Liz Feder

Liz Feder is a program evaluator and policy analyst at the UW-Madison Population Health Institute. She works on a range of projects spanning public health and health care, including Health Impact Assessments and policy-oriented program evaluations with an emphasis on community mental health and substance abuse disorders. Liz works directly with community coalitions to help them develop their capacity for community outreach, strategic planning, program implementation and evaluation.

Liz earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She was an associate professor at Colorado College for 12 years before moving to Madison. She has served on professional and community boards, most recently as a board member of Clean Wisconsin. Outside of work Liz enjoys reading, hiking, and horseback riding. For many years, Liz recognized the need to help more Madison-area students access comprehensive college preparation. She looks forward to working with Galin Scholars to expand these opportunities.

Angela Russell

Angela is a connector of people, ideas and spaces. Angela recently launched The Undercurrent – a consulting and executive advising firm focused on organizational culture, employee engagement, belonging, and corporate social responsibility. Previously, Angela served as the Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at TruStage and was President of the TruStage Foundation. She is also the creator and host of Black Oxygen, an award-winning podcast Black Oxygen now in it’s sixth season.

Angela earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Beloit College and a Master’s in Population Health from UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. She is currently on Beloit College Board of Trustees and Board of Directors for Downtown Madison, Inc. Throughout her professional career and community commitments Angela is dedicated to bringing people together across sectors to build what’s possible. In her free time, Angela enjoys reading, dancing, and being with her friends and family. Angela joined the Galin Scholars Board to support the important work of expanding access to comprehensive college preparation to more students in the Greater Madison area.

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Zach Galin
Board Member

Zach founded Galin Education to help parents and students navigate the complex world of college admissions. The organization offers many forms of college preparation guidance including individualized academic tutoring, test preparation, and college counseling. Galin Education also conducts workshops with school districts and communities to increase knowledge about the college admissions process.

Zach graduated from Northwestern University and earned a Master’s degree in education. In New York City, he led an academic tutoring and test prep center and worked for Teach for America in the South Bronx. Zach has served on many nonprofit boards in the Madison area. When not at work, Zach enjoys spending time with his wife and three small children. For many years, Zach has wanted to build Galin Scholars to help high-achieving, low-to-middle-income students access college
preparation to maximize their academic potential and college options.

Susan Alban
Board President

Susan has had a long career in accounting. She attended Villanova University and obtained her CPA. She built experience in mortgage banking, internal audit, and corporate accounting before raising three children. She then channeled her experience and effort in the realm of non-profit accounting, working at the Interstate Postgraduate Medical Association for 14 years. She has also used her non-profit accounting expertise to help a number of community organizations. She serves on two advisory boards.

In her spare time, Susan enjoys traveling with her husband to visit their three children and sometimes walking their dogs. She is excited to be on the Galin Board. As a prior Galin parent, Susan is motivated to help identify and expand access to educational opportunities for students.

Katelynn Williams
Board Secretary

Katelynn is a senior counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP, where she is a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice. Katelynn currently serves as President of the Western District of Wisconsin Bar Association. She is also a member of the Dane County Boys and Girls Club Human Resources Committee.

In her spare time, Katelynn volunteers as an assistant high school cross country coach. Katelynn supports Galin Scholars mission of increasing access to college preparation for more students recognizing that this opportunity can make a huge difference for each scholar who participates.

Jason Prager
Board Treasurer

Jason is a Director, Senior Corporate Counsel at SP Plus Corporation. Originally from New York, Jason attended Wisconsin Law School and received a BS in Journalism from Northwestern University. Outside of work, he enjoys golf, watching sports, and trying new restaurants. Jason lives in the Madison, Wisconsin area with his wife, young son, and two cats.

Jason serves on the Galin Scholars board as a way of giving back to the community. His parents placed a high value on education and both worked extremely hard to further their own education while provide both Jason and his sister with the opportunity to attend the best college they could. Jason understands the importance of helping families, who may not be able to afford college prep services, to gain access to these opportunities.

Enjoyiana Nururdin
Board Vice President

Enjoyiana is the local government reporter for the CapTimes newspaper in Madison. She previously worked as a digital content producer at WKOW News in Madison. She is originally from Madison, where she attended La Follette High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her Bachelor of Arts in Reporting. After graduating from UW, Enjoyiana pursued her Master of Arts in Political Journalism from Columbia University in New York.

Enjoyiana began working with youth at Simpson Street Free Press during her high school years as a Teen Editor. Outside of work, she enjoys spending her time reading, riding her bike, manifesting on Pinterest, and playing The Sims 4. Enjoyiana joined the Galin Scholars Board to provide encouragement, insight and inspiration for youth wanting to further their education and build on their versions of scholarship. She sees Galin Scholars as a leading example of how to simplify the college applications and admissions process and bridge the gap between a lack of resources for students preparing for their academic journey.

Bianca Tomasini
Board Member

Bianca is a native of Mexico who obtained her graduate degree at UW-Madison and has worked most of her career as a research scientist in the biomedical field, both in academia and industry. She has lived in Madison with her family since 1999 where she enjoys kayaking in the lakes and hiking in the forests nearby.

As immigrants, Bianca and her husband realized when their first child was applying for college admission that the process can be intimidating and unclear. As a volunteer at her children’s high school, she met students, both from immigrant families and those who would be first-generation college students, who had strong wishes and the skills to attend college. But they could see it only as a dream because they couldn’t bring all the needed parts together. She is very interested in helping to bring the excellence of Galin Scholars to those students and improve their possibilities of fulfilling their college education dreams.

Chris Gomez Schmidt
Executive Director

As Executive Director, Chris aims to increase access to comprehensive college preparation for students in Dane County and to grow community support for this important work. She previously worked as the Director of Enrichment at Galin Education and from 2020-23 served on the School Board of the Madison Metropolitan School District. Prior to that, she led an advocacy network to improve how K-12 schools provide advanced instruction and to address disparities in access and opportunity.

Chris has lived with her husband and three children in Madison since 2002. She sees Galin Scholars as a way to level the playing field in the college preparation process for low-to-middle income families. As a student, Chris benefitted from opportunities at her Minneapolis public high school to explore science and opportunities for college.

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Increasing Access.
Providing Guidance.
reducing barriers.

Galin Scholars supports greater Madison area high school students with strong academic potential who are from a broad range of demographic groups underrepresented in college.

Increasing Access.Providing Guidance. reducing barriers.

Galin Scholars supports greater Madison area high school students with strong academic potential who are from a broad range of demographic groups underrepresented in college.

Increasing Access.
Providing Guidance.
reducing barriers.