about US

Micha Sabovik has nearly 25 years of experience in higher education focusing on: operations, careers, financial aid, admissions/enrollment, sales and marketing. Micha has led a variety of cross-functional teams at Boston University/College of Communication and Brandeis International Business School. Furthermore, Micha, along with a faculty colleague won the inaugural Digital Learning Initiative grant (BU) and built an online course targeted toward assisting incoming non‐English speaking graduate students. Additionally, she oversaw a nation-wide staff of 25 on the Institutional Relations/Sales and Scholarship teams at CIEE Study Abroad. Micha also teaches a graduate-level Social Media/Advertising course at Boston University and has collected a dozen awards for marketing efforts/student recruiting efforts.

Ki Akrami has over 20 years of experience in investment management, structured finance, and capital raise. Ki was previously Managing Director at Rothschild & Co, and was Portfolio Manager of several investment funds over multiple market cycles. At Rothschild, he developed the idea for and led the creation of an innovative principal protected investment fund from start to finish, including negotiation with business partners, creation of the legal structure, hiring service providers, leading the coordination of efforts among internal and external teams as well as the regulator in the lead-up to launch, securing seed funding and later leading capital raising efforts. Ki has conducted due diligence on over 1,000 investments during his career, and personally led strategic deals, product launches, and seed deal negotiations. He has hands-on experience with institutional investors, and secured a $150M mandate from a Fortune 500 pension plan. Additionally, Ki negotiated a $25M seed deal with an institutional asset manager.

Mike Trachtman has 25 years of experience architecting digital experiences and developing software products using a wide range of platforms and technologies. At MentorWorks, Mike leads development of its ISA origination platform and cloud-powered infrastructure. Previously, at Insightfil, Mike developed cloud software and mobile apps that power pharmacy operations and offer additional value to patients and their families. He also managed robotics and software engineering teams responsible for supporting innovative mosaic design and robotic manufacturing processes at Artaic. Mike has advised project teams and clients in the application of human-centered design and Agile development methodologies, creating digital experiences that meaningfully engage users at Story+Structure, a design consultancy. Additionally, Mike designed and engineered Introspect, an electronic discovery product used by paralegals and attorneys to review billions of sensitive documents at ZANTAZ, later acquired by HP Autonomy.

Katie has over 10+ years of experience in higher education focusing on: corporate partnerships, employer relationship engagement and retention, career services strategies, student academic advising, overall student success, admissions, sales and marketing. Katie rebooted Brandeis Business School’s approach to employer and alumni outreach which led to an increase of 200+ new employer relationships in nine months. She launched a strategic plan for LinkedIn engagement, and significantly increased alumni engagement in the first six months of implementation. In her final two years at Brandeis Katie’s “Relationships Matter” approach to corporate engagement increased student access to internships and job opportunities across all programs while strengthening important relationships with key organizations such as State Street, Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Investments.

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.

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. 

Roy has over 5 years of experience in software development. Experience in full stack development. He has significant experience in integrating platforms at startups with banking partners and credit bureaus.

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.

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.

Diane supports our mentoring platform.