👋 Meet Rich

My route to serving as a college advisor has been circuitous. I’m a software developer by trade and spent over twenty years building products at blue chips and startups. Along the way, I co-founded and eventually sold a software company. Exiting the business led to a mid-life crisis of sorts, during which I sampled a variety of professional and volunteer opportunities.

A personal experience piqued my interest most: While exploring colleges with my son several years back, I grew fascinated with higher education and the admissions landscape. My adventures through the collegeverse—then, and more recently with my daughter—were filled with travel, books, campus tours, podcasts, websites, Common Data Sets, forums, spreadsheets, financial plans, and more. I love research and strategy, and this turned out to be my kind of rabbit hole. Perhaps even a vocation.

Eager to share what I’d learned with others, I served as a volunteer College Coach with ScholarMatch, an organization that helps make college possible for underserved youth. After completing their training program, I helped a Texas student navigate the college process.

I wanted to keep volunteering, but in my own community of Salem. I prefer working in person when possible, and there’s plenty of need for education and advising on college matters here at home. So while completing coursework in college advising and guiding my daughter through her college journey this past year, I also took on a few Salem families as my first clients.

With both of my children off to college this fall, I’m ramping up my college advising practice locally and building resources for students, families, and counselors more broadly.

I’m incredibly grateful for the Salem public education that my children received and fortunate to be in a position to give back. To pay it forward, I’m excited to work with Salem students and their families—at no cost—to offer guidance on their college journeys.

Credentials

Member

• Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA)
• Independent Education Consultants Association (IECA)

Coursework

• Foundations of College Admissions Advising at UC Berkeley’s Professional Program in College Admissions Advising

Attendee

• 2026 New England Association for College Admission Counseling Annual Conference
• 2026 Independent Education Consultants Association Annual Conference
• 2024 Southern Association for College Admission Counseling Annual Conference

Experience

You can glimpse my professional background at LinkedIn. Below I outline my volunteer work with youth and Salem Public Schools:

• Coaching. I spent a decade-plus coaching youth softball and high school basketball, the latter at Salem High. I love coaching, teaching, and building connections with kids.
• Volunteering. I’ve served in a variety of capacities for Salem Public Schools, including data analysis, improving hiring systems, fundraising, and alumni engagement. I joined Salem High staff in Arizona at the 2025 NGLC Innovative Schools Learning Excursion and chair the Salem Public Schools Athletics Advisory Committee to the Superintendent for which I authored the committee’s Strategic Vision and launched Witch City Athletics.

Education

• BA, Economics & Philosophy, William & Mary
• MS, Information Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

More Info

To learn more about me, please visit my personal website.