Dr. Wathington has dedicated her career to the belief that high school graduation is the life moment where opportunity radically changes and that everyone, especially first-generation college students and students of color, can achieve their ambitions through higher and postsecondary education. Her background is a blend of education, research, and philanthropy focused on students from underserved communities. She currently serves as CEO of iMentor, a national leader in 1:1 mentoring that builds long-term, personal relationships to help students, largely first-generation college students from under-resourced communities, more equitably access and navigate a path through postsecondary education and career.

Ms. Gordon is a Managing Partner of Portfolio Operations at L Catterton. Prior to joining L Catterton, Ms. Gordon was a Managing Director at Providence Equity Partners, working with portfolio companies to drive topline growth and operational improvement. Previously, Ms. Gordon was a Senior Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, working in both the Consumer and Sales & Marketing Practices to help clients identify and capitalize on new growth opportunities and drive large-scale transformation. Prior to joining BCG, Ms. Gordon worked at Procter & Gamble in brand management. Ms. Gordon earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar, and a BA with honors in History from Yale University.

Mr. Koshland served as a partner at DLA Piper US LLP law firm from 1983-2020, focusing on corporate law matters. He currently sits on the Boards of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, American Jewish World Service, Jewish Senior Living Group, Jewish Vocational Services of San Francisco, the Koshland Foundation, Opportunity Fund, Reboot, San Francisco Jewish Community Federation and the Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life and is a Trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation.

Ms. Freitag is the co-founder and CEO of Instruction Partners, a nonprofit organization that works shoulder to shoulder with schools and districts to support great teaching and accelerate student learning. Prior to this role, she was the Assistant Commissioner of Curriculum and Instruction for the Tennessee Department of Education. In this capacity, she oversaw K-12 core academics, including standards, assessment design, instructional materials, and educator training and support. She led a collaborative effort to train more than 65,000 teachers and leaders during this time in a peer-led, content-based approach, and Tennessee saw increases in student achievement on both NAEP and state tests. At the Department, she also managed implementation of educator evaluation and served as Chief of Staff, supporting the development of the strategic plan. For five years before coming to Tennessee, Emily managed Teach For America’s D.C. and Connecticut Regions. In this capacity, she oversaw the support of 1,000 teachers as well as the district partnerships, alumni coordination, and fundraising efforts. She fell in love with education teaching 7th grade math in Opelousas, Louisiana, at Opelousas Junior High School (Geaux Tigers!). She graduated from Yale University and studied history with a focus on the jurisprudential history of the civil rights movement.