Steven Colón

Steve guides the overall direction and strategic priorities of the organization, with the goal of educational equity for all students and opening doors for the many whose potential and drive exceed their opportunity. Before joining Bottom Line, Steve was the Senior Vice President of Organization-Wide Learning and Strategy for Teach For America (TFA). His work focused on catalyzing TFA’s growth into a world-class learning organization. Before TFA, Steve spent 12 years with the College Board, where he led strategic, analytic, and operational teams for large national programs including, Advanced Placement (AP), SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, and BigFuture.org. His last three years at College Board focused on managing their portfolio of college access programs and services and finding innovative ways to improve the college-going and completion rates of first-generation students and students from low-income backgrounds on a national level. Steve’s lifelong advocacy for educational equity comes from personal experience. He grew up in Brentwood, New York, a majority LatinX community, and was the first in his family to earn a college degree. His parents migrated from Puerto Rico when they were young, and only one of them was able to graduate from high school. So while they were supportive of his going to college, they didn’t know what it would take – academically, financially, or socially – to get in or through a postsecondary institution. This experience helped to solidify his belief in the transformative impact a bachelor’s degree can have on a family for generations. Steve holds a master’s degree in political science, with a focus on political psychology and quantitative methods, from SUNY Stony Brook. He also has a master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy and a bachelor’s degree in comparative government, with a minor in secondary education, both from St. John’s University.