Meet the Veritas Prep Team
Chad Troutwine
Chad Troutwine’s desire to create the world’s finest GMAT program came as a surprise to no one. Since childhood, Chad has demonstrated a preternatural talent for standardized examinations. In grade school, he recorded a perfect score on the Stanford Achievement Test. Years later, he went on to score in the 99th percentile on the PSAT, ACT, SAT, LSAT, Multistate Bar Examination, and the GMAT.Chad graduated from Arizona State University by nineteen. He earned a JD from the University of Missouri, graduating with honors, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. At Yale, Chad met Markus Moberg and launched Veritas Prep, fusing his test-taking acumen, commitment to education, dynamic teaching style, and entrepreneurial skill into a single venture. Veritas Prep has proven to be wildly successful: helping tens of thousands of students achieve their highest possible score on the GMAT and thousands more gain entry into the world’s elite MBA programs.
Although Veritas Prep is his chief focus, Chad finds the time to pursue other passions. As an attorney and real estate developer, he helped re-define historic reuse and urban living in Kansas City, Missouri. Most recently, Chad produced the documentary Freakonomics, based on the bestselling book of the same name, and launched Freakonomics Media, a site that features daily blog commentary and is responsible for one of the most popular podcasts on the Apple iTunes charts.
Markus Moberg
Born in the countryside of Sweden, Markus Moberg grew up in a tri-lingual household in Norway. His father, a nuclear physicist, and his mother, a chemist at the University of Oslo, undoubtedly helped nurture his interest in education from an early age.After completing high school in Norway, he studied Computer Science and Economics at Cornell. At Cornell, Markus picked up the American bug for entrepreneurship and decided that he would someday start his own company.
Missing the entire dot-com boom, he accepted a position as a Field Engineer with Schlumberger where he worked for extended periods in South America, West Africa, the Faeroe Islands in the North Sea, and the Mediterranean. He has also traveled extensively on his own, hiking to the Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas, shark diving in New Zealand, heli skiing in Alaska, and surfing in Indonesia.
With a 99th percentile on the GMAT, Markus gave his battered passport a rest to attend the Yale School of Management. Between his first and second year of the MBA program he worked as an Associate in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley.
While he enjoyed his brief stint on Wall Street, Markus decided upon graduation to finally fulfill his long time passion for entrepreneurship and teaching. He teamed up with Chad Troutwine to found Veritas Prep, a company that has since grown to become the largest privately-owned GMAT preparation and admissions consulting provider in the world.
Brian Galvin - Director of Academic Programs
One of the world’s few owners of both a 99th percentile GMAT Score and an NBA championship ring, Brian would gladly help Charles Barkley (but not Karl Malone) achieve either. Since receiving a Masters in Education from the University of Michigan he has studied the GMAT fulltime since 2006 as the Director of Academic Programs for Veritas Prep. Combining his professional achievements with his personal hobbies as an Ironman and standup comedian, Brian might very well be the foremost expert on the GMAT in the world. Judge for yourself by following his always-educational and oft-entertaining GMAT Tip of the Week on our blog!
Travis Morgan - Director of Admissions Consulting
After receiving his MBA with Distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Travis relocated to Southern California and joined the Veritas Prep team as one of the few to serve as both a GMAT Instructor and an MBA Admissions Consultant. While receiving top reviews from every client as a Veritas Prep Head Consultant, Travis also managed to win the 2011 Worldwide GMAT Instructor of the Year award and was invited to join our team full time. A professional journalist and award-winning writer and public speaker, Travis originally started advising clients years ago as a volunteer employment specialist for LDS Employment Services in his hometown of Seattle. Having served on the Kellogg Diversity & Inclusion Council and interviewed countless candidates for its Admissions Committee, he brings an insider’s perspective, a contagious passion and years of experience to the Veritas Prep team.
Lissette Padilla - Associate Director of Business Development
Lissette graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a focus on education. Upon graduation, she became the director of a UCLA tutorial program, where she ensured that incoming high school and transfer students successfully adapted to the rigors of undergraduate life. A Management Leadership for Tomorrow and Riordan fellow, Lissette also has first-hand insight on strategies to smoothly transition from post-undergraduate studies to graduate school.She will happily answer any questions you have about our programs- in English or Spanish.
Scott Shrum - Director of Admissions Research
While at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Scott met Omari Bouknight from Harvard, and the two of them wrote Your MBA Game Plan. This book is now in its third edition, and continues to be one of the most popular books on getting into business school. While researching Your MBA Game Plan they came in contact with Chad and Markus, and the four stayed in close touch. Two years later, Scott joined the Veritas Prep team.
Marisa Peck - Senior Marketing Manager
A native of Southern California, Marisa Peck sees no reason to leave its friendly climate and beautiful scenery. She attended the University of California-San Diego, majoring in Sociology. There she developed an affinity for marketing while interning at a local sports marketing agency. Returning to Los Angeles after graduation, she came to work for Veritas Prep as a marketing coordinator, overseeing the company’s affiliate partnerships, promotional events, and public relations activities.
Colleen Hill - Logistics Manager
As Logistics Manager, Colleen manages the bookings for Veritas Prep classrooms across the world, at least temporarily satisfying her wanderlust and giving her opportunities to learn about new places. She also helps to manage the Veritas Prep team of instructors, which along with her side project as a yoga instructor keeps her closely tied with her passion for teaching and helping others. A native of Southern California and graduate of UCLA, Colleen has a love of coastal living – but not one limited just to the California coast. Mediterranean, Indian, South American, she loves it all, having lived and worked in Egypt, Tanzania, Jordan (the Dead Sea has a coast...), and Peru. With her love of higher education (she interned at the Cairo Museum as part of her Middle Eastern and North African studies degree) and helping others (she led a Habitat for Humanity build in Peru, and spent eight weeks tutoring and conducting other outreach in Tanzania), she is a natural for her role as Logistics Manager for Veritas Prep in her ocean-facing office.
Jason Sun - Strategy and Operations Manager
Born in New York but raised in Los Angeles, Jason graduated from USC, was named table tennis state college champion and currently competes in swing dance competitions. Jason has revolutionized the classroom logistics process at Veritas Prep, launched social media campaigns, managed an organization-wide Salesforce rollout, and oversaw the creation of Veritas Prep’s mobile applications.In 2011, Jason took the official GMAT exam and scored in the 99th percentile.
Jeremy Dempster - Web Developer
The quality of his work at UCLA pursuing the interdepartmental Mathematics/Economics degree earned him a recommendation for his initial position at Veritas Prep as a web genius/programmer intern in December 2007. At that time, Jeremy appreciated the opportunities Veritas Prep gave him to work on actual real-world projects and to develop skills beyond theoretical classroom learning. Plus, as a man aspiring to be a teacher one day, Veritas Prep provided an environment where he could learn from some of the best in the business. After graduating from UCLA in 2010, Jeremy came on full-time to serve as our Web Developer extraordinaire – a position that allows him to pursue his passions for helping others and bringing projects to life.
Kori Schleicher - Student Experience Coordinator
Currently, she serves as a client experience coordinator for Veritas Prep helping anxious GMAT students relax and making clients happy one email at a time. Kori graduated from California State University, Channel Islands majoring in Sociology. Upon graduation, she took time to travel abroad and see the sights of England, France and Italy and has had the travel bug ever since. Although she grew up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Kori has a deep appreciation for the ocean and spends as much time as possible surfing and paddle boarding. Her next adventure in the works is great white shark diving off Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
Jenny Tang - Student Experience Coordinator
Born in New York but raised in New Jersey, Jenny graduated from Rutgers with a major in Psychology and decided to head west to Southern California. Jenny secured a position in communications and marketing with UCLA but decided her talents would be best used working directly with students. Currently, she works at Veritas Prep as a Student Experience Coordinator helping GMAT students achieve their target score. When she’s not assisting GMAT students, she spends her free time helping others by volunteering at local hospitals and food banks and cleaning up local beaches.
Peter Williams - Senior Course Advisor
A political science/pre-law major from Washington State University, Peter’s political and business philosophies can both be summarized in the phrase “yes we can”, a mantra that he enjoys spreading to apprehensive graduate school applicants worried about their futures. Peter looks forward to talking with you about your goals and helping you formulate a plan to get there. Just don’t tell him that you’re a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers or Oklahoma City Thunder; this Seattle native has suffered enough.
Marc Feder - Course Advisor
Whether he’s rooting on an alma mater in football (Texas Longhorns) or playing wiffle ball on the beach, Marc thrives on competition, and relishes in the opportunity to do that at Veritas Prep. As a course advisor, Marc enjoys helping students achieve higher scores and gain admission to their target schools. Originally from Houston, Texas he does maintain quite a bit of Texas pride even while living in Southern California, where he reminds his friends that the local food of choice is, indeed, TEX-Mex. Initially an advertising copywriter after graduating from Texas, he soon recognized that the Don Draper lifestyle of drinking scotch all day wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, so he switched to a more active-lifestyle company at Veritas Prep and now focuses his attention on the great outdoors. The avid scuba diver, snowboarder, and basketball/soccer/kickball player also enjoys wandering through his new hometown of Venice Beach, where people-watching can even be considered a sport.
Tyler Leonard - Course Advisor
Veritas Prep Course Advisor Tyler Leonard thrives on getting the job done and doing whatever it takes. The first to pick up the phone and the most likely to exhaust all resources in helping you choose the right path to preparedness for your GMAT score and MBA goals, this lifelong Lakers and Chargers fan will even assist you in your quest to attend one of the elite schools in Boston, home of his hated Celtics and Patriots. When he’s not helping you find the perfect GMAT course, this southern California native and a graduate from San Diego State University spends his time playing competitive beach volleyball and surfing the Malibu waves.
Michele Patrick - Controller
True to form, Veritas Prep Controller Michele Patrick used her hometown of St. Louis as a Gateway to the West, taking advantage of the opportunity at Saint Louis University’s MBA program to transfer to Loyola Marymount to complete her education (with Summa Cum Laude honors) and relocate to sunny Southern California. Michele soaked up all the sun that her path to Los Angeles would offer, studying in Madrid, cheerleading for the St. Louis Rams of the NFL, appearing in a few Hollywood movies, and working for multiple media and fitness companies with “Hollywood” and “LA” in their brand names.Now firmly entrenched as a Los Angeles resident, Michele maintains an active and varied lifestyle, managing accounting and HR responsibilities for Veritas Prep, teaching spinning and pilates classes, and managing a handful of entrepreneurial ventures.
Zia - Director of Happy-Go-Luckiness
In addition to bird chasing, Zia’s job responsibilities include greeting each employee each time they enter a room; raising team morale with a lovable face and impeccably upbeat demeanor; and tail-wagging at good ideas during brainstorming meetings.Zia’s temperament has been shaped by her experiences: she was rescued from the streets at 3 months old, then survived a scare with parvo (essentially the Black Plague for dogs), all the while surviving because of her positive attitude. After all she’s been through, she undoubtedly deserves to live in blissful happiness in her home near the Pacific Ocean, hiking in the mountains and taking long walks on the beach. Should you meet Zia, drop her a delicious Goldfish cracker or two - the most direct way to her heart, after which she’ll certainly hold a special place in yours.
