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 Leadership Team
Sarah Zauner is the founder and executive director of The Ada Center. She and her team have partnered with hundreds of college and university leadership teams, national trade associations and philanthropy, and state education systems to provide guidance on how technology-enabled practices can help improve student outcomes.
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 broad access institutions 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.
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.
Sarah Zauner
Executive Director
sarah@theadacenter.org
Dr. Christina Hubbard
Managing Director, Digital Holistic Student Support
christina@theadacenter.org
Dr. Christina Hubbard leads The Ada Center’s Digital Holistic Student Support portfolio and partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She brings more than 25 years of direct service in higher education to inform her work. With experience across student services, program leadership, and classroom instruction, Christina joined The Ada Center in 2024 to address the intersection of technology and student success innovation. In her role, she leverages the latest insight on student success to inform strategy for funders, individual institutions, and state systems.
Christina brings extensive practical and research experiences in leveraging technology to meet the needs of students in open access institutions. Prior to joining The Ada Center, she worked as a top student success researcher at EAB where she led studies on career integration for post-traditional learners, reengaging and serving stopped out students, and leading advising innovation on college campuses. The bulk of her work focused on the role technology plays in ensuring every admitted student has a pathway to on-time graduation. Across her career, she has led hundreds of hands-on and didactic presentations on college campuses and national conferences.
Her passion for student success is informed by her own educational journey. As a teen parent turned military spouse, Christina navigated higher education while juggling personal, professional, and academic responsibilities—much like the student populations she serves in her work. Christina holds a Ph.D. in education from George Mason University, where she published her dissertation on the role of holistic advising in the persistence of adult community college students. She also has a Master of Education in student affairs from Regent University and a certificate in college counseling from UCLA Extension.
Andres Gil
Managing Director of Student Voice, General Counsel
andres@theadacenter.org
Andrés leads The Ada Center’s student voice research team and also acts as The Ada Center’s General Counsel. In this capacity he has led more than 300 in-depth student interviews on how institutions can better use technology-enabled practices to support student success. He has also supported The Ada Center’s state-level initiatives in Ohio, California, and Connecticut, along with technology initiatives for HSIs.
As a small organization, Andrés also acts as The Ada Center’s general counsel, supporting The Ada Center’s legal needs, advising on technology procurement projects, and ensuring The Ada Center is poised for organizational sustainability.
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.
Brittney Davidson
Managing Director, Research and Curriculum
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 institutions diagnose and course-correct challenged technology implementations, and shedding light on the higher education CRM landscape.
Prior to joining The Ada Center, 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. Prior to joining CEP, Brittney led guided pathways research and technology initiatives in the education technology sector.
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.
Dr. Rachel James and her team of IT specialists partner with a handful of The Ada Center institutions on more complex technology implementation projects. Across her 25+ year career supporting higher education institutions, non-profits, and hospital systems, she has helped implement hundreds of CRMs, ERPs, and custom data solutions. Her team’s current work with The Ada Center is focused in California and Colorado.
Rachel has a background in computer science and management consulting. Her education journey began at a rural community college in Georgia and eventually took her to pursue graduate work overseas. She currently splits her time between Colorado, Hong Kong, and London.
Dr. Rachel James
Managing Director, Technical Implementation
techteam@theadacenter.org
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.
Meacie Fairfax, M.A.
Strategy Director
mfairfax@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.