BG Tucker, executive director of College Possible Minnesota, received the National College Attainment Network’s (NCAN) 2026 Dr. David B. Swedlow Professional of the Year Award of Excellence on Oct. 6 at the NCAN National Conference in Las Vegas. The award recognizes one individual at an NCAN member organization nationwide for dedication, innovation, and results for students. It is named for Dr. David B. Swedlow, a practitioner who dedicated his career to helping students get to college.
“This recognition belongs to our students and the team that shows up for them every day,” said BG Tucker. “Our students prove that a zip code or a family’s income does not decide what a young person can achieve. My job is to make sure the systems around them catch up. I’m grateful to NCAN and to colleagues across the field who carry this work with me.”
Under BG’s leadership, College Possible Minnesota, the largest region in the College Possible national network, serves more than 5,000 high school and college students each year. Its results stand out:
- 84% of participants enroll in college within five years of high school graduation, compared with 51% of Pell-eligible students statewide.
- In 2025 alone, College Possible Minnesota students earned 593 college degrees.
BG has pushed the organization to rethink how it serves students. She led the development of a custom college-match tool that helps students build stronger, more balanced college lists, raising the share of juniors with balanced lists from 74% to 79% in one year. She expanded partnerships to include two-year career and technical colleges and secured funding to cover their partnership fees. She also made College Possible Minnesota the first community-based organization to partner with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education on the state’s Direct Admission Program, reaching 197 additional students across 21 high schools.
“BG pairs rigor with heart,” said Dr. Siva Kumari, CEO of College Possible. “She asks hard questions about what equity actually requires, then builds the tools to answer them. Her interest in creating community to highlight issues that need attention and garner consensus to address them through solutions is her superpower. ”
When students faced sudden hardship this year, BG moved quickly. She shifted coaching to virtual models and led a campaign that raised and distributed more than $714,000 in emergency and scholarship support, helping students stay enrolled. Beyond her organization, she cofounded and chairs the Minnesota College Attainment Network, which she has grown from a volunteer coalition into a statewide professional network for college access practitioners.
“When this year tested our students and our staff, BG kept everyone steady,” said Pétra Noble, Chair of the College Possible Minnesota Advisory Board. “She was transparent, she moved fast, and she never lost sight of the students we serve. The board is proud to see NCAN recognize what we see every day: a leader whose results speak for themselves and whose influence reaches well beyond Minnesota.”
BG became executive director after serving as senior director of program operations. Before joining College Possible, she was director of college and career counseling at Venture Academy in Minneapolis and a founding college counselor and director of college counseling at KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate in Massachusetts. She began her career as a Teach For America corps member teaching Spanish in Gary, Indiana. She holds a B.A. in Latin American studies from Carleton College and an M.A. in higher education from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
