COLLEGE FUNDING EXPERTS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Student Services
Amy is an Associate Director of Student Services and a College Funding Experts admissions counselor through POM. She works with students and families to navigate and master the college selection and application process. Amy is also a licensed school counselor who has spent the majority of her career working with high school students approaching graduation. During this time Amy's responsibilities included ensuring the academic preparedness of each student for graduation, providing college/career planning and guidance. Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Baldwin Wallace College and a Master of Education degree and license in School Counseling from Kent State University.
Becky Slack has over 10 years of experience in the college admission field, as both a university admission counselor and a high school college counselor. Becky is a member of the Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University of Mount Union with a Communications Degree and received her Masters Degree in Counseling from Heidelberg University.
Ben is a Certified College Planning and Funding Specialist with over 30 years of experience helping families with financial strategy, risk management, college and retirement planning. Ben's experience and training is in need-based and merit based financial aid to reduce costs including tax strategies to reduce the cost of college and showing business owners how to use their business to pay for college. Ben helps all types of families choose the right college for the right reason and the right price. He is a resource for CPA's, financial advisors and other college planners.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
As a former U.S. Army captain and parent of 2 NCAA student athletes, Chazz' employs his unique understanding of the military-to-civilian transition process to help other military families. For those looking to secure a college education, it's a unique and different experience to navigate the college planning process, more easily facilitated with Chazz Pratt's assistance.
Job Titles:
- Concierge College Administrator
Cori is College Funding Experts' master choreographer. Since 2015, she has worked with over 500 college bound students coordinating student services with our mentors, providing acccess to our extensive online resources, and more. Cori also helps parents coordinate and manage CFE's individual college funding information management and planning process.
Job Titles:
- Founder of POM College Consulting
Darren is the founder of POM College Consulting, and is affiliated with College Funding Experts to deliver comprehensive student support services together with financial planning tools and expertise. Darren also created MyTuitionScore, one of the powerful planning applications utilized by College Funding Experts to provide information to guide important decisions for every college applicant.
Job Titles:
- Athletics & Higher Education Advisor - Advisory Board Member
With his 30+ years of Sports Chiropractic & Rehabilitation medical experience, Dr. Ruja has an impressive resumé working with Olympic, NFL, NBA, MLB, and AAU athletes as well as Nike, Under Armour and Adidas sports leagues. In order to provide student athletes with the best college planning advice, he's partnered with College Funding Experts to offer comprehensive college consulting services to serious student athletes and their families.
Eileen Blattner has been involved in education since 1967 and is a member of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors. She is a member of the College Board and has also been a member of the Admission Advisory Boards at Miami University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University and Ohio State University. Also, as a member of the College Counselors Advisory Group for the Fiske Guide to College Eileen is one of CFE's uniquely qualified student services mentors.
Through College Funding Experts' affiliation with POM, Joanna helps students and families during the college selection and admission processes. She has worked in the field of higher education for nearly ten years with experience in career exploration, admission, academic advising, and university outreach. Joanna holds a Bachelor of Education degree with a minor in English Communication, a Master of Arts in Higher Education, and is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
John has nearly 20 years of experience working with collegiate and high school students, athletes, and families. Having worked as a collegiate coach and faculty member, he brings firsthand knowledge of the collegiate admissions, recruitment and financial aid process. Additionally, through his experiences working as a public school teacher and coach, he has helped many families navigate through the complexities of the college selection process. John earned his B.A. from John Carroll University and a Master's degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. He has served as a faculty/staff member at a number of universities and colleges, including the University of Illinois, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University, and The College of Wooster.
As a successful entrepreneur and business leader, Josh recognized there was an unfilled need to help families navigate the difficult college planning and financing process when the need arose for his own family. As a result of going through that process and after seeking expert counsel from qualified professionals, he launched College Funding Experts utilizing his considerable management experience to offer other families comprehensive services. Today, CFE is arguably the most qualified consulting company offering families both student services and family financial planning services all under one roof.
Katie Hill has worked in financial aid for over 8 years and is experienced in working with a diverse population of students and parents. A former Assistant Director of Financial Aid at a small private college in Pepper Pike, Ohio, she is passionate about helping families understand financial aid, easing the stress of the financial aid process, and making the overall transition to college life a smooth process. Katie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cleveland State University and a Master of Education with a concentration in Higher Education Administration from Tiffin University.
Linda Ross has 18 years of experience as an advisor and manager in the college access and financial aid field. She is passionate about helping students and parents understand the financial aid process so they can make the best choices for their family. She has a BA from Purdue University and an MBA from Cleveland State University.
With 15 years experience in higher education, Lisa Cynamon Mayers has worked as an admission counselor, independent college counselor, blogger, writer and speaker. Lisa worked in the Offices of Undergraduate Admission for Washington University in St. Louis and Case Western Reserve University. For the past twelve years Lisa has worked as an independent college counselor, guiding American and international high school students.
Moira O'Riordan has been a college counselor for fifteen years and taught at the secondary level for five years prior.
She has extensive experience and professional affiliations including:
• Founder/Member-Holy Cross College Counseling Association
• Member - National Catholic Colleges Admission Association
• Member - John Carroll University Advisory Board
• Member - Thiel College Advisory Board
• Past Member - The Ohio State University Advisory Board
• Past Member - State University of New York at Buffalo Advisory Board
• Past Member and Secretary 2010, Treasurer 2011, President 2012- Jesuit High School College Counseling Association
• Member - Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling
• Member - National Association for College Admission Counseling
• Member - College Board
Job Titles:
- Student Athletics Advisor & Advisory Board Member
For well over a decade, through his Day1 to D1 consultancy, Nick teams with College Funding Experts to deliver more in-depth and tailored college consulting services. Nick provides college bound student athletes with training regimens reflecting what's important to college coaches, direct contact to college coaches nationwide, guidance concerning scholarship opportunities, input about which colleges are best suited to each student's goals, and more. Together with CFE, we offer a comprehensive program to secure the best athletic, educational, and financially lucrative solutions.
Job Titles:
- Member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling
Having earned her MS Ed from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Reva Levenstein is also a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA). Additionally, with 15 years of experience in higher education as a college administrator, she also helps educate College Funding Experts clients about the myriad of academic and support resources available to them, including, but not limited to:
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Since 2012 Topher has provided counseling, coaching, and guidance to college bound high school students concerning all aspects of the college prep and application process. He has helped students with diverse interests in business, computer science, humanities, arts, medicine and more secure admissions to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Rice, Stanford, USC, Cornell, Cal Tech, Duke and many other premier universities. In addition to working with College Funding Experts, Topher Williamson is the founder of Veritas College, his own private consulting practice.