Our Team
Our team combines data expertise, K-12 and higher education backgrounds, experience in college counseling and outreach, and a passion for educational equity. Located in communities throughout the state, our team members are able to bring the best of both worlds—statewide infrastructure and local implementation—as they help unite systems and improve outcomes for students.
Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board of leaders from notable student-serving systems and organizations provides the CCGI team with the guidance we need to ensure the success and efficacy of CaliforniaColleges.edu and our support services to educators.
Nathan Evans, Chair of the Board
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs
California State University Chancellor’s Office
Nathan Evans currently serves as Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs at the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor, the systemwide office for the largest public four-year institution in the nation with 23 campuses and over 470,000 students. In this capacity, he serves as a lead strategic advisor on academic and student affairs initiatives for the university system and represents the system in state and national venues on academic and student affairs matters. Prior to this role, he served as Chief of Staff of Academic and Student Affairs and Director of Enrollment Management at the CSU Office of the Chancellor, responsible for systemwide admissions and enrollment management policies and practices, transfer programs, and academic advising.
Catalina Cifuentes
Executive Director, College and Career Readiness
Riverside County Office of Education
Catalina Cifuentes is an educator who has demonstrated a gift for counseling and advocacy on behalf of all students. In her former position as lead counselor at Santiago High School, Ms. Cifuentes worked with the counseling team to design a successful guidance program which led to Riverside County as well as California Department of Education recognitions for exemplary counseling practices. She worked with her administrative team and staff to transform the school by raising the academic rigor and expectations from students resulting in the highest graduation rate and second highest “a-g” completion rate in Riverside, Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino Counties. Ms. Cifuentes now shares those best counseling practices across Riverside County as a team member in the Ed Services unit in the Riverside County Office of Education. She is also a former secondary Language Arts teacher and has extensive experience working with English Learner programs. She was selected in November 2014 as a speaker for the College Opportunity White House Convening- Strengthening School Counseling and College Advising. As a former AVID student and first generation college graduate, Ms. Cifuentes has a contagious passion for this work. Ms. Cifuentes was recently appointed by Governor Brown to the California Student Aid Commission.
April Grommo
Director of Enrollment Management Services
California State University Chancellor’s Office
April Grommo has a wealth of experience within the California State University System and other California segments, gained over 23 years of higher education experience. While at Sierra-Cedar, she was a Program Director where she managed several student-system implementations with clients. Prior to Sierra-Cedar, Ms. Grommo was the Director of the IT Project Office at California State University San Marcos. She provided information technology leadership, including enrollment management support and student-centered initiatives. In her current role, as Director of Enrollment Management Services, at the California State University she is focused on systemwide enrollment management strategies, policies, and practices including first-time freshmen, transfer, and graduate admission and coordinating the development and implementation of K-16 diagnostic, placement, and assessment instruments. Ms. Grommo received her Educational Leadership Doctorate from University of California, San Diego in 2014, where she focused on social networks of underrepresented community college transfer students.
Julia Lopez
Former President and CEO
College Futures Foundation
A widely respected leader with broad and deep experience in philanthropy and government, Julia I. Lopez served as the president and CEO of College Futures Foundation (then known as College Access Foundation of California) from 2008 until her retirement in June 2017.
Before joining College Futures Foundation, Ms. Lopez served as Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation. In that leadership role, she provided oversight, management, and evaluation of the Foundation’s strategic program grantmaking, which awarded an average of $150 million per year. In her earlier work for Rockefeller, she served as director of the foundation’s Working Communities program, addressing urban poverty and education in the United States.
Ms. Lopez has lent her talents to the California Legislature, the New Mexico Department of Criminal Justice, and the Department of Social Services for the City and County of San Francisco where, as General Manager, she oversaw programs serving the city’s most disadvantaged residents. She has also served on the Board of Directors of REDF (formerly the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund), and as a commissioner for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities.
Ms. Lopez currently serves as a member of the Statewide Leadership Council of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), and she is a member of the boards of KQED, a Northern California public media outlet, and One Future Coachella Valley, dedicated to improving educational outcomes to meet regional workforce needs.
She is a graduate of Newton College of the Sacred Heart (now Boston College) and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. In June 2018, California State University, San Bernardino awarded her an honorary doctorate in humane letters in recognition of her work on student success in underserved communities, especially the Inland Empire.
Bryan Miller
Vice President of Communications and Technology
Foundation for California Community Colleges
Bryan Miller oversees the Foundation for California Community Colleges’ marketing, communications, and technology projects. Mr. Miller works with a team of communications strategists, skilled in outreach, branding, and publication and web design. Over the past decade, he and his team have been recognized with over 40 awards at the state, regional, and national level for excellence in marketing, communications, and design.
Mr. Miller has over 20 years of experience in the design and communications field. Prior to working at the Foundation, he served as Creative Director for the Strategic Communications Division of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, where he won a Gold award for the design of the CCC System Strategic Plan website. He attended American River College and is a graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle.
Paula Mishima
Special Projects Education Administrator
California Department of Education
Paula Mishima is currently a Special Projects Education Administrator for the California Department of Education (CDE), where she has worked as the CDE’s program lead for the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) since its 2009 inception. Mishima led numerous efforts to enhance CALPADS, such as implementing the ongoing data linkage with the California Department of Social Services to help ensure foster youth were receiving needed educational services and collecting statewide data on chronic absenteeism that is now used as an accountability metric on the California School Dashboard. Today, CALPADS feeds numerous mission-critical functions, including providing nearly all data for the Dashboard as well as funding calculations under the Local Control Funding Formula and registering students for statewide assessments. With an intimate knowledge of CALPADS data, Ms. Mishima has particular expertise in how data are used in the state’s accountability system and how schools and districts can use that data to continually improve student outcomes.
Ms. Mishima graduated from Stanford University and went on to receive her master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Washington. After graduate school, Ms. Mishima worked for the California State Legislature for 11 years—eight years as an education analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office and three years as the senior education consultant for the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. In 1994, Ms. Mishima left the Assembly to work as a legislative representative for CDE, becoming CDE’s Governmental Affairs Director in 1996. Former State Superintendent Delaine Eastin appointed her Chief Policy Advisor in 1998 and Deputy Superintendent over the Special Education, State Special Schools, and Education Support Systems divisions in 2001.
Olga Rodriguez
Director
PPIC Higher Education Center
Olga Rodriguez is director of the PPIC Higher Education Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Thomas and Marilyn Sutton Chair in Higher Education Policy. As center director, she works with a team of researchers to identify programs and policies to help make the state’s higher education system more successful, equitable, and sustainable. Her own research focuses on college access and success among underserved students. Her recent work has examined statewide reforms to developmental education, English as a second language, dual enrollment, and assessment and placement systems in California’s community colleges.
Before joining PPIC, she was a postdoctoral research associate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her experience navigating California’s public K-16 educational pipeline as a first-generation college student informs and inspires her work. She holds a BA in economics/mathematics and Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA and PhD in economics and education from Columbia University.
Jessica Wagoner
Senior Associate Vice President, Enrollment Management and Services
Cal Poly Pomona
Jessica M. Wagoner is the Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Services (EM&S) in the Division of Academic Affairs at Cal Poly Pomona. Ms. Wagoner leads and oversees the Offices of Admissions and Enrollment Planning; Outreach, Recruitment, and Educational Partnerships; Financial Aid and Scholarships; and the Registrar’s Office. Ms. Wagoner provides leadership, vision, strategic direction, management, and assessment of multiple, complex, and interdependent enrollment programs and services in the EM&S unit. Ms. Wagoner leads technology initiatives to increase productivity and efficiency and to expand data analysis to inform strategic decision-making as well as to remove institutional impediments to student success, and to provide responsive and quality service for Cal Poly Pomona’s diverse student body.
Ms. Wagoner has over 24 years of admissions, higher education technology, and leadership experience. For the past decade, Ms. Wagoner has served as the Director of Admissions and Operations at Cal State Fullerton and was previously the Associate Director of Admissions at Cal State Long Beach. Throughout her career, Ms. Wagoner has provided strong and strategic leadership on a variety of technology and enrollment management projects, and she played a critical role in successfully implementing multiple directives and policies, system and software modifications for higher education.
Ms. Wagoner earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cal State Fullerton.
Liberty Lauer Van Natten
Director, Education Data Management Division
California Department of Education
Ms. Van Natten is the Director of the Education Data Management Division at the California Department of Education overseeing student and school-level data collection for California’s public TK-12 schools. Ms. Van Natten holds an undergraduate degree in English from California State University, Chico and a graduate degree in Linguistics from the University of California, Davis. She previously served as the Department’s Foster Youth Data Liaison. Before joining the Department, Ms. Van Natten worked for local educational agencies conducting research and evaluation and taught English as a Second Language at both the high school and post-secondary levels.
President and CEO’s Office
The President and CEO’s Office sets organizational vision, manages executive staff, and engages with system leaders and state policymakers to share our learning and advocate for policies that support postsecondary guidance and intersegmental data sharing to benefit students and educators. In addition to the executive team, the President and CEO’s Office houses the Higher Education Engagement and Communications teams.
Tessa Carmen De Roy
President
Tessa Carmen De Roy is the founder and president of CCGI. Prior to founding CCGI, she spent a decade working to promote college access and success for first-generation, college-bound students in Los Angeles County. Her participation in the development of the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, which simplifies the financial aid application process for students and families by directly importing tax information into their FAFSA, led to a focus on how data and technology could be used to lower academic and vocational barriers for students. Tess earned her Doctor of Education from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she focused on data-supported regional efforts to articulate high school and college coursework.
Mary Aguayo
Chief Executive Officer
Mary Aguayo serves as CCGI’s Chief Executive Officer, overseeing the organization’s strategy, management, financials, and system-level partnerships. Mary started her career at her alma mater, University of Wyoming where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and her Master of Public Administration. She held a variety of roles supporting admission and transfer success, and ultimately went on to lead enrollment management where she had responsibility for admissions, financial aid, scholarships, and the registrar’s office.
During her time in Wyoming, she was active in statewide policy where she authored the state’s college recruitment and retention plan and led the response to the state law calling for a shared electronic transcript among the public colleges. She worked to help the state set its post-secondary attainment goal without equity gaps by race, gender, economic or first generation status.
Mary came to California in 2018 as Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management at the University of La Verne. She joined the California College Guidance Initiative in 2023 and, after serving the organization as its Chief Impact Officer, began her tenure as CEO in January 2025.
Heather Allen
Chief Programs Officer
Heather Allen serves as CCGI’s Chief Programs Officer, driving strategy for implementation of CaliforniaColleges.edu and how it can be used by K-12 practitioners and higher education segments to smooth the path to college and opportunity for students throughout our state. She spent more than 15 years working in the Fresno Unified School District in a variety of site and district leadership roles. She began her career as a School Counselor and later became a high school Vice Principal. At the district level, she worked in multiple departments that included IT, School Leadership and College & Career Readiness. She served as the Executive Officer of the Instructional Division before joining CCGI. Heather earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Stanford University and her Master of Science in Counseling from California State University, Fresno.
Maya Ramos Clayton
Chief Business Officer
Maya Ramos Clayton serves as Chief Business Officer, providing leadership, oversight, and guidance of all internal operations of the organization. She is responsible for the ongoing strategic development of CCGI’s risk management initiatives, budgeting and financial management, legal and contracting, and HR. Maya also leads the organization’s efforts to elevate and prioritize a positive and inclusive organizational culture. Before becoming Chief Business Officer, Maya served in a number of roles at CCGI, most recently as Chief People and Systems Officer. Prior to CCGI, she worked for a national college access and youth leadership development program. She earned her M.S. from New York University and B.A. from Smith College.
Leigh S. Ranck
Chief Product Officer
Leigh S. Ranck serves as CCGI’s Chief Product Officer, spearheading the vision for CCGI’s web-based college and career planning platform for all California 6th-12th grade students. Before transitioning into the role of Chief Product Officer, Leigh served in a number of roles at CCGI, most recently as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining CCGI, Leigh worked for the MacArthur Foundation’s Connected Learning Alliance, where she spent several years using web applications and communications tools to increase participatory, interest-driven learning that’s connected to educational, civic, and career opportunities for students across the U.S. Leigh previously worked for a nonprofit and a global health firm in New York City with the aim of translating scientific discoveries into affordable and accessible global health solutions. Leigh earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University.
Alison Fedyna Villa
Chief Data Officer
Alison Fedyna Villa serves as Chief Data Officer, providing strategic oversight over CCGI’s data infrastructure and analytics development to ensure data is accurate, accessible, and actionable for internal and external stakeholders. She also oversees data governance, strategic planning, and organizational development initiatives to strengthen CCGI’s effectiveness and impact. With 15 years of experience in K-16 education and nonprofits, Alison has devoted her career to disrupting inequitable systems and creating opportunities for all students to thrive. She previously served as CCGI’s Director of Strategic Impact and has held roles in higher education, K-12 schools, and education nonprofits where she focused on scaling equity-driven programs, advancing organizational strategy, and evaluating program outcomes. Alison holds an M.A. in Applied Psychology from New York University and a B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Biology from the University of Toledo.
Katie Santos-Coy
Senior Director, External Affairs
Katie Santos-Coy serves as CCGI’s Senior Director of External Affairs, supporting the Executive Team with government and external relations. Katie also leads the Communications team. Before joining CCGI, Katie served in a variety of roles within public and private colleges. During the last several years, she has focused on public higher education in California, serving most recently as the Executive Director for Communications and Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles and, before that, as the Director of Marketing and Communications for Enrollment Management at the University of California, San Diego. Katie earned her B.A. in Government from California State University, Sacramento and her MBA from Western Governors University.
David John Silva
Executive Assistant
As executive assistant, David John Silva assists the President’s Team in daily business activities, with a special emphasis on leadership support. Prior to joining CCGI, he garnered more than 20 years of experience in office management and administrative assistance over dynamic, virtually based teams. David attended CSU Sacramento with a focus on music and theatre arts.
The Higher Education Engagement team engages the California Community Colleges, California State University, and UC systems in the use of data provided by CCGI to advance equity and efficiency in business processes that inform decisions about outreach and recruitment, admissions, first year academic placement, advising, financial aid, and supportive services.
Amanda Segura
Director
The Communications team is responsible for equipping organizational staff with the language and materials they need to effectively talk about the work that CCGI does. The team’s work includes producing print and digital collateral, messaging, social media, presentations, as well as any and all interaction with the media.
Lenine Umali
Director
Alessandra Fadeff
Deputy Director
Jessica Riano-Tripp
Design Manager
Ana Castillo
Student Voice Coordinator
Programs Division
The Programs Division provides direct service to K-12 school districts to support effective partnership and implementation of CaliforniaColleges.edu. The division consists of the Engagement and Implementation, Data Services, and Technical Assistance teams.
Engagement & Implementation
Our Engagement and Implementation (E&I) team provides outreach, training and ongoing support to districts who partner with CaliforniaColleges.edu to impact college and career readiness outcomes for their schools and/or district. The team is further divided into four regions (map).
Joanne Do
Senior Director
Lisa Andrews-Swartzlander
K-12 Lead Counselor-in-Residence
Allie Ebner
Deputy Director,
Technical and Training Resources
Molly Bauer
Manager,
Curriculum and Special Projects
Darice Ingram
Director
Ying Lo-Khang
Senior Manager
Shannon Coskran
Senior Manager
Olivia Lopes
Training Manager
Selma Gonzalez
Director
Geraldina Espinoza
Senior Manager
Anna Lorena Garcia
Senior Manager
Ashley Shaffer
Training Manager
Tamai Johnson
Director
Joanna Vazquez Zelaya
Deputy Director
Doris Lee
Senior Manager
Dedreiana Elliott
Senior Manager
Monique Bell
Training Manager
Julian McDaniels
Director
Chris Dech
Senior Manager
Shardai Zaragoza
Senior Manager
Kat Zevallos Pastor
Senior Training Manager
Data Services
Our Data Services team supports districts in loading their files to CaliforniaColleges.edu and works to support the accuracy and frequency of K-12 transcript data.
Tamara Vaughan
Director
Linda Xayavong
Deputy Director
Carmen Harris
Technical Deputy Director
Angela Mata
District Data Support Analyst
Elizabeth Love
District Data Support Analyst
Joshua Davis
District Data Support Analyst
Maria Cavallaro
District Data Support Analyst
Ryan Cameron
District Data Support Analyst
Shannon Bilton-Terrell
District Data Support Analyst
Technical Assistance
Our Technical Assistance team supports districts with aligning course information from their Student Information System to the UC Course Management portal. This is in order to ensure that students receive the correct A-G credit in their eligibility calculations for CSU and UC applications.
Patricia Zarco
Director
Sara Kong
Deputy Director
Abigail Bailey
Manager
Dulce Grant
Manager
Amy Martinez Aguilar
Manager
Paige Getty
Manager
Danny Vidrio
Manager
Salvador Garcia Dorado
Manager
Cheyenne Zamora
Manager
Christine Cortez
Manager
CaliforniaColleges.edu Division
The CaliforniaColleges.edu Division is responsible for the development, maintenance, and iteration of CaliforniaColleges.edu, the State of California’s college and career planning platform, including content and collateral to effectively engage educators, students, and families. The division consists of the Integrations, Student Experience, and Educator Experience teams.
The Integrations Team manages all student transcript data-related functionality on CaliforniaColleges.edu, including features that help students monitor their progress towards admissions requirements, as well as features that help streamline the application processes for college admissions and financial aid.
Ben Baird
Director
Daniel Marker
Deputy Director
Damian Perez
Developer
Edwin Cortez
Senior Data Analyst
Tyrah Green
Data Analyst
The Student Experience team manages the college and career planning tools, lessons, and content on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
Laurel Sunderman
Director
Janette Nikolakopoulos
Deputy Director
Tori Zavala
Senior Manager
Vivian Kalea
Product Designer
Anne Mangahas
Deputy Director,
Content
Marissa Chávez
Senior Manager,
Content
Lillie Apostolos
Manager,
Content
Maribel Chonhim
Senior Manager,
User Research
The Educator Experience team develops tools and content on CaliforniaColleges.edu for educators. These include reports that provide educators at all levels with the data they need to support students as well as account management tools for educators to support both students and other educators.
Kevin Heller-Antrim
Director
Jacquelyn Mendieta
Deputy Director
Amanda Tejeda
Manager
Data and Strategy Division
The Data and Strategy division ensures CCGI’s data infrastructure advances our mission by maintaining a robust internal data warehouse and transforming data into actionable insights. The division equips internal and external audiences with the data needed to support strategic decision-making and communicate the impact of CCGI’s work. The division consists of the Strategic Impact, Cloud Infrastructure, and Technical Projects teams.
The Strategic Impact team produces data analytics that enable both internal and external stakeholders to take a data-informed approach to their work. They also strengthen data analysis processes and strategy, and support CCGI’s ability to effectively communicate organizational outcomes and impact.
Oluremi Olufemi
Director
Mitzi Bandera
Analytical Engineer
Noura Alqatarneh
Data Analyst
The Cloud Infrastructure team manages CCGI’s internal cloud-based engineering infrastructure and technical strategy. Their work includes overseeing data warehousing and engineering projects, ensuring CCGI’s data is secure, reliable, and accessible, and that it can be used to support the organization’s mission and goals.
Salomón Dávila
Director
Richard Chuang
Data and DevOps Engineer
Mohini Singh
Data Engineer
Tony Oh
Data Engineer
Isabel Reyna
Data Engineer
The Technical Project Manager facilitates cross-team technical projects from initiation to completion, including collecting project requirements from team leads, facilitating milestone development, and ensuring project deliverables meet organizational objectives and goals.
Carol Wesolowski
Technical Project Manager
Operations Division
Together, the People and Systems and User Support teams form CCGI’s Operations division. They provide core operations management and support for the organization and manage CCGI’s Contact Us inquiries, often serving as the first point-of-contact external constituents.
The People and Systems team manages the organization’s internal and business operations, drives talent development initiatives, and plays a key role in the creation of professional development opportunities for staff.
Ashley Davis
Director
Ruchita Bhatia
Salesforce Administrator
Harvey Yung
Senior Specialist and Junior Salesforce Administrator
The User Support team is responsible for providing high-quality service to CaliforniaColleges.edu account holders through individual user support.
Kristina Tyler
Director
Sarah Yanagi
Deputy Director
Andrew Brown
Senior Manager
June Wui
Senior Manager
Naib Tapia
Manager
Adrien Redford
Manager