about US
The MentORWoRKS team
MentorWorks Founders
Karthik Krishnan
CEO + Co-founder
Karthik Krishnan has expertise in higher education, finance, data analytics, and ISA pricing models. He is a thought leader in the higher education financing space and has published peer reviewed articles as well as appeared in various media articles on this topic. He has developed MentorWorks ISA pricing models that are student friendly and transparent. His connections in the higher education space have allowed us to get early customers and validation of our model as well. Karthik has been an angel investor in early stage companies through Launchpad Venture Group. He has been involved in doing company deep dive and diligence reports for startups at Launchpad. He has a PhD in Finance from Boston College and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Delhi University. Karthik is a tenured associate professor and industry faculty in the finance group at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University (NU). At NU, he advises the dean of the business school on their fintech initiatives and outreach. He has also developed a course on applied machine learning in finance at NU.
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.
Ki akrami, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Ki is a seasoned investment and business development professional with a notable record in alternative investment and business building. He has over 20 years of experience in capital markets including as Managing Director at Lighthouse Capital Partners LLC, where he secured a $150 Million mandate from a Fortune 500 corporate pension for a bespoke investment strategy. Before that, Ki was Managing Director at Rothschild where he was involved in various roles in portfolio management, product development, capital raise, and structured financing.
Clayton Samuels
Chief Financial Officer
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.
Mike Trachtman
Chief Technology Officer
Mike brings 25 years of experience designing and architecting digital products and software solutions using a wide range of technologies for innovative companies in digital health, manufacturing, and higher education. Over the years his work has been supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and MassVentures, among many others.
As Chief Technology Officer at MentorWorks, Mike designs and delivers digital user experiences people enjoy through human centered design, cloud computing, and software development lifecycle best practices.
Katie Gallagher
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.
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.
Roy Kresge
Lead Software Developer
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.
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.
Diane Beauvais
Student Success Coach
Diane supports our mentoring platform.
Hayley Long
Operations Associate
Hayley supports our operational efforts.