
About College Guidance Network
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to empower school counselors to better support their college and career-bound students--along with their families--to confidently navigate the college admissions process to make good, financially responsible decisions. Our goal is to provide all students and parents access to top experts and unbiased information to achieve the best possible outcomes and greatest long term success.
The college admissions process is complex and can often feel overwhelming. School counseling departments are stretched to their limits, yet are expected to address a myriad of vital needs, with the typical counselor supporting over four hundred students. Only a small slice of families can afford hours of individualized guidance from an expensive college consultant. Those who can’t are on their own. The playing field is anything but level for the majority of students and their parents.
That’s why we started College Guidance Network. We use virtual technology and high-quality audio-visual production to bring the best experts into the living room of every college-bound student. We give students and their families the tools they need to navigate the college selection and admissions process.
OUR TEAM
Our backgrounds are diverse. We are entrepreneurs, CEOs, and educators. But most importantly, we are parents. We have experienced the challenges of the college admissions process with our own children, and are concerned that this often highly stressful and confusing experience results in less than optimal outcomes.
Our team is supported by the experts--admissions leaders, financial aid professionals, counselors, authors, professors, and more--who join our live events to give timely and practical advice to our audience.
Senior Marketing Manager
Adnan Sehic
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12+ years of experience in developing and scaling multi-million dollar B2C and B2B digital marketing campaigns across a variety of industries
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Proven expertise in strategizing and implementation of complex, multi-channel campaigns for email, digital advertising, and commercial space
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Part of a family of long-term educators spanning K-12
Director, Career Programming
Diana Carson
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Worked within Boston Public Schools to initiate and execute on strategic partnerships aimed at meeting students’ basic needs for food, clothing and medical care.
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Developed content with outside partners as a senior producer for FamilyEducation Network.
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Former teacher at the high school and college levels, as well as developmental editor in textbook publishing for the college market.
Founder & CEO
Jon Carson
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Scaled first national college admissions advisory brand in U.S. to over 500 advisors while striking large strategic partnerships with Fidelity, US News, NPR, and Care.com (CollegeVine)
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Built largest event management and fundraising platform for school/charity fundraisers with half a billion dollars raised (Bidding For Good)
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Built largest K-12 education website with 25% of all U.S. school districts building their first website (Family Education Network)
CTO
Ian Marlier
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Led customer-facing product development efforts at CollegeVine, closing the guidance gap at high schools across the United States
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Managed engineering team responsible for the performance of Wikimedia Foundations software and properties (Wikipedia, Wiki data, and others)
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Led a team of engineers at Hubspot (pre- and post-IPO) to understand and quantify the impact of performance problems and reliability issues, customer communication, and more.
Producer
Jon Castro
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9+ years experience working as a senior college advisor for several international companies
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Lived in China for 6+ years, helping students and high schools plan their college admissions
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Former middle school teacher in Asia
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Worked with several US admissions firms assisting American students in finding their right school fit
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
We know we don’t have all the answers so we have built a world-class advisory board that can give us guidance, tell us the hard truths, and provide input as we develop our programming and technology platform.
Chancellor, Louisiana State University Eunice
Nancee Sorenson
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Former President Brandon Campus, Hillsborough Community College and
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Hillsborough Community College District
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Former Acting President, East Campus, Pima Community College and
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Pima County Community College District
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Colvert Scholar and Gleazer Scholar at University of Texas at Austin
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Completed Community College Leadership Program
SVP of the Enterprise Technology Program Management Office, Audacy
Diana Cano
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General Manager, IT at Educational Testing Service
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Adjunct Professor, Mechanical Engineering at The College of New Jersey
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Parent of two students currently at public research universities
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BS, Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University; MS, Technology Management at University of Pennsylvania; PhD, Education at Rutgers University
President, Sanchez Strategic Advisors
Jonell Sanchez
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Jonell emigrated from Cuba as a child and was an ESL student who grew up in an underserved community in New Jersey. His personal learning journey fuels his professional commitment and lifelong passion for educational opportunity, access and impact at scale.
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Jonell is an internationally recognized leader in education and business, who was formerly a senior executive with ACT, the National Student Clearinghouse. Pearson Global, and the College Board