The Ada Center is a small, Colorado-based organization of former education researchers, technologists, consultants, and practitioners. Collectively, our principals and core partners have supported thousands of institutions around the country. When you reach out to The Ada Center, our Executive Director will personally review your goals and suggest a team with the right skills for the project. Our goal is to provide the most effective and affordable approach to strengthening student outcomes.
Our Principals
Sarah Zauner
Executive Director
sarah@theadacenter.org
Sarah Zauner is the founder and executive director of The Ada Center. She has partnered with hundreds of college and university leadership teams, national trade associations and philanthropy, and state systems to provide guidance on how technology can be used to improve student outcomes. This work has focused on supporting students who are historically underserved in higher education.
Sarah has spent much of the last two decades working with, at, and alongside access-focused higher education institutions, both in the United States and overseas. Prior to founding The Ada Center, she held leadership positions at The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Education Advisory Board. She decided to found The Ada Center in response to a chorus of feedback from higher education leaders that the field lacked contextual, affordable, expert, and unbiased guidance on how to navigate technology challenges and opportunities.
Beyond her organizational leadership, Sarah is a passionate advocate for education equity. She is a frequent university guest lecturer, mentors women of color in technology, and contributes regularly to national publications, amplifying voices and fostering dialogue on crucial issues in education.
Sarah's own educational journey reflects her commitment to lifelong learning. Starting at Lane Community College, her path took her to the University of Virginia, the University of Oxford, and General Assembly. Sarah is also a Fulbright alumna.
Brittney Davidson
Principal
brittney@theadacenter.org
Brittney Davidson leads The Ada Center's professional development and research portfolio. Some of her recent projects include supporting mid-level leaders with actualizing holistic student support, helping leaders course-correct challenged technology implementations, and shedding light on the CRM landscape. .
Previously, Brittney was a Senior Program Manager at the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program (CEP), where she led projects and workshops aimed at helping community colleges develop robust employer partnerships and drive strong labor market outcomes for students. Brittney was the lead researcher and author of two Aspen CEP publications: The Workforce Playbook: A Community College Guide to Delivering Excellent Career and Technical Education and Aligning Talent and Opportunity: An Employer Guide to Effective Community College Partnership. Brittney has led dozens of workshops ...on the future of work, community college – employer partnerships, and equity and excellence within the career and technical education field.
Prior to joining CEP, Brittney led guided pathways research and technology initiatives at the Education Advisory Board. Brittney has previously served as a secondary school teacher on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, where she collaborated with administrators, local non-profits and community colleges to improve curriculum, leverage technology to personalize instruction, and expand dual enrollment opportunities for students. Brittney has also conducted research projects for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank, and has consulted on girls’ empowerment and education programming for NGOs in Uganda. Brittney received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and completed her MPA at Columbia University.
Andres Gil
General Counsel
andres@theadacenter.org
Andrés is The Ada Center’s General Counsel and Principal. He manages The Ada Center’s student focus group research, technology procurement projects, and much of The Ada Center’s equity work.
Previously, Andrés provided legal counsel and devised effective advocacy strategies for small businesses and non-profits, with a focus on commercial, financial, tax, and international issues. In addition to his legal and advocacy work, Andrés has extensive experience developing educational offerings for his clientele, from small seminars to large, multi-day educational conferences. Andrés received his Juris Doctor (with high honors) from The George Washington University Law School.
Lilly Lavner
Associate Principal
Lilly Lavner supports The Ada Center’s special projects.
Prior to joining The Ada Center, Lilly worked with higher education and non-profit organizations including EDUCAUSE and the Advising Success Network. While at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), Lilly led the implementation of the Undergraduate and Faculty Fellows Program for a Diverse Professoriate, a Mellon Foundation funded initiative that offered programs to undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty to foster greater interest and participation of first-generation, poverty-affected, and/or students of color in the career pipeline for prospective faculty. Lilly earned her MA in higher education and MS in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Michigan. She has also completed a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through the Project Management Institute and is a Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner through the Scrum Alliance.
Our Partners
The Ada Center frequently partners with individuals and organizations to provide expert-based support. These individuals range from database specialists to equity experts to faculty engagement professionals. Several of our core partners and key points of contact are listed below.
Shara Davis
Coach, Achieving the Dream
sdavis@achievingthedream.org
Achieving the Dream is our partner for national leadership on Holistic Student Support and Data-driven innovation. Hundreds of colleges have worked with Achieving the Dream to build key institutional capacities to address the crucial challenges that confront them in their commitment to better serve students and increase student outcomes. They benefit from the collective learning of the national ATD Network of institutions and partners and from 15 years of experience innovating and anticipating future needs and issues in the face of continual change.
Nia Haydel, Ph.D.
Vice President for Alliance Engagement and Institutional Transformation
nhaydel@completecollege.org
Complete College America (CCA) is a bold national advocate for dramatically increasing college completion rates and closing institutional performance gaps by working with states, systems, institutions, and partners to scale highly effective structural reforms and promote policies that improve student success. The Ada Center is currently partnering with Complete College America to develop a set of student success technology resources for MSI leaders. The anticipated release date for these materials is December 2023.
Kathy Thompson
Director, HBCU Intermediary
kathythompson@southalabama.edu
The Ada Center partners with The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Intermediary to support a cohort of HBCUs in their student success transformational work. The HBCU Intermediary operates within the Frontier Set, a small, diverse group of postsecondary institutions and systems identified by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and partner organizations as leaders in transformational change that accelerates student success and degree attainment. The HBCU Intermediary’s team-oriented and collaborative style of management facilitates the learning and sharing of these high-performing, high-potential colleges to help build a better understanding of the barriers and enablers of institutional transformation for student success. The organization’s higher-order thinking and “no holds barred” approach to breaking through institutional memory and resistance to change propels others to optimal performance and organizational wellness.
Rob Johnstone
Founder and President, NCII
rob@ncii-improve.com
NCII is our partner for Guided Pathways engagement and planning. The National Center for Inquiry and Improvement (NCII) is a leader in helping community colleges implement authentic change. NCII earns the trust of college administrators, faculty, and staff because they understand their work and have deep experience identifying and removing obstacles to better outcomes. NCII is also known for their unique blend of energy, passion, and optimism, which helps colleges stick with the challenging work of organizational change. NCII focuses their efforts on helping colleges improve equitable outcomes through designing and implementing guided pathways, student financial stability, and institutional culture change.
Anne Foster
Director of Institutional Effectiveness, OACC
afoster@ohiocc.org
The Ohio Association of Community Colleges is our partner for learning about the role of technology in Guided Pathways and state-led transformation. The Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC) is dedicated to the advancement and implementation of sound policy and initiatives that work to ensure the success of the more than 300,000 community college students in Ohio. To that end, the OACC exists to advocate for Ohio’s 23 community colleges, as well as serve as a resource for its member institutions. The OACC provides leadership to develop and execute strategic direction for Ohio’s community and technical colleges, represents its member colleges at the state and national level, promotes the benefit of community colleges to the residents of Ohio, provides opportunities for trustee development, and facilitates the exchange of ideas and information.
Phase Two Advisory is our partner on advising and student support redesign. Phase Two Advisory weaves research, strategy, and project management to help higher education institutions and their partners move from idea to action. Phase Two provides tailored support to colleges throughout the reform process, including project planning, process mapping, research support, and professional learning.
Melinda Karp
Founder, Phase Two Advisory
Melinda@phasetwoadvisory.com
Alison Kadlec
Founding Partner, SOVA
Alison.kadlec@sova.org
Sova is our partner on projects that involve extensive college and university stakeholder engagement. Sova is a mission-driven organization focused on improving the quality and accelerating the pace of complex problem solving in higher education and workforce development. With a focus on adaptive change management, communications & will-building, program strategy & design, and implementation support, Sova helps student-focused leaders at every level turn evidence-based ideas into scaled, sustainable solutions. Sova's team is composed of former faculty members, higher education administrators, operations specialists, community organizers, researchers, and on the ground technical assistance providers who understand what it takes to make lasting change in an uncertain world.