experience all line up.
“There’s more and more use cases every day. We get brought stuff we’ve never done before… we work with the client to figure out a way that we can match it through Offstreet.”
Hayden is quick to point out that his role isn’t about showing up with all the answers - it’s about listening.
“I’d consider myself more and more of an Offstreet expert, but I’m not a campus parking expert,” he said. “We rely on what they share with us and learn from them in order to be able to help them.”
That learning often comes in unexpected ways. “Like I was on a call with a client who showed us they just brought these pylons so he could go put them out for something. And I was like, oh yeah… I guess that’s part of what you would have to do too.” Parking teams juggle far more than permits: traffic control, construction projects, sustainability initiatives, and every unexpected curveball that hits a campus.
Hayden likes to joke that he doesn’t even remember his own commencement parking experience - which, he points out, probably means his university did a great job. But he also knows now just how much planning, coordination, and stress goes into those days behind the scenes. Commencement isn’t just another event; it’s typically one of the largest logistical challenges a campus parking team manages.
That’s why seeing the shift universities make with Offstreet has been so rewarding. Hayden laughed as he recalled being at IPMI parking tradeshow and watching clients proudly share their own success stories with each other. It wasn’t Offstreet leading the conversation - it was parking teams comparing notes and celebrating what had changed.
Two moments stood out for him. The first was a client who, while attending IPMI, pulled out his phone to show Hayden his inbox - his campus was holding commencement that very day, and yet not a single parking complaint email had come through. For a day that usually floods parking services with issues, the silence spoke volumes. The second was another client who proudly showed people a video he had taken while driving onto campus during commencement: no backups, no chaos. After years of watching traffic pile up every ceremony, it was the first time he’d seen everything flow smoothly.
For Hayden, those moments made the impact of Offstreet feel unmistakable - seeing universities run one of their most complex events with ease was not only proof the system works, but also an incredibly rewarding feeling.
As one client put it after moving from paper to digital with Offstreet: “We don’t have stacks of hang tags, and we’re not giving a department punch passes or stacks of physical permits anymore.” Without floating paper permits, enforcement becomes simpler and abuse disappears.
He pointed to a Seattle campus as a clear example. “They used to print out so many permits for contractors - it was a huge cost and took so much time. Now they just create a link within a minute, send it out, and that’s it. A whole day’s job is now just like a couple minute task.”
But Hayden notes that even as many campuses move their student, staff, or paid visitor permits to digital, there’s often still one major gap: departmental events and special guest parking. This is the area that continues to eat up time and resources. Teams have invested in advanced systems like LPR, but without a digital solution for these use cases, officers are still forced to fall back on manual processes - circling cars, checking paper passes, and juggling spreadsheets. That’s exactly where Offstreet has made its mark: equipping universities to extend their digital strategy across every corner of their parking operations, so that nothing falls back into inefficiency.
"Once they get one or two of the departments bought in, it usually spreads like wildfire"
Hayden says the best part of the job will always be the people he works with every day. He laughed as he admitted: “I don’t think anyone really dreams of working in the parking industry. But there really is a lot of amazing people. Who knew parking could be so fun and cool?”
For him, those relationships go far beyond solving operational problems. He looks forward to catching up with his clients, swapping stories about life outside of work, and building friendships alongside partnerships. That kind of connection, he says, is what makes his role so rewarding. “It’s the best part of my day for sure,” Hayden adds.
That sense of community is especially strong in higher education. Universities don’t compete with one another - they collaborate. “What I love about campuses is that they’re so collaborative with one another. They’d rather find ways to improve a process than to make more money at the cost of the guest experience.”
In that same spirit, Hayden sees Offstreet’s role as more than just a vendor. It’s about showing up as a true partner - helping universities remove friction, save time, and focus on what matters most: creating experiences so seamless that no one ever has to think about parking.
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