Brett Visger has over 30 years of experience in promoting equitable postsecondary access and success at the local, state, and national levels. He is currently Senior Director of Pathways Research and Strategy with the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. In this role, Brett works to advance equitable student success through technical assistance, research, and strategy to institutions, philanthropies, and states. As a Pathways Service Provider for the Gates Foundation’s Higher Endeavor initiative, Visger supports providing technical support related to building pathways to institutions planning comprehensive improvement initiatives.
Prior to joining Pitt, Brett served as Senior Director of Postsecondary Attainment for Education Strategy Group (ESG), a national consulting firm. In this role, Brett managed several national initiatives focused on creating more equitable outcomes for learners of color. Most notably, Brett led the Lumina Foundation-funded REACH initiative, focusing on improving equitable outcomes of adults of color at community colleges in six states. Before joining ESG, Brett served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Collaboration and Completion for the Ohio Department of Higher Education. In this role, he implemented state-level strategies to help institutions improve completion rates, improve developmental education outcomes, and implement approaches that lead to more adult students earning credentials.
Brett led Ohio’s participation in Strong Start to Finish, focusing on scalable implementation of developmental education reforms. Brett also worked as an independent consultant on a wide variety of education and workforce alignment initiatives with state and national clients. Prior to consulting, Brett was Vice President, College & Career Access at KnowledgeWorks Foundation where he played a key role in developing the Ohio Early College High School Network and the Ohio College Access Network.
During Brett’s early career, he had a background with youth programming and college access with programs at Wesleyan University, University of Connecticut, and the Greater Washington D.C. College Information Center as well as at the National Council for Education Opportunity Associations in Washington, DC.
Visger earned a Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from George Mason University