Strada collaborates with students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
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We prioritize policies, practices, and programs that help ensure postsecondary education provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We advance our mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, and strategic initiatives.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Strada Education Foundation, a nonprofit social impact organization dedicated to helping people achieve their career and life goals through education or training after high school, today announced Michael Austin as the organization’s next executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Austin will assume the CFO role permanently after serving as the foundation’s interim CFO for the last two years, during which he helped lead the organization through an important period of leadership and strategic transition. Austin played an integral role in shaping Strada’s new strategic plan and coordinating the budget planning and resource allocation needed to support it.
As CFO, Austin will oversee Strada’s financial operations and play a key role in shaping and executing all financial decisions, particularly as it relates to its asset mix, investment decisions, resource allocation, and future acquisitions. He will be based in Strada’s headquarters in Indianapolis.
“Michael’s unique blend of experience with strategic transactional work and operational excellence, combined with his passion for Strada’s mission, are key assets in our work to bring to life a postsecondary education and training ecosystem that provides equitable pathways to opportunity,” said Strada President and CEO Stephen Moret. “His diverse experience will play an important role in supporting our multi-pronged approach to collaborating with strategic partners, investing in promising innovations, and providing a level of operational excellence that will help us make education work better for more people. Michael has played a central role in developing our new strategic plan and providing the operational backing needed for it to succeed, so I’m excited to have him continue his great work as we look to revitalize and expand access to the American Dream of economic opportunity and mobility.”
Before he was named interim CFO in 2021, Austin served as Strada’s senior vice president of finance for four years, during which he developed the organization’s first financial planning and analysis function. As Strada acquired and supported new nonprofit organizations, he built a playbook for due diligence and provided analysis regarding the financial solvency of each potential acquisition. Austin also helped author Strada’s first long-range financial plan and assisted its supported nonprofits in building a path toward becoming self-sustaining organizations.
Prior to Strada, Austin had 25 years of experience at companies within the education and financial services sectors, including roles in corporate finance, financial operations, consulting, and investment banking. In those roles, he focused on providing consulting, partnership formations, business startups, capital markets, and merger and acquisition advisory services.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to lead this team during an exciting period in Strada’s history,” Austin said. “I’m proud of the tremendous commitment our team has given to the organization in a time of extraordinary evolution, during which we showed that we can accomplish great things while navigating and supporting important organizational changes and strategic planning. I’m excited to lead them into the next phase of Strada’s mission as we work to strengthen the links between education and opportunity.”
Austin earned his bachelor’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University.
About Strada Education Foundation
Providing access to college degrees isn’t enough. That’s why Strada Education Foundation focuses on stronger connections between postsecondary education and opportunity in the U.S. and focus on helping people whom our systems have failed to serve equitably. We advance this mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, and public policy solutions. We collaborate with students, educators, employers, policymakers, and other partners to help create more equitable pathways to prosperity. Learn more at stradaeducation.org.
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