By Catherine Brown, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy
Reading time: 18 minutes
The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) is pleased to announce the members of its 2024-2025 national Policy Council. The Policy Council is composed of state policy and advocacy leaders from NCAN member organizations who are working to advance equity
and affordability in postsecondary education. The Council meets monthly to discuss policy issues and strategy, and share ideas, resources, and tools. Members serve as thought leaders for NCAN, advising on the organization’s federal and state policy
agendas, strategy, and research products. They also surface issues that arise for the students and families their organizations’ serve that may require federal action. In exchange for participation, NCAN provides members of the Policy Council with
a scholarship to its national conference, early information about grant programs, and presentations and conversations with researchers and thought leaders in the higher education policy field. NCAN’s Policy Council plays an integral role in its work,
helping to keep the organization deeply connected to the needs of students and families as it works to advance policy change that increases equity and excellence in postsecondary degree access and attainment.
Sam Aleinkoff Founder and Executive Director College AIM
Sam Aleinikoff began his career in education teaching math at Towers High School (Belvedere Park, GA) in 2011. His students mastered academic content, but too often, they graduated from high school without postsecondary plans. In partnership with school
faculty, Aleinikoff founded College AIM in 2013 to help his students forge paths to and through college.
College AIM has now grown to support more than 1,000 students each year. As the Executive Director of the organization, Aleinikoff works with community partners to expand College AIM's reach and direct the vision of the organization. Simultaneously, Aleinikoff leads
College AIM's advocacy work and serves as a college advisor for a cohort of students each year.
Aleinikoff holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). He was a 2019 Civic Innovation Resident and 2018 Civic Innovation Fellow at the Center for Civic Innovation, was named to the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Atlanta's
30 under 30 in 2018, was a member of the Class of 2016 with New Leaders Council in Atlanta and was named Towers High School Teacher of the Year in 2016.
Michael Cheever is the Executive Vice President of College Success Foundation (CSF), a nonprofit inspiring youth that are underserved and from low-income backgrounds to finish high school, graduate from college, and be transformational leaders in society.
Being first in his family to graduate from college, he is passionate about helping to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through education.
CSF has supported over 12,000 students to graduate from college, has a staff of nearly 200 operating across multiple regional sites, and supports students on over 150 college campuses nationwide.
Cheever's entire career has been focused on giving back and serving the community. His career started in the US Navy serving overseas in forward deployed positions. He then transitioned to the nonprofit industry focusing on external affairs. Prior to
joining CSF, Cheever's career was concentrated on healthcare working for Bloodworks Northwest and UW Medicine.
His expertise areas include campaign fundraising; organizational and strategic planning; analytics; and change management. He regularly consults pro bono to nonprofit organizations helping to design and implement improvement and turnaround strategies.
Will Davies is an educator, advocate, and researcher based in Austin, TX. He has experience developing and implementing educational programs from one-on-one learning to multi-district initiatives for various ages, languages, subjects, and geographies.
As a researcher and advocate, his experiences as a bilingual classroom teacher and college success advisor drive his focus on strengthening access to high-quality educational opportunities for those students and communities least well served by our
schools and institutions. In his role as the Associate Director of Policy and Data with Breakthrough Central Texas, a nonprofit serving first-generation college aspirants and their families, he is responsible for the execution of Breakthrough’s policy
advocacy activities and the management and analysis of data to improve the organization’s services. Davies also works as a research analyst on the Building a Green Texas Project. The initiative partners with the University of Texas system, Texas school
districts, sustainability professionals, municipal governments, and community-based organizations to strengthen climate resiliency by developing green building pipelines and active environmental education for youth from the communities most impacted
by climate change but underrepresented in green careers.
Davies earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Boston University (Boston, MA) and a M. Ed. in Education Policy and Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in the same department.
Kierstan Dufour is the Director of External Training & Partnerships for Get2College, a program of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation. She has led the Foundation’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) scaling efforts and created the
training/professional development programming in which thousands of Mississippi educators have participated. Her work on this was recently published in the Foundation Review. She also partnered with the Mississippi Department of Education in creating
the curriculum, student workbook materials, and Master Teacher of CCR course for the graduation required College and Career Readiness high school class. Dufour serves on several state and national task forces to support college and career readiness.
Dufour earned her BSBA in Marketing from the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS) and MS in Higher Education Administration from Mississippi College (Clinton, MS). Raised in Kentucky, she came to Mississippi for college and has called
it home ever since. Dufour brings a background in college admissions and FAFSA completion to her work supporting the college access landscape of Mississippi.
Jesse Hendrix serves as the Executive Director of College Possible Texas, a vital part of the nationally recognized College Possible network, dedicated to empowering students through near-peer coaching. Under his leadership, College Possible Texas has
become a cornerstone in the Texas community, supporting over 5,500 students annually in their pursuit and completion of postsecondary education. Through targeted interventions and personalized coaching, Hendrix and his team are breaking down barriers
to college access and success for underserved students, helping to build a more equitable future.
Hendrix has led transformative strategic planning initiatives focused on retention, persistence, and academic progress at both secondary and post-secondary institutions. His previous roles at KIPP Public Schools, Rice University, and Columbia University
have equipped him with the expertise to drive impactful change at College Possible Texas.
Hendrix is a proud graduate of Eastern Washington University (Cheney, WA) and Columbia University (New York, NY). His deep commitment to educational equity and student achievement is at the heart of his work, making a significant difference in the lives
of thousands of students across Texas.
Olani LaBeaud is the Public Policy & Advocacy Specialist for BLU Educational Foundation, a nonprofit located in California’s Inland Empire, whose mission is to provide educational and human services programming to youth, adults, and organizations
in order to build healthy, productive communities.
In her organizational role, LaBeaud analyzes education policy in the inland region and state of California in efforts to educate the community on the advocacy methods and the importance of civic engagement. LaBeaud is a passionate social justice advocate
personally and professionally, where she provides education, tools, resources, and direct support to address the systemic barriers regarding College Access, Affordability, and Racial Equity.
LaBeaud graduated from California State University, Northridge, where she earned her B.S. in Political Science - Law and Society and a Minor in Africana Studies.
In her role, Cyekeia Lee oversees college access support for over 50 high schools in Detroit (MI). In this role, she brings together school districts, community-based organizations, and workforce partners to make postsecondary pathways a reality for all
students. In her most recent position, she was the director of community collaboration for The Kalamazoo Promise, an award-winning initiative that provides up to 100% of tuition and fees for students from Kalamazoo Public Schools at any in-state public
community college, or university.
Before her time with the Kalamazoo Promise, Lee was the director of higher education initiatives with the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), where she worked to streamline higher education access for students
experiencing homelessness in 25 states. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI) and a master’s degree in counseling education from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI).
Deborah Martin joined the FCAN in 2021. She analyzes complex education policy in Florida, specifically to inform various stakeholders of the impact legislative actions have on college access and readiness. Her previous experience working for the Florida
Legislature, including her knowledge of the legislative process and the intricacies of public policy, support her current work at FCAN.
Martin holds two bachelor's degrees from the University of South Florida - International Studies and Public Health. She is a proud first-generation college graduate, dedicated to assisting others in achieving that same goal through her role at FCAN. Martin
is working towards earning a Master’s of Public Administration.
Marcos Montes Policy Director and Let's Go Program Manager SoCalCAN
For the past five years, Marcos Montes has overseen the implementation of SoCalCAN’s policy agenda, student advocacy programs, and Let’s Go To College CA. He graduated in 2018 from California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) with a B.A. in
Political Science and a minor in Law and Society. He is the first in his family to graduate from a university and a proud product of college success programs. Montes brings a wealth of knowledge around student engagement and student advocacy. He served
two years as an executive officer of Cal State LA’s student government and one year as Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the Cal State Student Association (CSSA). He received numerous awards commending his work as a student leader including
2017 CSSA Student Advocate of the Year and a State Resolution from the California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon in May 2018. With SoCal CAN, Marcos represents the network in various state and federal policy coalitions. He has led the network's support
of dozens of bills successfully signed into law including SoCalCAN's co-sponsored legislation to ban scholarship displacement in California, reform Satisfactory Academic Progress policies, and extend California's priority financial aid deadline due
the faulty rollout of the new FAFSA.
Kim Nauer directs the Higher Education Affordability Project at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School (New York, NY) and is the founder of UnderstandingFAFSAfafsa.org, a
web site focused on helping first-generation students and their counselors navigate the FAFSA and financial aid system. Nauer and her student team use design and applied research to develop friendly guides and curriculum materials that strive to explain
financial aid in a simple way. Prior to her work on the website, Nauer founded the Center's New York City public education research initiative and published groundbreaking work on chronic absenteeism, school poverty impacts, district management, and
college access initiatives.
Bob Obrohta is an expert in college access and success for first-generation and/or low-income students. His 35-year career spans being a practitioner for thousands of students directly, as well as designing numerous scholarships and access programs for
colleges, organizations, and communities across the country. Bob began in college admissions and financial aid at Beloit College (WI) and ran Beloit’s TRIO Upward Bound program. In Tennessee, his career spans leading the Ayers Foundation Scholars
Program, and founding both Oasis College Connection (Nashville), and the Tennessee College Access and Success Network. His commitment to access has helped bring numerous federal, state, and corporate resources to Tennessee communities.
As a first-generation, low-income student student himself, Obrohta is a recipient of the NCAN Executive Leadership Award of Excellence. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL) and is the recipient
of its College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni award. He has a master’s degree in Higher and Adult Continuing Education from Columbia University, Teachers College (New York, NY).
Francesca Perrone is a Senior Policy Analyst for Hispanic Federation, working to elevate the needs of the Latino community through policy and advocacy. She is passionate about equitable access to education and seeks to alleviate disparities through evidence-based
policies. Perrone has been a strong advocate for the passage of universal FAFSA, using her voice to ensure that more students have access to financial aid, making higher education more accessible to all.
Perrone got her start in policy at New York (NY) Council Member Ben Kallos' Office, where she supported the Legislative Director in identifying critical concerns in the community and crafting solutions to address them. Francesca holds a BA in Political
Science from Barnard College of Columbia University, and received her Master's in Public Health from New York University. She is currently enrolled as a part-time evening student at New York Law School, and seeks to bring a legal perspective to her
advocacy work. Recently, she was appointed to the New York City Commission on Racial Equity, where she represents Brooklyn and New Yorker’s under the age of 25.
As Deputy Director of OneGoal Massachusetts, Adam Seidel is responsible for growth, strategy, and operations in the Massachusetts region. This includes expanding OneGoal's impact through our partnerships with schools, districts, and coalitions across
the state. Prior to this role, Seidel led all aspects of OneGoal’s program impact in Massachusetts. During this time, OneGoal grew from two districts to 16 and saw OneGoal Fellows enroll in postsecondary at a rate higher than the state average.
Before joining OneGoal, Seidel had nearly two decades of programmatic and operational experience. He served as the Director of Operations at Roxbury (MA) Preparatory High School as well as the Director of Operations and Head of School at Roxbury (MA)
Prep Lucy Stone, a five through eight middle school. Seidel previously worked at Common Cents in New York for nine years, where he served in a variety of roles, including National Program Director.
Chandra C. Scott is the Executive Director of Alabama Possible, a non-profit organization headquartered in Birmingham, AL, whose mission since 1993 is to break down barriers to prosperity in Alabama through advocacy, education, and collaboration.
Under her leadership, Alabama Possible convenes statewide and regional networks and leads campaigns as a strategy to increase FAFSA completion and postsecondary enrollment. Alabama Possible also couples advocacy at the Federal and State level with community-level
civic engagement to impact policy and practice. In 2021, Alabama Possible was a critical partner in launching the nation’s and Alabama’s first Predominately Black and Historically Black Community College Network along with making applying to over
60 Historically Black Colleges and Universities free for all high school seniors in Alabama.
Prior to joining Alabama Possible, Scott served as the Director of Strategic Outcomes for the Mobile (AL) Area Education Foundation. Chandra received her certification in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Michigan State University, and a bachelor’s
in Chemistry from Xavier University (New Orleans, LA). She completed America’s Promise Alliance’s Data Leadership at Tufts University (Boston, MA).
Korynn Schooley Vice President, College Access Achieve Atlanta
Korynn Schooley is responsible for overall strategy and operations of the College Access and Affordability programs. Prior to Achieve Atlanta, Schooley served as Director of School Governance and Flexibility with Fulton County (GA) Schools. In this role,
she was responsible for the district’s implementation of the charter system framework. As a Strategic Data Fellow, she worked with school and district leaders on understanding postsecondary metrics and supporting student transitions from high school
to college. In that role, she also co-developed a widely recognized summer melt program.
Schooley brings significant education policy and advocacy experience, having served as the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council’s first Policy and Advocacy Manager and as Chief of Staff for Massachusetts State Representative Alice K. Wolf. Schooley
graduated from Duke University (Durham, NC) with BAs in Public Policy and Women’s Studies and earned her Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Dr. Jamia Stokes Vice President of Postsecondary Programs Tennessee SCORE
Jamia Stokes leads Tennessee SCORE’s postsecondary strategy, relying on her deep experience in higher education to build relationships in the field to ensure all Tennessee students have access to postsecondary opportunities that prepare them for a career.
Stokes joined SCORE in 2022 as Senior Director of Postsecondary Pathways. Prior to that, she served as Dean of Student Success at Rhodes College (Memphis, TN), worked as an admissions counselor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, and held
positions at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in career services, teacher education recruitment/retention, academic advising, and student services. She serves on the advisory board for the University of Memphis K-12 Schools and The Schools of
Perea, a Memphis public charter school. A Knoxville (TN) native, she is a proud graduate of Tennessee public schools. Stokes earned a Bachelor’s in Communication and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga,
and holds a PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Chuck Tiernan has 25 years’ experience in non-profit education leadership, designing and implementing strategies for community and resource development. He joined CFTB in 2016 to lead LEAP Tampa Bay College Access Network, a collaboration of 70+ community
partners helping more people attain education and training credentials after high school. Under his leadership, the network was recognized by Lumina Foundation in Indiana as one of just 26 “Talent Hubs” nationwide and in 2021 was named NCAN’s Member
of the Year. Tiernan’s role has now broadened to connect the Tampa Bay region to all CFTB’s impact areas, which include college access, affordability, and attainment, as well as early learning and digital inclusion, among others.
A graduate of the Tampa Bay Chamber’s Leadership Tampa Class of 2018, Tiernan previously served as Development Director for Communities In Schools of Washington State, overseeing collaborative resource development and growth for a statewide network
of 12 local dropout prevention affiliates. He spent nine years as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Renton (WA) Technical College (Renton, WA)RE and was a founder of the Renton Community Foundation, serving 10 years on its inaugural
Board. A University of Washington (Seattle, WA) graduate, he holds a Non-Profit Management Certification from the University of Washington – Tacoma, is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), and holds certifications from the University of South
Florida’s Muma College of Business for Post-Crisis Leadership and Diversity and Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace.
Anika Van Eaton is Vice President of Policy for uAspire. In this role, she leads uAspire's policy team, providing strategic direction for policy advocacy in California, Massachusetts, and New York, and driving federal policy programs and advocacy goals.
Van Eaton has been with uAspire since 2020, when she started as Massachusetts Policy Director.
Before joining uAspire, Van Eaton was research manager for the Boston Private Industry Council, the city's workforce development board, where she researched and wrote college completion studies, as well as managed and analyzed student data to inform program
design and policy for high school and college completion initiatives. In California, she served as legislative director for California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, and was a California Executive Fellow. She holds a BA from Cornell University (Ithaca,
NY) and an MPA from The George Washington University (Washington, DC).
As a critical member of College Now Greater Cleveland’s executive team, Kittie Warshawsky plays critical role in guiding efforts to increase and further all levels of postsecondary educational attainment to further grow talent pipeline, resulting in exponential
growth of organization’s annual budget from $5 million to over $40 million in 13 years. She leads a team working closely with CEO, CFO, and CIO to ensure highest standards of financial stewardship, transparency, and excellent governance resulting
in organization’s earning a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator for the last ten years.
Warshawsky's portfolio of responsibilities has increasingly expanded beyond pure fundraising to include working directly with the 55-person board and staffing three College Now committees: impact (advocacy), executive, and governance. She has worked closely
and successfully with colleagues to lead funding efforts for the online mentoring program, which now pairs 1,700 scholarship recipients with 1,700 volunteers, significantly expands an adult learner program, establishes multiple scholarship funds,
and creates new funding streams across all service lines.
Warshawsky received her undergraduate degree from Brown University (Providence, RI) and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center (Washington, DC).
Shareea Woods is the Director of the Texas College Access Network (TxCAN). TxCAN convenes Local College Access Networks to facilitate the rapid adoption of promising practices. It also serves as a data hub for college access programs by providing interactive
FAFSA dashboards and other benchmarking tools.
Prior to joining the Educate Texas team in 2018, Woods directed the After the Bell Alliance for Dallas Afterschool, advocating for funding and support for expanded, affordable after-school programs. Prior to that, she served as the chief program officer
for the Young Women's Preparatory Network, where she helped establish and support public all-girls schools across Texas.
Woods holds a bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School (Boston, MA).
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Sam Aleinkoff
Michael Cheever
Will Davies, M.Ed
Kierstan Dufour
Jesse Hendrix
Olani LaBeaud
Cyekeia Lee
Deborah Martin
Marcos Montes
Kim Nauer
Bob Obrohta
Francesca Perrone
Adam Seidel
Chandra C. Scott
Korynn Schooley
Dr. Jamia Stokes
Chuck Tiernan
Anika Van Eaton
Kittie Warshawsky
Shareea Woods