Data & Tools Advisory Board Members
Alex Adams, Fresno Community College
Alex Adams is the Senior Director of Institutional Research, Planning, and Effectiveness at Fresno City College. Previously, he worked as the Director of Institutional Research, Evaluation, and Planning at Clovis Community College and as a Senior Research and Planning Analyst assigned to the Student Equity Plan at Fresno City College. His work focuses heavily on planning, research, and evaluation, much of which directly supports the college’s accreditation efforts. In addition to his work in community colleges, he has over ten years of experience in social science research and received his PhD with distinction in Political Science at the University of New Mexico with a specialization in Survey Methodology.
Marshall Anthony Jr., The Institute for College Access & Success
Dr. Marshall Anthony Jr. directs the research agenda at The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), where he leads innovative work to ambitiously advance and radically reimagine a higher education system that equitably serves people from all walks of life. Marshall’s personal and professional mission is to improve the educational and socioeconomic mobility of traditionally underrepresented communities. He has published for various public, policy, and academic audiences. Marshall’s work and commentary has been featured in multi-media outlets, such as About Campus, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Higher Ed Dive, Higher Education Today, Inside Higher Ed, NBC News, NerdWallet, Politico, RealClearEducation, SiriusXM, The Associated Press, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hechinger Report, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, and U.S. News & World Report. He has also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives. Before joining TICAS, Marshall served as the associate director of policy and advocacy for higher education at the Center for American Progress (CAP) as well as a higher education research analyst at The Education Trust. During his doctoral studies, Marshall was a Florida Gubernatorial Fellow of Class XIV at the Florida Department of Education, and he also served as a graduate research assistant and instructor in the inaugural Leadership Learning Research Center at Florida State University. Additionally, he has worked in other academic and student affairs functional areas at public and private institutions of various sizes. A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, Marshall holds a Ph.D. in higher education (public policy) from Florida State University. He also earned a master’s degree in higher education administration, graduate certificate in teaching, training, and educational technology, bachelor’s degree in business administration, and minors in accounting and Spanish from North Carolina State University.
Jason Borgen, Santa Cruz County Office of Education
Jason Borgen has worked in the K-12 environment for close to 20 years–First as a teacher focused on creating an environment beyond brick and mortar learning. Jason spent many years following by supporting school administrators across California with effective ways to leverage technology to lead 21st century schools as part of the statewide Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership (TICAL) project as well training teachers in transformative practices in their classroom. Jason spent 3-years in leading curriculum and technology programs in a small school district in the Silicon Valley. Currently, Jason is leading Technology, Innovation, and Communication at the Santa Cruz County Office of Education as the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer and is the former president of the Board of CUE, INC. Board of Directors – a non-profit focused on inspiring innovation in education. Jason is Google Certified Trainer and Google Certified Innovator. He is also certified trainer in the Leading Edge Certification program and helped develop the curriculum for the program.
Lisa Chavez, State Bar of California
Lisa Chavez is the Director of the Office of Research and Institutional Accountability at the State Bar of California. She has developed and led quantitative research initiatives for academic, non-profit, and public agencies such as EdSource, WestEd, San Francisco Unified School District, and the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at Berkeley Law School. Lisa has researched access to the University of California, Latino community college transfer students, school discipline, federal school accountability for English learners, immigration enforcement, and school integration. She has also lectured in the Chicano/Ethnic Studies department at UC Berkeley, teaching an upper-division undergraduate course, “Chicanos and the Education System.” The common thread throughout her career has been her deep passion for promoting social justice through research and advocacy and partnering with executives, leaders, and team members to ensure research products have maximum social impact. A first-generation college graduate, Lisa earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz and her Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. She is a proud native of the San Gabriel Valley and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two daughters.
Tamika Connor, Calbright College
Tamika Connor has a strong background in building sustainable partnerships with higher education institutions, community-based organizations, industries, and local government agencies. Her post-secondary education work includes private and public colleges (e.g., Stanford University, Santa Clara University, and California community colleges). Tamika is dedicated to using data-informed strategies to improve college access and student success with equitable outcomes. She has a broad range of experience in academia, including credit for prior learning, skill-based competency-based education, and equity-aligned community college initiatives such as AB 705, the new student-centered funding formula, Student Equity and Achievement Program, and Guided Pathways. Currently, Tamika serves as Senior Vice President at Calbright College and as a core team member of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (IEPI) Strategic Enrollment Management Community of Practice program. She previously served as Acting Assistant Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management, Department Chair, and Tenured Faculty at the Peralta Community College District/Laney College. She was also the Adult Education Director for the Chabot/Las Positas Community College District—Mid Alameda County Adult Education Consortium.
Regan Foust, The Children’s Data Network at the University of Southern California
Regan Foust, PhD, is the Executive Director and a Senior Research Scientist at the Children’s Data Network (CDN) at the University of Southern California. An experienced researcher, project manager, and data translator, she works closely with data, research, and funding partners to pursue and communicate the CDN’s transdisciplinary research agenda, inform children’s programs/policies, and build the capacity of government agencies to make better use of their own data. Formerly, as Senior Manager, Data and Research for the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, she managed kidsdata.org, guided development and implementation of child health and well-being initiatives, and stewarded strategic data and communication partnerships. She also comes with prior experience replicating effective youth development interventions and evaluating and improving child welfare and educational programs. Dr. Foust holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Psychology from U.C. Davis.
Khathy Hoang, YMCA of Los Angeles
Khathy Hoang is the Associate Vice President of Community Impact & Development for the YMCA of Metropolitan of Los Angeles where she supports programmatic, evaluative, and foundation, government, corporate and other resource garnering efforts for the organization’s nearly 30 locations throughout Southern California. Khathy holds a Master’s degree in Community Public Health (California State University, Northridge) and Bachelor’s degree from the University of California Los Angeles. Ms. Hoang currently sits on the State Bar of California’s Closing the Justice Gap Working Group and has served in other leadership roles for different organizations. Khathy continues to be an advocate of diversity, equity, and inclusion work as she supports the YMCA’s Cradle to Career Success pipeline and New American Welcome Centers as a Department of Justice accredited representative providing support for clients seeking citizenship application assistance, and is committed to better serving our community and future leaders!
Heather Hough, Policy Analysis for California Education
Heather Hough is the executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). Dr. Hough’s work focuses on using research and data to strengthen state and local structures supporting continuous improvement and to advance policies that support the whole child. Dr. Hough has worked in a variety of capacities to support policy and practice in education, including as an improvement advisor at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and as a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California, the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University, and the Center for Education Policy at SRI International. Dr. Hough received her PhD in education policy and her BA in public policy from Stanford University.
Jacob Jackson, Public Policy Institute of California
Jacob Jackson is a research fellow at the PPIC Higher Education Center. His research includes issues around college access and affordability, postsecondary success, and higher education finance. Before joining PPIC, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Davis, and a middle school and high school teacher in Sacramento, California, and Columbia, Missouri. He holds a PhD in education from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Missouri.
Amber Jacobo, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools
Amber Jacobo has 25 years of experience in P-16 systems with exposure to a variety of roles from teaching to program development and management, working with local and state leaders to improve systems, using data to analyze for strengths and gaps for the purpose of strategic planning, research and program evaluation. Amber currently serves as the Director of Integrated Data Systems at the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS). In her role she assists and builds capacity of 32 school district leaders as well as higher education, government and community agencies, to aid in the process of using data to drive improvement.
Brendan Livingston, University of California, Davis
Brendan Livingston is the Director of Enrollment Management Analytics (EMA) at the University of California, Davis. EMA provides critical data analysis and recommendations to campus leadership, allowing them to make informed data-driven decisions for the essential functions of enrollment management: Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid and Scholarships, and Office of the University Registrar.
Jennifer Orlick, Campbell Union High School District
Jennifer Orlick is the Director of Innovation for the Campbell Union High School District, which serves roughly 8,500 high school students in Silicon Valley. She oversees data systems, research, and the development of the Local Control and Accountability Plan. Previously she worked at the Los Angeles Unified School District on human capital initiatives and performance management. She has also worked in the nonprofit sector, in public housing, and taught middle school English in Japan. She is excited to serve on the Cradle-to-Career Data & Tools Advisory Board to share perspectives from the K-12 landscape to inform the evolving design of longitudinal data systems in California.
Laura Owen, San Diego State University
Dr. Laura Owen is the Executive Director for the Center for Equity and Postsecondary Attainment at San Diego State University. A prior urban school counselor, district counseling supervisor, and district crisis team lead for Albuquerque Public Schools, she is a passionate advocate for closing postsecondary opportunity gaps. Her research focuses on evaluating the impact of practices designed to address the systems, structures and policies needed to remove barriers for historically marginalized communities. Dr. Owen has researched interventions targeting FAFSA completion, the high school to college transition, virtual advising, the use of technology in college counseling, how students prefer to receive college and career information and the pandemic’s impact on students’ postsecondary choices. She is committed to the discovery of models that support access, retention and completion of postsecondary credentials aligned to the workforce and connected to high wage, high demand jobs.
Vikash Reddy, Campaign for College Opportunity
Vikash Reddy has over ten years of experience in higher education research, with particular expertise in outcomes-based funding policies and developmental education reforms. Prior to joining the Campaign, Vikash was a Policy Analyst at the California Policy Lab at UC Berkeley, where he worked with California government agencies including the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and the California Student Aid Commission to analyze administrative data and evaluate pilot programs. Vikash previously worked at the Community College Research Center and the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he co-authored books and articles on performance funding in higher education, researched reforms in developmental education, and helped to create and evaluate multiple measures placement systems at the State University of New York. Vikash earned his PhD in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he was awarded a Department of Education Policy & Social Analysis Dissertation Fellowship for his dissertation, From the Schoolhouse to the Statehouse: The Role of Teach for America and Its Alumni in Education Policy. He holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Teaching from Pace University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Government from Dartmouth College.
Liberty Van Natten, California Department of Education
Liberty Van Natten is the Administrator over the Data Access and Strategy Office at the California Department of Education. Prior to this role she was an Education Research and Evaluation Consultant serving as the Department’s Foster Youth Data Liaison. Liberty has worked for local educational agencies conducting research and evaluation and taught English as a Second Language at both the high school and post-secondary levels. Liberty holds an undergraduate degree in English from California State University, Chico and a graduate degree in Linguistics from the University of California, Davis.
Davis Vo, Student, University of California, Los Angeles
Davis Vo is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Education & Information Studies (UCLA Ed&IS). He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and master’s degree from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. Prior to returning back to school, he held positions as an institutional researcher and education practitioner in advising and teaching roles. He has had professional experiences all across California’s education system: in the non-profit sector, as well as the K-12, community college, and public/private university systems. As a Ph.D. student, he is currently interested in using mixed methods to study issues of educational equity as they relate to the academic and career trajectories of community college students.