Photo: our founder (Zach) with his wife, Diana, and their son. They met when Diana was working in the U.S. on a visa. Their love story contributed to the founding of ProfVal.
The story behind
our purpose
"As professor and Associate Dean, I saw the challenges that my international students faced when trying to find employment in the United States. At the same time, I had fallen in love with someone who was working in the U.S. through an employment visa. Until she became my wife, we had to learn about how to navigate the immigration process ourselves.
My goal in starting a company was to help people I cared deeply for. ProfVal was borne from this... I wanted to play a role in helping highly capable professionals. In the years subsequent to our founding, ProfVal has evolved into a highly capable team that works tirelessly to develop services that support the work of immigration attorneys.
Zachary Johnson, PhD
When the company launched, we knew that the goal was simple. We wanted to help entrepreneurs, individuals, and employers succeed through the support of their employment-based visas.
We do this work because we are motivated by the human stories behind each evaluation we produce; there are dreams, aspirations, and, in many cases, meaningful professional and personal relationships shared between a job candidate and a sponsoring employer. To our whole team, these stories are personal and align with our goal of promoting equality.
This concept of equality isn't just an arbitrary do-gooder concept. Instead, doing this work effectively leads to a profound strengthening of the United States of America. Attorneys regularly share that our services lead to better outcomes for their clients as compared to our competitors. In turn, the clients we help do amazing things here.
Why does this work matter?
In 1848, Horace Mann famously described education as "the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of the social machinery".
We view believe that education and effort promote equality, but only if employment and educational opportunities are also equal for talented men and women.
Everything we do is based on the goal of promoting equality of educational and employment opportunities:
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By providing high quality services, we play an important role in facilitating opportunities for talented women and men.
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We improve educational opportunities by freely sharing insights on our research blog and via our donations through ProfVal.org.
When our clients have their visa petitions approved,
they do things big and small when realizing their dreams.
We work with talented nurses and doctors who have contributed to the net health of the U.S.
Many of the people we work with ask us to create immigration business plans for them. Their investments in the U.S. create new opportunities and jobs. Other clients, often those who require professional plans, bring their capabilities to the U.S.
Did you know that on average, each approved H-1B petition will lead to the creation of about 1.8 U.S. jobs?
Educate others and produce new knowledge
Some of our clients are researchers or professors who educate others. Others are professionals of exceptional and extraordinary ability who offer their consulting services in the U.S., thus transferring their knowledge via their work.
Improve the competitiveness of U.S. companies and organizations
we have completed high quality successful evaluations for Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofits, and small businesses. All of these organizations are improved via the contributions of the talented people we help.
In sum, we're thrilled to help others. It makes us feel great about what we do to improve equality -- it also makes the U.S. stronger and better in very tangible ways.
Select members of ProfVal
Zachary Johnson, Ph.D.
With over a decade of experience across three separate AACSB-accredited business schools, Zach is an expert in understanding procedures, curriculum, equivalencies, and requirements within the academic environment. In addition to completing successful expert evaluations, he regularly consults with employers to understand their needs within an educational and employment context. He has completed evaluations for dozens of organizations including: members of the Fortune 500, nonprofit enterprises, start-ups, and small businesses.
He has contributed to business knowledge, both as an expert in news outlets. He has recently been cited in leading outlets such as Zippia (the career expert), US News & World Report, MSN Money, Newsday, Adelphi Business Review, Pledge it Forward, AACSB Blog, h1bexpert.com, and Credit Donkey. His publications have been in outlets including: Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Brand Management, Corporate Reputation Review, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.
Colleen Wright
Colleen is highly organized, detail-oriented, and a strong researcher. She manages many of our cases and plays a key role in the organization of ProfVal. She is an experienced writer and often compiles evidence from reputable sources to support our clients' needs when applying for complex petitions.
S. Diana Sen (Advisor)
Diana has approximately 15 years of consulting experience across the Fortune 100 in areas including strategy, supply chain, and operations.
Simon Rycraft (Advisor)
Simon is a profit and operations improvement specialist/advisor working with startups through to the Fortune 500.