About the Management Team
Troy Onink
Troy Onink is the Chairman and CEO of Stratagee, a provider of web-based software, content, and services that help families determine where a child may get into college and get aid, and what their best strategy is to pay for independent school and college. The founders of the firm are highly accomplished in the areas of college funding, college admissions, software development, investment management and financial planning. This unique combination of expertise is the basis for all of the firm's content, advice and software products.
Troy provides expert commentary for Forbes, and is a contributor to Private Wealth Magazine and myStockOptions.com where he writes on a variety of education planning topics. He is the co-author of, Strategy & Simplicity - for Private School and College Funding (May 2008), and the author of Penny-Wise: Paying for Your Child's Independent School Education (NAIS, 2008, 2010).
A 17 year veteran of the financial services industry, Troy is widely recognized as an authority on education funding among financial services and academic professionals. Prior to co-founding Stratagee he specialized in education planning as a financial advisor, consultant, author and mutual fund company executive.
As the former national accounts manager at a top-ranked mutual fund company, Troy managed relationships with many of the nation's largest financial institutions, frequently presenting on investment and financial planning topics nationwide. In 2004, the first college funding webcast that Troy led for the Financial Planning Association achieved record attendance.
Troy has led multiple workshops and given numerous presentations at the annual conferences of the National Institute of Certified College Planners (NICCP), the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), the Association of College Counselors of Independent Schools (ACCIS) and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). He has also presented at hundreds of other financial services conferences including those sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Planning Magazine and other well-known members of the media.
Troy is a frequent guest speaker at a variety of functions nationwide and is often quoted by the national press.
Gregory Whalen
Mr. Whalen is the Chief Technology Officer for Stratagee - where he is responsible for all phases of design, development and deployment of Stratagee's technology platform. Additionally, Mr. Whalen handles all of the company's research and development initiatives.
Prior to Stratagee, he was Technical Director at R/GA, a leading interactive agency. He served as a technical engagement lead for the Lowe's, walmart.com, J&J China, L'Oreal HIP and Splenda businesses. Mr. Whalen worked in a wide range of roles - including business development (acquisition of Lowe's and walmart.com), technical project management and consulting. He worked closely with Lowe's as an on-site consultant during the planning and execution of several key advertising campaigns. He also led the development of their gift registry and managed the required point-of-sale changes across 1,100 stores. With J&J China, Mr. Whalen served as a consultant and led development of J&J's first corporate web presence in mainland China (www.jnj.com.cn). In more traditional advertising roles, he managed technical execution of online advertisements for Splenda and occasionally for L'Oreal's HIP makeup line.
Mr. Whalen has actively consulted with New York Presbyterian Hospital's "OR of the Future" committee and has produced several patented surgical applications. He has also developed financial optimization models for a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and has produced financial modeling software to accompany a pre-print asset allocation textbook.
Mr. Whalen is also a Director of Wisdom Data Services Corp, New York, NY, a technical consulting and software development company specializing in statistical optimization and machine learning software.
Lloyd Paradiso
Mr. Paradiso is a Director of Stratagee.com and the Editor of the firms content on school searches, placement and academic preparation.
The founder of the Admissions Authority LLC and an independent educational consultant, Mr. Paradiso's vast experience in the field spans over thirty years. He is a founding member and past president of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) and holds the designation of Certified Educational Planner. Mr. Paradiso is also a co-author of the new book, Strategy & Simplicity - for Private School and College Funding.
Mr. Paradiso's professional career is both varied and comprehensive. Initially, he served individual families by offering an in-depth evaluation of their child's academic profile, after which he suggested suitable institutions within the context of their specific priorities and expectations. Finally, Mr. Paradiso assisted parents and prospective students through the critical business of selecting the most appropriate school.
Corporations soon requested that he see their expatriate employees who would move frequently from one educational system to another - disrupting the schooling continuity of their children and creating many problems for both the family and the firm. In the course of working with such companies as Exxon Mobil, Hercules, RCA Ariola, Rockwell, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and GlaxoSmithKline, he developed an international consulting model which now serves as an accepted standard.
The leader of workshops both here and abroad, Mr. Paradiso has also advised governments, boards of trustees and private agencies - in addition to working as a college counselor for a well-known private school. His services include educational counseling, private school, college and graduate program placement, professional seminars and executive training.
Mr. Paradiso participates actively in many professional conferences and is a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the Pennsylvania Association for College Admissions Counseling (PACAC) and the College Board.