Staff and Advisory Board

Scott Anderson has two decades of experience in the college admission profession. Before joining the staff of The Common Application in 2009, he worked for nine years as college counselor at two independent schools. He has also worked in the undergraduate admission offices of Vassar College and Cornell University. From 2007-2009, he chaired the Admission Practices Committee of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Mr. Anderson holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont.

Rhonda Auguste has served as the first Executive Director of the Wight Foundation, Inc. since June 1987. Like the students she serves, Ms. Auguste earned a scholarship from a public school in Harlem to attend The Spence School, a private school in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. After Spence, she attended Harvard University, where she majored in Sociology and Afro-American Studies. Ms. Auguste also earned a Masters Degree in General Professions in Education from Seton Hall University. Ms. Auguste currently serves on the steering committee of The Independent School Placement Alliance. She previously served as a trustee of The Spence School, St. Philip's Academy in Newark, New Jersey, New Jersey SEEDS, and the Independent Teaching Project. Prior to The Wight Foundation, Ms. Auguste directed the minority recruitment program at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and was a corporate giving officer at the Equitable Foundation in New York City.

Mark has been an educator all of his professional life, mostly in independent schools. He has served as a Dean of Students, Director of Admissions, Director of Diversity and Multiculturalism, and English teacher at such schools as Germantown Friends School (PA), Brooklyn Friends School (NY), and Moses Brown School (RI). Mark is currently the Associate Director of Admissions and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and has Master’s degrees from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Mark’s primary passion over the past 20 years has been finding ways to narrow the achievement gap for disadvantaged students. Mark resides in Cambridge, MA with his wife, Tammy, and 8 year-old daughter, Isabella.

Prior to this appointment, Jeanie practiced as a partner in a successful female owned educational consulting business. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Trinity University, DC. For ten years, Jeanie was Admissions Director for grades three through eight at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC. Adding to Jeanie's experiences in education, she has participated as a teacher, board member, development chair, curriculum committee member, consultant to admissions diversity outreach, and additional involvement as an active parent volunteer. Working with organizations such as Xerox Corporation, Eastern Airlines, Trinity University, John Eaton Elementary School, DCPS, and the Black Student Fund Jeanie continued to hone her instructional, marketing and public relations skills. Jeanie is an active member of the community with Associate membership in Jack and Jill of America and other social and civic organizations.

Yully joined The Steppingstone Foundation (TSF) in 1999 as a Fellow for The Magnet Program, which focused on helping Boston school children enter and be successful at public exam schools. She has since held several positions at TSF. Yully oversees Boston programming as well as supports national initiatives, including NPEA and Steppingstone affiliate programs in Philadelphia and Hartford. She also serves on the board of The Steppingstone Scholars Inc., Hartford Youth Scholars Foundation, and The Meadowbrook School of Weston. Yully received her B.A. in English from Hamilton College. She is presently an M.B.A. candidate at Babson College.

Andy is the Executive Director of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. Prior to taking this position, he spent the majority of his professional career as an attorney, practicing commercial litigation.  Andy made the transition into the field of education after serving on the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund’s Board of Directors. The opportunity arose to take on the role of Executive Director and Andy’s dedication to the work of educational access led to his significant career change. Andy resides in suburban Chicago, is married and has two children.

Prior to her position as the Director of NPEA, Karin was the Executive Director of Summerbridge Cambridge, A Breakthrough Program. Prior to Summerbridge, Karin was the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at Horizons for Homeless Children, where she traveled across the country speaking about child and family homelessness. Karin also spent five years working for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services on Head Start, education, and human service issues. Karin has a M. Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a M.S.W. from Boston College.

Steve has been a teacher and administrator in independent schools for nearly 20 years. He currently is the Director of Prep@Pingree, an academic enrichment program for middle school students from Lawrence and Lynn, and he teaches Advanced Placement Statistics at Pingree School. Steve has extensive experience with educational programs designed for inner city students through his work with Prep@Pingree, Project RISE, Project DEEP and Squashbusters. Steve received his B.S. in mathematics from Tufts University and his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Steve lives in Ipswich with his wife Tracy and three young children Lucas, Jackson and Colby.

Andy Hoge started at New Jersey SEEDS in the fall of 2001 after spending four years teaching high school math at the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont. A 1994 graduate of Colgate University, Mr. Hoge spent two years after college as a US Peace Corps volunteer teaching math in Swaziland.

Mr. Knox was the vice president of national expansion at The Steppingstone Foundation, an organization dedicated to expanding college access for underserved schoolchildren and served as the national director of new site development at Jumpstart, a national school readiness program. In addition, he taught high school English in New Orleans. He also sits on the National Partnership for Educational Access board of directors, and is a volunteer at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School.

Mr. Knox received his M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, his B.A. from Boston College, and his teaching certification from the Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers (MINT).

Alec Lee co-founded Aim High in 1986 and serves as full-time Executive Director. Mr. Lee has guided Aim High’s recent growth trajectory (the organization now operates 13 campuses in four Bay Area regions) and leads the organization in achieving the goals put forth in its strategic plan, Vision 2015. In 2008, Aim High received the “Excellence in Summer Learning” award from the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Lee is one of the co-founders of the Bay Area Teachers Center, an innovative credential program affiliated with San Francisco State University, where he also taught the Urban Education seminar component for five years. He also founded Aim High Academy, a small district middle school in San Francisco. Additionally, Mr. Lee was a History teacher and member of the administrative team at Lick Wilmerding High School. Mr. Lee has an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, received a Klingenstein Fellowship from Columbia Teachers College, and has an A.B. from Bowdoin College.

Gina graduated from Trinity College with honors in 1991 and earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Seton Hall University in 1999. She previously worked at Prep for Prep overseeing public policy projects and at the Association for Children of New Jersey, a statewide advocacy organization where she focused on issues and policies affecting Newark's children. Gina also worked in New Jersey at the Victoria Foundation and the READY Foundation. Gina joined The TEAK Fellowship in September 2003 and is the Deputy Director.

Tiffany McQueen joined LINK Unlimited in 2008 as Director of Educational Programs. She is responsible for the development and execution of all of LINK’s educational programs. Prior to joining LINK, Tiffany was a Mentoring Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools, in Church Falls, Virginia. Tiffany has completed her course work for her PhD in Educational Counseling from George Washington University, where she was attending on the Bill Gates Scholarship. She holds a Masters in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University.

Mark J. Mitchell is the vice president for school information services at NAIS. In this role, Mark oversees the operation of the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS), providing support to schools and other organizations through workshops, resource material, and consultative guidance in effective administration of financial aid programs. In addition to overseeing the SSS program, Mark has also been responsible for NAIS’s StatsOnline program, to collect, analyze, and disseminate independent school statistics, as well as developing training initiatives to broaden member use of independent school data, and with the NAIS Financing Schools Project, which includes serving as faculty for and coordinator of the NAIS/NBOA Financing Schools Institute (FSI) and related research activity.

Mark is a frequent presenter at local, state, regional, and national conferences on school financial aid issues and practices and has authored articles and chapters on education financing strategies in magazines and books. After graduating from Northwestern University (BS, Communication Studies), Mark served as assistant director of financial aid at Northwestern and later as coordinator of new student aid at Lake Forest College. Just before joining NAIS, Mark worked as an account executive for Access Group, Inc, a firm specializing in graduate education financing.

Marcia has been the Executive Director of Buffalo Prep, at the University at Buffalo, since 2003. She is responsible for directing programs for gifted disadvantaged minority students and overseeing board, development, and financial components of the organization. Prior to Buffalo Prep, Marcia has held many other administrator and head of school positions in public, private, and independent schools, and has teaching experience at the elementary, high school, and college levels.

Rebeca Gomez Palacio joined Barnard College's Office of Admissions in 2006 as the Director of Multicultural Recruitment. Rebeca brings development finance, education advocacy, and previous admissions experience to her position and has worked in access-related organizations or capacities her entire career. Rebeca has a BA in Sociology and Race Relations from Smith College and her M.P.A. in Public Policy from Columbia University. She also sits on the board of The Opportunity Network, a nonprofit geared toward creating career opportunities for low-income, high achieving high school students through the development of social capital skills.

Jacqui has been Executive Director of Early Steps for the past 20 years. Additionally, she has over 20 years of classroom and administrative experience in public and independent school settings including a rural six-room schoolhouse in Vermont, suburban open-space classrooms in Maryland and inner city schools in Philadelphia. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) where she serves as Secretary and as a member of the Equity and Justice Committee which she formerly chaired. She is a Trustee at Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School, Trevor Day School and The Town School. Mrs. Pelzer has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Cheyney State Teachers College and has done extensive graduate study.  She is actively sought as a speaker at national conferences and seminars and writes from her experience on diversity issues. She and her husband live in New York City.  Her adult son is an independent school graduate.

A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Peggy also holds a MS from the Bank Street college of Education and JD from the University of Maine. She served as the Chair of the History Department at Greenwich Academy where she was also Middle School Curriculum Coordinator and Honor Board Advisor. She has been an American delegate to the schools in Reggio Emilio, Italy and an advocate for at risk students through the Sarah Lawrence Child Development Institute. Peggy joined REACH Prep as the Director of Education. In that capacity she wrote the curriculum for the REACH preparatory and enrichment programs. Today she is serving as the program’s executive director.

Chantal Stevens joined A Better Chance in 2006 as the Director of the College Preparatory Schools Program.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Masters of Science in Higher Education Administration from Bernard M. Baruch College. Prior to joining A Better Chance, she worked in several roles at the City University of New York including working as a Special Project Coordinator at the Research Foundation of the University and as the Assistant Director for Recruitment and Admission Counseling at The City College of New York. Chantal is responsible for the management and growth of A Better Chance's signature admissions and placement program nationally. At present, she also sits on the Advisory Board of St. Mark the Evangelist School in Harlem.