Meet our Founders
Vahan & Danielle Gureghian
The Gureghian Charitable Foundation is built on the strong belief that all students can succeed if given the right tools and support. This is a core tenet of the Gureghians’ beliefs. The GCF was founded to support financially disadvantaged students and level the playing field for them to compete and succeed in a rapidly changing world. By narrowing the educational divide between privileged and underprivileged students, the GCF has helped widen educational opportunities for students in and around Chester, Pennsylvania. Through the Foundation, the Gureghians provide graduating eighth-grade students with opportunities to attend top-performing high schools in the Greater Philadelphia region.
As the founders of CSMI, LLC, an educational consulting company, the Gureghians believe that old models of education have been failing students in the most underprivileged school districts. The support they provide allows schools to separate business and academics functions and empowers educators to focus on what they do best – teaching. That philosophy, combined with educational innovations that empower students, is helping to change outcomes for Chester students.
The GCF is proud of Chester Community Charter School graduates’ innumerable achievements, and with the Foundation’s assistance, many of these graduates have attended some of the area’s best high schools. The Gureghians know that these children will grow up to be the future of our great nation, and with a strong educational background, great success will follow them throughout their lives.
Vahan Gureghian
Vahan H. Gureghian is the founder and CEO of CSMI Consulting Group, which provides support and consulting services to public charter schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. Gureghian is also CEO of Independence Home Health (IHH) of Florida. IHH provides home health, personal and pediatric care throughout south and central Florida.
Mr. Gureghian, a successful attorney and businessman, turned his attention to education in 1998. Under his leadership, CSMI has helped the Chester Community Charter School become a safe haven for learning with its secure and state-of-the art campuses. Since the school's founding in 1998, Chester Community Charter has grown from an enrollment of 97 students to roughly 4,500.
Additionally, Mr. Gureghian and the CSMI team have provided support services to the Atlantic Community Charter School (ACCS) in Galloway Township, New Jersey. He is committed to public education choice for parents and students in America’s most disadvantaged school districts.
Mr. Gureghian is also founder and principal of several successful companies with holdings in the media and telecommunications industry. Mr. Gureghian was a partner at the Stradley Ronon law firm and the Obermayer Rebmann law firm. He was also Managing Partner at the law firm of Clark & Ladner at a time when it was named one of the fifty fastest growing mid-sized law firms in America.
Mr. Gureghian is co-chair of the Dean’s Board of Advisors for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Miami and is a member of the University of Miami Parent Council. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Solomon Leadership Program in Palm Beach, FL.
Mr. Gureghian previously served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, the Board of Delaware County Community College, and the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. He is a former Trustee for the Villanova University Business School.
Mr. Gureghian has received numerous awards and commendations including, but not limited to, the Phi Delta Kappa Kudos Award for Service in Education, the Chester Rotary’s Paul Harris Award for Outstanding Service, and the Honorary Gold Membership, from the Lower Merion Fraternal Order of Police.
Through the GCF, Mr. Gureghian and his wife have provided hundreds of scholarships to promising Chester students. They are also responsible for donating Thanksgiving meals to residents of Chester over the last 25 years, and giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in holiday gifts to CCCS students.
Mr. Gureghian received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor from Delaware Law School.
Danielle Gureghian
Danielle Gureghian is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of CSMI Consulting Group. Mrs. Gureghian provides CSMI and its clients with an array of specialized legal and administrative counsel in areas including labor and employment law, special education law, human relations administration, and corporate governance. She is integrally involved in all aspects of the company’s operations.
Mrs. Gureghian has been with CSMI since its inception and has worked closely with its key executives to ensure the growth and success of the company as a leader in the field of educational consulting.
Mrs. Gureghian is committed to providing better opportunities for students in educationally-challenged school districts. She and her husband founded the Gureghian Family Foundation to provide high school scholarships to deserving students who would otherwise not have any other alternative than to attend poor performing high schools.
Mrs. Gurghian co-chairs the Dean’s Advisory Board for the University of Miami’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences. She also serves on the University’s Parent Council.
Formerly, Mrs. Gureghian served for a decade as a Trustee for the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. She also previously served as the Chairperson for Go Red for Women, a hallmark advocacy and philanthropy program administered by the American Heart Association, which empowers women to take charge of their heart health. Under Mrs. Gureghian’s leadership, Go Red broke its past fundraising records, setting a new benchmark for fundraising success.
Prior to joining CSMI, Mrs. Gureghian was a practicing bankruptcy attorney. She represented large and mid-size commercial lending institutions in various aspects of bankruptcy litigation. She also represented United States Trustees in Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Mrs. Gureghian received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Delaware and her J.D. from Widener University School of Law.
About The Foundation
The Gureghian Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit founded and operated by Vahan and Danielle Gureghian. The Foundation provides scholarships for Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) graduates to attend high schools. CCCS is Pennsylvania’s largest non-profit K- 8 charter school located in Chester, PA, one of the Commonwealth’s most economically disadvantaged communities. Scholarship recipients have enrolled in some of the most academically rigorous and prestigious high schools in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area.
The Gureghians’ commitment to Chester’s children extends beyond the provision of scholarships. As the operators of CSMI, LLC, an educational management organization that develops and supports charter schools, they have focused on improving educational outcomes by freeing educators from non-academic tasks so that the teachers can focus exclusively on teaching. CSMI supports the schools for which it consults by working collaboratively with their governing boards and appointed leaders.
CSMI has provided consulting support to CCCS since the 1990s, during which time the school has become one of Pennsylvania’s great educational success stories. The school opened in 1998 with an enrollment of 97 students, housed in a local Howard Johnson, and it has grown to serve roughly 4,500 students providing state-of-the-art resources and facilities. The school has transformed the lives of thousands of students and their families, who for many years had very few quality educational options available to them.
