Ann Marano is the Executive Director of Colleges That Change Lives. Previously, Ann served as a College Bound Advisor the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School in Dallas, and worked in admissions at California State Polytechnic University Pomona and California State University East Bay.

Melissa Korn writes about higher education for The Wall Street Journal. She joined Dow Jones in 2007, then moved to The Journal in 2011 to cover business education, workplace issues and the college-to-career pathway. Melissa graduated from Cornell University with degrees in English and History and has a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Ron Lieber is the author of three New York Times bestselling books, including "Taking Time Off," which was about gap years, and "The Price You Pay for College." He's been the Your Money columnist for The New York Times since 2008. He lives in Brooklyn with his family. 

Twitter: @ronlieber
Instagram: @ronlieber
Facebook: facebook.com/ronlieberauthor Book: The Price You Pay for College
NYT columns 

Casey Barneson has been working in the field of education for over 10 years and serves as the college counselor at Beverly Hills High School. Casey holds a Master’s degree in Educational Counseling. Casey travels nationally and internationally visiting college campuses, meeting with admission counselors, and assisting students through the college admission process. 

Adrienne Amador Oddi, previously the dean of admission and financial aid at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, now serves as vice president of strategic enrollment and communications at Queens University of Charlotte. Before Trinity College, Oddi held admissions roles at Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia; the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York; and Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.

Rick Clark is the Director of Undergraduate Admission at Georgia Tech. He earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.Ed. from Georgia State University. Prior to Tech, Rick worked at Georgia State, The McCallie School and Wake Forest University.

Twitter: @Clark2College
Buy his book here
Read his blog here

Brennan Barnard, M.Ed is the Dean of College Counseling and Outreach at The Derryfield School, in Manchester, NH and the Director of College Counseling at Khan Lab High School in Mountain View, CA. He also serves as the College Admissions Program Advisor for Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Director of Counseling for the College Guidance Network. 

Twitter: @BarnardBrennan
Facebook: Facebook.com/BarnardBrennan/
Read his work on Forbes here
Buy his book here

Sheela Raja, PhD is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a nationally recognized researcher, consultant, and speaker. Raja has authored four books including The Resilient Teen: 10 Key Skills to Bounce Back from Setbacks and Turn Stress into Success.  

Twitter: @SheelaRaja
Instagram: Raja.Sheela

Sara Goldrick-Rab is Professor of Sociology & Medicine at Temple University, and President and Founder of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice in Philadelphia. She is also the Chief Strategy Officer for Emergency Aid at Edquity, a student financial success and emergency aid company, and founded Believe in Students, a nonprofit distributing emergency aid.

@saragoldrickrab
@hope4college
#RealCollege

Vern Granger is Director of Admissions at the University of Connecticut. In his current role, he works on its worldwide outreach to high-achieving and diverse students, the selection process, development of the university admission process and practices, the transition of new students, and the advancement of UConn’s position as one of the preeminent institutions in the country.

Yamilet Medina López is the Assistant Dean of Diversity Outreach and External Relations for Stanford University. Her roots are in the island of Puerto Rico where she lived until attending college. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Recreation Administration and a graduate degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Higher Education from Texas State University. 

Elena D. Hicks is responsible for all activities in the SMU Office of Admission, including admission for first-year, transfer and international applicants. With more than 30 years of education experience, Hicks has considerable knowledge about student recruitment, selective admission and family involvement. Prior to her tenure at SMU, worked at Loyola University Maryland, Saint Mary’s Hall School, and Texas Christian University.

Jodi Okun is one of the “Top 30 Social Influencers in Personal Finance & Wealth,” according to Huffington Post. As founder of College Financial Aid Advisors, she has helped thousands of families successfully navigate the financial aid process and open educational possibilities for their children. In addition to CFFA, Jodi’s background includes financial aid consultant at Occidental and Pitzer College. Jodi is an instructor at University of California San Diego, teaching Financial Aid in the online extension class. She is the author of the best-selling book Secrets of a Financial Aid Pro. 
Twitter: @jodiokun
Instagram: @jodiokun

Lynn O’Shaughnessy, a nationally recognized college expert, is a higher-ed journalist, author and speaker. Lynn, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, shares college advice through her website, The College Solution and her online course for parents, independent college consultants and high school counselors called The College Cost Lab. Lynn is the author of an Amazon bestseller, The College Solution. Lynn’s higher-ed commentary has been featured in several national media outlets. 

Buy her book here
Enroll in her course here
Read her blog here

Carine M. Feyten’s Belgian roots and multilingual acumen give her a predilection to looking at the world from different vantages. Seven years ago, she started #campuswithaheart to spotlight the Texas Woman’s culture, one that insists on excellence, intentionality in serving all, and research that matters.

Instagram: @TWUpres
Twitter: @TWUpres
Facebook

Dr. Anne A. Skleder, Ph.D., is Brenau University’s 10th president and the first woman elected to this position in the university’s 143-year history. Dr. Skleder earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, and her master’s and doctorate degrees in social and organizational psychology from Temple University. She also completed Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.

Mary Dana Hinton became president of Hollins University in 2020. An active and respected proponent of the liberal arts and inclusion, her leadership reflects a deep and abiding commitment to educational equity and the education of women. Previously, she served as president of the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota.

Instagram: @HollinsUniversity
Twitter: @HollinsU
Facebook

Becky Chassin is the Assistant Dean of Admission at the University of Southern California.  She has worked at USC for the past twenty years overseeing the undergraduate application review process and scholarships.  After graduating from Pomona College, Becky spent time working for Hillel:  The Center for Jewish Life.  She earned a master’s degree in Communication Management at USC.

Satyajit Dattagupta joined the Office of Undergraduate Admission as the Vice President of Enrollment Management in June of 2016 and most recently was named Tulane’s first Senior Vice President and Dean of Admission for Enrollment Management and Graduate and Pre-college Strategy.

Jeannine Lalonde is the Associate Dean of Admission at the University of Virginia and also goes by the nickname "Dean J." She runs an admission blog called Notes from Peabody, where she shares tips and insights for the UVA admissions process. She also recently joined TikTok to connect with prospective students.

Casey Near, Dean of Counselor Development

After transferring from the University of Pennsylvania to Scripps College, Casey caught the college admissions bug and hasn’t turned back. She started as a professional backwards walker (tour guide) at Scripps, then helped run visit programs for the admissions office. After graduation, she returned to her Bay Area home to work as an admissions counselor at Mills College, where she ran the tour program, assisted with transfer admissions, and convinced people that women’s colleges are indeed a wonderful idea.

Kevin McMullin, Founder & Chief Education Officer

Kevin founded Collegewise in 1999 and did all the counseling himself for the first 18 months. He is the author of If the U Fits: Expert Advice on Finding the Right College and Getting Accepted, and pens at least one entry every day on the Collegewise blog. A graduate of UC Irvine with majors in English and history where he answered, “What will you do with THOSE majors?” approximately 783 times, Kevin also has a college counseling certificate from UCLA.

Arun Ponnusamy, Chief Academic Officer

Arun is regarded as one of America’s foremost admissions experts. He evaluated the files of over 7,500 seniors through nine application cycles for three highly selective colleges: the University of Chicago (his alma mater), Caltech, and UCLA. Since joining Collegewise, Arun has guided hundreds of students into their dream colleges. He also conducts professional development sessions and speaks at seminars attended by thousands of families annually.