People

Dr Siva Kumari started as CEO of College Possible in May of 2023. Prior to that, she has consulted with global educational projects that focus on equity and high academic standards. She also mentors C-level leaders worldwide. Siva has served and continues to serve on a wide range of local, national and international professional advisory boards and committees.

In January 2014, Dr Siva Kumari started her tenure as the seventh Director General of the International Baccalaureate (IB) and is the first and only woman to hold the post. She completed her tenure in 2021. She was responsible for an international not-for-profit with locations in Geneva, Cardiff, Hague in Europe, Washington DC in the USA and in Singapore. that delivered fee-based academic programmes, assessments and school services.

Siva joined the IB in April 2009 as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific in Singapore. In May 2010, she was named the first Chief Operating Officer of the IB worldwide. In this role, she led a global team responsible for providing high quality cost-effective educational services that included authorization and evaluation of schools; teacher professional development; research including programme validation and programme impact studies and university recognition.

Prior to joining the IB, Siva was the first Associate Provost for K-12 initiatives at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. Reporting directly to the President and the Provost she was tasked with overseeing the university’s over 80 outreach efforts in the K12 area, creating efficient systems and identifying new opportunities to accomplish the university’s strategic mission. She also served as Associate Dean and Executive Director of Programs in the School of Continuing Studies, receiving critical acclaim for her work and winning several national and regional awards. Siva grew the university’s teacher professional development programmes into the largest in the USA, and vastly expanded the school’s portfolio of information technology programmes.

Several key projects, initiated by Siva, received competitive funding from state and federal government, as well as local and national foundations – both private and corporate. In 2002, she created the Advanced Placement Digital Library for science teachers, with funding from the US National Science Foundation, serving as Chair of the National Science Digital Library Conference.

She has a Bachelor of Science degree from India, a Master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, USA, and a Doctorate in education from the University of Houston, Texas, USA. Specializing in teaching and learning on the web, she was named Outstanding Doctoral Student for her pioneering work studying USA wide pedagogical practices of higher education faculty in online education. She has started two Masters programs. The Rice Educational Entrepreneurship Program at Rice to educate school principals with both business skills and cutting edge educational practices. And, a tuition-free online Masters of Education program, in collaboration with the University of People, for teachers worldwide.

Ali Ayub has worked in not-for-profits and the banking and mortgage industries to deliver high-impact systems. In educational not-for-profits, he has delivered Salesforce systems to be used worldwide by teachers, staff members and schools. He has led culture change among educators to adapt to changing systems. Ali will provide expertise in creating data models, data governance, reporting tools and leading culture change in migrating our organization from multiple systems to one reliant system to power operations.

Scott joined the College Possible team in 2021 as vice president of college and career success. Before that, he was College Forward’s managing director of programs and student services, and oversaw the design, execution, and evaluation of services to its students. Scott originally joined College Forward as an AmeriCorps member, serving as a college completion coach from 2009-2011. Prior to College Forward, he held several positions as a designer and architect in Philadelphia.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Philadelphia University and certificates in social entrepreneurship and strategy from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoys all things Star Wars and hopes to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

For more than twenty years Catherine Marciano has devoted her professional career to equity through education as a teacher, evidence-based program innovator, data collector and analyst, and dynamic senior leader of New York City based educational non-profits for social good.

As an ally and competent strategist, Catherine has a proven track record of developing best-in-class programs that support individuals from traditionally underserved groups, in particular Black, Latino, low-income and first-generation students, in achieving post-secondary success. Most recently, as Managing Director of College Services for KIPP NYC Through College (KTC NYC), Catherine led design and implementation of internal strategies and external partnerships that boosted college completion rates for KIPP NYC alumni from 38% to a historically high 54%—all while the program scaled from serving 400 students to more than 2,200.

Known for her expertise in making data-driven decisions, Catherine worked collaboratively with KIPP NYC's secondary school data team to use student outcomes and indicators as predictors of college success and then leveraged that data in KTC's flagship one-to-one college and career advising program. Beginning in 2010 and revised annually since Catherine developed KTC NYC's student-centered transition-to-college programming yielding an annual summer melt rate of 4%, as compared to 10% for KIPP alumni nationally.

From 2015-2018 Catherine participated on a committee to inform KIPP's national college and career strategy resulting in the national adoption of a rubric and algorithm she co-designed in NYC in order to benchmark and segment college students’ academic and socioemotional growth semiannually. Under Catherine's leadership, KIPP Through College's NYC region became the highest performing of all 20 KTC regions nationally.

Prior to her work with the KIPP CMO, Catherine was the Program Director of Student Sponsor Partners (SSP), a New York City nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide low-income, high potential students with a quality high school education. In that role, Catherine led SSP to its highest historical high school graduation rate - 90%, an increase of over 10 percentage points. In addition to her skills developing people and programs, Catherine has deep technical expertise in database management; she served as the regional Salesforce administrator for KIPP NYC and the Raiser’s Edge database administrator at SSP. A native of Cleveland, OH, Catherine has lived in New York City for 22 years. Catherine holds a BS in Mathematics from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN.

Born in Portland into an immigrant family, John personally understands the generational impact that families experience through education. For the past two decades, he has led student success programs and workforce-education partnerships for businesses, foundations, and nonprofits throughout the state, more recently directing college scholarships and community grant initiatives across all 36 Oregon counties.

A strategic visionary and champion of the underserved, John is passionate about equity in education. He thrives on building community and philanthropic partnerships, believing they are essential to creating pathways for college and career success.

John holds business degrees from the University of Oregon and Portland State University, along with graduate executive training in development from Boston University. When not dreaming of ways to tap the potential of the next generation, you’ll find him cheering for his kids in their sports or enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee. If you bump into John, don’t be surprised if he buys you a cup and shares about the many lives being changed through College Possible.

Arvin Frazier III is senior executive director of College Possible Omaha, which began providing services to students in the 2011-12 academic year. He leads the Omaha team in all day-to-day management and operational issues, leading strategic organizational development, raising funds, coordinating communications and building relationships with partner schools, universities and organizations in the Omaha metro area.

Arvin comes to College Possible with a long career in public service and education. For nearly 30 years, he worked for the Nebraska Department of Education, progressing to serve as area administrator for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. There, Arvin managed a large staff in delivering vocational rehabilitation services across a multi-county area. Prior to College Possible, Arvin served educational support organizations as the senior director of community programs for Building Bright Futures, a nonprofit dedicated to improving educational outcomes for children in poverty. Arvin received his B.S. from Knoxville College and his M.S. from University of Tennessee.

He is a native Omahan, an Omaha North High Magnet School graduate, and an active community member. In service to the city’s educational and workforce development efforts, Arvin serves with such entities as the Inclusive Communities, 100 Black Men, North Omaha Cradle To Career Advisory Committee, Metro Community College President Committee on Equity and Diversity, UNO’s African American Advisory Cabinet, Millard Superintendent Service Advisory Committee and others.

Additionally, Arvin is a member of Salem Baptist church and an active member with the Omaha Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi. In his spare time, Arvin enjoys officiating basketball for the Iowa and Nebraska State Athletic Associations. Himself a first-generation college attendee and proud Historical Black Colleges and Universities graduate, the work of College Possible greatly motivates him as he works to empower young adults and future leaders of our community by fulfilling their educational potential.

Contact Arvin at AFrazier@CollegePossible.org.

Precious Mines, M. Div., B.A. is a strong proponent for education and has committed her life to giving back to her community by building a career in education to help low-income students acquire the tools necessary to successfully navigate higher education and obtain a college degree. Since matriculating into the higher-ed landscape, Precious has worked at the Community College of Philadelphia, where she served as the inaugural program coordinator for the ACE+ (Ace Plus) program, a dual enrollment program designed for youth attending alternative schools who were notoriously marginalized, providing an opportunity for them to redeem time and college credits while pursuing a high school diploma.

Precious joined College Possible Philadelphia in 2016 as the program manager and later as senior program director. Her commitment to building a program that was efficient, outcome-producing, creative, and met the unique needs of the students served has been evident through the many initiatives her team trailblazed and the consistently high outcomes of students matriculating to and through college. Precious has been able to exercise her passion for building strong relationships with key stakeholders as well as advocating for the needs of students to colleges and universities. Additionally, Precious served on the #ReachHigherPhilly team for four years, in which she was an integral part of planning Philadelphia’s College Signing Day, landing the former first lady Michelle Obama as a keynote speaker and she has been called on to bring her voice to the table, sharing her knowledge with the Philadelphia Prep Roundtable, Sara Goldrick-Rab’s #RealCollege conference, and the statewide PACAC conference.

Precious has been working in the education sector for over 20 years and has most recently been promoted to the role of executive director of College Possible Philadelphia. She is a visionary and shares an affinity to her work at College Possible as a first-generation college student herself. Precious’ strategic leadership in fortifying the next generation of leaders and equipping low-income students to achieve their educational goals will continue to result in more students being empowered to steer their future in a way that will break generational cycles of poverty and allow students to achieve their greatest desires. Precious is looking forward to leading College Possible Philadelphia into the future and expanding the reach of their programming to the students who need it the most.

Marco Morrison is a native of Milwaukee, WI and graduated from Rufus King High School. He has over 20 year’s worth of experience in the youth development arena focusing on program design, implementation and evaluation. Marco attended the University of Wisconsin-Parkside where he majored in Sociology & Communication and minored in Ethnic Studies. While attaining his undergraduate degree, Marco worked in the UW-Parkside Precollege Department where he developed his passion for working with young people. Marco continued his quest for knowledge and went on to obtain his Master’s degree in Educational Administration at Eastern Illinois University. Seeing a need in his community, Marco decided to return home to impact young people’s lives in a way that is relevant, intentional and life changing. He worked for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee for 9.5 years providing innovative ideas and strategies to reach those most in need. In 2017, he became the Executive Director for Operation DREAM, Inc., which is an all-boys mentoring and job readiness program. In this program, he impacts the lives of mostly young men of color by providing dedicated mentors, job readiness training, employment, and future goal setting to assist young men on their journey to adulthood. During his time at Operation DREAM, Inc., Marco implemented new programs, and redesigned program outcomes & metrics to add additional impact on the young men and families he served. Prior to his departure from Operation DREAM, Inc., Marco established a social enterprise business, DREAM Screen LLC, that focuses on hands-on entrepreneurship training, career exploration while simultaneously providing employment for young men.

Contact Morrison at MMorrison@CollegePossible.org.

Christine Poorman joined College Possible Chicago as the founding Executive Director in 2015. In this role, she leads programmatic strategy, board development and fundraising in support of a $2.7MM annual budget. As leader of the Chicago office, Christine has grown College Possible’s reach and impact to support more than 1,400 Chicago Public School students from low-income backgrounds on their path to earning a college degree.

Christine brings 20+ years of experience in educational access and success to this work. Prior to College Possible, she led the Chicago office of Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which she launched as a start-up and grew to be one of their highest performing program offices. Christine holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management, Executive Education from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Michigan State University.

Deb has an extensive background in nonprofit leadership, a proven track record of driving impactful change, and she brings a wealth of experience to the organization. Most recently, she served as the executive director at Social Venture Partners Minnesota, where she was responsible for catalyzing equitable social change by expanding the impact of youth-serving nonprofits and fostering an effective community of engaged philanthropists. Her commitment to advancing racial equity and building strong community partnerships aligns perfectly with College Possible’s values and mission.

Prior to her role at Social Venture Partners Minnesota, Deb held various leadership positions including executive director at Bike Works in Seattle, WA, where over her 10-year tenure she significantly grew the organization's resources and impact and expanding youth outreach tenfold. Early in her career, Deb held progressively increasing responsibilities, including the role of executive director at multiple YMCA locations in Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, and Minneapolis, MN.

Deb holds a Master of Arts in nonprofit management from Washington University in St. Louis, a Master of Education in youth development leadership from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of Minnesota. She also holds a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) certification.

Lauren comes to College Possible Washington with more than 10 years of leadership in the education and nonprofit sectors. Her experience as a first-generation college graduate and Americorps member guide her focus on college access and success. Lauren recently served as the interim executive director of City Year Seattle/King County where she continued to build strong partnerships in Seattle Public Schools and promote a return to in-person service. Servant and adaptive leadership coupled with a community-centered approach, drives the work culture Lauren builds.  

Her experiences include strategic planning, donor cultivation, staff learning and development, race and equity programming, and building transformational partnerships. Lauren attended Gonzaga University for her undergraduate studies and holds an M.Ed. in school counseling from Louisiana State University. In her free time Lauren enjoys traveling with her partner, staying active through volleyball, rowing or yoga and spending time with her two cats and pug at home in West Seattle.

As a former first-generation college student, Manmeet understands how hard it can be to navigate the college admissions process alone. She was fortunate enough to receive support through the Gates Millennium Scholars program, which connected her with the tools, resources and people she needed to be successful. Manmeet graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in international studies, education, and diversity. Following college, she taught sixth grade reading in Houston, Texas as a Teach for America corps member. She returned to Seattle in 2013 to serve as a policy and advocacy fellow for the Democrats for Education Reform and to attend law school at the University of Washington. She currently works as a corporate lawyer.

Prior to this role, Mr. Fan was the Founder/Executive Director for MN Comeback, a funder collaborative with a goal of ensuring all children in Minneapolis are enrolled by 2025 in rigorous and relevant schools that prepare them to thrive in college, career and community. Mr. Fan was also the founding Executive Director for Charter School Partners in Minneapolis and led the nonprofit for six years in its work to support the startup, growth and expansion of high-quality schools. In 2013 Mr. Fan was named by the Walton Family Foundation as one of the national “Ed Reformers to Watch.”

Mr. Fan worked for 16 years at General Mills, a global food manufacturer based in Minneapolis, in various marketing and sales positions in the areas of Brand Management, Category Management, Consumer Research and Strategic Planning. Prior to General Mills, Mr. Fan was at Accenture, a global strategic consulting firm, and worked with numerous organizations in the areas of technology, systems development and strategic planning.

Mr. Fan currently serves on the board of directors for Great MN Schools. He has also previously served on the board of trustees for The Minneapolis Foundation, the Cookie Cart in north Minneapolis, Social Venture Partners/MN, Hiawatha Leadership Academy, and was the founding board chair for KIPP Minnesota. Mr. Fan has been a volunteer for Best Prep, Junior Achievement, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Mr. Fan has an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been married for 34 years and is the proud father of three adult daughters who have officially left the nest.

As a key leader of Travelers’ corporate citizenship strategies, Marlene manages charitable giving and is responsible for community-related employee involvement activities. Marlene has developed a strategic approach for the company’s philanthropy, designed to align business interests with community needs and assets, and helping to generate academic & career success, thriving neighborhoods and culturally enriched communities.

Under her direction, the Travelers Foundation and Travelers have successfully implemented signature programs. The first to launch was Travelers EDGE^® (Empowering Dreams for Graduation & Employment), a nationally recognized, comprehensive, career pipeline program intended to increase the number of historically underrepresented individuals who complete bachelor’s degrees and are prepared for a career in the insurance and financial services industry.

Other signature initiatives include the Travelers Small Business Risk Education program, which provides women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses with information related to business continuity and risk safety, and Travelers Fortifies Communities, which focuses on building capacity in the nonprofit building and disaster recovery sector for construction of stronger houses for America’s most vulnerable families.

In addition, Marlene has led the development and implementation of an employee community involvement strategy in support of the company’s talent recruitment, retention, development, and diversity & inclusion initiatives.

Prior to her role in community relations, Marlene served in a variety of public relations and communications management roles at Travelers. Before joining Travelers, Marlene worked as a writer/producer and public relations consultant and has experience working in communications and fundraising for nonprofit organizations.

A first-generation college graduate, she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in radio-TV-film from Texas Christian University and a Master of Science degree in communications management from Syracuse University.

In addition to her commitment to College Possible, Marlene serves on the boards of directors of Hartford Promise and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in Connecticut. She is also a member of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship’s Executive Forum and serves on the KABOOM! Leadership Council.

Doreen Wise was the first college graduate in her family and believes that education can change a family in a generation. Educated as a nurse at Vanderbilt University, she has worked clinically in pediatrics and mental health nursing After earning a master’s degree she served on the faculty at The University of Texas School of Nursing.  Because of her passion for education, she later completed a doctorate in that field. She helped to launch College Forward, served several terms on its board of directors and worked on the due diligence team to merge with College Possible.

Doreen founded Medical Research Consultants (MRC), a medical legal consulting company specializing in mass tort medical products litigation. She built the company from one employee to 450 with top line annual revenues of $30 million. She sold the company as an employee stock ownership plan to her employees who sustain it as an industry leader today.

MRC employees and leadership have always been community facing, including offering an “incubator” for promising nonprofit startups including College Forward and Texas Center for the Missing, an Amber Alert partner.

Doreen advises and provides angel investment dollars to promising “for profit” companies including ChartSwap, a force.com based medical records company recently selling for 20+ times initial investment. Doreen and her husband Frank Crapitto have owned and sold Crapitto’s Cucina Italiano and Frank’s Chop House in Houston, Texas. They so loved the artisan bread created by Slow Dough Baking Company that they served it in both restaurants and have invested in the company since its inception. And because they love to fish the Texas coast they bought Mowdy Boats of Texas from its founder, keeping the brand alive and building the company.

Dr. Miller became president of Hamline University in 2015. She is the first African American and second woman to serve as president. Previously, she was a professor and dean at the University of Vermont, and before that was associate professor of psychology at Brown University, where she was the first coordinator of education studies and founding chairman of ethnic studies. She has served with national professional organizations and has extensive experience with local and community boards as well.

Andrea Mokros has spent a career in communications and event production at the local, state and national level. Currently, she serves as Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick. where she leads Public Affairs in their Minneapolis office. She most recently served as the Vice President of Communications for the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee, one of the world’s pre-eminent sporting events.

Previously, Andrea served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Planning for the First Lady. In this role, she oversaw the strategic planning process for all aspects of First Lady Michelle Obama’s schedule, managing an active Scheduling and Advance team that takes every event from inception to completion. During her tenure, Andrea led the First Lady’s travel to China, Africa, the 2012 London Olympics, as well as countless other domestic and international trips; created programming for the spouses of world leaders at US-hosted summits, including NATO and the UN General Assembly; and produced major national tours on behalf of the First Lady’s Let’s Move!, Joining Forces, Reach Higher and Let Girls Learn initiatives.

Prior to joining the White House, Andrea served as Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. She led communications and outreach efforts; serving as spokesperson, crafting and executing communications strategies in support of the Governor’s initiatives, and leading major events from the State of the State address to bill signings.

As founder and principal of Mokros Strategies, LLC, Andrea worked with local, state, and national clients to develop speeches, op-eds, and events-based communications strategies that used the power of pictures to communicate a message. She regularly served on Advance teams for the White House and the Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry; traveling the country and the world to execute principal participation in events from the G20 Summit in Toronto, to the Presidential Debates, to the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston.

Andrea began her career in Minnesota politics as scheduler to Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey, III in his campaign for Governor. She went on to serve as scheduler and later as Director of the Executive Office to former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty in his international consulting firm, Kissinger McLarty Associates. As Communications Director in the Minnesota State Senate, Andrea worked with Senators to communicate legislative priorities and make them relevant to constituents. As Deputy Chief of Staff to US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Andrea spearheaded strategic planning and managed the Senator’s communications operation, executing countless press conferences, tours, speeches and interviews.

Andrea is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a proud graduate of the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts, Class of 1999. She currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Joelle A. Murchison is the Special Advisor, Diversity and External Partnerships at The University of Connecticut, Hartford campus. Prior to joining UCONN, Joelle served as Vice President, Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion at The Travelers Companies, Inc. (Travelers) where in partnership with management, she developed the framework of the company’s diversity & inclusion focus and led the execution of Travelers’ diversity & inclusion strategy.

Joelle previously served 2 terms on the board of directors of both the Morgan State University Foundation and Leadership Greater Hartford and spent 10 years as a diversity trainer with the Anti Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute. Joelle is the recipient of numerous awards including most recently, the Trailblazer Award from the Voices of Women of Color and the Living Waters Award from the Connecticut Conference of the UCC.

Currently, Joelle serves as a director/trustee on the boards of the Amistad Center for Art and Culture (Hartford, CT), The Discovery Center, and College Possible, a national nonprofit focused on college access. She is also a Corporator of the Village for Families and Children and a member of the Board of Ambassadors of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

A native of Queens and Long Island, NY, Joelle holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy and educational studies from Brown University, a master’s of education degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and a master’s of science degree in Communication Management from Syracuse University.

President & Chief Executive Officer Jenny Rickard joined Common App in August 2016. Her expertise embodies each area of college enrollment management, including admission, technology and financial aid. Her extensive service within the national higher education community includes a wide range of roles with the College Board, Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools (ACCIS), and US Department of Education.

Dr. Suzanne Rivera is the president of Macalester College. She also is a professor of public affairs, and her scholarship focuses on research ethics and science policy. Rivera has written numerous journal articles and book chapters, and she co-edited the book Specimen Science. Her research has been supported by the NIH, the NSF, the DHHS Office of Research Integrity, and the Cleveland Foundation. She is engaged in numerous civic and municipal leadership roles, including chair of the board of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), appointed member of the executive council for Minnesota’s Young Women’s Initiative, board member of the Science Museum of Minnesota, board member of College Possible, and member of the TeenSHARP National Advisory Board. Rivera received a BA in American civilization from Brown University, an MSW from UC-Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in public policy from UT Dallas.