Creating career pathways career pathways for first-generation, low-income college students

Jeff Nelson is Co-Founder and National Board Chair of OneGoal, a BeckVisiting Social Innovator at Harvard Kennedy School, and an Entrepreneur inResidence at New Profit. During Jeff’s 12 years as CEO, OneGoal grew from astartup serving 30 students with a $200K budget to a national leader in thepostsecondary field serving over 13,000 students with a $25M budget. To date,88% of OneGoal Fellows have enrolled in college and 79% have persisted a yearlater. Paul Tough profiled Jeff and OneGoal in his NYT bestselling book ​HowChildren Succeed and President Obama highlighted OneGoal has an organizationthat must be scaled in his closing speech at the College Opportunity Summitwhile in office.  

Jeff began his career as an elementary teacher and Teach For America corpsmember in Chicago. During his tenure at OneGoal, Jeff was awarded theBluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellowship Award, Teach For America’sDistinguished Alumni Award, and was named one of the “40 Under 40” by Crain’sChicago and one of Town & Country’s Top 50 Philanthropists in the US. Jeffearned his MBA from the University of Chicago, his MAT from DominicanUniversity, and his BA from the University of Michigan. Jeff lives with hiswife Betsy and four kids – Emma, Henry, Maddie, and Theo – in Ann Arbor,Michigan.

Sam Lalanne is the Chief Diversity Officer at Morgan Stanley. 

In this role, Sam is a strategic partner to colleagues across ISG and Human Resources to help drive diversity and inclusion initiatives, including a focus on improving diversity representation, advancement, and retention. Sam is a member of the ISG Diversity Council as well as additional divisional diversity committees across the firm. 

Previously, Sam was the Sam Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities Group (ISG). Sam joined Morgan Stanley from Citi where he had a distinguished career spanning 19 years. During his tenure at Citi, he held various leadership roles within the Institutional Clients Group, including Head of Fraud Management, Head of Group Information Security, and Head of Vendor Management for the North America Private Banking Division. Most recently, Sam served as Senior Vice President in the Global Diversity and Talent Organization, where he was focused on building enterprise-wide, data-driven diversity efforts for the firm.

Sam holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

Sam lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two daughters.

Mitch Kurz is a leading education advocate who serves astreasurer of the Harlem Children’s Zone and academic dean of the Bronx Centerfor Science and Math. A retired president of Young & Rubicam, he also ledWunderman Worldwide, which he built into the world’s largest database marketingfirm.  

Mitch Kurz has 22 years of experience working with New York Citypublic schools, beginning with his role as a trustee of the Harlem Children’sZone, Teach for America, and New Visions for Public Schools. Serving on theseboards so inspired him that Kurz “retired,” earned a second master’s degree,and began teaching mathematics in the South Bronx. He was the academic dean,director of college counseling, and chair of the math department at BronxCenter for Science and Mathematics.

Kurz graduated fromDartmouth College Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in economics andpsychology. He also lettered in lacrosse and played freshman football. He was abrother of Alpha Theta and business manager of the Jack O’ Lantern. He receivedhis MBA with honors from Harvard University. He has served on the TuckerFoundation Board of Visitors since 2009. Kurz and his wife, Sandy, have twosons and live in New York City.

Tom Kuo is a Co-Founder andManaging Director of A-Street. Prior to A-Street, Tom was a Managing Directorat Berkshire Partners and an investor at General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs. Hechairs the boards of Teach for America Massachusetts and Mighty Earth, aleading climate advocacy group. Tom also serves on the boards of Great Minds,Gratitude Railroad, the Community Music Center of Boston, and he is a Trusteeof the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Tom holds an A.B. in Environmental Science & Public Policy from Harvard andan MBA from Stanford. He is passionate about companies and organizations whichwork to achieve a more equitable, just society and a sustainable future.

Julian Johnson servesas an Institutional andProgram Development Consultant.

Formally Julian served for over 20 years at SEO, overseeing all programactivities for SEO Scholars, SEO Career, SEO Law, and SEO AlternativeInvestments, in addition to SEO’s alumni programming.

Previously, Julian was Director of Development and Corporate Partnerships atthe Institute of International Education (IIE) where he helped to develop theIIE Scholar Rescue Fund. He has also held senior development and executivepositions at Teach for America, Associated Black Charities of New York, ABetter Chance and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He holdsMaster’s Degrees in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity and in Non-Profit Management from the New School. Julian presentlyserves on the board of trustees of the Institute of International Education andon several scholarship and fellowship review committees.

Theresa brings two decades of experience in the social impact space toLiminality Partners. As the Founder of Liminality Partners, Theresa advisesfamilies and individuals who want to leverage their resources and tackle thesocial problems that are important to them. She collaborates with her clientsto craft and implement their philanthropic strategies, work through operationalchallenges, and evaluate their effectiveness.

After beginning her career in education evaluation, Theresa founded CommonImpact, a social enterprise that was the first to build systematized, pro-bonoprograms for Fortune 500 companies. After serving as CEO of Common Impact,Theresa took an appointment as the Gleitsman Visiting Practitioner at theCenter for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In thisrole, she taught leadership, worked closely with students interested in socialenterprise, and conducted research on the role of multi-sector leadership inaddressing complicated, societal challenges. More recently, Theresa returned toDartmouth and led the reorganization of the Tucker Foundation.

Theresa earned an AB in Religion with honors at Dartmouth College where shegraduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She received the Phillip D.McInnis Class of 1936 Award, given to the outstanding woman in the graduatingclass. Theresa serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the BrookwoodSchool and as a judge at several social enterprise competitions. She alsoserved on the Board of Trustees of the Essex County Community Foundation. Shelives on Boston’s North Shore with her husband, their two children, and theirdog.