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Our Team

The team of experts dedicated to helping you on your college journey.

College and career success doesn’t have to fall on your shoulders alone.

Our unique approach relies on partnerships with trusted, nonprofit universities. They provide our students affordable access to their degree programs, and we provide all the things that students need to be successful: a deeply supported onboarding process, personalized coaching and supports in our Denver campus, and a community of caring staff and peers that will be with them every step of the way. 

This approach means students can pursue their degree and build their career at the same time, even while working or supporting family.

Holly Armstrong

Holly Armstrong

Head of Student Success
Holly Armstrong

Holly Armstrong

Head of Student Success
Holly is passionate about helping students thrive in education, career, and life. She has held multiple roles dedicated to building high-quality programs that promote equity for all students and communities. Prior to AdvanceEDU, she led an academic support program as Coordinator of Supplemental Instruction at Metropolitan State University of Denver. As the Assistant Director of College Completion for PelotonU, she helped create innovative student support resources and programming for the emerging hybrid college sector. Before PelotonU, she worked in various PK-12 roles coaching district leaders and teachers, overseeing curriculum and instruction, and creating remedial reading programs. Holly, a native Texan, graduated from Austin College and received her Master’s in Teaching from Marian University and her Master’s in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She hopes to help shape the future of higher education through AdvanceEDU’s dynamic, flexible, and career-relevant approach to supporting students.
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Danté Bills

Danté Bills

Success Coach
Danté Bills

Danté Bills

Success Coach
A Colorado native, Danté graduated from Colorado State University with his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and received his Master’s in Nonprofit Management from Regis University. Danté is passionate about the success of underrepresented students and has dedicated his career to helping those students gain access to post secondary opportunities. He has 10 years of experience in education where he has served in multiple roles, all of them focused on ensuring Colorado students have access to post secondary education opportunities. Prior to AdvanceEDU, Danté was a Lead College Advisor with the Denver Scholarship Foundation where he worked to make a college education a reality for all students. With AdvanceEDU, Danté hopes to help students realize there is more than one pathway to success.
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Lesley Del Rio

Lesley Del Rio

Recruitment Specialist
Lesley Del Rio

Lesley Del Rio

Recruitment Specialist

Lesley has a deep commitment to the Denver Community through her engagement, advocacy, and education work. Raised in the Westwood neighborhood of Denver, she graduated from Florence Crittenton High School and has served in various non-profit organizations in the Denver metro area in pursuit of advancing equity and access for underserved communities. Her other community leadership and advocacy includes serving as a Parent Advisor for the Aspen Institute, facilitating community collective action conversations, serving on the Denver Health Community Advisory Panel, and mentoring through Latinas Increasing Political Strength, At AdvanceEDU, Lesley remains committed to the Denver community by helping students access higher education and postsecondary opportunities. Lesley is a first generation student, a mother of a 10 year old who loves video games, and was the first AdvanceEDU Student to earn her associate’s degree from Southern New Hampshire University. Lesley is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree with AdvanceEDU.

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Alejandra Dominguez

Alejandra Dominguez

Success Coach
Alejandra Dominguez

Alejandra Dominguez

Success Coach

Alejandra was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela and grew up in South Florida. Her commitment to equity in education is rooted in her own experiences as a first-generation immigrant to the United States and in what she has learned through her work with high school and college students. Alejandra has had the opportunity to support student success in several roles, including as an AmeriCorps Student Engagement Advocate, College Advisor, and Graduate Assistant. Through her role at AdvanceEDU, Alejandra hopes to work alongside students as they circumvent the aspects of higher education that do not support their success to instead pursue a path that allows them to reach their goals feeling whole, empowered, and ready to enact positive change in their own lives, communities, and the world. Alejandra holds a BA in Earth and Environmental Science from Columbia University and an MS in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University.

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Brittany Lambert

Brittany Lambert

Head of Career Advancement
Brittany Lambert

Brittany Lambert

Head of Career Advancement
Brittany has worked with thousands of individuals to help them achieve their goals as a career, financial and life coach. New to the Denver area, Brittany has 15 years of strategic workforce development specifically around personal and professional development for learning adults in Chicago and Dallas. She is a trailblazer within the intersecting hybrid culture of Nonprofit and Private Sectors–creating diverse career pathways with organizations across the nation to drive business initiatives. Brittany is a Purdue University graduate with a BA in Sociology and African American studies. She also earned a certification in Nonprofit Management from Indiana University.
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Micah Lyles Robinson

Micah Lyles Robinson

Success Coach
Micah Lyles Robinson

Micah Lyles Robinson

Success Coach
Micah was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and grew up in South Carolina. His passion and commitment to recognizing and improving the equity gaps in education derives from his thoughts and hopes as a student. Micah’s life calling is to support students by walking alongside them; helping them develop and use their voices, while also creating an atmosphere of belonging. He has a passion for connecting with students and has held multiple roles in education to help students build and maintain bridges to reach their goals, supporting students as a high school Assistant Dean & Men’s Basketball Coach, Enrollment Counselor for Union College, and as a Success Coach for the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash. Through his role at AdvanceEDU, he hopes to use education as a means to debunk thoughts of displacement, worthlessness, and fear to instill confidence and passion, and ignite change. Micah holds a BA in English with an emphasis in Writing & Speaking and Minor in Leadership.
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Vanessa Roman

Vanessa Roman

Head of Outreach
Vanessa Roman

Vanessa Roman

Head of Outreach
Vanessa has dedicated her career to helping all students access higher education and postsecondary opportunities. She has over 10 years of experience in education where she has served in a variety of roles to promote higher education access to Colorado’s students. Prior to AdvanceEDU, Vanessa was the Associate Director of Admissions at the University of Colorado Boulder where she led efforts to enroll the largest and most diverse first-year class in the university’s history, 7 years in a row. Raised in Pueblo, Colorado as the granddaughter of immigrants and daughter of educators, Vanessa developed her values early in life and believes in the power of education to lift up individuals and communities. Vanessa earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Master’s Degree in Educational Foundations, Practices and Policy from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is committed to working with students to help them find the right fit for their higher education path at AdvanceEDU.
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Lauren Trent

Lauren Trent

Chief Executive Officer
Lauren Trent

Lauren Trent

Chief Executive Officer
Lauren Trent is the Chief Executive Officer of AdvanceEDU. Lauren has been building college and career experiences aimed at reversing patterns of economic and academic inequity for more than a decade. Most recently, Lauren was the Executive Director for Innovation and Strategic Alliances for the Career and College Success team at Denver Public Schools, where she oversaw the growth of key strategic programming including the district’s nationally-recognized DPS CareerConnect programming. Prior to that she was on the founding leadership team at CareerWise Colorado, where she helped launch Colorado’s first-of-its-kind youth apprenticeship system. Prior to that, Lauren led consulting projects for more than 20 colleges and universities across the country as an engagement manager at Huron Consulting Group. Lauren has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Indiana University, an MBA in Strategy and Social Enterprise from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a Masters in Education Leadership through the Broad Residency in Urban Education.
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More About AdvanceEDU

Our Board

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Our History

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Our Partners

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