EA hires new executive director of college counseling

Ari Roth ’26

EA recently hired Catalina Guzmán as the new Executive Director of College Counseling. 

As Executive Director, Guzmán will be responsible for overseeing the entire college counseling office and connecting the office to the rest of the school. Thus, she will not work directly with as many students as the rest of the college counseling office, but will instead be responsible for long-term planning. Michael Letts, Head of Upper School, explains that the Executive Director should be “somebody who is thinking about what we should be doing collectively and where we should be going as an office, as well as finding programs or services we should think about offering.” 

Guzmán worked in the University of Pennsylvania’s Admissions office during the beginning of her career, and five years ago, she was recruited to serve as founding director of student wellbeing and college counseling of Avenues, The World School, in São Paulo, Brazil. She will officially start her new role at EA in July but will visit campus for a week at the end of April or early May.

Meanwhile, Chris Torino, Assistant Head of Upper School, has stepped in as the interim Executive Director. Torino remarks, “I had been working with the team on a strategy and thinking about the future, so I stepped in and played an administrative role for the team. They are the experts but I have certainly helped design things and helped the trains run on time.” 

The school conducted an international search to find the best candidate for the job. Turino comments, “We had 80-something people express interest in the position. Carney Sandoe and Associates is a search firm that helps us often find teachers so they helped us with the search… We brought the finalists to campus, and she won the day.”

Some seniors had the opportunity to sit in on the interviews and give feedback on the candidates. “At the end of the day, the primary focus is the students, and so I wanted that feedback. It is always enjoyable to hear what the students say when the candidates come through,” Letts explains.

Ava Roberts ’24, one of the seniors invited to the interviews, believes that Guzmán’s experience in different aspects of the college process was what set her apart. Roberts states, “I thought that she brought a lot of different perspectives to a college counseling department that the other candidates did not necessarily offer. She had a lot of experience in various fields and I thought that that prepared her to really work with students who are looking to commit to play in college as well as students who are looking to find a good fit for college.” 

Torino concludes, “Guzmán has thought a lot about—and led teams thinking about—the overall experience for Upper School students. She has led comprehensive college counseling as well as student well-being programs at her current school. She not only brings college counseling expertise, but a much bigger perspective as well.”