Our Story

Built From the
Inside Out

CEO was built by someone who watched opportunity break firsthand — and decided to engineer systems to repair it.

The Origin

Where Institutions Fail, We Build

After years working inside school systems, NGOs, and consulting firms, our founder saw the same pattern repeat: talented students — especially those without economic navigation capital — were falling through the cracks not because of a lack of ability, but because no one had shown them how the architecture of opportunity actually works.

"I've worked inside institutions long enough to understand where opportunity breaks — and now I'm building systems that repair those fractures."

CEO was built to fill that gap. Not as another mentoring program, tutoring nonprofit, or scholarship fund — but as an economic opportunity engine grounded in labor-market literacy, institutional design, and long-term sustainability.

Leading CEO's strategic vision, program design, and institutional partnerships across the country.

Marques Moore
Founder & Executive Director
The Problem We Solve

Three systems. One student.
Minimal coordination.

School districts, community colleges, and local employers each serve students — but rarely in concert. CEO doesn't repair that disconnect. We equip students with the navigation capital to move through it with intention.

Without CEO — student unequipped at center Three institutions at triangle vertices with dashed edges showing minimal coordination. Student at center is dim and directionless. MINIMAL COORDINATION MINIMAL COORDINATION MINIMAL COORDINATION COMMUNITY COLLEGE Courses Completed Pathway Unclear COMMUNITY COLLEGE State Requirements Met CTE In Isolation LOCAL EMPLOYER Misaligned Job Applications Low Wage | Low Skill Roles STUDENT

The student sits at the center of three systems — but no one has shown them how to navigate any of them.

Minimal coordination
Student — unequipped
With CEO — student equipped with navigation capital Institutional gaps remain as dashed lines. Student at center is now bright and bold with directional gold arrows reaching toward each institution, labeled with the forms of capital they now carry. MINIMAL COORDINATION MINIMAL COORDINATION MINIMAL COORDINATION COMMUNITY COLLEGE Clear Post-Secondary Journey Workforce Ready SCHOOL DISTRICT Career Launchpad CTE Completer LOCAL EMPLOYER Trusted Talent Vetted Pipelines STUDENT

The gaps in the system remain. But the student now has the navigation capital to move through them with intention.

Minimal coordination
Navigation capital — student-held
Leadership

The Team Behind CEO

Practitioners, educators, and systems thinkers united by a single belief: that opportunity is architecturable.

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Our Journey

How We Got Here

The Classroom Years

I spent nearly a decade teaching — using the classroom as a live laboratory for student aspiration patterns and watching, up close, where school systems fail to connect learning to labor-market value. That disconnect isn't usually in a school's scope of practice. But it shapes the outcome anyway.

2012
2022

MBA & Strategy

Completed an MBA at Michigan State University, interned at Johnson & Johnson, then spent two years at EY-Parthenon working on M&A strategy — where I saw firsthand how institutional systems shape human outcomes at scale.

Education Pioneers Fellowship

Joined HISD as an Education Pioneers Fellow, building a ground-level understanding of how district systems shape student and workforce outcomes from the inside. HISD's historic bond proposal sharpened my conviction about what a strong CTE program can be — and what it too often isn't.

2024
2026

CEO Founded

Cohort for Economic Opportunity earned its 501(c)(3) status and officially launched, with a mission to architect economic opportunity for students and young adults most overlooked by existing systems.

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Admitted to Harvard Graduate School of Education and awarded the Zuckerman Fellowship through the Center for Public Leadership — adding institutional credibility, cross-school network access, and policy legitimacy to accelerate CEO's work. Harvard is leverage, not destination.

2026
Our Core Values

What Drives Everything We Do

Structural Integrity
We build institutions designed to last, not programs that fade. Everything we create is engineered for sustainability and replication.
Economic Clarity
We demystify how labor markets work. Students deserve to understand the rules of the game before they play it.
Collective Ascent
We believe that lifting the floor raises the ceiling for everyone. Talent without access is a loss for all of society.
Relentless Iteration
We test our assumptions against real evidence — from classrooms, employers, students, and community — then adapt continuously.

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