A team of experts on a mission
Dr. Terri Givens
Co-founder & CEO
Jordan Simmons
Co-founder and Head of Growth
Shelley Seale
Co-founder and Director of Content
Tarrant Figlio
Director of Community Strategy and Customer Engagement
Chandler Wieberg
Social Media and Digital Content Manager
Issy Rush
Account Executive
Santi Benedit
Account Executive
Mika Barretta
Account Executive
Joan Xiao
Marketing Intern
Ellie Garratt
Marketing Intern
Our Advisors
Sheldon Ekland-Olson
Sheldon Ekland-Olson joined The University of Texas at Austin after completing his graduate work at the University of Washington in Seattle and Yale Law School. For five years he was Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and then for eight years Executive Vice President and Provost of the university. Widely recognized for his commitment to teaching undergraduates, he is the recipient of numerous teaching awards.
Karen Ferguson
Karen is Provost & VP of Strategic Development at Colorado State University. Combining her military and academic leadership skills, Karen is a collaborative academic leader and learning professional focused on transforming higher education, achieving strategic results, improving individual and institutional performance, and increasing organizational effectiveness. As a non-traditional student herself, Karen is dedicated to improving the academic success of adult, military, and other non-traditional learners.
Lizbeth Martin
Lizbeth J. Martin, Ph.D., completed her position as Interim Provost and Senior Vice President at Gonzaga University in May 2019 prior to joining Academic Search as Senior Consultant. Dr. Martin was a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry for five years before joining the faculty at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, CA. In 2001, she was appointed the inaugural Dean of the new School of Sciences at NDNU, and in 2006, left NDNU to become Holy Names University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. In October 2016, she was promoted to Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs with the added responsibility for University Advancement prior to her interim appointment at Gonzaga.
Lanese Aggrey
Lanese Aggrey is an educator, administrator and mentor with a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Iowa. Dr. Aggrey has served as an Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Multicultural Affairs at Augustana College and Associate Director of Multicultural Affairs at Baylor University. At the University of Texas at Austin, she led efforts in the area of academic service learning, assisting and supporting faculty as they determined to connect academic learning with service to local, national and international communities. Most recently she has been an adjunct professor at Indiana University.
David Yaskin
David is the founder and CEO of Faculty Guild, with 30 years of experience creating and delivering technology and process solutions that bring about fundamental change in how people make the world better, in the fields of education, earth science, health care, and safety testing. His last 20 years have focused on education, leading companies which help engage faculty and students in new ways to improve their success.
Warren Kennard
Warren is a globally connected Higher Education professional and reformer with extensive leadership experience across EdTech, strategy, marketing, business development and partnerships, principally in last-mile learning institutions positioned to scale. An advocate for contemporary higher education, he is committed to giving Higher Education a stronger voice in society, notwithstanding its responsibility to lift the overlooked towards better economic and social standing through education.
Bronwyn Bailey
Bronwyn has a Ph.D. in Political Science and specializes in leading successful
investment analysis, business strategy, marketing, and communications for venture capital, private equity, asset management, and consulting clients. She’s known for leading high performing teams on key initiatives to both expand footprints and mitigate risks.