Our Team

We take this personally.

We’re a national network of career educators, designers, coaches, and strategists who are determined to help educators and communities find sustainable, people-powered solutions to stubborn challenges that affect students’ opportunities to learn. We know what’s at stake because we’ve lived it.

That’s why we strive to disrupt daily choices within schools that hold some students back and foster practices that allow every student to realize their brilliance.

Leadership

Our executive leadership team guides our mission to ensure schools have the teaching, leadership, and conditions to lift every student to great heights.
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Chong-Hao Fu

Chief Executive Officer
Chong-Hao works to expand teachers’ access to quality professional learning support, building a movement to ensure all students succeed in school and life.
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Dr. LaKimbre Brown

Chief of Networks
LaKimbre Brown leads dynamic, contextualized partnerships across the country to accelerate equitable teaching and student success.
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Simone Senior

Chief Operating Officer
Simone is an educator and operational leader who oversees strategic planning, people, technology systems and facilities operations for the organization.
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Laura Meili

Chief Impact Officer
Laura is a content and program designer who leads efforts to learn from, share, and improve current and future programming.
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Marishka Winters

Deputy Chief of Networks
Marishka leads national partner support as well as partnerships in Yakima, WA and Oakland, CA.
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Chong-Hao Fu

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Dr. LaKimbre Brown

Simone Senior smiles

Simone Senior

Laura Meili

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Marishka Winters

Partner Support & Design

Our network teams set the vision for customized planning, ensuring sustainable, values-based collaboration alongside district senior leaders and central office teams that achieves impact.
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Dr. Sarah Heaton

Managing Director of Networks
Sarah Heaton leads Leading Educators' partnerships in Tulsa, Charleston, and Richmond.
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Katie Murphy

Managing Director of Networks
Katie is an academic strategist and problem solver who leads the teams working in partnership with schools in the Los Angeles and the Chicago area.
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Dr. Lakita D. McKinney

Managing Director of Networks
Lakita is an experienced leader in education with a demonstrated history of impact in school leadership, leadership development, and education management.
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David Sigler

Managing Director of Partnerships
David works to establish strong partnerships with state departments of education, school districts, and networks of schools.
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Mary Kay Murphy

Managing Director of Networks
Mary Kay is a passionate Michigan educator who leads program implementation and growth in Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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Dr. Michelle Brown

Senior Director of Networks
Michelle is a lifelong teacher. She leads professional learning design, systems strategy, and coaching support for educators in Detroit.
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Monique Wright

Senior Director of Networks
Monique is a Senior Director guiding Illustrative Math implementation alongside leaders in three LAUSD local districts.
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Lauren Mulcahy

Senior Director of Partnerships
Lauren oversees partnerships with schools, districts, states, and organizations, and builds upon new opportunities for partnership around the country.
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Sara Neal

Senior Director of Networks
Sara is a lifelong learner and educator committed to empowering school communities to deliver on the promise of creating equitable education for students. She manages partnerships and programming in ...
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Ginny James

Instructional Leadership Coach, Math
Ginny is an Instructional Leadership Coach partnering with schools within the LAUSD local districts to effectively implement their Math curriculum.
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Amanda Silva

Senior Director of Networks
Amanda leads design and facilitates professional learning for district and teacher leaders as Senior Director of Networks.
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Tori McGowan

Director of Content
Tori is a Director of Content with Leading Educators. She supports school leaders and teachers in the Chicago area.
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Tina De La Fe

Director of Coaching & Content
Tina facilitates workshops, designs content, and leads observations and coaching with educators in Greater Grands Rapids.
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Sandra Jin

Director of Content, ELA
Sandra is a former and forever teacher who designs ELA professional learning content for our partnership in Yakima, WA.
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Britney Wray

Director of Content, Secondary Math
Britney Wray is a former Washington, D.C.-based teachers and school leader who leads design of Secondary Math content for our Detroit partnership.
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Araceli Flores

Director of Content
Araceli designs and facilitates math professional learning for educators in Baltimore.
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LeAnita Garner

Director of Content & Coaching
LeAnita is a partner to school teams within Chicago Public Schools, who uses her experiences in and out of the classroom to support them in working toward educational equity.
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Emily Schriber

Director of Content
Emily designs and facilitates professional development to build the capacity of teacher leaders.
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Ashley Davis

Director of Content
Ashley designs professional learning for Baltimore ELA coaches and teachers and works alongside literacy leaders in Oakland to build a K-5 professional learning system.
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Ana Luis

Director of Content, Math
Ana Luis leads math professional learning design for our partnership in Yakima, WA.
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Alisha Watts Burr

Senior Director of Networks
Alisha Watts Burr is a teacher development specialist and educator who is driven by her love of learning and commitment to high-quality education for all students.
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Chavon VanHooks

Director of Content, Math
Chavon VanHooks is a Math Instructional Leadership Coach for educators in Charleston County School District.
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April Sandolph

Director of Content, Secondary Math
April is an educator who believes in the power of education and how it can be used as a tool to transform individual lives and communities.
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Brielle Brewick

Associate Director of Networks
Brielle is a passionate and innovative education leader committed to high standards, equity, and access for all students.
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Kelley Allenspach Ruyle

Associate Director of Networks
Kelley is responsible for the execution of New Orleans-based programming, including project management, event planning, communications, and data management.
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Jessica Jenkins

Jessica Jenkins

Associate Director of Networks, Chicago
Jessica Jenkins is the Associate Director of Networks, Chicago. Driven by her passion for college access, Jessica works to operationalize commitments to equity for students in greater Chicago.
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Kara Hayes

Executive Support Coordinator
Kara Hayes is an Executive Support Coordinator, supporting the Leading Educators Leadership, Program, and Operations teams.
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Dr. Sarah Heaton

Katie Murphy smiles

Katie Murphy

Dr. Lakita D. McKinney

David Sigler smiles

David Sigler

Mary Kay Murphy smiles

Mary Kay Murphy

Michelle Brown smiles

Dr. Michelle Brown

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Monique Wright

Lauren Mulcahy smiles

Lauren Mulcahy

Sara Neal smiles

Sara Neal

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Ginny James

Amanda Silva smiles

Amanda Silva

Tori McGowan smiles

Tori McGowan

Tina De La Fe smiles

Tina De La Fe

Sandra Jin smiles

Sandra Jin

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Britney Wray

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Araceli Flores

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LeAnita Garner

Emily Schriber smiles

Emily Schriber

Ashley Davis smiles

Ashley Davis

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Ana Luis

Alisha Watts-Burr smiles

Alisha Watts Burr

Chavon VanHooks

April Sandolph smiles

April Sandolph

Brielle Brewick smiles

Brielle Brewick

Kelley Allenspach Ruyle smiles

Kelley Allenspach Ruyle

Jessica Jenkins

Jessica Jenkins

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Kara Hayes

Projects

Our project teams work closely with school and district-level educators to offer coaching, professional learning, and curriculum support that allow them to make a difference for students in real time.
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Claudine Andrews

Senior Director of Programming
Claudine is the Senior Director of Programming working with district, school and teacher leaders to ensure that schools and system partnerships are effectively supported.
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Mary Kay Murphy

Managing Director of Networks
Mary Kay is a passionate Michigan educator who leads program implementation and growth in Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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Erin Davis

Senior Program Director for Tulsa
Erin is an educator and strategist who is passionate about working with school districts to reimagine their professional learning models.
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Dr. Michelle Brown

Senior Director of Networks
Michelle is a lifelong teacher. She leads professional learning design, systems strategy, and coaching support for educators in Detroit.
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Michael Freeland

Senior Program Director for Charleston
Michael leads our partnership with Charleston County School District.
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Mitchell Brookins

Senior Program Director for Baltimore
Mitchell Brookins is an experienced educator with expertise in PreK-2 foundational skills who leads implementation of our Baltimore partnership.
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Shondele Gillens-Vazquez

Instructional Leadership Coach, Chicago
Shondele Gillens-Vazquez is an Instructional Leadership coach who supports leaders in North Chicago.
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Dr. Kendra Thurmond

Director of Content and Coaching - Houston
Dr. Kendra Thurmond is an educator who enjoys transforming mindsets around how math is taught and learned.
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Regina Atkins

Instructional Leadership Coach, ELA
Regina is an instructional leadership coach who supports ELA coaches and PLC leaders at Charleston County Public Schools.
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Andrea "Fitz" Fitzgerald

Instructional Leadership Coach, Math
Andrea "Fitz" Fitzgerald is an Instructional Leadership Coach for math in Charleston.
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Olivia Bertucci

Instructional Leadership Coach, ELA
Olivia is a content specialist and coach fueled by the belief that literacy is a basic human right. She supports instructional leaders in Baltimore by leading ELA professional learning experiences and...
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Ginny James

Instructional Leadership Coach, Math
Ginny is an Instructional Leadership Coach partnering with schools within the LAUSD local districts to effectively implement their Math curriculum.
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Cristle Moorer

Director of Content & Coaching, Tulsa
Cristle is a Director of Content & Coaching in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Reanna Patterson

Director of Content - ELA
Reanna is an educator and facilitator who supports district leaders, coaches, and teachers in delivering high quality and equitable ELA instruction.
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George Werres

Director of Content - Math
George Werres is a Director of Content - Math who designs professional learning experiences for instructional leaders in Los Angeles.
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Tori McGowan

Director of Content
Tori is a Director of Content with Leading Educators. She supports school leaders and teachers in the Chicago area.
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Tina De La Fe

Director of Coaching & Content
Tina facilitates workshops, designs content, and leads observations and coaching with educators in Greater Grands Rapids.
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Nicholas Cains

Director of Content & Coaching, Tulsa
Nick is a human catalyst who coaches teacher leaders and supports Tulsa Public Schools as a Director of Content and Coaching.
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Britney Wray

Director of Content, Secondary Math
Britney Wray is a former Washington, D.C.-based teachers and school leader who leads design of Secondary Math content for our Detroit partnership.
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LeAnita Garner

Director of Content & Coaching
LeAnita is a partner to school teams within Chicago Public Schools, who uses her experiences in and out of the classroom to support them in working toward educational equity.
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Kristine Schipper

Director of Content & Coaching
Kristine is a passionate educator who supports several schools in the Greater Grand Rapids areas as an instructional leadership coach.
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Kelsey McLachlan

Director of Content, Detroit
Kelsey is a coach and educator who works with schools in Detroit to advance educational equity through leadership coaching.
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Jennifer Sierra

Director of Content & Coaching, Greater Grand Rapids
Jen is an educator who works on the Greater Grand Rapids team and is especially passionate about early childhood education and teaching kids how to read and write.
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Ashley Davis

Director of Content
Ashley designs professional learning for Baltimore ELA coaches and teachers and works alongside literacy leaders in Oakland to build a K-5 professional learning system.
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Ikecia Sigh

Instructional Leadership Coach
Ikecia is one of the Directors of Content and Coaching on our Charleston project. She loves coaching others professionally and personally because coaching has helped her find her niche in life.
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Rebecca Dill

Program Manager for Charleston
Rebecca supports implementation of curriculum-based professional learning and teacher leadership development as the Program Manager for our Charleston partnership.
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Kristina Rubio

Program Manager for Los Angeles
Kristina support programming, logistics, and data management for the Leading Educators team in Los Angeles.
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Ashley Hall

Tulsa Program Manager
Ashley is a passionate and effective educator who adores children and living out her zeal for educational equity for all students.
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Danielle Parker

Program Manager for Chicago
Danielle Parker is the Program Manager for Chicago-based partnerships
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Claudine Andrews

Mary Kay Murphy smiles

Mary Kay Murphy

Erin Davis

Michelle Brown smiles

Dr. Michelle Brown

Michael Freeland smiles

Michael Freeland

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Mitchell Brookins

Shondele Gillens-Vazquez

Dr. Kendra Thurmond

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Regina Atkins

andrea fitzgerald

Andrea "Fitz" Fitzgerald

Olivia Bertucci headshot

Olivia Bertucci

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Ginny James

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Cristle Moorer

Reanna Patterson

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George Werres

Tori McGowan smiles

Tori McGowan

Tina De La Fe smiles

Tina De La Fe

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Nicholas Cains

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Britney Wray

leanita garner

LeAnita Garner

Kristine Schipper smiles

Kristine Schipper

Kelsey McLachlan smiles

Kelsey McLachlan

Jennifer Sierra smiles

Jennifer Sierra

Ashley Davis smiles

Ashley Davis

Ikecia Sigh

Rebecca Dill smiles

Rebecca Dill

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Kristina Rubio

Ashley Hall smiles

Ashley Hall

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Danielle Parker

Program Strategy

Our program strategy team ensures strategic alignments across partnership sites to support research-backed innovation at the local level.
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Albert Kim

Managing Director of Program Strategy
Albert leads the Program Strategy team’s innovation and cross-team systems work in close collaboration with projects, networks, and the Data and Evaluation team.
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Alexandra Magiera

Senior Director of Program Strategy
Alex is a committed early education advocate, leader, and constant learner, driven by our youngest learners who are our future.
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Antoinette Melvin

Senior Director of ELA Strategy
Antoinette Melvin leads strategy for Leading Educators' support and innovation around ELA instruction.
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Rachel Scarpato

Senior Director of Math Strategy
Rachel is a data-driven educator who is passionate about math education and leads the development of math professional learning.
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Albert Kim

Alexandra Magiera

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Antoinette Melvin

Rachel Scarpato

Advocacy, Development & Communications

Our external relations team stewards key relationships with communities and supporters to ignite collective progress.
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Maxine Webb

Managing Director of Development
Maxine Webb leads efforts for philanthropy to partner in our mission of delivering equitable education.
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Adan Garcia

Director of Communications
Adan is a communications and public policy strategist who is driven to elevate educator and student voices in social change.
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Laura Troxel

Manager of Communications
Laura is an experienced content creator who believes the best way to engage an audience is to tell a compelling story. She supports organizational storytelling, digital community building, and media r...
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Kali Wright

Manager of Development
Kali contributes to Leading Educators’ fundraising efforts through grants and database management, and supports her team with donor communications, prospecting, and research.
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Venecia Harris

Executive Assistant & Special Projects Manager
Venecia is an experienced office professional who supports both the CEO & CERO with administrative and management support.
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Maxine Webb

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Adan Garcia

Laura Troxel

Kali Wright

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Venecia Harris

Impact

Our data and evaluation team ensures partners have access to timely, reliable evidence and analysis of efficacy from many vantage points.
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Rebecca Taylor-Perryman

Managing Director of Data & Evaluation
Rebecca believes school systems deserve access to strong evidence and useful data about what will serve their students and communities, and that those most impacted by initiatives to improve teaching ...
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Dr. Tim Tasker

Senior Director of Data Strategy
Tim is a proud data nerd who supports teams to adapt our national evaluation strategy to their local contexts and unique partnership needs.
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Ariana Audisio

Associate Director of Data & Evaluation
Ariana is a research analyst who leads the student impact analysis and data storytelling of impact across regions.
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Tim Barczak

Associate Director of Data Systems
Tim supports the data and evaluation team in their data usage, storage, reporting, and visualizations.
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Rebecca Taylor-Perryman

Tim Tasker smiles

Dr. Tim Tasker

Ariana Audisio smiles

Ariana Audisio

Tim Barczak

Operations & People

Our operations and people teams ensure we're building a healthy, supportive organization that allows us to meet the highest expectations for equity and impact.
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Marques Celestine

Managing Director of Talent
Marques is a connector of people with a fervent commitment to equity and helping others use their talents to lead mission-driven work.
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Saya Powell

Managing Director of Organizational Effectiveness
Saya is a people person who supports internal communications structures, organization retreat planning, and manager development.
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Yaa Hargrove

Director of Finance
Yaa is a finance professional with an affinity for mission oriented work. She works with the finance team focused on financial reporting and recievables.
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Lisa Thomas

Director of People Development & Engagement
Lisa is committed to dismantling systems of oppression so that all children can thrive in schools. She leads staff development and engagement efforts.
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Emily Bean

Director of Technology and Organizational Effectiveness
Emily always appreciates the opportunity to grow and learn professionally and personally.
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Alexandra Dakin

Associate Director of Organizational Effectiveness
Alexandra is a problem solver and systems builder who is inspired by what’s possible when smart people come together to solve complex problems.
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Ty Despenza

Operations Manager
Ty works in technology and operations developing onboarding, systems and technology training, and supporting virtual staff.
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Mimi Chen

People Coordinator
Mimi supports hiring, internal communications, team logistics, team data, and the overall effectiveness of the People Team.
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Marques Celestine

Saya Powell smiles

Saya Powell

Yaa Hargrove smiles

Yaa Hargrove

Lisa Thomas smiles

Lisa Thomas

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Emily Bean

Alexandra Allen smiles

Alexandra Dakin

Tyler DeSpenza smiles

Ty Despenza

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Mimi Chen

Join Us

Education evolves every day. We’re building a team that is ready to address the challenges and opportunities of today while looking ahead to what all students will need many years from now.

Learn more about current opportunities, our culture, and our competitive benefits.

Apply Today
Michelle Brown facilitates a session at Leading Educators Institute