Meet the Team...
We have hundreds of human-years of experience in college planning and funding, we've helped thousands of families plan for and apply to colleges and universities across America.
Our team includes mentors to counsel students about which college is the best fit for them based on their personality, preferred career choices, lifestyle, and affordability.
Our experienced college counselors help students complete accurate and on-time applications and write effective essays based on each school’s admission preferences and criteria.
Our experts understand how to maximize financial aid and negotiate tuition costs to help save money on college.
We recognize that no two families are alike and that every family has different goals, personalities, capabilities, and resources. Accordingly, we offer every client a team of experts with specialized skills to help each family effectively navigate the college application and financial aid process.
Our team includes mentors to counsel students about which college is the best fit for them based on their personality, preferred career choices, lifestyle, and affordability.
Our experienced college counselors help students complete accurate and on-time applications and write effective essays based on each school’s admission preferences and criteria.
Our experts understand how to maximize financial aid and negotiate tuition costs to help save money on college.
We have expert guidance for student athletes, too!
Greg Stevens
Owner
As a lifelong entrepreneur, Greg recognized there was an unfilled need to help families navigate the difficult college planning and financing process. Helping families with college since 2010, Greg has taken GCS in a unique direction that serves families more effectively than any other approach to solving these problems.
Matt Cobb
Sales Director
As a successful sales professional and leader, Matthew heads up the sales operations here at GCS. He is committed to overseeing the successful deployment of Academic Allies across the country eager to help families achieve financial peace of mind.
Carmen Baroni
Carmen Baroni is a member of our Financial Aid Team. She has worked in financial aid for over 6 years and has knowledge working with parents and students of a diverse population. She has a background in management and customer service where helping others has been her focus throughout her career. She is dedicated to helping families understand the financial aid process and lessening the stress to make the transition to college smooth for all parties involved.
Darren Rose
After almost 20 years in the world of finance in various capacities, Darren founded POM College Consulting, an experienced team that recognizes the need for a simple way to understand and navigate college planning.
POM College Consulting has one major mission–to bring peace of mind to families as they begin, explore and complete the comprehensive college planning process.
Darren also created MyTuitionScore, a unique and comprehensive college preparation tool that represents a family’s knowledge, preparedness and financial health, specific to the college investment.
Lisa Cynamon Mayers
Ellen Blattner
Eileen Blattner has been involved in education since 1967. She is currently the head of the Shaker Heights High School Guidance Department, and has been since 1985, serving as the chairman since 1990.
Eileen is a member of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors and has presented at many of their annual meetings. She is a member of the College Board, presenting at national and regional meetings. She has also been a member of the Admission Advisory Boards at Miami University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University and Ohio State University.
Eileen is a member of the College Counselors Advisory Group for the Fiske Guide to College and has served on the Review committee for the National Merit Corporation as well as the Presidential Scholars Review Committee. She has taught workshops at Cleveland State University and John Carroll University.
Reva Levenstein
John Aleric
John has nearly 20 years of experience working with collegiate and high school students, athletes, and families. Having worked as a collegiate coach and faculty member, he brings firsthand knowledge of the collegiate admissions, recruitment and financial aid process. Additionally, through his experiences working as a public school teacher and coach, he has helped many families navigate through the complexities of the college selection process. John earned his B.A. from John Carroll University and a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. He has served as a faculty/staff member at a number of universities and colleges, including the University of Illinois, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University, and The College of Wooster.
Amy Ballash
Amy is the Associate Director of Student Services and an admissions counselor at POM. She works with students and families to navigate and master the college selection and application process. Taking the next steps towards college is a momentous and exciting occasion, but can also be overwhelming, and confusing, and Amy is passionate about supporting and advising families through this transition.
Amy is a licensed school counselor who has spent the majority of her career working with high school students approaching graduation. Before joining POM she served as a high school graduation counselor for 4 years, managing a roster of 400-700 students each year. During this time Amy’s responsibilities included ensuring the academic preparedness of each student for graduation, providing college/career planning and guidance. She then moved on the supervise the district’s high school counseling department.
Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Baldwin Wallace College and a Master of Education degree and license in School Counseling from Kent State University.
Joanna Fifner
As a POM admission counselor, Joanna has the rewarding role of helping students and families during the exciting college selection and admission processes. Her approach to counseling is driven by the goals and unique talents of each individual student.
Joanna has worked in the field of higher education for nearly ten years with experience in career exploration, admission, academic advising, and most recently, university outreach. She has enjoyed positions at a smaller, teaching-focused college and at a large research institution. Joanna holds Bachelor of Education with a minor in English Communication and a Master of Arts in Higher Education. She is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
Brian Greene
Brian Greene has been a soccer coach at Beachwood High School since 1988. Since 1996, he has been the boys’ varsity head coach and before that the Assistant Head Coach for seven years.
During Brian’s years as head coach of the Bison, he racked up numerous coaching accomplishments. Most recently, in 2011, he was voted Greater Cleveland Division II Coach of the Year. His teams have won multiple conference championships, and he won Coach of the Year honors.
Since 1992, Brian has worked as an accountant and fraud examiner with Colagiovanni & Greene. He is also an owner of the Force Indoor Sports Facilities.
Brain is an Investment Committee Chairman for NSCAA and the Treasurer and Board Member of the Geauga Humane Society, and Miracle League of Cleveland.
Moira O'Riordan
Moira O’Riordan is the Director of College Counselor at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. She has been a college counselor for fifteen years and taught at the secondary level for five years prior.
Memberships and Affiliations:
Founder/Member—Holy Cross College Counseling Association
Member — National Catholic Colleges Admission Association
Member — John Carroll University Advisory Board
Member — Thiel College Advisory Board
Past Member — The Ohio State University Advisory Board
Past Member — State University of New York at Buffalo Advisory Board
Past Member and Secretary 2010, Treasurer 2011, President 2012– Jesuit High School College Counseling Association
Member – Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling
Member — National Association for College Admission Counseling
Member — College Board
Beth Brown
Beth Brown is a member of our Financial Aid Team and has been helping families navigate the financial aid process for over 6 years. Before joining POM, she worked in the banking industry for over 17 years and understands the pressure that is put on families when it comes to paying for school. Having gone through the college experience with her own children, she knows how overwhelming and confusing the road to college can be, especially when it comes to financial aid. She is committed to helping families understand what they can expect throughout the process and supporting them from start to finish.
Lisa Cynamon Mayers
With over 15 years experience in higher education, Lisa Cynamon Mayers has worked as an admission counselor, independent college counselor, blogger, writer and speaker. Lisa worked in the Offices of Undergraduate Admission for Washington University in St. Louis and Case Western Reserve University. For the past twelve years Lisa has worked as an independent college counselor, guiding American and international high school students. Lisa was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Inside Ivy Conference in Seoul, South Korea.
Lisa served as the Academic Advisor for Intead: International Education Advantage, a boutique digital marketing agency for five years. In that role she partnered with universities to help them develop strategic marketing plans for recruiting international students.
Lisa is passionate about guiding parents and students through the college admission process. She brings a level head and calmness to an often chaotic and stress inducing process. Lisa has an ability to relate to young people and their parents, allowing everyone to navigate the process peacefully and effectively.
Nikki Slechta
Nikki Slechta is an optimistic and enthusiastic professional who is focused on providing support to our clients at College Funding Experts. While staying connected to our students and their families, she assists the team and is your go-to person if you have any questions. Nikki also connects with families to help them get started with the team and strives to show them that college should be such an exciting and affordable option.
Lauren Brubaker
Lauren graduated from Marietta College in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a minor in Philosophy. She received her Master of Science in 2006 from The University of Akron in Applied Mathematics. During her time at UA, Lauren was a member of the math honorary Pi Mu Epsilon and Women in Mathematics. While completing her Masters research from 2005-2006, she worked as a Statistician at American Greetings in Cleveland, Ohio.
From 2006-2011, she completed coursework and research towards a Ph.D. in Engineering Applied Mathematics at The University of Akron. Her research was in Numerical Analysis and Partial Differential Equations.
She is currently A.B.D (all but dissertation), and throughout her time at Akron, was employed as a Graduate Assistant and taught many courses in the Mathematics department. Throughout this time, she had also been employed as an Adjunct Professor at various colleges around Northeastern Ohio.
From 2011-2013, Lauren was employed as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at her alma mater, Marietta College. She had the opportunity to teach courses ranging from College Algebra all the way up to Differential Equations and specialized in teaching applied courses in which the majority of the students were Petroleum Engineering majors. She is currently employed by Farmers Insurance as a Commercial Product Analyst II and began coursework in the summer of 2014 on an MBA in Finance from Tiffin University.
Vanessa Johnson
Vanessa Johnson is the Student Services Coordinator at POM College Consulting. She is the team member who welcomes new clients and is your go-to person if you have a question and need to connect with your financial aid counselor or your admissions counselor. She’s also on the Scholarship Team at POM so she knows how to find the best scholarships for each student to save them time and money.
Vanessa Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Her past 7 years of experience in the field of Education have included several roles and opportunities working with high school students including teaching, administrative positions such as Director of Education and Supervisory Program Specialist, and working with a team of counselors at a K-12 public school with 15,000 students.
Previous to Education, she worked as a Training Coordinator for a retail corporation. In short, helping and educating people on any subject have always been her happiest undertaking.
Mike Moisio
Mike graduated from Ohio University in 1995 and since has primarily worked in Marketing and Operations Management. Mike has worked in a wide range of fields from professional sports to opening and managing new restaurants. These experiences have given him a well-rounded background into how the operation of a company works as a whole for the best chance of long term success.
Mike has also been involved in youth coaching for a number of years. He has coached High School athletes as well as recreation age children. These experiences became important because they taught him patience, understanding, and compassion. These are qualities that will always be useful in both his private and professional life.
The most important event in Mike’s life was meeting and marrying his best friend Stephanie, a teacher of 15 years. They have been married for 12 years and have been blessed with 2 beautiful girls. These life events have taught and given more to him than he ever thought possible.
Michael Benz
K. Michael Benz’s work reflects his passion. He was instrumental in bringing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to Cleveland and served as the museum’s director.
Mike is also the retired President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Cleveland, one of the largest and most innovative United Way programs in the nation.
Under his 18 years of leadership, United Way raised more than $732 million dollars to fund health and human services in the community. His career also includes 12 years as the Greater Cleveland Growth Association Executive Vice President and 7 years as COSE Executive Director.
Mike has served on several local, state and national Boards for the Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way at all levels.
Jeff Levy
Since receiving his MBA from the University of Cincinnati, Jeff has been involved in B2C online enterprises for more than 15 years, from organizations ranging from start-ups to fortune 200 companies.
His eCommerce experience over this time have includes roles ranging from general management of his online start-up to oversight of application development and online customer experience.
After selling his business in 2014, Jeff was intrigued by the online opportunity to help satisfy the unmet need of families navigating the college planning process without being armed with the knowledge to make informed decisions, which led him to his work with POM & MyTuitionScore.
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