about US
The MentORWoRKS team
MentorWorks Founders
Karthik Krishnan
CEO + Co-founder
Karthik is an Associate Professor of finance at Northeastern University and an angel investor with Launchpad Venture Group. He has seven years of experience in teaching and research in the areas of entrepreneurship and education finance. Karthik is also a thought leader on education financing having published various articles on the subject. He has mentored and helped various students land meaningful internships.
Mark Bernfeld
Co-founder
Mark is the Chairman of Tamarack Technologies and an angel investor with Launchpad Venture Group and Clean Energy Venture Group. An experienced entrepreneur, he has significant experience in sales, marketing, and business development. Mark has been involved in academia for a number of years and has mentored many students.
Senior Leadership
Micha Sabovik
COO + Head of Marketing
Micha has nearly 25 years in higher education, leading teams of all sizes in the areas of student services (graduate and undergraduate), enrollment, career services & strategies, business development, marketing, mentoring, financial aid and social media content creation. Micha also teaches a graduate-level social media course at Boston University.
Clayton Samuels
CFO
Clayton has 15 years of experience in private equity direct investment, M&A focused corporate development and building out the finance function at early-stage companies. He has supported companies in the life sciences, real estate, software technology and impact investing spaces and led the deal process of a triple-bottom line fund by identifying, evaluating and structuring transactions. Clayton has also guided business transformation strategies as a management consultant.
Katie Gallager
Vice President of Corporate Engagement + Career Development
Katie has more than ten years of higher education experience working with students, faculty, and employers in various stages of the higher ed life-cycle (graduate and undergraduate). Her roles have included corporate partnership development, crafting and executing innovative career development programming aligned with market needs, student advising, marketing, and social media content generation. Having worked at Boston University and Brandeis International Business School, Katie is well-positioned to bring her expertise to MentorWorks and continue to build upon a solid foundation with our employer partners as well as career development enhancements.
Elisabeth Symczak
Director of School Partnerships
Elisabeth has over seven years of higher education experience working with undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the areas of student advising and counseling, enrollment, and program development and management. Having worked at Boston University, Lesley University and USC, Elisabeth is passionate about education access, student services and developing proactive relationships. She is on the Associate Board of a local education non-profit, Breakthrough Greater Boston, and also volunteers as a College Access Coach supporting students through the college application process.
Mike Trachtman
Technology Consultant
Mike brings 25 years of experience organizing teams and architecting digital products and software solutions using awide range of technologies.
Neal Colman
Chief Mentor
Neal was Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer of Major Accounts at Liberty Mutual when he retired in 2015. During his 38 year career at Liberty, Neal held various underwriting management positions in the large account casualty insurance marketplace. He holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA degree from Babson College.
MARGARET "MEG" LUCAS
Director of Account Management
Meg has over nine years of experience in higher education management and international education, specializing in the areas of marketing, sales, account management, content creation, project management, and recruiting. Having worked at CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange and Boston University, as well as recently having taught English abroad in Thailand, Meg identifies as a lifelong learner and is passionate about educational access, equity, and development, as well as cross-cultural and experiential learning practices. She is excited to bring her unique skill set to MentorWorks to ensure that our education and corporate partners are successfully onboarded and have all of the needed tools and resources to effectively engage with us and our students.
The Team
Ford Draper
Corporate Engagement + Career Development Associate
Joel Soo
Business Development + Underwriting Manager
Joel graduated from Northeastern University with bachelors in Finance and Psychology. He has a passion for higher education reform – specifically for how students are financed. He also has experience in the financial services industry as well as working in non-profit micro-financiers such as WorldVision Cambodia.
Julie Weiss
Content + Engagement Associate
Julie Weiss is our Content and Engagement Associate. Before coming to MentorWorks, Julie worked as the marketing and communications administrator for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Boston University, where she developed her marketing, social media and graphic design skills. Julie is excited to use her skills to further develop the MentorWorks community and make a difference in higher education financing.
Roy Kresge
Lead Software Developer
Diane Beauvais
Student Success Coach
Diane supports our mentoring platform.
Hayley Long
Operations Associate
Hayley supports our operational efforts.