Adam Ingersoll – Founder and Principal
Adam began his career in test prep in 1993 while at the University of Southern California, where he was a student-athlete on the basketball team, worked in the admission office, and graduated magna cum laude. Over the last two decades he has guided thousands of families to successful experiences with standardized tests and has mentored hundreds of the industry’s most sought-after tutors. Adam is known nationally as a leading expert on college admission testing and is a frequent presenter at higher ed conferences, faculty development workshops, and school seminars.

Anne-Marie Chan – Director
Anne-Marie’s experience as an educator and advisor dates back over a decade. She tutored students at a nonprofit in LA before joining Compass as a math instructor in 2008. Her many years of experience as a career advisor and graduate school admission consultant also inform her work as Director of our NYC office . She holds degrees in English and Economics from Duke and is an NYU Stern MBA.

Art Sawyer – Founder and Principal
Art graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he was the top-ranked liberal arts student in his class. Art pioneered the one-on-one approach to test prep in California in 1989 and has written more than a dozen test prep books. Although he has routinely attained perfect scores on the SAT and ACT, Art is far prouder of the thousands of students he has helped over the past 25 years. Nobody knows more about standardized tests and tutoring than Art, and we make sure all Compass students benefit from his wisdom.

Brian Diedrick – Director of Outreach
Brian is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. For over a decade, Brian’s tutoring work for Compass Education Group has brought balance to his full-time career as an ad agency executive. He tutors because he truly loves the teaching process and finds great satisfaction in helping students to achieve — and often exceed — their test goals. As one of Compass’s many decade-plus veterans, Brian is most proud that his student roster year in and year out is mostly composed of repeat families and referrals.  Brian has also personally trained most of Compass’s entire tutor roster in best practices for online instruction.

Bruce Reed – Founder and Principal
Bruce graduated from Colby College and has served in leadership roles in education for more than 20 years. Bruce founded our Northern California office in 2004 where he continues to serve as its hands-on leader while also guiding our Southern California team in his broader role as Compass’ Executive Director. Bruce is recognized throughout the Bay Area and beyond as a visionary and passionate voice in the realm of teaching, testing, and educational development.

Eric Anderson – Director
Eric graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a Rhodes Scholarship campus nominee and an award-winning Global Studies instructor.  Since joining Compass as a tutor in 2015, Eric has led tutor trainings, developed new test-taking tools, and helped guide hundreds of students in the US and abroad to testing success.  Operating from his hometown of Chicago, Eric enjoys dispelling the anxiety that too-often clouds college admissions by turning his students’ individual strengths, interests, and experiences into test-taking expertise.

Flip Laffoon – Director of Outreach
Flip began tutoring test prep after graduating from Northwestern University, where he earned a BS in Theatre.  For almost the past decade with Compass, he has been assisting in developing new content, training new tutors, and tutoring in both one-on-one and classroom settings everywhere from Los Angeles to Switzerland.  In his years of tutoring, Flip has discovered that listening to his students and making his lessons with them fun are vital keys to instilling in them the confidence to be able to solve the standardized test puzzle, and he cherishes the opportunity to celebrate those moments of realization with his students.

Jon Lee – Senior Director
Jon graduated magna cum laude from California State University, Los Angeles where he also earned a Master of Music degree and taught undergraduate classes. He spent five years overseeing tutoring services for the Guardian Scholars Program at LA City College, supporting current and former foster youth. Jon began his test prep career in 2002 and has helped hundreds of families navigate the path to college. 

Lia Lackey – Managing Director, San Francisco
Lia Lackey began SAT/ACT tutoring in 1997 as she was finishing her B.A. in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. She now leads the Northern California Compass office in guiding families through the complex landscape of college admission testing. In addition to advising individual families, training Compass’ world-class tutors and mentoring the NorCal Compass team, Lia shares her expertise in test preparation planning with parents, students and college counseling professionals through keynote presentations at high schools throughout the Bay Area.

Matt Steiner – Senior Director, Outreach
Prior to joining Compass, Matt obtained their MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. They have over a decade of experience in the field of test preparation, having worked as an instructor, consultant, and keynote speaker on the topic of admission testing. Currently, Matt teaches graduate-level lectures on testing for the counselor certificate programs at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and UCLA. In their writing, teaching, and public speaking, Matt endeavors to build transparency around college admission tests and assuage the concerns of students, parents, and counselors.

Nina Kao – Director
Nina Kao is a Director in the New York City office of Compass Education Group. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where she first developed her passion for education. Nina served with Teach for America in their Mississippi Corps before teaching at a charter network in NYC. She has worked with a wide variety of families as they navigate the testing process, and she enjoys getting to know students and seeing their progress along the way.

Sara Berard – Senior Director, Sales
Sara has nearly two decades of experience in test preparation, dating back to her undergraduate years at Wheaton College. Sara’s expert knowledge of testing and her skill and integrity as a leader ensures that our team provides the highest-quality service to our clients. Sara is widely known by college counselors as a trusted resource who delivers successful outcomes for families.

Sue McLaughlin – Director of Recruiting and Staff Development
Sue is a frequent guest speaker on the topic of college admission testing and gives presentations at several Bay Area schools each year. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Modern Culture and Media and now serves as the Director of Recruiting and Staff Development for Compass in Northern California. Before her role overseeing the hiring and training of Compass tutors, Sue worked with hundreds of Bay Area families as a Compass Program Director who provided customized guidance to families.

Torsten Sannar – Managing Director, Los Angeles
Torsten holds a Ph.D. in Theater History from UC Santa Barbara and a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College where he discovered his passion for tutoring students. Now in his third decade in the college admission testing arena, Torsten leads Compass’ Los Angeles office and coordinates Compass School Partnership efforts nationwide. He enjoys drawing upon his creativity and teaching experience to help families sanely and smartly navigate the admission landscape.