Vireo Labs, a Savannah-based startup working toward launching its first product focused on innovating the vocational assessment experience for a mobile platform, today announced its board of advisors will include:

• Bruce Chong, previously associate chancellor for marketing at South University

• Rob LaBreche, chief executive officer of the online, financial literacy tool iGrad

“The expertise Bruce and Rob bring will assist greatly as we expand our team and accelerate our early stage work in building career discovery digital products,” said Jose Mallabo, co-founder and chief executive officer, Vireo Labs. “They are both very strong leaders with great track records in the space that surrounds higher education and technology."

The board of advisors will provide Vireo Labs management with counsel on its mobile product road map, business development and overall business strategy.

The company expects to expand the board of advisors over the next few weeks.

Vireo Labs pointed to the following trends as drivers for its first product:

• 80% of teens use a mobile device to visit a college website (source: Chegg), but only half of all colleges have a mobile responsive website (source Noel Levitz);

• 86% of mobile usage is app based (source: Flurry Analytics);

• 18.1 million U.S. students will attend college this year – which is up 38 percent since 2000 (source: National Center for Education Statistics); and

• 4-year private schools spend a median $2,433 to recruit a single student (source: Noel Levitz)

“More than 18 million American students went to college this year, but they’re not there for an education, they’re there to get the career and life they want,” said Ian Leslie, Vireo's co-founder and chief technology officer. “Our products will bring technology, and great user experience together to help those students reach their ultimate goals.”