Mitchell Lipton currently serves as Director of College Guidance to the Frisch School. Prior to joining the Frisch faculty in 2019, Mitchell spent 23 years in higher education at Cooper Union as Vice President of Enrollment Services and Dean of Admissions. While at Cooper Union, Mitchell was a leader on the President’s Cabinet, and Academic Leadership Team, as well as the Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer. He actively participates in the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC), NACAC, The College Board, Rockefeller Group Scholarship Committee and Hendrick Hudson School District Project Lead The Way Advisory Team.

Luis Barcelo currently serves as a professional school counselor at Pelham Memorial High School and an adjunct professor of counselor education at CUNY’s Lehman College. Over the course of his 25 year career in education, Luis has focused his efforts on college access for all students. He began his career as a HEOP Counselor for Columbia College and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Luis has served in various roles with New York State Association for College Admission Counseling’s (NYSACAC) Board of Directors and as a volunteer on multiple committees. His dedication to helping young people achieve their dreams of attending an institution of higher education is driven by the remembrance of the sacrifices his family made to move to this country from Cuba.

Chris Ferguson joined Pacific in 2020 as the Vice President for Enrollment Strategy. Previously, Ferguson was the associate vice president of enrollment at Occidental College in Los Angeles where he contributed to a significant increase in application volume, selectivity and yield rates while helping the college meet its net tuition revenue goals. A nationally recognized student recruitment and enrollment strategist, he is known for his pioneering work in social media marketing and predictive data analytics. Prior to Occidental, Ferguson served as vice president and dean of admissions at Drexel University in Philadelphia and vice president for strategic enrollment management at The New School in New York. He holds a BA in behavioral science from Wilmington University, a MSW from University of Denver and an EdD from University of Pennsylvania. Ferguson’s professional associations include The College Board, the National Association of College Admission Counseling and The Institute for Strategic Enrollment Management, where he is co-founder and lead faculty member.

Marissa Guijarro has over 25 years of experience as a high school counselor and has helped thousands of students through the college search and admission process. She is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) and has visited many colleges in the U.S. and in Europe. For over a decade, she has been on the Long Island University faculty in the graduate counseling program. As an active volunteer, Marissa has a distinguished record of leadership as a Past President of the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC) and the Westchester-Putnam-Rockland Counseling Association (WPRCA). She also previously served as the volunteer chair for the Harvard College alumni interviewers in Rockland. Marissa contributes to counselor professional development by frequently presenting at the local, state, and national level on topics related to college and career readiness, multicultural counseling, and mentoring.

Rodney is Vice President of Enrollment Management at the University of Delaware. Rodney has over 25 years of strategic enrollment leadership experience and has a proven record of increasing quality metrics, retention and graduation rates to record levels, and creating pipelines for college access opportunities. In 2016, he was honored by the Middle States Region of the College Board with its Bernard P. Ireland Recognition Award, the highest individual award given to a member of the Middle States Region. The award recognizes an individual with a commitment to improving humanity through education, by demonstrating a record of service to young people in easing the transition from high school to college and distinguishing themselves as change agents. His previous positions include Associate Provost for Enrollment Management at Stony Brook University; Associate Chancellor for Enrollment Management at Rutgers University, Camden Campus; Director of Admissions at Mount Saint Mary College, NY; Vice President of Global Diversity Recruitment at Lehman Brothers; Director of the MBA Preparation Program at Management Leadership for Tomorrow; Associate Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid for the Wharton School MBA Program; Senior Admissions Officer and Director of Minority Recruitment at the University of Pennsylvania; and Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Rochester, NY. A first generation college graduate, he earned his bachelor’s degree in history, a business management certificate in marketing, and a master’s degree in education at the University of Rochester. While an undergraduate there, he played on the 1990 Men’s Basketball Division III National Championship Team. He volunteered at a Big Brother/ Big Sister Program as well as served as an Urban League tutor.

Richard P. Alvarez recently retired from Queens College of The City University of New York where he served as the inaugural Vice-President for Enrollment and Student Retention for six years. In this position, he guided a team focused on all phases of the admissions, enrollment and retention programs. Prior to this position, Richard served as the University Director of Admission for The City University of New York (CUNY) for 13 years. In that role, he was responsible for the development, implementation and execution of the University’s recruitment program and worked closely with the individual CUNY colleges to expand access to all students. During Richard’s tenure at QC and CUNY, he had a significant impact on the relationship between the University and the NY Metropolitan area school/CBO counselors and elected officials. He was a consistent advocate for the institution and the nation’s students, lobbying in both Albany and Washington, D.C. He was involved in creating and maintaining access to higher education for the diverse population of the New York Metropolitan area and was instrumental in increasing the University’s exposure both nationally and internationally. At QC, he was a leader in the creation of the QC in 4 program, providing all Fall 2017 entering freshman with a four-year graduation guarantee. The inaugural QC in 4 class graduated in the Summer of 2021 and saw a 14% increase in four-year graduation rates compared to the Fall 2016 entering cohort. Richard has served the profession in a variety of leadership roles: Member of the Board of Directors for the Yonkers Partnership in Education (2015-2022); the College Board’s National Counseling and Admission Assembly Council member (2017-2020); Director on the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Board of Directors (2007-2010). He is a past President of the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC) and has played an active role in the association since 1998. Richard earned a B.A. in Communications from Hunter College/CUNY and an M.S. Ed. in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College/CUNY.

Susan Davidson has 18+ years of experience in college admissions counseling. She began her career in higher education at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. As Assistant Dean of Admissions, Susan traveled extensively to schools across the country and established strong relationships with community-based organizations and access groups that work with under-represented students. In 2013, she made the switch to the counseling side of the profession helping students and families plan for and apply to college. Susan served as President of the New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling (NYSACAC) during the 2016-2017 year. Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Educational Psychology from Cornell University and a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Josh Gombo has over 10 years of experience working in both university admissions and high school college guidance. He has assisted students in gaining acceptance to a wide variety of institutions across the United States and internationally. He loves helping students present their best selves in the application process from brainstorming and writing essays, to crafting a developed activity list, to selecting the right teachers to author letters of recommendation. Josh earned his Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Rutgers University and his Master’s of Science from Baruch College. He is very passionate about his work and wants to guide students in making the college application process less stressful."

Sean P. Kaylor is Vice President for Enrollment Management, Marist College. Following his graduation from Marist College in 1990, Sean began his career in The Office of Admission as an Assistant Director and worked his way up to Vice President for Admissions and Enrollment Planning by 1998. He now serves as Vice President for Enrollment Management. In this role he oversees Undergraduate and Graduate Admission, Enrollment Services, and Student Financial Services for both the main campus in Poughkeepsie, New York and the Marist campus in Florence, Italy. He is a Board of Trustees member at St. Bernard School in Connecticut and a Past President of the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC). Over the last three decades, he has presented / moderated at regional and national conferences on all topics related to enrollment management.

Victor Thomas serves as Deputy Director of Admission at Washington University in St. Louis, where he’s worked for almost 15 years. Before his current role at WashU, he was high school math teacher in St. Louis Public Schools, and his time in the classroom informs his work in college access and admission every day. During his time at WashU, Victor has overseen multicultural student programming and recruitment planning and strategy, and currently oversees the application review process for first-year and transfer students. He is a member of NACAC, International ACAC, Missouri ACAC, and serves on the NACAC Asian-American and Pacific Islander Special Interest Group Advisory Board, as well as the College Board’s Midwestern Regional Council. His time as a math teacher informs a data-driven approach to his professional work—Victor loves to think in numbers, tell stories in numbers, and use numbers to make decisions. He is deeply committed to college access for students from low-income and other under- represented backgrounds, and seeks to amplify the work of community-based organizations supporting students with limited college counseling resources. In his free time, Victor likes to spend time outside (running, hiking, backpacking), explore cities (new and old), and throw pottery.