For Immediate Release:  October 1st, 2009               

Contact:  Emma Furman, 801-716-3692

EdSoup Announces New Director of Financial Aid Services

Salt Lake City, UT- EdSoup today announced the addition of senior financial aid services professional Jeffrey L. French to its executive management team.  Mr. French will operate as the director of financial aid services where he will be responsible for developing EdSoup’s student-oriented financial aid consulting services.

Mr. French brings a successful 24-year track record in education finance and the Federal Family Education Loan Program to EdSoup, including strategic planning, product development, and administration in the areas of operations, new business development, sales management, and client sales.

Mr. French’s background includes senior management positions at Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation, Discover Financial Services, and Citibank Student Loan Corporation. He spent nearly a decade of his career with Brazos, most recently as senior vice president of secondary market services outreach. The Brazos Group was recognized as the sixth largest holder of student loans in the United States; during his tenure there Mr. French simultaneously served as president of the board of Educational Funding Services, Inc., a not-for-profit student loan company with a loan portfolio in excess of $757 million dollars.  Mr. French has also been a frequent guest speaker at various student loan conferences and served as president for California Lenders for Education.  

 “I am extremely excited to be joining EdSoup at this critical juncture in its evolution,” said Mr. French. “The student lending and financial aid landscapes have changed considerably and I’m looking forward to bringing my talents to a rapidly expanding organization that’s strategically positioned to meet the challenges that the financial aid services industry is now experiencing.”

“We’re thrilled to add Mr. French to our executive team, and look forward to expanding the financial aid services we offer to prospective college students,” said Chris Sower, president and founder of EdSoup. “Scaling our ability to help students navigate the complicated process of paying for college is an excellent addition to the growing suite of consulting services we provide."

“Our message to students is the same today as when we started,” continued Mr. Sower, “if you want to improve your life through education, EdSoup can help you get started.”

 About EdSoup

Founded in 2005, EdSoup has focused on building the largest database of post-secondary education ever assembled.  The EdSoup database currently contains over 8,500 colleges with 13,000 campus locations that offer 295,000 programs in 49 states and is available to search online at www.collegedirectorynetwork.com.  Our EdSoup.com Web site matches prospective college students to the schools in our database, and provides experienced college search advisors to every student.  For more information visit www.edsoup.com