About Staff Board Donors Partners
Garrett Neiman - Co-Founder and CEO
Garrett is responsible for the overall strategic direction of CollegeSpring, and plays a singular role in its development and partnership relationship management activities. Garrett acts as the primary external representative of CollegeSpring to the external community, including funders, partners, and peer organizations.
Garrett Neiman is CEO of CollegeSpring, a nonprofit he co-founded in 2008 as a sophomore at Stanford University. After launching CollegeSpring during the heart of the recession, Garrett has grown CollegeSpring into California’s largest nonprofit provider of SAT and college preparation services for students from low-income backgrounds. CollegeSpring has reached 2,700 students with the help of 13 full-time staff and over 200 seasonal employees. Garrett is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Program and the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders’ Circle, and previously served as a voting member of Stanford’s Board of Trustees. Garrett’s work has been profiled in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Education Week, The San Francisco Business Times, The Orange County Register, NBC Bay Area, and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In.
Julie Bachur Gopalan - Vice President of Programs
Julie leads the strategic development and tactical execution of CollegeSpring’s programs, including curriculum development and refinement, staffing, partnership development and retention, and impact analysis.
Julie began her career in education as a History teacher at an independent school in Houston after graduating with a BA from Rice University. After witnessing first-hand the advantages given to wealthy students in the college admissions process, she took on an additional role as a mentor teacher and Dean of Faculty with Breakthrough Houston, where she coached high school and college students in their roles as classroom instructors and mentors to low-income middle school students. Julie received her MA from the Stanford Graduate School of Education’s Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies program. At Stanford, she studied non-profit management and delved into the complex set of issues facing low-income students as they strive for college. Julie served as a 2010 Bay Area Education Pioneers Fellow before joining CollegeSpring.
Krystal O’Leary Flores - Senior Programs Manager
Krystal serves as the operational leader for the Los Angeles region. She also manages the day-to-day activities of CollegeSpring’s Los Angeles programs, including recruiting, supervising and mentoring the professional teachers and undergraduate staff, collecting and analyzing student performance data, and liaising with our partner organizations to ensure quality service delivery.
Krystal graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in History and minor in Education Studies. After earning her teaching credential from UCLA, she began her education career as a History teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Krystal went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Education from UCLA, where she studied urban education. During her second year of teaching, Krystal moved into education management when she became the Lead Teacher and coordinator of a media-based California Partnership Academy. Under her leadership, the academy saw an increase in student population, graduation rates, and business/educational partnerships. Krystal comes to CollegeSpring with over eight years of experience in secondary education.
Sheronda Helton – Los Angeles Programs Manager
Sheronda oversees the day-to-day activities of CollegeSpring’s summer and academic year Los Angeles programs, including recruiting, supervising, and mentoring the professional teachers and undergraduate staff, collecting and analyzing performance data, and liaising with our partner organizations to ensure quality service delivery.
Sheronda comes to CollegeSpring with over five years of experience in education. After graduating from Grambling State University with a degree in Psychology, Sheronda became a Teach For America Corps member in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Education from Loyola Marymount University, where she studied special education. Most recently, Sheronda was a School Partnership Specialist with Communities In Schools of Chicago, where she connected 25 Chicago Public Schools with essential resources for their students, reaching over 75% of the students at these schools.
Michael Moran – Bay Area Programs Manager
Michael oversees the day-to-day activities of CollegeSpring’s summer and academic year Bay Area programs, including recruiting, supervising, and mentoring the professional teachers and undergraduate staff, collecting and analyzing student performance data, and liaising with our partner organizations to ensure quality service delivery.
After graduating from Syracuse University, Michael started his career in education as a Teach For America corps member in Phoenix. Michael’s success as a classroom teacher was recognized when he was named a regional finalist for the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007. Since this experience, Michael has held many roles in teaching, teacher training, and education program management with organizations like Teach For America, Peace Corps, and Teachers Without Borders. Most recently, Michael earned his MPA at the University of Washington where he studied education policy and organizational management while conducting research for Governor Chris Gregoire and analyzing college readiness programs for College Spark and Equal Opportunity Schools.
Angelica Guzman – Los Angeles Programs Manager
Angelica oversees the day-to-day activities of CollegeSpring’s summer and academic year Los Angeles programs, including recruiting, supervising, and mentoring the professional teachers and undergraduate staff, collecting and analyzing performance data, and liaising with our partner organizations to ensure quality service delivery.
Angelica has been in the education field for fifteen years. Her educational background includes a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara; California Teaching Credential from California State University, Los Angeles; and M.Ed. in Education Management from the University of La Verne. She is currently working on her Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership through ULV. Angelica has served as a teacher, program specialist, and administrator in Los Angeles, Kern, and Clark counties. Throughout her career she has worked with underprivileged communities to help bridge successful curriculum with high-quality instruction. Her aspiration is to provide each student with the opportunity to reach maximum academic growth in a culture of learning.
Kathryn Leung - Development Manager
Kathryn manages all development activities including individual giving, corporate and foundation support, donor services and stewardship, and major events.
Kathryn first became interested in nonprofit development during a college internship at an organization that helped at-risk youth; she experienced first-hand how lack of funding can have negative implications for worthwhile programs. After graduating from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Sociology, she worked at University of California Press for over five years where she gained experience in all aspects of development including membership, events, and communications. In addition, she also supported a 3-year campaign to raise $5 million and implemented an electronic marketing strategy.
Meg Duff – Communications and Data Manager
Meg oversees the development and implementation of CollegeSpring’s communications strategy; she is also the system administrator for CollegeSpring’s Salesforce CRM database.
Meg graduated from Earlham College with a B.A. in Human Development and Social Relations. Her passion for education took off after two summers with Breakthrough Sacramento, where she taught middle school cell biology and led other teacher-interns as Science Department Head. Through the support of the Bonner Foundation, Meg volunteered extensively throughout college; teaching, tutoring, and developing programs at a variety of nonprofits in Richmond, Indiana and in Mexico. Meg recently completed a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA with CollegeSpring.
Jolin Ong – Office Manager
Jolin is responsible for all internal office operations including human resources, office administration, and technology. She maintains and oversees the day-to-day functions of CollegeSpring’s headquarters.
Jolin began her career in market research with a media advertising agency in New York. Using market research skills and abilities gained at that agency, she transitioned to a business development position with an IT firm where she assisted numerous nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to make strategic IT investment decisions. With great interest working in administration and human resources, Jolin took the Office Manager role at CollegeSpring. Jolin received a diploma from the University of Cambridge, and graduated cum laude from the University of Oklahoma where she received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
Alexis Basaldu – Los Angeles Programs Associate
Alexis assists with CollegeSpring’s Los Angeles programs and operations. She helps with mentor recruitment, training, and support; and ensures quick turnaround of test results to students and partner organizations. Alexis assumes primary responsibility for ensuring the working order of our Los Angeles office.
Alexis graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Ethnic Studies. Following graduation, Alexis moved to Los Angeles to work for an educational non-profit called City Year, where she served as a full-time tutor and mentor to middle school students at-risk for dropping out of high school. Her dedication to educational equality led her to CollegeSpring.
Melissa Speener – Programs Associate, AmeriCorps VISTA
Melissa assists with CollegeSpring’s Bay Area programs, helping with mentor recruitment, training and support, as well as with maintenance of student performance data to track the effectiveness of our program.
Melissa recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with degrees in English and in Gender and Women’s Studies. As a first-generation college student, she is dedicated to expanding college access and persistence to other underserved youth. Melissa has a wide array of tutoring and outreach experience. She has tutored abroad, worked as a mentor with other low-income and first-generation college students, and collaborated in several other educational outreach initiatives, facilitating workshops on sexual violence and youth advocacy. Melissa also co-founded and served as vice-chair of a student advocacy group, recruiting members and establishing relationships with community organizations.
Dani Clark – Development Associate, AmeriCorps VISTA
Dani works as part of the Development team, assisting with research and writing to support individual, corporate and foundation giving.
Dani holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from St. Mary’s College of California, and a B.A. in English Literature from UC Davis. Before joining CollegeSpring through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, Danielle held positions with The Western Edition newspaper, Wiley Publishing, The UC Davis Extension Center, and The UC Davis Behavioral Psychology Department. After being exposed to the vastness of the non-profit sector in the Bay Area, she joined AmeriCorps in order to participate in full-time volunteerism.
Tom Scannell – Finance and Administration Fellow
Tom has over 30 years of experience of in-depth financial management experience for high technology companies. For the last 15 years he has been the Chief Financial Officer and a member of the top management teams for a series of fast growing, public and private hi-tech and med-tech companies. He also has general management skills in HR, IT, Facilities and Operations. He has participated in several non-profit consulting engagements and is the chairperson of the Audit and Budget Committee of the Board of Trustees of Menlo College. He received both his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford University.