Philanthropic and Education Leaders Susan Goss Brown and Olga Geroulanos Votis Join CollegeSpring Board

Oakland, CA–August 18, 2020–

CollegeSpring welcomes Susan Goss Brown and Olga Geroulanos Votis as the newest members of its Board of Directors. Susan and Olga bring deep expertise in, respectively, philanthropic and nonprofit leadership as CollegeSpring begins to scale its operations nationally. 

Susan believes that “this work has the potential to be game-changing.” Susan’s passion for our work is about helping youth build their futures: “Equipping young people with the skills necessary to enable a successful post-secondary career is vital. CollegeSpring is building these skills and developing the confidence of young people through test prep.”

Olga agrees that “CollegeSpring provides a data-driven approach, working on the ground, to enable those students who need it the most, to get the best possible chance at college entry.” Olga’s service on the CollegeSpring board is a part of her personal mission: “There is nothing more important to me than the imperative to give all kids equitable access to the best possible education.” 

Susan is an apparel retail and operations expert. Most recently, as President of Gap Foundation, she led the Foundation’s Board of Trustees while overseeing philanthropic and social impact work for Gap Inc., including its overall grant-making strategies, disaster response, global employee volunteer efforts, and the operation of its signature programs This Way Ahead and P.A.C.E. Susan’s sales and operations expertise will be vital as CollegeSpring expands to new geographic markets and forms large-scale partnerships with new school districts.

Olga has served as the Chairman of Teaching Matters for the past ten years. During her tenure as chairman, Teaching Matters has grown its cross-disciplinary portfolio of teacher development and coaching services so that more than 1,000 schools, 30,000 teachers and 500,000 students in underserved communities have been positively impacted. Olga’s experience will prove valuable as CollegeSpring scales its impact and develops new virtual program models to assist teachers with distance learning.

CollegeSpring CEO Yoon S. Choi expressed her pride at having Susan and Olga on the Board: “CollegeSpring is so fortunate to have Susan and Olga join our Board. As we look to make a broader impact and expand our program reach, their backgrounds and expertise will be critical. I am delighted that their presence will help us continue to diversify our board and organizational leadership.”

CollegeSpring is a leading national nonprofit that partners with teachers and schools to offer SAT preparation to students who are historically underrepresented in higher education, including students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, English language learners, and those who would be the first in their family to graduate from college.