Theresa Atta became CDI's founding Executive Director in 2005 and was named Vice President in April 2011. Theresa's deep, personal commitment to social justice and issues of equal access in higher education derives from her own background. Her mother immigrated to the United States from Kenya with only a seventh-grade education, but she was determined that Theresa and her brothers would work hard and benefit from the learning opportunities she never had. With the assistance of the Washington-based Black Student Fund, Theresa enrolled in the National Cathedral School in seventh grade and graduated as the Senior Class President.

While an undergraduate at Brown University, she worked in the Office of Admissions as a Minority Recruitment Coordinator and earned a B.A. with a double concentration in Public Policy and Afro-American Studies. After receiving her M.S. in Organization Development from American University in Washington, DC, Theresa worked as a management consultant at Unisys Corporation. Prior to attending American University, Theresa was a founding board member of College Summit, a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase college enrollment of low-income students nationally. She structured the organization’s training and recruitment methodology, implemented the Alumni Leadership Development Training Program, and served as Acting Executive Director of the Washington, DC and Florida regions. 

Theresa is an alumna and former board member of the Higher Achievement Program, an academically rigorous enrichment program for “at-risk” middle school students in Washington, DC; Alexandria, Virginia; and Baltimore, Maryland. She is also an alumna of the Black Student Fund, the organization credited for integrating independent schools in Washington, DC.

A skilled speaker and certified youth facilitator, Theresa is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling (PCACAC), and a graduate of The Harvard Summer Institute on College Admissions. She has addressed issues relating to college enrollment and retention for first-generation-to-college students at the national NACAC conference, on various college campuses, and on National Public Radio.