One of America’s leading experts on colleges and college towns, Stuart Nachbar—aka ‘Ed Quest’—has been an urban economic development professional, education software marketing executive and an author who has been an advocate for higher education. Over the past five years, he has written two novels, The Sex-Ed Chronicles and Defending College Heights, around conflicts in education politics, as well as over 800 pieces on topics ranging from college admissions to charter schools to the use of technology in the schools.
Stuart was formerly senior vice president, and one of the original members of the management team, for College Central Network (CCN), a New York City-based company that manages and markets Web-based applications used by more than 550 U.S. college and university career centers in all types of schools from two-year and four-year public and private institutions to graduate programs and specialized colleges in the arts. Over ten years he directed sales, marketing, product development and customer training and helped build one of the largest client bases in the higher education space.
Prior to his involvement with CCN, he served as a management, marketing and community relations consultant to non-profit organizations and public agencies in his home state of New Jersey. His career began in urban economic development where he served as the first executive director of a Newark (NJ) Downtown Business Council, building a base of 400 member businesses while helping to attract over $70 million in new public investment over five years.
Stuart has a BA in Political Science and a MBA in Marketing and Organizational Behavior from Rutgers University, a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as a Certificate in Digital Media Marketing from New York University. He is also a member of the National Education Writer’s Association.
A car enthusiast, avid reader, American history buff and baseball, football and college basketball fan, Stuart lives in the Princeton (NJ) area.