Tarlin Ray

Tarlin is senior vice president of BigFuture, heading up its student-facing, higher ed enrollment and financial aid programs. The focus of the BigFuture team is to productively connect students and higher ed, ultimately helping students find the “right fit” next step in their path post-high school. In addition, BigFuture directly provides services to higher ed helping to enhance student recruitment and providing robust financial aid tools.

Prior to joining College Board, Tarlin held leadership positions at Kaplan and had the opportunity to oversee the P&L, strategy, product, operations, admissions, partnerships, and sales and marketing functions in various roles. He was senior vice president of business development and product management for Kaplan Test Prep and president of Dev Bootcamp, a pioneer in the technology vocational training space. He was a founding team member of Metis, a data science bootcamp. 

For over 20 years, Tarlin has held key positions in several early-stage companies such as T.w.I.S.M (Shaquille O’Neal’s clothing company), The Groove Alliance (proprietary 3D technology), and Virgin Charter (a Richard Branson−backed technology startup). His primary aim was building these companies’ innovative product and services. Most of his career has been spent in the education and talent field. This has given him the chance to combine his passion for lifelong learning and his drive to impact the lives of young adults and career switchers.

Tarlin currently serves on the boards of the Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund, Hack.Diversity, the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation, and Personalyze (an AI-driven social analytics company). He cohosts a podcast called Running It Back, which looks at lessons learned from past sports moments.

He earned his BA in economics at Harvard College and his MBA at Harvard Business School.