Our Staff
Co-Executive Director: Geena Asiedu
Geena Asiedu joined Collective Success Network initially as a volunteer at the beginning of 2024. As an attorney, Geena worked for Maryland’s judiciary system and transitioned to international corporate practice in Beijing, China. Geena has a comprehensive legal background, including experience providing legal guidance to clients on global investment opportunities. After 12 years in Beijing, Geena is now a dedicated advocate for FirstGen/Low-Income college students and is driven by a passion to enhance educational opportunities and student well-being.
Director of Programs, Partnerships, and Strategy: Alice Ginsberg, PhD
Alice Ginsberg, Ph.D. comes to CSN with over twenty years of experience working to support first generation, low-income students and to remove barriers to educational equity for all students. In addition to her leadership positions at educational organizations such as the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, The Center for Minority Serving Institutions, and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Alice has taught in the urban teacher education programs at both the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. She is the author of six books on education equity and diversity, including Gender in Urban Education and Embracing Risk in Urban Education, and continues to do original research on issues of educational diversity, opportunity and inclusion.
Co-Executive Director: Adrienne Tymiak, PhD
Adrienne Tymiak joined Collective Success Network in 2018 following a “Breaking into Pharma” event where she shared her career arc as a first-gen professional with college students. Adrienne entered the pharmaceutical industry as a research chemist following her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. At Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), she rose to executive leader for large, multi-disciplinary and
cross-site teams in R&D. As a BMS leader for over 20 years, Adrienne built innovative organizations with a diverse talent pipeline, hiring and championing the advancement of women and minorities. Firmly committed to collaboration and cooperative learning, Adrienne also served as a Board member for precompetitive industry consortia, leader of science education programs and volunteer for community outreach initiatives. Since retiring from industry, Adrienne serves as an advisor and mentor-in-residence for the Rutgers University TechAdvance and HealthAdvance teams in addition to working as a volunteer for youth serving nonprofit organizations.
Our Campus Chapters - Student Officers
Drexel University
Dragon's First
President
Kaylee Wilson
Vice President
Sahil Khanna
Treasurer
Patricia Frimpong
Event Coordinator
Aadrita Goswamy
Communications Lead
Jahmir Handy
Temple University
Temple First
President
Susan Daniel Mathuram
Vice President
Joyce Chen
Director of Marketing
Ji Pan
Director of Events
Evie Lugo
Director of Professional Development
Faria Sanjida
Director of Finance
Chuyan Xie
Creative Director
hana Gomma
University of Pennsylvania
Collective Success at Penn, CSAP
Co-Chairs
Raquel Russek
Jeremy Calcarian
Marketing Chairs
Estelle Kang
Sadiqua Khan
Villanova University
First Generation Villanovans
Co-Chair (Upperclassman)
Lupita Ramírez Gómez
Co-Chair (Underclassman)
Daniella Forson
Senior Advisor
Derrek (DJ) Samuels
Senator
Mark Guzman Lizarazo
Treasurer
Eduardo Calderon
Senator/Co-Treasurer
Ejay Joshua De Leon
Secretary
Danni Kennedy
Communications (Social Media) Chair
Jocelyn Zavala Garcia
Programs Chair
Angelina Rivera
Membership Chair
Grace Owusu
Mentorship Chair
Monica Gonazales
Public Relations Chair
Jedith Gomez
Opportunity Discovery
Kerri Rose
Consortium Chapter
President
Vivian Chen
Temple University
Vice President
Vazira Hakberdiyeva
Drexel University
Secretary
Abdelbasset Hassouna
Temple University
Treasurer
Adam Alaoui
East Stroudsburg University
Our Board
Chenora Burkett
Owner,
BrchBurk Consulting
Treasurer
Colleen Farrell-Felici
Leadership coach, educator, and publisher
Rick Horner
Improvisor, director, actor,
teacher, and coach
Sudhir Kondisetty
Principal, Philadelphia Risk Consulting Practice Leader and Office Managing Partner,
RSM US LLP
Chair
Tom Tritton
Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania
Former President of Haverford College and the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Alicia Thorpe
President,
STR8R LLC
Secretary
Liz Nover
Founder,
Your Work: Straightened Out
Adrienne Tymiak
Science and Technology Advisor,
Rutgers University
Ji Jun
Chair, Corporate and Tax Group
City of Philadelphia
Keith Willis
President & Founder,
Core Management Training
Our Founders & Origin Story
In 2016, after her article, "Poor and Traumatized at Harvard," went viral, Due Quach caught up with Nancy Li and they had their first deep conversation about the challenges they faced as first-generation college students without mentors and role models to guide them.
They wondered: How common are these experiences? With so many first-generation college graduates in the world, why are so many young people still going through this journey alone, without the support they need? Why had no one yet built an organization that connects first-generation college students with first-generation college graduates and professionals, as well as more allies, mentors, and role models in the greater professional community?
And if no one had yet done it, what would it take to finally build it?
They started brainstorming and convening conversations with a larger group of first-generation college students and professionals to build a collaborative community to address this gap. This community eventually brought the Collective Success Network into being as a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization in March 2017.
Due and Nancy started and led the organization as unpaid volunteers during its initial years through the pandemic, when they transitioned the organization to a new leadership team to take CSN to the next stage of its evolution.
Due Quach
Author, CEO & Founder,
Calm Clarity Social Enterprise
Co-Founder, First Executive Director (2017-2020), and Chair Emeritus
Nancy Li
Learning and development practitioner
Co-Founder and
Co-Executive Director (2019-2021)