GA CHARTERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- GCSA Staff Member
- Director of Membership and Events
Alicia has been a dedicated corporate event planner for more than 14 years. She is highly respected in the industry for her meticulous attention to detail and eye for modern design. She specializes in creating engaging experiences for underrepresented markets.
As an advocate for innovative women corporate planners, she works with community organizations to teach women professional planning and organization skills.
When she is not planning state and national events, Alicia works with the Youth Ministry at her church. She enjoys traveling, boot camps on the Peloton (#hardcore), reading and watching HGTV.
Alicia earned her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southern University. She lives in Atlanta, is married to Zeron Turlington and is a mom to the apples of her eye - Zoë, 3 and Zain, 2.
Job Titles:
- GCSA Staff Member
- Vice President of New School Development
As a native Georgian, Christa has fifteen years of experience working in schools to create equitable outcomes and a transformational experience for students, families, and communities. Christa has been honored to impact the educational experience for students through the roles of teacher apprentice, teacher, instructional coach, talent acquisition, founding assistant principal, successor principal, founding principal, and principal manager. Through her prior role of Vice President of Schools for IDEA Tampa Bay Public Schools, Christa served as the principal manager for four phenomenal principals towards launching four new schools in the state of Florida to provide a high-quality school choice option for families.
As a former successor and founding school charter principal, Christa understands the experience of charter principals and is dedicated to ensuring that their vision of transformational outcomes for students is actualized. She was the founding school principal of KIPP Nashville College Prep Elementary (KNCPE) School. Christa dedicated the vision of KNCPE to the trailblazing impact of the Nashville Student Movement during the Civil Rights Movement as well as the work of the ‘beloved community' created by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Before her role as founding principal, Christa was the successor principal of Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary School after serving as a Founding Assistant Principal. There she led the school to earn a Level 5 TVAAS score for the state of Tennessee as well as being ranked second out of 73 elementary schools in the Metropolitan Nashville Public School District.
Before her school leadership at Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary, Christa was a 5th and 7th-grade Humanities teacher at KIPP Ascend Middle School in Chicago, Illinois where she led over 90% of her students to exceed the end of year goals on the NWEA assessment. Christa discovered her passion for coaching and developing teachers through her experience as a Manager, Teacher Leadership Development (MTLD) at Teach For America-Chicago. She directly coached and developed first- and second-year elementary school teachers in various charter and public schools throughout Chicago.
Christa has also impacted the daily educational experience of students through her work in talent acquisition at a national and regional level. As the Founding Regional Director of Staffing for IDEA Tampa Bay Public Schools, Christa directly impacted year 0 hiring for four new charter schools. Christa was also a Managing Director, Recruitment with Teach For America leading recruitment strategy to identify our nation's top college leaders at the most selective northeastern colleges to teach in under-resourced communities.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Charter School Growth Fund
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer
- GCSA Staff Member
- Chief Strategy Officer at the Georgia Charter School
- Chief Strategy Officer at the Georgia Charter Schools Association
Dr. Bonnie Holliday is Chief Strategy Officer at the Georgia Charter Schools Association. Before joining the GCSA staff, Dr. Holliday served as Executive Director of the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia and also as Executive Director of the state's academic accountability agency-the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. She also worked previously in the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, and she was a high school English teacher and AP coordinator at Banks County a high School in Homer, Georgia.
Dr. Holliday received her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia, and her dissertation research focused on charter school coalition building throughout the state.
Job Titles:
- Dean / College of Education / University of West Georgia
Job Titles:
- CEO
- GCSA Staff Member
- President
- President & CEO / Georgia Charter Schools Association
Dr. Tony Roberts has significant experience in the areas of associational and nonprofit management, resource development, advocacy, and government relations. His first experience in the field of charter schools came while serving as Vice President of Development for Texans CAN! Academies based in Dallas, Texas. At Texans CAN!, he was responsible for raising awareness and support for ten charter high schools, serving 7,000 at-risk youth annually in five major Texas cities.
He previously served as the Executive Director of Camp Fire USA, a children and youth development agency located in Dallas, TX. He has also served as Vice President of Development for Evergreen Foundation, where he was in charge of all fund-raising, board development, marketing and public relations. Prior to this, he served as CEO for Sertoma Center, Inc., an agency serving persons with disabilities in Knoxville, Tennessee. Additionally, he served as the CEO of a local affiliate of the National Home Builders Association in the Greater Knoxville, Tennessee area.
Tony has been a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) since 1986. He was a founding and charter member of the Smoky Mountain Chapter of AFP in Tennessee. He is also a member of the American Society of Association Executives.
A native Tennessean, Tony earned the M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his B.A. degree from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Tony and his wife Cindy live in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- GCSA Staff Member
Jerome comes to GCSA after working for more than five years as a Business Manager for a children's shelter located in Jonesboro. During his tenure, he oversaw the organization's finances and managed building staff, payroll, human resources, the building itself and several grants.
Jerome is originally from Ohio and moved to Atlanta in 1987, where he was hired by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Jerome first managed the company's annual operating budget. By the time he retired from the company after 25 years, Jerome became a bank officer, managing not only the annual operating budget, but also the general ledger operating system and handled month and year-end closing. In addition, he provided financial reports for the senior management and board of directors.
Prior to arriving in Atlanta, Jerome worked for 10 years with the Cincinnati Public Schools, managing the operating budget and the general ledger operating system. He also organized local school PTAs and aided them with the passage of local tax levies.
Jerome majored in accounting and graduated with a Bachelor's of Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner / Sovereign 's Capital
Job Titles:
- VP of Client Solutions / JE Dunn Construction
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- GCSA Staff Member
Leslie Gabbianelli has twelve years of experience helping to improve school systems nationwide. She began her career in a leadership development program at GlaxoSmithKline before becoming an Education Pioneers fellow in the Development office of Teach For America. Mrs. Gabbianelli then held various roles with increasing levels of responsibility at The New Teacher Project. While there she helped over 1600 schools nationwide gather and strategically use instructional culture data, built the internal operations of the business line that she grew more than six-fold, oversaw a major custom technology build, helped a CMO to build a long-term strategic plan, led a human capital diagnostic of a large district, and co-authored Greenhouse Schools in Boston: School Leadership Practices Across a High-Performing Charter Sector. She was a member of the inaugural Emerging Human Capital Leaders Initiative cohort through the Urban Schools Human Capital Academy before founding the Atlanta office of EdTec and serving as the outsourced Chief Financial Officer for six Georgia charter schools, most in their launch year. Mrs. Gabbianelli also served as the interim Chief of Staff for Education Pioneers during a recent CEO transition and recently founded her own consulting practice to assist schools on a wide range of financial, operational, development, and human capital challenges. She holds a BSBA and a BA from Duquesne University and a Master of Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Job Titles:
- GCSA Staff Member
- Senior Director of Communications
Michelle comes to Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA) after working for more than a decade as a journalist. Prior to working at GCSA, Michelle specialized in reporting on charter schools for WABE Radio, Atlanta's NPR station. While serving in that capacity, Michelle provided in-depth coverage on the 2012 constitutional amendment to restore an alternate authorizer for Georgia charter schools. She also covered the struggles Utopian Academy for the Arts experienced as it tried to open its doors. Michelle was also a lead reporter for WABE's coverage of the 2014 and 2015 state legislative sessions.
Before arriving in Atlanta, she worked at KMOX, the CBS radio affiliate in St. Louis as a county government and general assignment reporter. Prior to joining KMOX, Michelle served as a medical and general assignment reporter at WSAV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Savannah, GA.
Michelle is an award-winning journalist with a background in strategic communications. She has a Master's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism and a Bachelor's in Communications from the University of Denver.
Michelle Wirth Senior Director of Communications Email Michelle comes to the Association after working for more than a decade as a journalist. Most recently, Michelle specialized in reporting on charter schools for WABE Radio, Atlanta's NPR station. Read full bio
Job Titles:
- Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Job Titles:
- GCSA Staff Member
- Manager
- Manager of Digital Strategy
Shabaaka Smalls has built a diverse and comprehensive career in digital design, education, and marketing. His professional journey began at ModernTribe in Atlanta in 2012, where he honed his skills as a graphic designer. His drive to improve his Portuguese led him to Surubim and Recife in Pernambuco, Brazil, where he took on the role of an English teacher at CCAA and 2BE English, respectively.
His commitment to advocacy was evident when he worked as a designer for the digital magazine "Revista Geração Z" with Instituto de Protagonismo Juvenil Surubim, a role where he promoted youth leadership. Shabaaka also offered his design expertise to a municipal political candidate, coordinating their design services to help shape a compelling political narrative.
Having a love for innovation, Shabaaka founded a blog in 2015, where he was responsible for all aspects of the business, including website design, creative direction, publication, product sales, and ad placements. His robust portfolio of design and marketing roles also includes positions at The Rooted Initiative and Brazilian Beauty Box. As a testament to his versatility, Shabaaka has contributed as a freelance designer for the publication he loved growing up: Condé Nast Traveller.
Shabaaka's experience in the corporate world includes a dynamic role at Microsoft, where, under the consumer and small business marketing organization, he worked in sales, ERG leadership, and customer success, showing his ability to adapt and thrive in diverse environments.
Shabaaka is a proud Posse Scholar and graduated with a full-tuition scholarship from The College of Wooster, earning a BA in Communication with a specialization in digital publication at a time when the field was just beginning to take off. His activism on campus earned him the prestigious John Plummer Award. His passion for learning took him to Seoul, South Korea, where he completed his Senior Independent Study, supported by the Copeland Grant. He continued to expand his knowledge at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. This thirst for learning also led him to gain certifications in Modern Marketing from the Microsoft-Kellogg partnership and the Psychology of E-Commerce from the Interaction Design Foundation.
Shabaaka Smalls Manager of Digital Strategy Email Shabaaka Smalls is a dynamic professional with a diverse career spanning digital design, education, and marketing. From honing graphic design skills at ModernTribe to laying out magazines in Brazil, his journey embodies a blend of creativity and advocacy. Read full bio