dana
rolandeR
College Sailing Associates Founder and Independent Educational Consultant
Dana Rolander is the founder of College Sailing Associates and Midwest College Consulting. Dana has been guiding students and families, including prospective student-athletes, through the college admissions process for over twelve years and works with students nationwide. Dana is a Certified Educational Planner, a distinction representing the highest level of competence and knowledge in the field of educational consulting, and credited to just 276 of the thousands of US-based college consultants. She received a Certificate in College Counseling with distinction from UCLA and is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association and a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Dana vigorously pursues professional development through conferences and workshops, and visits between 10-25 colleges each year. During the summer, Dana resides in Fontana, Wisconsin, on Lake Geneva, home to an active sailing community, including America’s Cup competitors and Olympians. Dana’s passion for supporting the youth sailing community through the Lake Geneva Yacht Club and Geneva Lake Sailing School and her background in college admissions was the inspiration behind College Sailing Associates. During the school year, Dana resides in Terrace Park, Ohio, with her husband and two dogs and has three sons who now live near the water full time.
tom
sitzmann
Independent Educational Consultant, Lead Recruiting Specialist & Coach
A lifelong sailor, educator, and coach, Tom has accumulated a broad range of sailing and professional experience. Tom started his teaching career in 1994 while earning his Master’s at Dartmouth College, and now teaches history and philosophy at Severn School (Severna Park, MD), with previous teaching experience at the US Naval Academy, St. Stephen’s St. Agnes School (Alexandria, VA) and Middlesex School (Concord, MA).
Tom has coached sailing and directed successful sailing programs from Maine to Annapolis. He competed on the men’s ice hockey team at Tufts University and then served as an assistant sailing coach for Tufts and Dartmouth College. He next coached sailing at the US Naval Academy and was Head Intercollegiate Coach at Bowdoin College. Now Head Coach at Severn School, Tom has guided his teams to an unprecedented 12 National Championship podium finishes, earning 6 National Championships, most recently with 2023 Baker Team Race and 2024 Mallory Fleet Racing titles. At Severn, Tom has also actively guided team members in the college sailing recruiting process for two decades. His student-athletes have enjoyed extraordinary success finding great matches at the nation’s top academic sailing schools.
Tom also has small business startup experience with the sail loft business Quantum Sails Northeast in Maine and “Sail1Design,” an online sailing news, marketplace, and job resource for the youth, high school, college, and one-design sailing communities. Tom lives with his wife Julie and children Thomas, 19, and Annie, 16, in Maryland during the academic year. During the summer months they live in Tom’s family home in Yarmouth, ME.