Board Members
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Sarah D. Richmond
Sarah Richmond is the younger sister of the late Jonathan Richmond, who founded TakeOff Space and was its first CEO. She lives in London, UK and teaches Philosophy at University College London. Her research interests are in 19th and 20th century European philosophy, and the more applied end of Ethics. Currently involved in UCL admissions, she has a sense of the hurdles which less advantaged students have to overcome to gain the education that they often need and deserve.
Preston Stewart
Preston Stewart is Head of Mentoring for the Harvard-based Mentoring Team, having been a part of the organization since 2019, and currently serves as President of the Board. Preston has conducted extensive research into international development through community-run organizations and small-scale interventions, presenting his findings to various government development organizations - including the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands - and NGOs, such as Oxfam. Preston works to adopt the best practices he has learned from his research to make positive change at Takeoff Space. Preston is a senior at Harvard College studying Government.
Osazi Al Khaliq
Osazi Al Khaliq is Deputy Head of Mentoring for the Harvard Based Mentoring Team, and also runs the Takeoff Space Website. Osazi has been honored by the Georgia Board of Education, Atlanta City Council, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for his work within the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project. He was also keynote speaker at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Atlanta State of the Union Address, and Coca Cola Teen Summit among others. Osazi is a junior at Harvard College studying Government.
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David Brancazio
David Brancazio, Treasurer and advisor on the board of Takeoff Space Inc., graduated from MIT with a BS and MS in mechanical engineering, and works as an independent engineering consultant in the Boston area. His other volunteer activities include co-founding and performing in an activist street band, convening meetings of a social-justice committee based in a Cambridge church, and activism with SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice). He is from New York.
Mark Kantrowitz
Mark Kantrowitz is Publisher of PrivateStudentLoans.guru, a free web site about student loans. Mark is an expert on student financial aid, scholarships, 529 plans and student loans. He has been quoted in more than 10,000 newspaper and magazine articles about college admissions and financial aid. Mark has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reuters, U.S. News & World Report, MarketWatch, Money Magazine, Forbes, Newsweek and Time. Mark is the author of five bestselling books about scholarships and financial aid and holds seven patents. Mark serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Student Financial Aid, the editorial advisory board of Bottom Line/Personal, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Center for Excellence in Education. Mark has two Bachelor's degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master's degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
Tom Karlo
Tom Karlo has been a product leader at Amazon, Google, Android, YouTube, and Stripe as well as several other venture startups, and was also previously an investment banker and technology journalist. He was the product manager for Android System UI from 2012-2017 and worked on key features including the lock screen, launcher, notifications system, and system settings as well as the storage and printing frameworks. While at YouTube he conceived and launched their new shopping platform.
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Tom has spoken at Vidcon LA and London, the global Android OEM summit, YouTube Forge (internal), YouTube Creator pop-ups, and other venues. He is a current or past advisor to a number of for-profit and non-profit ventures, including Khali Min, Cheq, InSITE, and Maximum Fun.
William Navarre
William Navarre, Clerk on the board of Takeoff Space Inc., advisor on operations, and assistant with corporate fundraising, was a computer science major at MIT and currently works as a programmer at Dimensional Insight. William is from Orland, Maine. He was fortunate to attend high school at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Maine, where he received much encouragement. He applied to MIT with support from family and teachers, and understands the importance of good advising. While at MIT, he served as co-treasurer of the MIT Educational Studies Program and was Executive Editor of The Tech, MIT’s student newspaper.