College Promise Announces New National Advisory Board Members

Since its founding in 2015, College Promise has been dedicated to expanding educational and economic opportunity for students across the country. As the leading national, nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative working to make postsecondary education universally accessible and affordable, we proudly partner with more than 450 Promise programs across all 50 states.

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Over the past decade, we have advanced research on strengthening the education-to-workforce pipeline, convened national leaders to share model practices, and collaborated with policymakers to create opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students. These efforts have helped shape the future of higher education and workforce development, ensuring that millions of students can achieve their academic and career goals.

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Today, we are proud to continue building on this momentum by welcoming two new members to the College Promise National Advisory Board: Sarita E. Brown and Jeff Strohl. Both are visionary leaders whose expertise will be instrumental in driving our mission forward.

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‍Sarita E. Brown 

A leader and advocate for increasing opportunity and student success in higher education for over 30 years, Sarita Brown began her career at the University of Texas at Austin, where she built a national model for increasing the number of students of color in graduate education and in the academy. Once in Washington, DC, Sarita served in leadership roles at higher education associations and at American University, and launched the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute. She was tapped to serve as Executive Director of the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans under President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Sarita later applied her talents and experience to the not-for-profit sector and in 2004, co-founded Excelencia in Education.

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Many have recognized her positive impact and service to increasing educational opportunities for Latino students. This includes the Harold G. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education for “innovative thinking, strong leadership, and accomplishment by example”, the American Association of Community Colleges Harry S. Truman Award, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Outstanding Contribution to Higher Education Award and the Women of Distinction award from the American Association of University Women. She was also recognized with the Medal for Distinguished Service by Teacher’s College and has received honorary degrees from Carlos Albizu University, California State University Channel Islands, Fairleigh Dickinson University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Saint Joseph.

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As Excelencia’s President, Sarita is responsible for the vision and governance of the organization and works with the Board of Directors and the CEO to communicate with stakeholders, forward-thinking partners, funders, and investors the importance of Excelencia’s mission and tactical plan. She brings her skills and energy to expanding Excelencia’s Presidents for Latino Student Success, the national network of college and university leaders committed to making their institutions learning environments where Latino, and all, students thrive.

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Jeff Strohl

Jeff Strohl serves as research professor and director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce CEW. Dr. Strohl was one of the center’s founding staff and served as CEW’s director of research since 2008. In this position he led the center’s research agenda. In particular, this focused on the intersection of education and labor market analyses and their impact on policy. While directing research, Dr. Strohl also continued his work on biases in postsecondary and labor market outcomes.

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Before moving to CEW, Dr. Strohl was a senior analyst and project director at Westat, Inc. While at Westat, Dr. Strohl was primarily involved in program evaluation and analysis of education outcomes. He helped design and direct several projects that investigated socioeconomic diversity in American education and sought to affect postsecondary admissions policies. Dr. Strohl also helped design a model that predicts occupational risks to offshoring as a function of workplace competencies.

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At Westat, Dr. Strohl also monitored implementation of the Teacher Incentive Fund, evaluated the Federal Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative, built a model for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to target review of employment discrimination, as well as evaluated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s National and Local Emphasis programs. Dr. Strohl received his BA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his MA and PhD in economics from American University. His dissertation was a cross-country study of how education can enhance overall economic flexibility in times of economic crisis and structural shift.

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We are incredibly grateful to Sarita E. Brown, Jeff Strohl, and the entire National Advisory Board  for their leadership and commitment to advancing the Promise movement. Their guidance will help strengthen our mission to make college access and success a reality for every student in America.

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As we welcome these new leaders, we are also looking ahead to a milestone moment in our journey. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of College Promise, and we invite you to join us in celebrating at the College Promise 10th Anniversary & Careers Institute, taking place October 20-21, 2025 in San Antonio, TX. This convening will bring together national leaders, educators, policymakers, employers, and students to celebrate a decade of progress and chart the future of the Promise movement. Learn more and register here.