Stephen Marcus Founder & CEO
Steve is a successful entrepreneur and investor with over 15 years experience founding and managing technology companies. Prior to founding Matchbox in 2011, Steve was a Venture Partner at New Atlantic Ventures, an early-stage venture fund based in Boston. Before joining NAV, Steve had been the founder of five companies in the mobile, web, and information technology sectors. He has been angel investor and advisor in nearly a dozen startup companies, and a designer founder mentor in the Designer Fund. Steve holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is a frequent guest lecturer and advisor as well as a former member of the Admissions Committee, and a bachelors degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
"When I'm not heads down on Matchbox, I’m spending time with my wife Elena, attempting to golf, playing Call of Duty, and watching my UCONN Huskies!"
Stephanie Preston Chief Operating Officer
Stephanie has over 10 years of professional experience in sales, operations, teaching, and finance. Prior to joining Matchbox as Chief Operating Officer, Stephanie was hand-picked for Ahold USA's executive-sponsored Leadership Development Program. Prior to Ahold, Stephanie was with the private wealth group of Goldman Sachs & Company. Before Goldman, Stephanie led the turnaround of a Branch at Bank Rhode Island where she was the youngest Branch Manager in the history of the bank. Stephanie is also co-founder of Preston Properties LLC, a commercial real estate management company.
Stephanie is President of the Moses Brown Alumni Association and sits on its Board of Overseers. She is Treasurer for the newly formed Community Works Rhode Island. She is also an active advisory board member for Community Preparatory School and College Visions. Stephanie obtained her BS and AB from Duke University in Economics and Spanish with a Certificate in Markets and Management. She earned her Masters in Business Administration from MIT. She married her next door neighbor, has three beautiful daughters and resides in her hometown of Providence, RI.
James Sullivan VP, Engineering
Jim is the guy every office needs – he’s the guy who is good at computers, doesn’t get frustrated by basic IT questions, and is MacGuyver when it comes to coding. Jim is President and Board Member of Cambridge Cloud Partners, and has spent the past 12 years leading CRM and software implementations at companies such as HubSpot, Avid, and Black Duck.
Angel Navedo Director, Customer Success
With 19 years of admissions experience, including a lengthy stint as the Associate Director of Admissions at MIT Sloan School of Management, Angel is well-versed in the problems inherent in the university admissions process. He has spent his career working to recruit, evaluate and enroll students into MIT Sloan’s MBA program. His experience makes him the perfect person to ensure Matchbox customer’s success – he is the embodiment of our tagline “for admissions professionals by admissions professionals.”
Elizabeth Pabst Customer Success Manager
Elizabeth joins Matchbox from the world of undergraduate admissions. Most recently, she helped high school students prepare for college in her role as Assistant Director of College Counseling at Saint Paul Academy and Summit School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prior to her time as a college counselor, Elizabeth was an Admissions Officer at Harvard College, where she reviewed nearly 2,000 applications annually and supervised over 800 alumni volunteers in her regions throughout the applicant interview season and selection process. Before working at Harvard, Elizabeth was the Assistant Director of Admissions at Boston University and also held various roles in Admissions at Boston College, her alma mater. Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude from Boston College and holds a M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.
Colin Irose Account Executive
Colin joins Matchbox from Eduventures, the leading educational research and consulting firm, where he was the Senior Membership Director. At Eduventures, he worked directly with Presidents and Deans at hundreds of colleges and universities across the country to develop cutting edge research on their strategic initiatives. Colin was the leading account executive at Eduventures for his seven year tenure and responsible for nearly half of the company's annual revenue production. Prior to Eduventures, Colin was at the Home for Little Wanders at Longview Farms and The Walker Home and School, where he worked as an educator for children with special needs. Colin was also co-founder and VP of Sales for BackAxe, a unique music instrument accessory vendor with outlets at over a 150 wholesale and retail vendors. Colin holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of New England.
Peter Zotto Account Executive
Peter joins Matchbox after spending several years as a venture analyst at OpenView Venture Partners, where he spent his time sourcing new deals in the enterprise software space. Peter is also an advisor to Cocoa Box Software, the developers of top-ranked iPad app Penultimate (see? He gets the iPad).
Nicholas Bourey Senior Software Engineer
Nicholas has been developing cool iOS applications since the iPhone was first launched in 2007. While at DS Media Labs he was the lead architect of several successful iPhone apps including FLOverload, the arcade-style game based on the ‘80s Amiga classic Pipe Dreams. Nicholas is also our resident Doogie Howser—he started taking college classes at Eastern Connecticut State University while he was a sophomore in high school.
Andrew Shepard Senior Software Engineer
Andy is a software developer focused on iOS. Prior to joining Matchbox, he was a software developer at Sword Agencyport where he played a large part in incubating their mobile practice. Andy is a gardening enthusiast, and developed an iPhone/iPad application to manage his garden called GrowJo.
CeCe Bazar Marketing Coordinator
CeCe handles various marketing activities for Matchbox and leads the team with spirit fingers. While a student at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, CeCe worked as Senior Admissions Associate interviewing prospective students and leading group information sessions. She is now taking her passion for admissions and blending it with creativity to make Matchbox magic.