• J.B. Schramm, Founder and CEO
• Dean Furbush, President
• Keith Frome, Chief Academic Officer
• Brian Gaines, Vice President of Partnerships, Marketing and Regional Operations
• Sean Murray, Vice President of Operations and Leadership Development
• Jo Smith, Chief Information Officer
• Mora Segal, Chief Strategy Officer
• David Seabrook, Chief Financial Officer
• Michelle Tafel, Chief of Staff
• Robyn Scates, Chief Diversity Officer

 

Biographies

J.B. Schramm
Founder and CEO

J.B. founded College Summit in 1993 while directing a teen center in the basement of a low-income housing project in Washington, D.C.  This year, the organization will work with 180 high schools with 25,000 students, in 12 states. In recognition of the organization’s impact, College Summit was honored at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2008 as the United States Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation.

For its impact in helping communities raise college enrollment rates for low-income students, College Summit has twice been featured in an annual report on initiatives to diversify higher education by the U.S. Department of Education, received the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s highest award for improving college access, and was profiled in David Bornstein’s 2004 book “How to Change the World.” The organization has also received awards from Ashoka, Fast Company Magazine, The Manhattan Institute, New Profit Inc. and The Skoll Foundation.

J.B. is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Regis University, serves as an Aspen Institute – New Schools Education Fellow, and as a member of the Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Session on Transforming Cities Through Civic Entrepreneurship.  He is a graduate of Denver Public Schools, Yale University and Harvard Divinity School; and lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Lauren, and three children.

Dean Furbush
President

Dean joined College Summit as President in July 2007, after spending six months working with the organization to redesign business systems. Hardly a newcomer to College Summit, Dean was the organization’s Founding Board Chair, and has served on College Summit’s Board of Directors since 1995.

Previously, Dean served as Chief Executive Officer of FreshDirect, after being hired as Chief Operating Officer in 2003. He served at the NASDAQ Stock Market, as Chief Economist and then Executive Vice President of NASDAQ Transaction Services. Before this, Dean was Senior Economist at Economists Incorporated, a position he held from October 1990 to June 1995. Dean served as Economic Advisor to the Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, from October 1989 to August 1990, and Financial Economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Economic Analysis, from June 1987 to October 1989. Dean has held teaching positions at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and at the University of Maryland.

From June 1985 to September 1986, and again in January 1987, he was a consultant and junior staff economist in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Council of Economic Advisers. Dean was a research associate at the Center for Naval Analyses, Marine Corps Operations & Analysis Group, from October 1982 to June 1985.

He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Keith Frome
Chief Academic Officer

A graduate of the University of Connecticut (M.A., analytic philosophy), Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S., religion and education), and Columbia University's Teacher's College (Ed.D., philosophy and education), Keith has provided his blend of philosophy, education theory, and knowledge of the writing process to College Summit since 1994, when he and J.B. created and ran a weekend college admissions workshop that served as a prototype for College Summit's summer workshop. Between 1994 and 1995, he led the development of the writing curriculum that has served as a pillar of College Summit's approach to navigating the college application process. An award winning writing teacher at Harvard College, he also served as Assistant Headmaster and Head of Upper School of the Browning School in New York City for three years, and Headmaster of the Elmwood Franklin School, a coeducational Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade school in Buffalo, New York for ten years. During his tenure at the latter, he founded Achieve: The Elmwood Franklin Center for Tutoring and Enrichment, an off-campus tutoring center open to all students from all schools. Achieve has been nationally recognized for its innovative, entrepreneurial approach to school organizational strategy.

He is the co-editor of the award-winning Columbia Book of Civil War Poetry (1994) (one of the texts selected for the national “Remembering Slavery” curriculum and included in the American Library Association's top ten recommended reference books for school libraries) and the author of two books, What Not to Expect: A Meditation on the Spirituality of Parenting (2005), which won the 2006 Best Book on Family Life Award from the Catholic Press Association and How’s My Kid Doing? and Other Frequently Asked Questions about Schools and Education (Spring 2008) which won the 2009 Bronze Parenting Book of the Year Award from Foreword Magazine.

Brian Gaines
Vice President of Partnerships, Marketing and Regional Operations

Brian Gaines is the Vice President of Site Management. Brian joined the staff of College Summit in April 2006 after spending most of his professional career working for and creating several entrepreneurial endeavors at the intersection of the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds.

Before joining College Summit he was the Founding Executive Director of the Joshua Venture, a venture philanthropy fund working support innovative projects serving the Jewish community. Previously he was the CEO and Managing Partner of a chain of Ben & Jerry’s retail outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area and served as the Western Regional Business Manager for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. He has also help to found several other nonprofit organizations including Ice Cream on Wheels (ICOW) and served as the President of the San Francisco Human Services Commission.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, he now lives in the Washington DC area with his wife and two children, Jaden and Casey.

Sean Murray
Vice President of Operations and Leadership Development

As a Director of Service Delivery for the European Division of MCI Telecommunications prior to joining College Summit, Sean managed technology, project management, training, and finance teams in support of global operations. Over a 10-year career at MCI, he also led numerous other teams in the specific areas of business development and sales. Eager to apply his developed expertise in business operations to a social change effort, Sean served as a strategic consultant to College Summit throughout 2004, and volunteered as a summer workshop Writing Coach. Deeply convinced that the organization could make a lasting impact, he joined full-time as Chief of Staff & VP of Service Operations in January 2005. Sean is a graduate of the College of William & Mary (B.S., 1989) and the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia (M.B.A., 1993).

Jo Smith
Chief Information Officer

Jo brings years of international experience to her role at College Summit, working in both the US and Europe supporting over 800 product delivery and customer service professionals at MCI.  She has a broad background in technology, including experience in support, development, business analysis and management roles. She has led major programs using technology as a tool to automate processes, increase efficiency and rapidly deliver scalable solutions that reduce cost and increase speed of delivery.  Before her role at MCI Jo gained valuable experience using technology to improve business results in several fast paced, high tech, start-up organizations including Ionica PLC and UUNET.  Jo also brings excellent credentials in information management and data warehousing from her experience at Arcadia, one of Britain’s largest retailers. Jo is an Honors Graduate of Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. She has a Post Graduate Certificate in Technology Management from The Open University, UK.  Jo’s introduction to College Summit was as a volunteer consultant in spring 2005 to assess the ability of its existing technology to support the organization’s rapid growth. She joined College Summit that summer and now leads the organization’s efforts to implement a technology strategy that is helping to cost effectively serve more students each year.

Mora Segal
Chief Strategy Officer

Mora is responsible for organizational strategic planning, national partnerships, and public policy. She joined College Summit in 2004, and has spearheaded the launch of new sites in St. Louis, South Carolina, and New York City. She also led College Summit’s school district partnership development across the country, where she oversaw a 75% average annual growth rate of students served. Prior to College Summit, Mora co-founded and served as Vice President of Marketing for a high school sports publishing company which was acquired by ESPN in 2007. She was a Fellow with the Coro Foundation in St. Louis, and served as an Americorps member where she resettled refugees in the Boston area. She is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., 1995) and Harvard Business School (MBA, 2003). Mora lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and daughter

David Seabrook
Chief Financial Officer

Dave joined the staff of College Summit in February 2008. He spent the last three years as the CFO of the Community Preservation and Development Corporation, which creates and preserves financially sound, affordable housing for low-income individuals and families in Washington, DC. Before that, he was a Finance Director in charge of accounting and compliance at Amtrak. He has worked as an Audit Manager for Ernst and Young in New York City for five years, and held executive financial positions at a bio-technology firm, Mutual of New York and a federal housing agency. In addition, Dave provided his financial expertise as a consultant to small minority firms for a number of years in Richmond, Virginia.

At College Summit, Dave is now responsible for financial accounting and controls, operations and analysis to guide financial resources to areas where they will have the biggest impact. He is also an active partner in strategic planning and annual budgeting.

Dave is a CPA and a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany with a degree in Business Administration. He is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Cash Manager (CCM).

Michelle Tafel
Chief of Staff

Michelle joined College Summit’s executive team in March 2008 as Chief of Staff. In this role, she works with the president, CEO, executive team, and board of directors to drive the achievement of College Summit’s mission. She assists the president in meeting organizational goals through successful day-to-day activities, with a focus on planning, process improvement, and stakeholder relationships. Michelle coordinates the work of the executive team, and manages the administrative and facilities teams.

Since October 2004, Michelle has held various positions at College Summit related to board development, fundraising, and CEO Initiatives. Prior to her work at College Summit, she worked for Facilitating Leadership in Youth as a mentor, tutor, teacher and founder of their young women’s program. Michelle is a graduate of American University (B.A.).

Robyn Scates
Chief Diversity Officer

Robyn C. Scates serves as General Counsel and the Chief Diversity Officer of College Summit.  She has an extensive background in law, education, human services and the non-profit community.   She has dedicated her life to uplifting and inspiring youth and adults to reach their full potential.  She is a recognized expert in child welfare, youth entrepreneurship, and motivational speaking, and has extensive experience in the legal field. 

In December 2001, Robyn established the firm of Scates & McGuire, LLC, a general practice law firm focused on elder law, family law, education law, estates & trust and person injury.  She also is the Founder/CEO of PROUD 1, a non-profit that teaches youth how to be successful in business and everyday life and co-founder of Scates Unlimited, LLC, an organization that assist  adults, youth and business’ with realizing their full potential.  Currently, Robyn operates as a sole practitioner for the SCATES LEGAL TEAM, a general practice law firm focusing on estates & trust, business law and personal injury.  She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Baltimore and Morgan State University. 

Previously, Robyn served as the Director of the Maryland Legal Services Program under the Maryland Department of Human Resources, a human service agency providing services to children in foster care and adults in need of assistance.  During her 10 years of service, Robyn was responsible for ensuring the care and legal protection of Maryland’s over 30,000 foster care children and vulnerable adults statewide. 
 
Prior to joining the Department of Human Resources, Robyn served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Roger Brown of the Baltimore City Circuit Court, Guidance Counselor for the Baltimore City Public School System, Public Information Officer for the District of Columbia Department on Aging and the Director of Constituent Services for the Honorable H.R. Crawford, District of Columbia Council. 
 
In 2005, the Daily Record named her one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.  She holds a BA in Political Science from Morgan State University, J.D. from the University of Baltimore, School of Law and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Leadership & Management at Walden University.