Biography
M.A. ’10
Strategy Officer for Research
Lumina Foundation – Indianapolis, IN
Frank Swanzy Essien Jr. is responsible for Lumina’s work around identifying and synthesizing existing research and evidence as well as commissioning new research to inform Lumina and the broader field on efforts aimed at increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality post-high school credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Prior to assuming this role, Frank was a strategy officer on Lumina’s Learning Infrastructure team, working on projects related to competency-based education, including the launch of the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN). He also worked briefly as a strategy officer on Lumina’s design and policy work regarding the development of new higher education business and finance models.
Before joining Lumina Foundation in 2016, Frank served as manager for measurement and evaluation at USA Funds (now Strada Education Network), where he was responsible for assessing the social impact of the organization’s philanthropic actions. Prior to his time at USA Funds, Frank worked for a for-profit management and marketing consulting firm in New York, helping Fortune 500 companies optimize their business strategies.
Frank holds a graduate degree from Lilly Family School, and is currently pursuing his doctorate with the school as well. He also has a bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance with a minor in mathematical science from Westminster College, where he was a Davis United World College (UWC) Scholar and a Bill Emerson Fellow.