Everyone Deserves Access to a Fresh Start

Nicholas Brown is the Product Manager at Upsolve. In 2019, he joined Upsolve as a Harvard Mindich Public Service Fellow. Inspired by the mission, he is taking a leave of absence from Harvard College to focus on Upsolve’s growth and impact. Nicholas is an undergraduate fellow at Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and a former Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Harvard Review of Philosophy, the only professional philosophy journal led by students, where he edited cutting-edge articles on critical race theory and affirmative action. Before Upsolve, he researched the history of behavioral economics for Harvard Law School’s Access to Justice and assisted with the production of The Hill’s Rising with Krystal and Saagar, one of the fastest growing political shows in America.

Nicole Ruiz is the Customer Success Advocate and Paralegal at Upsolve. Before Upsolve, she worked as a Legal Assistant at a number of New York City law firms. Nicole also served as a Program Assistant Intern for STRIVE International Re-entry program. Nicole holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Government from Hunter College and was selected as a Jewish Federal for the Education of Women Scholar from 2014 - 2016.

Andrea practiced exclusively as a bankruptcy attorney in consumer Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases for more than 10 years before joining Upsolve, first as a contributing writer and editor and ultimately joining the team full time in August 2019. While in private practice, Andrea handled all bankruptcy matters from inception to case closure while also acting as managing attorney for her firm, Marco | Wimmer PLLC. Andrea has been a speaker at, among other events, ABI’s Southwest Bankruptcy Conference, Norton’s Bankruptcy Institute and the Arizona State Bar Convention. In 2017, she was selected as one of ABI's 40 under 40 honorees. She is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judge’s NextGen Class of 2016, and she received the 2014 Member of the Year Award and a Special Appreciation Award from a local consumer attorney group, as well as a Distinguished Service Award from ABAIC. She has published in NACBA’s Consumer Bankruptcy Journal and the State Bar of Arizona Bankruptcy Section Journal, and currently serves as treasurer of the Arizona Consumer Bankruptcy Counsel. She has also been a volunteer attorney with the Arizona Bankruptcy Court’s Self-Help Center, which provides assistance to pro se debtors.

Tina Tran is the managing bankruptcy attorney for Upsolve, the largest consumer bankruptcy non-profit in the United States. She received her Juris Doctorate degree and Certificate in Advocacy from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Before joining the leadership team at Upsolve, Tina ran her own consumer bankruptcy practice, which she started at the age of 28, defending debtors trying to get back on their feet against aggressive and predatorial lenders and debt collectors. She believes in keeping the law simple and making it accessible for everyday people facing creditor lawsuits, wage garnishments, bank account freezers, foreclosures, and repossessions.

Ivetty Estepan is the Director of Outreach at Upsolve. Before Upsolve, Ivetty held positions at Yale’s Afro American Cultural Center and its La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos while also serving as a Teaching Assistant at New Yorks’ Prep for Prep in New YorkCity and volunteering as a Chaplaincy Fellow at Yale’s Chaplain’s Office. In the summer of 2016, Ivetty got a firsthand behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the United States Supreme Court, where she served as a Marshal’s Summer Assistant. Ivetty earned a Bachelor’s Degree in African American Studies and Ethnicity, Race & Migration from Yale University in 2018 and a Master of Philosophy Degree in the Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion from the University of Cambridge in 2019. Ivetty speaks English, Italian, and Spanish and describes herself as a mobilizer, rallying communities to advocate for social change.

Rohan Pavuluri is the CEO and Co-founder of Upsolve, the largest bankruptcy nonprofit in America. He graduated from Harvard College in 2018. He is also a member of the Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council, a Board Director at the National Access to Justice Center housed at Fordham Law School, and a committee member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Making Justice Accessible project. He has been recognized as Forbes 30 under 30 in the Law & Policy Category and a TED Fellow. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, and several other publications for his work in bankruptcy and Access to Justice. He has also delivered talks at the 45th Anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, Harvard University, and Stanford University. In 2019, Pavuluri and Upsolve were awarded the Robin Hood Foundation Heroes Award for "extraordinary contributions in the fight against poverty."

George Danforth is a software engineer at Upsolve. Before Upsolve, George worked as a software engineer at Quorum, a civic technology startup in Washington, DC. George holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University and is a co-author of Probing ΛCDM cosmology with the Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP). George served as a Senior Technical Advisor to WJHU Radio from 2014 - 2017. A graduate of Washington International School, George is fluent in English and Spanish.

Mark Hansen is the Chief Technology Officer at Upsolve. Before Upsolve, Mark co-founded government tech startup Hey Mayor and programmed for Y-Combinator backed startups. As a programmer, he worked with NYC community organizers to map discriminatory landlords and connect Bay Area service providers to unhoused residents. Prior to programming Mark consulted on special projects within AARP, CBS, Morocco’s OCP, KPMG, and Microsoft and mentored award winning Gaza start-ups as a 2D, 3D, and architectural designer. He graduated with an art degree from Rutgers University, and has since obtained a certificate of fundamentals from Harvard Business School and a certificate of competency concerning government technology procurement from New York University. Before all this, you could have found him with a blow torch and scrap metal making jewelry.