New York, New York — February 24, 2026 — Following the recent launch of Beacon, the first persistence intelligence platform for higher education, Mantra Health today announced the expansion of leadership with the hiring of Zahra Safavian, Phil Tallman, and Jessica E. Bright. 

These appointments signal a major acceleration for Mantra Health as it accelerates its mission to redefine how well-being and student success are achieved at a pivotal moment for higher education. As institutions face increasing pressure to retain students, Mantra Health is leading the shift from reactive care toward a proactive, precision support model. By identifying at-risk individuals and addressing challenges before they escalate, at the same time, the company continues to expand and scale mental health access nationwide. This enhanced leadership team further strengthens Mantra Health’s capacity to innovate within this new paradigm, providing institutions with the tools to foster student well-being and improve long-term institutional success.

“Bringing on Zahra, Phil, and Jessica is a deliberate investment in the success of our current customers, team, and mission,” said Matt Kennedy, CEO and Co-founder of Mantra Health. “Each of them brings unique abilities that match our values and leadership principles. Together, they will enhance our innovation engine, accelerate the scaling of our programs delivered to institutional partners and students, and will support new ways of serving our customers. I’m proud to have this team beside us as we deepen our impact on students and continue to deliver real impact to the campuses we serve.”

Mantra Health is proud to welcome the following executives:

Zahra Safavian, Chief Product Officer, leads Mantra Health’s product strategy and innovation roadmap, after serving more than 16 months in a product advisory role in Beacon’s development. A veteran of the EdTech and accessibility sectors with over 25 years of product development experience, Zahra specializes in scaling high-impact technology that prioritizes student success and inclusive design.

As the first employee and VP of Product at Starfish Retention Solutions, Zahra led the design and development of the company’s entire suite of student success products, directly supporting the platform’s successful acquisitions to Hobsons, followed by EAB. She then spent seven years as VP of Product at Level Access, where she oversaw the design, development, and launch of a new generation of software, services, and training products, along with proprietary internal tooling. Her leadership was instrumental in transitioning Level Access from a services-focused company into a premier product-led organization. A dedicated advocate for digital inclusion and a specialist in product-led transformation, she led their product organization from sub-$300K to $50M ARR in her seven year tenure.

Most recently, as Chief Product Officer at Nexford University, she revolutionized the program development lifecycle, enabling the rapid design, regulatory approval, and launch of over 12 degree and certificate programs in just two years. 

At Mantra, she and her team will continue to focus on building and leveraging software, data, and AI solutions to deliver equitable digital experiences that advance student well-being and higher education institutions’ success.

Phil Tallman, VP of Partnerships, brings nearly two decades of experience driving growth and impact at mission-driven education and technology companies through strategic partnerships, revenue operations excellence, and team leadership.

Throughout his career, Phil has distinguished himself by combining sales leadership with deep expertise in higher education, student mental health, and technology. As a growth leader at TimelyCare, he led sales and strategic partnerships that expanded student access to telehealth and mental health support post-COVID. His work centered on complex, multi-campus system, state, and cooperative agreements designed to meet diverse institutional needs while improving student outcomes.

Phil held senior leadership positions at CampusLogic, where he helped institutions strengthen student retention and success through financial aid and scholarship solutions. He drove significant net revenue expansion while building scalable sales frameworks and training programs that supported sustainable growth. Following Ellucian’s successful acquisition of CampusLogic, Tallman led the Specialty Products sales teams, overseeing both the CampusLogic product suite and Ellucian’s CRM solutions.

Phil’s EdTech foundation was established during his tenure at Turnitin and LiveText. At Turnitin, he created and led the company’s first Sales Operations and Enablement function, transforming performance management, enablement, and forecasting. At LiveText, an assessment and accreditation platform, he founded and led the company’s first inside sales team and directed customer support operations, establishing foundational go-to-market capabilities.

Jessica Bright, Senior Director of Partner Success, joins Mantra Health with over 18 years of experience as an academic and technology partner in the education market driving exceptional customer experiences and expansion growth. She now leads Mantra Health’s implementation, customer success, and account management team to deliver and expand scalable mental health and wellness solutions for young adults. 

Prior to Mantra Health, Jessica served nearly 10 years in leadership roles managing customer success teams.  Most recently she was focused on Google for Education at CDW following the successful acquisition of Amplified IT where she was the key go-to-market executive leader  responsible for building the Higher Education vertical and securing 60% market share within the first year of launch. Prior to CDW, she was overseeing global customer success efforts at Turnitin, supporting the organization through its $1.75B exit. There she also supported the acquisition and integration of customer success teams from Vericite, Unicheck and Gradscope.  

Jessica’s foundation in the sector was forged at Cengage Learning, where she navigated the company’s Houghton Mifflin acquisition and restructuring. During this period of intense transformation, she was instrumental in supporting the launch of the company’s new online learning platform Mindtap.  Jessica specialized in implementing complex classroom courseware integrations with Learning Management Systems and training faculty and staff on best practices for successful utilization. 

As a problem solver and lifelong learner dedicated to bridging the gap between institutional needs and innovative, human-centric technology, she excels at streamlining intricate operations and building high-performing, interconnected teams to enable better customer outcomes. 

About Mantra Health

Mantra Health is the digital mental health provider built exclusively for higher education. Supporting mental health, wellness, and student persistence, Mantra Health offers a comprehensive suite of services, including self-guided wellness courses, peer support, coaching, therapy, psychiatry, 24/7 crisis intervention, intensive outpatient programming (IOP), as well as persistence intelligence technologies. Spanning the entire care continuum, Mantra Health provides comprehensive digital support to every member of the student body while using predictive modeling to identify those at high risk of dropout and extensive population analytics. From acceptance to graduation, Mantra Health ensures that both proactive wellness and targeted intervention are always within reach. Currently deployed across 150+ colleges and universities, Mantra Health serves over 1.3 million students and is actively reimagining how institutions manage mental well-being and student success.