Marina T. Eisenberg

A mission-driven nonprofit leader, Marina has dedicated her career to developing efficient systems, building strategic infrastructure, and creating pathways of access for students and families from underserved communities. Impacted by her family’s experience of growing up as refugees in a predominantly low-income and immigrant neighborhood in the Bronx, NY, Marina chose to pursue a career dedicated to combating the many challenges of equity and access she witnessed firsthand in her community.

With a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies from Macalester College, Marina first began her career in higher education at Georgetown University, where she focused on creating strategic initiatives to better recruit, support, and empower first-generation, low-income undergraduate students. As Assistant Director, Student Programs and Business Administration, she was responsible for managing the university’s diverse financial aid budget, while also designing and leading its multiple financial literacy programs. Upon completing her Master of Arts degree in Social and Public Policy at Georgetown University, Marina took on an even greater leadership opportunity as Registrar for the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, a multi-campus public institution that serves DC’s adult English language learner community. Over the next four years, Marina revolutionized the Registration Department by developing the school’s first-ever strategic plan for enrollment and recruitment, creating business systems and processes that streamlined their operations, integrating new technology, and building a departmental professional development and performance track program.

Her solutions-oriented approach and savvy in implementing efficient systems led her to spend the following few years, the first of the pandemic, working in strategic operations and compliance-based leadership roles at two different local schools within her community before transitioning to the nonprofit sector.

Prior to joining OCU, Marina was the Director of Strategy and Operations at Kids’ First Years, a collective impact organization that works to provide equity and accessibility to resources and publicly funded early childhood programs for families with young children in the city of Alexandria. In her role, she oversees the strategic coordination of the collective’s diverse initiatives, manages grant compliance and regional coordination, and drives forward a data-focused approach to operationalizing systems.

In her position as Senior Director of Finance and Administration at One Common Unity, Marina actively supports OCU’s mission by aligning the organization’s inspiring vision and programs with operational excellence, sustainable financial management, and cross-collaborative systems.

A former competitive ballroom dancer, Marina still loves a good dance party, especially the impromptu ones her two kids organize in the living room. She also loves to travel, try new foods, and play tourist in her own city.