Jeff Olson

Jeff Olson is responsible for ensuring that data supports all our student-centered efforts.

Jeff leads the data teams at the College Board. He is responsible for ensuring that data drives all of our efforts on behalf of students, including our services, outreach, and intervention strategies.

Prior to joining the College Board in 2013, Jeff led data science and market intelligence for Kaplan Test Prep, informing the development of products and services and helping shape organizational strategy. At Kaplan, he tracked the global higher education landscape, including leading the annual Newsweek College Guide survey and a decade-long study of admission officers at colleges and graduate schools. As an independent data scientist, he has served clients in the consumer packaged goods, music, retail, education, and nonprofit sectors.

Jeff is skilled at simplifying complicated analyses and is a respected voice in his field. His surveys and commentary have appeared in many national publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Newsweek. In 2006, he was profiled in the Washington Business Journal.

At the start of his career, Jeff taught classes in physics, chemistry, and biology to students preparing for graduate school entrance exams. He also lectured in biology at George Mason University.

Jeff has a bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary and did graduate coursework at the Medical College of Virginia and George Washington University.