Dr. Mark Anthony Brown

Executive Director

Short bio from website
Accountable to the Board of Directors for leadership, guidance and direction, business development, and strategic communications for SFI. Previously responsible for the $1.7 Trillion federal student loan portfolio and engagement with 6,000 colleges and 600,000 students as Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid, Department of Education. In this role, Brown had statutory authority for all the nation’s Title IV (Pell Grants, Work-study, Student Loans) funding for 600,000 students and a total lending portfolio of $1.7 trillion, and 6,000 partner institutions around the country. The lending portfolio of Federal Student Aid is equivalent to that of the nation’s 5 largest consumer lending banks. During his time at FSA, Brown oversaw the total digitization of financial services for students, parents, and borrowers. With over 2O digital improvements, FSA now provides the Free Application for Federal Student Aid on all digital platforms including mobile applications and artificial intelligence for routine student inquiries. In addition, faced with a pandemic, Brown oversaw the transformation of over 25 million borrowers from active to forbearance status which temporarily eliminated payments for most students, parents, and borrowers across the country.

Led organization responsible for the education and training of 200,000 airmen and the funding mechanism within the USAF. Retired Major General (USAF), with 32+ years’ experience leading organizations responsible for educating, developing, and training their workforce. Graduate of National Defense University (Master of National Security Strategy), Air Command & Staff College (Master of Strategic Studies), Troy State University (Master of Public Administration), Tuskegee University (Accounting).