JILL OF ALL TRADES
I’ve had a diversity of roles spanning program management, operations, business development, customer success, monitoring and evaluation, research, and marketing across multiple industries and countries. I credit my wide breadth of experiences for fostering my diverse skill set, creative approach to problem solving, and ability to work well cross-functionally and with diverse partners.
MISSION-DRIVEN ORGANIZATIONS
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked on improving college admission access with Harvard College Admissions and Mainstay; implementing impact evaluations of international development programs with Innovations for Poverty Action; improving international education opportunities for students in Latin America and the Caribbean with Laspau, EducationUSA, and Próxima Parada; and in the health sector with the CDC, Soar Biodynamics, and the Clinton Foundation.
MOST RECENTLY A BOT DESIGNER & CUSTOMER SUCCESS LEADER
From 2015-2019, I worked at Mainstay (formerly AdmitHub), creating artificially intelligent chatbots for institutions to support their students to and through college. I wore many hats as the company’s first hire and was a key operator in translating the co-founders’ vision into reality, successfully leading our product’s implementation at our first 70 campuses and reaching over one million students across the U.S. Given my background in research and evaluation, I also established an evidence-based approach to our product development.
Below is a sampling of some of my experiences. For further details feel free to reach out at hello at cristinaherndon dot com.
Building and Evaluating Georgia State University’s AI Chatbot
I led the design and implementation of Mainstay’s groundbreaking SMS-based chatbot at Georgia State University and its impact evaluation. Pounce the bot helped reduce summer melt by 20% in its first year, and the study results were widely publicized, including on NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast.
Implementing Latin America’s Largest Scholarship Program
As part of a small team, overhauled Laspau’s long-standing scholarship management services for the implementation of the PhD portion of Brazil’s scholarship program, Ciência sem Fronteiras. Reviewed and selected 600 scholarship grantees over two years, provided an extensive admissions coaching service to over 100 U.S. universities, and negotiated comprehensive financial aid packages to cover students’ full tuition, room, and board totaling over $7 million each year.
Evaluating Innovative Science Education in Peru
At IPA, oversaw the impact evaluation of a new teaching methodology for third-grade science in 106 urban and rural public elementary schools in the Lima region of Peru, coordinating with researchers, Peru’s Ministry of Education, the Inter-American Development Bank, LEGO Education, and local schools.