Rachel Romer Carlson

Carlson was one of those kids who grew up talking about education reform at the dinner table. That’s because of who her family is. Her maiden name is Romer and Roy Romer, Colorado’s 39th governor, who in 1965 pushed to start what is now Metropolitan State University of Denver, is her grandfather. Her father, Chris, is a former state senator, and co-founded American Honors, an organization that coaches community college students to move to 4-year schools. He also started the Colorado I have a Dream Foundation and he currently works at Guild as vice president of university partnerships. Carlson has dueling Master’s Degrees in education and business from Stanford and spent her twenties working at education companies like American Honors and The Parthenon Group, as well working on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and in the White House. She also received an undergraduate degree from Stanford and founded Student Blueprint, an education technology start-up in Palo Alto, Calif., that provides online education planning and career services for community-college students.