Karyn Balfour
Karyn Balfour is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Education Aid, Inc.
Education Aid’s flagship initiative has always been the Support-A-Student Scholarship, created from Karyn’s deep passion for education and her commitment to helping students overcome financial barriers that prevent them from staying in school.
After a ten-year pause, Education Aid is now being relaunched with an expanded focus on students with special needs, inspired by Karyn’s own experience as a parent of a child with special needs. Having navigated the challenges of securing educational and financial support for her son, Karyn understands firsthand how critical access to the right resources can be for both students and families.
With more than 20 years of experience in financial leadership and nonprofit strategy, Karyn brings a strong commitment to transparency, responsible stewardship, and direct impact. Through Education Aid, she is dedicated to ensuring that students—especially those with special needs—have the opportunity to pursue and continue their education without financial obstacles.
Karyn received a Master of Public Administration, with concentrations in Policy Analysis and Finance, from Indiana University at Bloomington. She received a BS in Public Administration from Indiana University at Bloomington. Karyn has a double major in Public Policy and Environmental Science & Management with a minor in Economics.
Tom Ferrara
Tom Ferrara is Co-Founder of FF Ventures an incubator for interactive marketing & assessment companies in Education. Previously, Mr. Ferrara was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at CUnet, a leading advertising and professional services firm serving the post-secondary education providers, CUnet services campus and online schools. Mr. Ferrara is also a board member of Assessment.com a leading career & educational assessment company whose MAPP assessment has been taken by over 7,000,000+ people. Prior to CUnet, Mr. Ferrara served as the Vice President of Admissions and Marketing with Career Education Corporation and before that founder and CEO of CareerEngine.
Publications & Events: Authored book Job Seeker Secrets, making the internet work for you published by Thomson Learning. Mr. Ferrara has been featured as an industry expert/author/speaker in various media outlets including ABC, NBC, CNN, USAToday, The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Star Ledger, The Record, LA Times, and Chicago Tribune. Tom has also been a speaker and/ or moderator on many panels (for education or Interactive Marketing) at events such as LeadsCon, UBS Education Conference, UBS Internet, BMO Marketing & Back to School Conferences, Career College annual conventions, SHRM, The Standard, etc.
Dave Flack
David Flack is Co-founder of FF Ventures. David is a highly passionate and successful leader and entrepreneur with over 9 years of executive experience in the higher education industry and 14 years of business entrepreneurialism. David’s last role was Co-Founder, President & COO of CUnet- where he orchestrated operations and marketing that transformed CUnet into becoming one of the leaders in the online higher education sector.
Prior to CUnet, David contributed 14 years to the career space- most notably as Founder and Partner of the technology-consulting firm ComStaff Services, Inc., which he developed from a start-up company to a multi-million dollar business.
David was Director of Sales for TSL Services, Inc., where he helped create an incredibly profitable and thriving Professional Services business. Prior to his involvement in the consulting and professional services sector, David also served as the Northeast Regional Marketing Manager at Metropolitan Fiber Systems (MFS), where he participated in the growth of an entrepreneurial company that went public and was ultimately sold to WorldCom. MFS was one of the first competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) in the country. David attended University of Hartford.
Eric Weiner
Eric J. Weiner is a member of the Tech Group at Lowenstein Sandler. Recognized as a “gifted talent” in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Eric advises growth equity and venture funds as well as the companies in which they invest. He represents them in venture and growth equity financings, mergers and acquisitions and other related matters. Eric works with some of the most respected venture funds in the country, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Ventures and Intel Capital, as well as start-up and growth companies like Yext, Inc. and TargetSpot, Inc.
Eric received a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He received a BA in Philosophy from New York University. He is affiliated with the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
Interested In Funding A Scholarship
Education Aid will work with any company, organization, or individual to create a Scholarship Program that meets their mission and values. If you are interested in sponsoring a Scholarship Program yourself; or making a general contribution to the Support a Graduate Scholarship Program, please contact Karyn Balfour at kbalfour@educationaid.org.