NEWSCHOOLS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Partner
- Associate Partner, Equitable Investing
Ana Leon Santos is an Associate Partner on the Equitable Investing team at NewSchools. Her responsibilities include managing the organization's funding opportunities and community engagement strategy.
Before her current role, Ana led research projects examining the impact of socioeconomic disparities on child development. She began her career in early childhood development at Columbia University, where she completed a master's degree in Neuroscience and Education. At Columbia, Ana led a national study investigating the relationship between poverty reduction and brain development. Following this, she managed research and mentoring initiatives at the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families and the Columbia Population Research Center.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Ana now lives in D.C. Outside of work, she enjoys playing recreational volleyball and exploring the city with her dog, Nilo.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Council
- Partner
- Senior Associate
- Board Member of REACH LA
- Senior Associate Partner, Innovative Schools
Andrew Vega is a Senior Associate Partner on the Innovative Schools investment team. He was previously on the Racial Equity investment team.
Before joining NewSchools, he was a principal at Alliance-College Ready Public Schools, where he led the turnaround of a high school campus in South Los Angeles. Andrew started his career as a Teach for America corps member in Los Angeles, teaching high school English with the ICEF Public Schools, before moving to Boston. He spent seven years with Boston Public Schools as a middle school English and ESL teacher and as the principal of a special education inclusion elementary school. The son of a Mexican immigrant and migrant farmworker, Andrew's passion for racial and educational equity is deeply rooted in his family's story.
Andrew has been an advisory council member for the Achievement Network, The Boston Foundation, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also participated in the Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellowship and the America Achieves Fellowship. He holds a B.A. from UCLA and a M.A. from Loyola Marymount University. Andrew is an alumnus of the Lynch Leadership Academy at Boston College and the National Principal Academy Fellowship at the Relay Graduate School of Education.
Outside of NewSchools, Andrew is a board member of REACH LA, a nonprofit in Los Angeles that offers health and wellness programs and resources to LGTBQI+ Black and Latinx youth. In his free time, he enjoys running, spinning, going to concerts, and spending time with his family.
Job Titles:
- Founder and CEO of Morales Capital
Angel Morales is Founder and CEO of Morales Capital, a single-family office that invests across asset classes, with a particular focus on private equity opportunities in mission-oriented services companies. He has 25 years of private equity experience and was formerly the co-head of BAML Capital Partners, the internal private equity group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mr. Morales previously served as Managing Partner of North Cove Partners, a firm he co-founded to manage and monetize Bank of America's $6 billion private equity portfolio.
Mr. Morales grew up in the South Bronx and has a strong commitment to education. He is the Founding Board Chair of Comp Sci High and also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund and Transcend Education. He previously served as a Trustee of The Posse Foundation, the Oliver Scholars Program, and the Bronx Preparatory Charter School. He earned his B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner, Innovative Schools
Ariana Valenzuela is a Partner on the Innovative Schools investment team, leading the selection and diligence process and supporting a portfolio of leaders across the country.
Prior to joining NewSchools, Ariana served as the Director of Innovation for Spring Branch Independent School District in Texas, where she led the district's strategic initiative to personalize learning for every child. Within this role, she had the opportunity to work with school teams, district leaders, and community members to ensure the successful design and implementation of innovative school models.
Ariana began her career as a classroom teacher and school administrator in Houston Independent School District (HISD) and KIPP Texas. At HISD, she designed and launched a personalized learning microschool anchored in a reimagined student experience, which included the flexible utilization of curriculum and time, project-based learning, and comprehensive social-emotional supports. Ariana holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Boston University and an MBA from Rice University.
Ariana lives in Oakland with her husband and two kids. She loves to spend her free time baking, traveling, and finding new parks, hiking trails, and museums to explore.
Job Titles:
- Manager, Communications and Digital Marketing
- the Communications and Digital Marketing Manager
Brittany Lynne Adams (Miller) is the Communications and Digital Marketing Manager at NewSchools. She brings insight and experience in the digital media domain with an acute focus on the needs of nonprofit organizations.
Brittany earned her master's in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Administration from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She then joined the public sector to serve her community through Hannah's Treasure Chest, the Levin Family Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Dayton in a communications and development capacity.
Before joining NewSchools, Brittany served as the Digital Media Specialist for a large urban school district in Dayton, where she developed engaging and accessible communications for 13,000+ families and their students.
Brittany is a strong advocate for uplifting underserved communities, amplifying the voices of people of color, and supporting small businesses. Outside of public service, Brittany enjoys hiking, being out on the lake, writing poetry, and spending time with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.
Brook Byers has been a venture capital investor since 1972. He was a founder of NewSchools Fund in 1998 and has been an active board member and donor ever since. He has been closely involved with more than 60 new technology-based ventures, many of which have become public companies. He formed the first life sciences practice group in the venture capital profession in 1984 and led KPCB to become a premier venture capital firm in the medical, healthcare and biotechnology sectors. Brook was the founding president and then chairman of four biotechnology companies that were incubated in KPCB's offices and went on to become public companies with an aggregate market value of more than US$8 billion. He currently serves on the board of directors of Arsenal Bio, Octave Bio, and Newsela (a K-12 edtech company).
Brook serves on the board of the Stanford Center for BioDesign and is a Lifetime Board Member of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. He served on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He was also a founder of TechNet.
Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Brook graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and received an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He received an Honorary PhD from Georgia Tech.
Job Titles:
- Senior Partner
- Senior Partner, Learning Solutions & Learning Differences
Cameron White is a Senior Partner at NewSchools. He leads a team that invests in learning solutions designed to improve K-8 reading and math outcomes. These efforts aim to benefit millions of students who are furthest from educational opportunities, specifically targeting students of color, those experiencing poverty, and students with learning differences.
Cameron has over 10 years of experience at the intersection of racial and socioeconomic equity, student learning, and technology development. During this time, Cameron has supported more than 100 early stage education technology ventures, through philanthropic capital as well as strategic feedback and guidance related to equitable student impact, research-based product design, fundraising, and sustainable growth. Cameron was on the founding team at co.lab, an accelerator focused on game-based learning. He began his career at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, DC, helping to align out-of-school time offerings with the school's academic and social missions.
Cameron earned an M.A in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College at Columbia University, where he completed his master's thesis on ed tech equity. He holds a B.A. in Architecture from Princeton University, with his undergraduate thesis focusing on environmental design and early childhood development. Cameron has co-authored several publications on topics such as leveraging research for product enhancement and impact measurement, and prioritizing equity in the development of educational products. He has been a speaker at SXSWedu, iNACOL, and SOCAP.
Outside of NewSchools, Cameron is a yoga teacher specializing in accessibility and trauma-sensitive yoga practices. He teaches in schools and juvenile detention facilities.
As the Manager of Development, Cecilia oversees grant reporting and takes the lead in crafting proposals, serving as the main writer for the development team.
Cecilia has spent the past decade supporting arts and education organizations committed to elevating the voices, perspectives, and experiences of underrepresented communities. Prior to joining NewSchools, she honed her fundraising and storytelling skills at Summer Search, 826 National, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and International Center of Photography. She also spent two years in Japan and the Czech Republic, teaching English as a second language to toddlers, scientists, and everyone in between.
Cecilia holds a B.A. in English and photography from the University of Florida and an M.A. in nonprofit arts administration from New York University. In her free time, you'll find her exploring Bay Area parks and beaches with her husband and son.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the Board
- Executive Director of Arrow Impact
Charlie Wolfson is Executive Director of Arrow Impact, a newly established foundation focused on addressing barriers to economic opportunity for low-income families. Charlie previously worked at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization in Los Angeles, and before that at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a nonprofit community development financial institution in New York. Charlie is a graduate of the Broad Residency in Urban Education and is an Education Pioneers alum. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and political science from Duke University and a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters of Arts in education from Stanford University. Charlie lives in Oakland, CA and serves on the board of Tipping Point Community.
Chris Lozier leads the NewSchools' finance and operations teams, focusing on knowledge management, technology infrastructure, business operations, budgeting and accounting, grants and contracts, facilities management, and legal.
Before joining NewSchools, Chris was an executive leader at several education nonprofits, including serving as COO at National Center for Teacher Residencies and as CFO at Civitas Schools. Chris began his career as a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer and also worked in private sector finance before re-careering to the nonprofit sector. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Chris lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters. He plays mandolin and guitar with Hayward, his band of middle-aged parents, as well as a posse of slightly less-aged neighborhood bluegrass pickers. He also hosts a podcast called "If You've Come This Far," in which he and a friend interview people who are working on making life more meaningful.
Job Titles:
- Senior Coordinator, Finance
- Senior Finance Coordinator
Cody Jones is a Senior Finance Coordinator at NewSchools. He's responsible for the financial well-being of the organization as a steward of accounting and contracts.
Before NewSchools, Cody was a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz - home of the banana slugs - where he earned his degree in Business Management Economics. Since graduating, he has used his skills to help different organizations streamline their accounting and financial activities with industry best practices.
Cody is an avid sports fan and enjoys playing basketball, golf, and going for runs. Eventually, he endeavors to ride off into the sunset and live his days as a world-traveling foodie.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Managing Partner of Jasper Ridge Partners
Cori Duncan is the CEO and a Managing Partner of Jasper Ridge Partners, an investment management and wealth advisory firm serving select high net worth families and institutions. Jasper Ridge Partners manages bespoke portfolios invested in traditional and alternative asset classes, and Cori chairs the firm's investment committee. Cori joined the firm in 2002 as one of its earliest team members and has spent time researching and evaluating investments in all asset classes.
Prior to Jasper Ridge Partners, Cori was part of the investment team at Oak Hill Capital, a middle-market buyout firm, where she focused on investments in the health care sector. Cori began her career in the San Francisco office of Bain & Company, working primarily with private equity clients on commercial due diligence.
A California native, Cori completed a bachelor's degree in Economics at Stanford University and later returned to the university to pursue an MBA from the Graduate School of Business and a master's degree from the School of Education. She resides in the Bay Area with her husband and their two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Director of the People Team
Crystel Harris is Director of the People team at NewSchools, where she supports staff learning and development and oversees the management of their human resources needs. Her commitment to education and equity has been a consistent theme throughout her career. She served as a founding middle school teacher in her hometown of the Bronx, developed the first teacher residency program at the New York City Department of Education, and led the city's first effort to recruit and retain male teachers of color, NYC Men Teach.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager on the Research & Learning Team
- Senior Manager, Research & Learning
Dan Segal is a Senior Manager on the Research & Learning team at NewSchools. In this role, Dan guides decision-making on how NewSchools defines success and implements the systems necessary to measure and improve on this success continuously.
Before joining NewSchools, Dan was Chief of Staff and Acting Program Manager at Evidence Action, where he played a key role in leading organization-wide strategic initiatives and expanding new programming. This included scaling a nascent nutritional program, which aimed to reduce anemia and improve educational outcomes amongst 25 million children in India. Before that, Dan focused largely on public and social sector projects at McKinsey & Company. He holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Outside of work, Dan can be found in a movie theater, comedy club, or compiling an extensive list of the (objectively) best pizzerias and cafes in New York.
Dave Goldberg served as a NewSchools Board Member from 2012 until his unexpected death in May 2015. Dave was a legend in Silicon Valley, both for his business success and his terrific attitude. He was a successful entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and technology and music industry executive. He ran, and successfully grew, several online consumer businesses. At the time of his death, Dave was the CEO of SurveyMonkey. We will miss Dave's generosity, passion, great ideas and support.
Dave founded LAUNCH Media Inc. in 1994, which delivered music and music-related content online, and he led the company through its acquisition by Yahoo! in 2001. Following the sale, Dave served as Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo! Music, where he led the company's global music operations and built it into the Internet's most-visited music destination. In 2006, Dave was named one of Billboard Magazine's top power players in digital music. From 2007 until he joined SurveyMonkey in 2009, Dave served as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Benchmark Capital where he evaluated investment opportunities for the firm and advised portfolio companies. Earlier in his career, Dave was Director of Marketing Strategy and New Business Development at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Dave also served on the Board of Directors at FilmTrack, Graham Holdings Co. (formerly The Washington Post Co.) and the non-profit New Schools Venture Fund. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Government.
Delicia Jones is the Chief Strategy Officer at NewSchools. In this role, she partners with the leadership team to define the organization's strategic direction. She also leads efforts to assess impact, share insights , and spark action in the education field. Previously, Delicia was the Chief of Staff at NewSchools, working closely with leaders to improve the organization's overall effectiveness.
Prior to NewSchools, Delicia served as the Chief Strategy and Investments Officer at Good Reason Houston, where she led on strategic planning, learning and evaluation, investment management, district partnerships, and the oversight of finance and operations. Before that, she was a Senior Manager at the Monitor Institute by Deloitte, advising nonprofit and foundation leaders on strategy and growth. Delicia's commitment to education also saw her supporting YES Prep Public Schools as an Education Pioneers Graduate Fellow, focusing on a long-term talent strategy to identify and nurture future school leaders.
Delicia holds a B.A. in Computational & Applied Mathematics and Managerial Studies from Rice University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. She lives in Houston and enjoys traveling, playing with her dog, Darcy (a nod to her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice), exploring her family's genealogy, and cheering on Houston's sports teams.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Partner on the Learning Solutions Team
- Senior Associate Partner, Learning Solutions
Dr. Vanessa Monterosa is a Senior Associate Partner on the Learning Solutions team. She brings over 15 years of experience working at the nexus of education, technology, and research that uniquely positions her to build bridges among practitioners, scholars, and entrepreneurs.
Dr. Monterosa leads external and internal efforts to find, fund, and support educators and innovators developing content and tools that empower Black, Latino, and low-income students. She connects and collaborates with K-12 community leaders and education scholars across the nation to meaningfully inform our investment strategy and approach. Additionally, she leads the selection and diligence process for the Learning Solutions team, which is grounded in principles of equity, reflexivity, and care.
Prior to joining NewSchools, she served as a district administrator in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she designed a nationally recognized digital citizenship program, developed high-profile district-wide policies, and built the digital literacy capacity of more than 14,000 educators. She shares lessons learned in her first authored book, "Deepening Digital Citizenship," published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Her thought leadership work has been featured across Common Sense Media, Edutopia, EdSurge, Latinos for Education, and other publications.
She holds an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Monterosa is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, Education Pioneers alum, and a proud first-generation Latina. She loves all things Disneyland, doting on her precious pups (Tumbleweed and Nuxx), and traveling with her husband.
Job Titles:
- Senior Communications Manager
- Senior Manager, Communications
Eddy Ramirez is the Senior Communications Manager at NewSchools. He brings deep expertise from his years as an education reporter and his tenure teaching at two of New York City's most successful charter school networks.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner, Learning Differences
Erin Stark, a Partner at NewSchools, leads investments to benefit the 1 in 5 students with learning differences. Her passion for inclusion was inspired by her sister's disabilities and grew and evolved throughout a 20-year career as a high school special educator in New York City. In her current role, Erin merges her personal and professional expertise to create learning opportunities that have deepened the organization's proficiency in serving students with learning differences. Erin plays a crucial role in selecting leaders with innovative ideas to support students with learning differences, coordinating with investment teams across the organization and a community board that advises on areas of need and grantmaking.
Before NewSchools, Erin was the Director of Student Support at New Visions for Public Schools, where she led initiatives to improve support for students with disabilities, multilingual learners and developing readers in high school. Her achievements include designing web-based tools, developing professional development series, and managing grants worth $2.5M aimed at enhancing student support. Erin holds certifications as a School Building Leader, in English Language Arts, special education, and literacy intervention.
Erin lives in New Jersey with her wife and daughter and prioritizes spending quality time with her family. She deeply cherishes the values of family, inclusion, and the transformative power of truly equitable and inclusive education.
As CEO of NewSchools, Frances Messano brings her longstanding commitment to excellence and equity in education to life. Throughout her nine-year tenure at NewSchools, Frances has had a broad set of responsibilities, including serving as President, creating the Diverse Leaders investment strategy, and leading the Innovative Schools team.
Before joining NewSchools in 2015, Frances was a Vice President at Teach for America, where she led the development of the organization's long-term national strategy. Prior to that, she was an Associate Partner at Monitor Institute, an arm of Monitor Deloitte known for its social impact consulting, where she used her expertise in strategy, organizational design, leadership and program development to help scale the impact of education-focused organizations. She started her career working at Morgan Stanley in sales and trading.
Frances, a first-generation college graduate, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and A.B. from Harvard College. Her journey was profoundly influenced by nonprofit organizations such as Prep for Prep, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. She credits these organizations with providing her access to educational opportunities, which have deepened her personal connection to NewSchools' mission. Frances actively serves on the boards of Unidos US, Stand for Children, and Pahara Institute. Additionally, she contributes her insights and leadership to the Tipping Point community and is recognized as a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow.
Frances lives in San Francisco with her husband and their three children who attend a NewSchools portfolio school. Frances loves singing and will always say yes to a karaoke night out.
Gaurav Vashist is the CFO at Kapor Center, bringing more than 15-years of experience in accounting, financial analysis & financing. Prior to join Kapor Center, Gaurav was at Citizen Engagement Lab working at the intersection of tech & social change. Gaurav was able to scale organizations and keep costs low in large measure by leveraging technology which is a key element in his work. He has spent many years in the non-profit space and prior to that was 11+ years in the corporate world, where he spent a majority of time at Alcatel Lucent, a multinational telecommunications company.
Job Titles:
- Senior Coordinator of Grants and Contracts
Gina Lee is Senior Coordinator of Grants and Contracts at NewSchools. She supports investment teams and ventures in processing grants and investment contracts through efficient practices and workflows.
Before joining NewSchools, Gina was a grants and contracts analyst with Sutter Health Research Enterprise. She graduated from Santa Clara University with a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies.
Outside of work, Gina enjoys being outdoors with her family, cooking new recipes, and sharing her baking creations with family, friends, and colleagues.
As the Chief Learning Officer at NewSchools, Heather McManus develops an inspiring vision for a strong organizational culture focused on learning and continuous improvement. She also supports cross-cutting priorities, including equitable investing and centralized management assistance. Before becoming the Chief Learning Officer, Heather was the founding Chief People Officer and a Partner on the Innovative Schools team.
Heather's career began as a classroom teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, teaching middle and high school English Language Arts. She spent the majority of her career in leadership roles at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy (CNCA), a network of schools near downtown Los Angeles. Heather served as an assistant principal and principal of the Kayne Siart Campus, which was the highest performing K-8 school during her tenure at CNCA. As the network's Chief Learning Officer, Heather oversaw curriculum and instruction, school management, special education, knowledge management, programs, and talent.
Heather earned a bachelor's degree and a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from California State University, Northridge. In 2018, Heather completed her Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from Loyola Marymount University. Heather was a NILSL Fellow through UnidosUS and was selected for the Pahara Fellowship in 2023. Heather lives in Los Angeles with her puppy, Loki.
Job Titles:
- Head of New Product Experimentation at Meta
Ime Archibong is Head of New Product Experimentation at Meta, where he leads a portfolio of diverse entrepreneurial teams focused on rapid experimentation of products that enable underserved needs around the world.
Previously, he was Meta's Vice President of Product Partnerships, where he built the global team that manages strategic partnerships aligned with Meta's mission. This included developers, community leaders, and nonprofits.
He holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Yale University, where he was Captain of the Varsity Basketball team, and also received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he served as class president. He is a listed inventor on more than a dozen technical patents, and serves on the boards of many nonprofits focused on empowering underserved youth, students and entrepreneurs.
Job Titles:
- Director, Research and Learning
Jason Atwood is the Director of Research & Learning at NewSchools, leading a team dedicated to evaluating the effectiveness of education programs, initiatives, and investment strategies. Jason and his team work closely with funders, educators, and a network of partners to measure portfolio performance and generate insights about how to support and scale high-impact educational innovations. At the heart of Jason's work is the belief in evidence to guide decisions and improve educational outcomes. This involves crafting new ways to measure student progress and providing venture leaders with actionable information about the conditions and practices that enhance learning experiences for all community members, especially those furthest away from opportunity.
Before joining NewSchools, Jason worked at the intersection of impact evaluation and org-wide learning for Education Pioneers and Teach For America. This included stewardship of a $50M U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation Scale-Up grant, which was designed to enhance educational outcomes on a large scale. His academic work at the University of California, Berkeley focused on the measurement and improvement of conditions that help young people develop positive self-perceptions and succeed in both school and life. Jason's early experiences working with students at College Track, the YMCA, and as a youth running coach deeply influenced his commitment to creating supportive learning environments that allow every child to thrive.
Jason holds degrees from Georgetown University and U.C. Berkeley. Now based in Portland, Oregon, he enjoys hiking and baking chocolate chip cookies with his wife and son.
Jessica Henry is the Director of Operations at NewSchools. She leads the Operations team, overseeing business operations, knowledge management, grantmaking, and IT, all of which enables teams to perform at their best.
Before joining NewSchools, Jessica was the Program Director for All Stars Helping Kids, a grantmaking organization in the Bay Area. While at All Stars, she oversaw operations, grantmaking initiatives in both California and New York and managed philanthropic activities for a portfolio of professional athlete clients.
Jessica earned a B.A. in Human Biology, with a focus in child health and development, from Stanford University. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing and building forts in the living room with her four children and her husband.
John Doerr joined Intel in 1974 just as they invented the famous "8080" 8 bit microprocessor. At Intel he held various engineering, marketing and management assignments, and was one of their top-ranked sales executives.
In 1980 he joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and sponsored a series of investments including Compaq, Cypress, Intuit, Netscape, Lotus, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, S3, Sun Microsystems, Amazon.com, Symantec and Google.
John was the founding CEO of Silicon Compilers. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Google. The privately-held company boards include Miasole, and Bloom Energy.
John Doerr holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Former CEO of the Pahara Institute
Kim Smith is the founder and former CEO of the Pahara Institute, a national nonprofit that aims to identify, strengthen, and sustain diverse high-potential leaders who are transforming public education. Its programs, including the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship (previously the Aspen-NewSchools Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship), are designed to identify seasoned leaders in education reform, and through a time-tested dialogue approach, strengthen, and sustain their efforts to bring about transformational improvements in our public schools - especially those in under-served communities. She is widely recognized as an innovative and entrepreneurial leader in education, and was featured in Newsweek's report on the "Women of the 21st Century" as "the kind of woman who will shape America's new century."
Immediately prior to the Pahara Institute, Kim was co-founder of Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. After completing her M.B.A. at Stanford University, she co-founded and led NewSchools Venture Fund, a philanthropy focused on transforming public education through social entrepreneurship, where she helped to catalyze a new, bipartisan, cross-sector community of entrepreneurial change agents for public education. Earlier in her career she served as a founding team member at Teach For America, created and led an AmeriCorps program for community-based leaders in education, managed a business start-up and completed a brief stint in early online learning at Silicon Graphics.
Ms. Smith has helped to incubate numerous education and social change organizations and has served on a range of boards, including those of Pahara, Bellwether Education Partners, NewSchools Venture Fund, Rocketship Education, and ROADS Charter School. She has authored or co-authored a number of publications about innovation and social entrepreneurial change in education, including "What Is Educational Entrepreneurship?", "Social Purpose Capital Markets in K-12", "Creating Responsive Supply in Education", "Innovation in Education: Problems and Opportunities", "Supporting and Scaling Change: Lessons from the First Round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Program", and "Steering Capital: Optimizing Financial Support for Innovation in Public Education." She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Associate Partner, Innovative Schools
Kody Melancon, previously with the Diverse Leaders team, is now an Associate Partner on the Innovative Schools investment team. Raised in rural Louisiana, his experience in public schools ignited his passion for providing children a culturally-relevant, first-rate education. He has spent much of his career learning, training, and working to create systemic change and improve outcomes for students and families of color.
Before joining NewSchools, Kody was the director of the Pathways Fellowship at ExpandED Schools in New York City, a program focused on diversifying the teacher workforce. There, he successfully doubled the number of fellows by increasing program supports and engineering creative solutions that reduced the barriers for afterschool workers to move into teaching positions. As a lead teacher at Success Academy Charter Schools, Kody played a pivotal role in helping elementary and middle school students reach ambitious learning goals and outperform their peers in the city. He also has worked as an early childhood program evaluator and a data analyst for the NYC Department of Education.
Kody's academic credentials include a B.A. in Sociology from Morehouse College, an M.A. in Education Policy and Social Analysis from Teachers College at Columbia University, an M.S. in Childhood Education and Special Education from Touro College, and a Certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. Outside of work, Kody enjoys exploring performing and visual arts, tracing his family history, and participating in adventurous fitness activities.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Partner
- Associate Partner, Learning Solutions
Lacey Allen is an Associate Partner on the Learning Solutions investment team. In this role, she leads the design and implementation of management assistance, which focuses on supporting ventures to achieve long-term sustainability and impact.
Prior to NewSchools, Lacey led strategic partnerships for the College Board's scholarships program and other key initiatives. In her previous roles, she has taught college access courses and social emotional learning workshops to students, facilitated professional development for educators, and led qualitative youth development research projects. She also served as both an AmeriCorps volunteer in Texas and Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.
Lacey has an M.A. in Youth Development Leadership from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Communication from Washington State University. Originally from the West Coast, she now considers Brooklyn, New York her home. She lives there with her husband and daughter. Outside of work, she enjoys being a barista at home, shopping for vintage clothes and decor, and re-reading her favorite books.
Job Titles:
- President of the Fund for the City of New York
Lisette Nieves is the president of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY), an institution charged with developing and helping to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices, and technologies to improve the functioning of government agencies and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. Key FCNY programs include the Cash Flow Loan Program, the Partnership Program, and the Sloan Public Service Awards.
Before joining FCNY, Lisette was the director of educational leadership and policy studies and a full clinical professor at NYU Steinhardt, where she co-led the design and implementation of a doctoral program in educational leadership and innovation and taught organizational theory and behavior and educational policy analysis.
Throughout her career of more than 25 years, Lisette has served in a variety of leadership positions in the public and private sectors. She founded Lingo Ventures, served as the Belle Zeller Distinguished Visiting Professor in Public Policy at the City University of New York at Brooklyn College, and was an Obama appointee on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
Earlier in her career, Lisette was the founding executive director of Year Up New York, an innovative workforce development program that started with a $250,000 seed grant and grew into a $6 million operation with more than 20 corporate partnerships in the span of five years under her leadership.
Her areas of interest include community colleges, college pathways, and workforce and education partnerships, which are all represented in the book she recently co-authored: Working to Learn: Disrupting the Divide Between College and Career Pathways for Young People.
Maggie Andrews leads the development team at NewSchools, helping to connect people, ideas, and capital to build an education system that keeps its promise to all students. As a recipient of grants and scholarships that made her own education possible, Maggie is passionate about ensuring that funding flows to support innovators, students, and communities that are furthest from opportunity.
Prior to NewSchools, Maggie led the fundraising efforts at the youth writing network 826 National, as well as the individual giving team at Teach For America-Bay Area. Maggie has spent the past 20 years working with committed donors and board members to match their philanthropic interests and talents to drive impact in the nonprofit sector. She has worked with educational and artistic organizations nationwide, all focused on amplifying the brilliance and creativity of our nation's young people.
Maggie received her M.A. in Administration from Boston University and a B.A. in English from Dickinson College, where she was also the 2015 Cogan Fellow. She serves on the board of San Francisco's Center for New Music and was a former judge for the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Competition. She lives in Alameda, California, with her family.
Job Titles:
- Manager of Systems and Knowledge Management
Matt Kastellec is Manager of Systems and Knowledge Management at NewSchools. In his role, he ensures the team has access to the right information, systems, and data to effectively execute processes in alignment with the organization's mission. His work is grounded in human-centered change management and an orientation toward bridging the gap between technical and programmatic stakeholders. Matt brings a decade of experience from the education nonprofit sector, notably from his time at the Achievement Network (ANet), where his responsibilities ranged from project management and operations strategy to data infrastructure and analytics.
A proud alumnus of the New York City public school system, Matt holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan (go blue!) and an M.P.A. from the Wagner School for Public Service at New York University. He was also a member of Cohort 11 of the Strategic Data Project at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.
A resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, Matt spends time outside of NewSchools building supportive spaces and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community. He serves as the Board Chair for Project Rainbow Utah and Co-Organizer for the Salt Lake Area Queer Climbers (SLAQC). His engagement with this community reflects his deep commitment to equity and justice in the K-12 education space and beyond.
In his leisure time, Matt enjoys exploring Utah's natural beauty with his partner and their two rescue dogs, Shyla and Shadow, whether it's taking strolls around their neighborhood or embarking on outdoor adventures.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Managing Partner, Innovative Schools
Mia Howard is a Managing Partner leading the Innovative Schools investment team. She and her team support educators with bold visions for new schools that embrace equity, innovation, and an expanded definition of student success.
Prior to joining NewSchools, Mia was the Founding Partner of Schools and Talent at The Opportunity Trust in St. Louis, leading the organization's strategies to recruit and retain strong educators, expand successful schools, develop new schools, and transform existing ones. Before that, Mia founded and served as CEO of Intrepid College Prep Schools, an award-winning network of public charter schools in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mia holds a Juris Doctor with a concentration in Business Economics and Public Policy from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Studies from Vanderbilt University, where she was a Posse Scholar and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Mia is an advocate for mental health and economic justice and is actively involved as a WEPOWER Tomorrow Builders Fellow, a member of the MIT Blueprint Labs' Charter School Research Advisory Council, and serves on the boards of NAMI St. Louis and City Garden Montessori School.
Originally from Brooklyn, New York, and a proud alum of New York City public schools, Mia now lives in St. Louis. She enjoys playing with her dog, Fizzy, spending time with friends and family, discussing music and pop culture, and exploring new restaurants.
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Give Forward Foundation
Michelle Boyers is the CEO of the Give Forward Foundation which works to improve education in low-income school districts in the Bay Area of California. She and a team have recently launched the Bay Ed Fund, a community investment fund designed to invest significant capacity building and financial resources in low-performing school systems in the region with the goal of significant and sustained improvement in student outcomes. Previously, Michelle worked for five years as a Director at the Schusterman Foundation, a national philanthropic foundation focused on developing and supporting high quality teachers and principals in urban schools.
Prior to her work in philanthropy, Michelle spent most of her career in leadership roles in the public schools in New York City and Boston. Michelle served as the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for the Boston Public Schools where she oversaw the recruitment, hiring, support and HR services for nearly 10,000 school leaders, teachers and other school and central office staff. She also helped to lead the turnaround of one of Boston's lowest performing schools, Orchard Gardens K-8 School in Roxbury, as both the Chief Operating Officer and Chair of the Board. Orchard Gardens became one of the top schools in the state in terms of combined math and reading growth and was nationally recognized for its performance by the Obama administration. Michelle has consulted to education non-profits, school districts and state departments of education on improving human capital management and teacher effectiveness.
She also helped to launch Teach Plus, a national non-profit whose mission is to empower teachers to lead systemic change in urban schools. Early in her career, Michelle worked for the NYC public school system as Director of Strategic Partnerships and as a Partner at New Profit Inc., a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund. She also spent several years in private equity investing and investment banking out of college. Michelle has a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She serves on the boards of the Bay Ed Fund, NewSchools Venture Fund, Leading Educators, Ravenswood Education Foundation, Teach For America - Bay Area, and Tipping Point.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner, Equitable Investing
Natalie Wilson is a Partner on the Equitable Investing team focused on building a shared approach to finding and funding entrepreneurs in ways that engage community and center equity. Previously, she led the Racial Equity team and served on the Diverse Leaders team.
Prior to NewSchools, Natalie was the Director of Strategy & Operations at The School District of Philadelphia Charter Schools Office through The Broad Residency in Urban Education. There, she focused on strategic planning, school operations, and family and community engagement. Prior to the residency, she was a portfolio manager at REDF, a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund where she provided strategic guidance to social enterprises focused on providing opportunities for individuals facing significant barriers to employment.
Natalie earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor's degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her amazing daughter and loves drawing and playing competitive volleyball in her spare time.
Job Titles:
- Senior Analyst, Innovative Schools
As a Senior Analyst, Nathan Shiferaw supports the investment process and drives data collection and impact measurement efforts on the Innovative Schools team.
Nathan has been active in the education field for the past six years, engaging in student teaching, volunteering, and working in the ed-tech and publishing industries. Prior to NewSchools, he completed a three-year rotational program at Curriculum Associates, where he honed his skills in customer implementation and account management, strategy and operations, product management, and market research and sales. Nathan earned a B.S. in Economics from Northwestern University.
Nathan is passionate about hip-hop music (I love you, J-Dilla), admires film (clapping emoji for ‘Parasite'), and enjoys talking about the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
As Chief of Staff, Nour Abdelmonem supports the strategic functioning and operations of the NewSchools executive leadership team and board, and leads on strategic priorities.
Before her tenure at NewSchools, Nour was a consultant with EY-Parthenon Education Practice, collaborating with a diverse array of clients - from higher education state systems and education technology companies to publishing companies. She led teams focused on strategy development, commercial due diligence, and financial modeling/forecasting.
Nour earned her BA degree in Political Science and a Certificate in Business from the Dougan Scholars Program at the University of Chicago. Raised in Chicago and the daughter of Egyptian immigrants, Nour is proud of her Midwest and Middle Eastern heritage and calls Chicago home. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with her family, traveling, experimenting with new recipes, following Formula 1, and boxing.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and CEO of Phelps Prescott Group
Paula A. Sneed is the chairperson and CEO of Phelps Prescott Group LLC (PPG), a strategy and management consultancy she co-founded in 2007. PPG couples strategic, operational, and organizational consulting with hands-on implementation support to help high performing not for profit organizations refocus, remove barriers and accelerate their success.
Paula spent almost 30 years at General Foods and Kraft Foods, in a variety of marketing, general management and senior executive roles. For half of her career, she was a member of the companies' senior executive teams. As the Chief Marketing Officer, Executive Vice President and President of two operating divisions, Executive Vice President of the eCommerce Division, and Executive Vice President, Global Marketing Resources and Initiatives, Paula led teams that grew the companies' iconic brands.
She is a director of the Charles Schwab Corporation, TE Connectivity Ltd., and Berry Global Inc. She is the chair of the board of Family Independence Initiative, and a member of the boards of NewSchools Venture Fund, The Surge Institute, and Turnaround For Children. Previously, she was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners-Chicago and was a charter member of its board. She is a former director of Hercules Inc., Airgas Inc., Communispace Inc., Teach For America national and Chicago regional boards, Right To Play, and the American Marketing Association. She is also a former trustee of Simmons College, Chicago Children's Museum and Illinois Institute of Technology, and a former member of the Harvard Business School Visiting Committee.
Paula's commitment to civil rights, political activism, community and nonprofit service was nurtured by her parents and fueled by exposure to national and local civil rights leaders and social activists during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. An activist in college, Paula spent her first six years after graduating working in addiction, health care and social service programs in Boston. A lifelong volunteer, mentor, advisor and coach to students and young adults, Paula's nonprofit board service spans almost 50 years.
Paula earned a BA from Simmons College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She received an honorary Doctorate degree in Business Administration from Johnson and Wales University. She has been recognized for her leadership and accomplishments by Fortune, Black Enterprise, Working Mother and Ebony Magazines and by numerous business and civic organizations.
Paula has been married for over 40 years to Lawrence P. Bass, an electrical engineer and retired entrepreneur, who after retirement, taught physics and engineering in inner city Chicago Public High Schools for six years. They have an adult daughter who lives in Oakland, CA.
Job Titles:
- Senior Partner
- Senior Partner, Teaching Reimagined
As a Senior Partner at NewSchools, Pete Fishman leads the Teaching Reimagined investment area. He supports innovators who are evolving how educators work and opening systems to involve caregivers and community experts in support of students.
Before joining NewSchools, Pete served as Executive Vice President at Deans for Impact, a national non-profit organization that he helped to launch in 2015 and grew to serve nearly 200 educator-preparation programs in 45 states. In that capacity, he led organizational learning and strategy and oversaw policy, communications, operations, finance, fundraising, and new initiatives.
Throughout his career, Pete has worked to reimagine pathways into teaching. While at NewSchools earlier in his career, he managed Learning to Teach, a national initiative originally developed with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which brought together diverse stakeholders across the country to strengthen and expand pathways into teaching. He has also consulted to national foundations, K-12 school systems, and support organizations.
Pete began his career as a high school history and civics teacher at the Academy of the Pacific Rim in Boston and has held roles at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and DSST Public Schools in Colorado. He holds a doctorate in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA from Yale University.
Pete lives north of Boston with his wife, who is an elementary literacy specialist, and their two children.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Executive Assistant
- Senior Executive
Ruth Ann Le is Senior Executive Assistant to the Chief Learning Officer and Office of the CEO. In this role, she takes care of operational and coordination needs for multiple teams. She is passionate about supporting a family of visionaries who are focused on improving the systems and structures that build strong culture and help the organization run more efficiently, inclusively, and equitably.
Ruth is a career executive assistant with over 25 years' experience supporting C-level executives in the venture capital, technology, and music industries. Her career has taken her from traveling the world as the road manager and back-up singer for a music artist, to project coordination at tech start-ups, to wrangling the complex calendars, office management, and event coordination of a venture capital firm and their portfolio companies in Silicon Valley. She studied Information Systems Management at San Jose State University.
In her free time, Ruth volunteers her time teaching art at her son's school. She is a self-proclaimed foodie who loves trying new (easy) recipes, discovering Bay Area hiking trails, and taking road trips. She enjoys photography, karaoke nights with friends, Sunday dinners with family, and lazy beach days. Her favorite thing of all is being Mom to her son and two dogs.
Stacey Childress is the former CEO at NewSchools Venture Fund and AERDF. A nationally recognized expert on philanthropy and innovation in K-12 education, she joined NewSchools in 2014 to help refocus it on the future of learning. More recently, Stacey worked with a diverse team of leaders to incubate and launch AERDF, an Inclusive R&D fund.
In 2021, Stacey was named to the Forbes 50 over 50: Impact list, a group of trailblazing women changing their communities and the world through social entrepreneurship, law, advocacy and education.
From 2010 through 2014, Stacey led the K-12 Next Generation Learning team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, investing in schools and technologies that enable better learning outcomes for middle and high school students in the United States. In 2012 she was named to the Forbes Impact 15 list, a group of innovators reimagining learning globally.
Before her time in philanthropy, Stacey was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. There she studied entrepreneurial activity in public education, writing three books and more than 30 cases and articles about education entrepreneurship. She also developed and taught a course on education entrepreneurship that was taken by more than 800 students and won teaching awards from the school's Dean and her students.
Before joining Harvard, Stacey co-founded an enterprise software company, spent 10 years in corporate sales and leadership at a Fortune 500 company, and worked as a classroom teacher.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Senior Executive
- Senior Executive Assistant, Learning Solutions
Thea Fennira is a Senior Executive Assistant on the Learning Solutions investment team at NewSchools. Thea's experience in the Bay Area includes eight years in semiconductor investment banking, four in financial services private equity, and a year and a half in biotech. She has a broad base of experience, and a commitment to service. As the first in her family lineage to graduate college, she believes every person must have access to a quality education.
Born and raised in Iowa, Thea chose to attend a liberal arts school with a music therapy program, Clarke University, and graduated with a B.A. in computer science, and a minor in music. Her interests include foreign culture, music, travel, and the arts.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate Partner, Innovative Schools
Valerie Braimah is a Senior Associate Partner on the Innovative Schools investment team at NewSchools. She works closely with school leadership teams, providing management assistance and facilitating communities of practice focused on approaches that advance equity in schools and support students' academic and social-emotional development.
An education leader for over 25 years, Valerie has always been passionate about challenging the status quo in public school education and creating opportunities for students to access liberation, joy, and critical thinking. In her previous roles, she has led professional development for teachers, developed innovative school models for students from racially and economically diverse backgrounds, and supported efforts that raised student achievement in schools and districts across the country.
Before finding a home at NewSchools, Valerie was Executive Director at City Charter Schools, Vice President of Community Learning and Engagement at Teach For America, Vice President of Instruction at the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, and Chief Learning Officer for Insight Education Group.
Valerie holds a master's degree in Education Policy from Johns Hopkins University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, watching the Warriors, and playing volleyball and soccer.
Wendy-Ann Dixon-DuBois is a savvy communicator with a breadth of experience that spans education, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. At NewSchools, Wendy leads the team bringing communication strategy to life through clear messaging, powerful stories, and engaging visual content.
Driving social change through strategic community impact initiatives has been the core of Wendy's career. She started as an elementary school teacher in Miami and later led academic and youth development programs in Washington, D.C. Wendy has taken her direct service experience and translated her visions of exemplary, equitable education for all students into scalable, global partnerships and mission-oriented communications and marketing campaigns while at United Way Worldwide.