Alexandra Anormaliza
Board of Advisors
Alexandra Anormaliza served as teacher, principal, and central office leader over three decades with the New York City Department of Education. Now an educational consultant, she was most recently the Senior Advisor for Education in the New York City Mayor’s Office. As a central leader, she created the Affinity Schools Citywide Office, supporting 162 middle and high schools. She also led the development of yearly citywide instructional expectations and the design and delivery of citywide professional learning experiences for thousands of teachers and administrators. As the child of non-English speaking parents and an immigrant herself, Alex holds a deep-seated belief in education as a human right and a vehicle for advancing social justice and equity. She is a graduate of New York City public schools and the City University of New York and was a member of the first cohort of the New York City Leadership Academy.
Steven Becton
Board of Advisors
Steven Becton is the Chief Equity Officer for Facing History and Ourselves. based in Memphis, TN. He writes and speaks for Facing History on urban education and equity issues in and beyond the classroom. He presents at national conferences, writes blogs, and conducts workshops and webinars for educators and for the larger community centered on having courageous conversations about race and education. He is a skilled facilitator and experienced presenter. Becton leads an Urban Civics Learning Lab in one of the poorest zip codes in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting a team of Facing History staff who are working deeply in these schools to create whole school culture and transformational educational experiences to equip educators, while also empowering students, to overcome systemic issues that have placed them at risk.
Justin C. Cohen
Board of Advisors
Justin C. Cohen is a writer, activist, public policy expert, and nonprofit executive. He is the author most recently of “Change Agents: Transforming Schools From the Ground Up.” In 2020, he ran for State Assembly in his home district of Crown Heights, NY. Previously, Justin served as Chief Strategy Officer at Cambiar Education, a not for profit design studio that offers growth and incubation support to entrepreneurs focused on social impact and co-founded and served as Chief Operating Officer of Wayfinder Foundation, which provides micro-grants to community activists working in historically marginalized communities. Justin’s work as a writer has appeared in The New York Times, Education Week, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and HuffPost. Previously, he served as president of Boston-based education nonprofit Mass Insight Education, and as a senior advisor to the chancellor at the DC Public Schools.
Frederick J. Frelow, Ed.D
Board of Advisors
Frederick J. Frelow, Ed.D., is chief executive officer of Frelow & Associates in Nyack, New York. Previously, he served as interim president for the Southern Education Foundation.
From 2008 to 2017, Dr. Frelow worked at the Ford Foundation in its education and scholarship program in the United States. Before that, he was director of early-college initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, where he managed development of fourteen early-college high schools. Previously, he was associate director in the working communities division of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he oversaw development and implementation of the foundation’s school reform program.
Avi Green
Board of Advisors
Avi Green is Executive Director of the Scholars Strategy Network. He helps researchers use relationship-building and communications skills to increase the impact of research and evidence on public policy. He has helped researchers develop reciprocal relationships with government officials and policymakers on both sides of the aisle in many states. As an editor and communications strategist, he has also helped scholars bring attention to their research in dozens of venues ranging from The New York Times to Fox News. Before coming to the Scholars Strategy Network in 2013, Avi served as Executive Director of MassVOTE, an nonpartisan organization devoted to reducing racial disparities in voting and civic participation in Massachusetts.
Patrick Joseph
Board of Advisors
Patrick Joseph is the Grants & Policy Manager for NYC Census 2020 — a first-of-its-kind initiative established by Mayor de Blasio to ensure a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census. Before joining the NYC Census 2020 office, Patrick advised Borough President Brewer on education issues affecting Manhattan schools as the Senior Education Policy Analyst for the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. His policy experience and interests include the intersection of civics and education; school desegregation; school funding; culturally relevant education; and the school-to-prison pipeline. Prior to his career in policy, Patrick served as a public school teacher in New York City. Patrick holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership, Politics and Advocacy from New York University, a master’s degree in Special Education for grades 7-12 from CUNY’s Hunter College, and a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College.
Shannon Trilli Kempner
Board of Advisors
Shannon Trilli Kempner is Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Diversity & Inclusion for Catalent, coordinating and organizing Catalent’s existing initiatives in sustainability and maximizing social impact and its employee-driven community programs. Previously, Shannon served as Director of Corporate Responsibility Strategy & Partnerships for S&P Global, guiding the corporation’s philanthropic and partnership portfolio to support female entrepreneurs around the globe, with a particular eye at breaking down barriers to women’s access to resources and capital by leveraging data, analytics, and technology. Before joining S&P Global, Shannon served as Director of Global Health for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), where she designed, scaled and lead UMCOR’s Signature Health and Sustainability Program to provide funding and technical support to community based health organizations.
Fiona Lin
Board of Advisors
Fiona Lin brings over 15 years of leadership experience in the education sector, primarily launching new programs and functions at high-growth, non-profit organizations. She joined Achievement Network in 2012 to scale its human capital functions, establishing a six-person team and tripling the organization’s headcount in under three years, before then launching its Org Effectiveness team, reporting on ANet’s impact in accelerating school and student success and building a team of data scientists. Prior to ANet, Fiona spent a decade working at TNTP (The New Teacher Project), first as a founding partner in its teacher certification business line, where she managed teams partnering with urban districts, higher ed institutions, and state departments of education to train and certify over 2,000 new teachers, including a third of all new teachers in post-Katrina New Orleans schools.
Lance Ozier
Board of Advisors
Lance Ozier has over 20 years experience in the fields of youth development and education. A certified teacher, he began teaching first grade in Atlanta public schools before working in middle and high schools in the Bronx and Brooklyn, New York. He also spent 15 years on the staff of Project Morry, a nationally recognized not-for-profit summer camp and youth development organization. Dr. Ozier’s publications have been included in the Journal of Experiential Education, Journal of Youth Development, Democracy and Education, English Journal, and he has authored over a dozen articles and columns in Camping Magazine. Dr. Ozier earned his MA in sociology and education policy, as well as his EdM and EdD in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Since 2017, he has taught courses in the CUNY Youth Studies Program, and he has been on the faculty of CCNY since 2009. He’s also been an instructor at Teachers College and Bank Street College of Education.
Laura Patterson
Board of Advisors
Laura Patterson is an Associate Partner at Promise Venture Studio. Before joining Promise, Laura worked on the Education Research and Insights and Community teams at Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) by day, and as the Program Director to Revive the Dream Institute, a fellowship for professionals looking to make an impact in the education space, by night. Prior to joining TpT, she served at the NYC Department of Education as a Special Projects Manager for the district's Office of Innovation and Education Technology and the Analyst for the Office of Strategic Planning. She began her career at Scholastic, where she performed a variety of functions including managing the company’s book donation program. In addition to broad experience with education organizations as staff, Laura has co-organized Startup Weekend EDU and consulted with or volunteered for several local ed-based nonprofits including 100Kin10, 4.0 Schools, and the Opportunity Network. Laura received her BA in Sociology at Tufts University and her MPA in Nonprofit Management from New York University.
Michael Preston
Board of Advisors
Michael Preston is the Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a research and innovation lab that works to advance children’s learning and development in the digital age. His work has focused on using technology to improve teaching and learning, supporting student agency and interest, and creating models for systemic change. Previously, he co-founded CSforALL, the hub for the national Computer Science for All movement, and led digital learning initiatives at the New York City Department of Education and at Columbia University. He earned a PhD in Cognitive Science in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Mika Rao
Board of Advisors
Mika Rao is a social change and public affairs strategist. Mika got her start as a change management consultant with Accenture and since then has built her career working in service of people and communities. Her efforts have included leading marketing and communications efforts at The LifeLink Foundation, Memorial Hermann Health System, Teach For America and the education nonprofit, Transcend. Mika is currently the managing director at williamsworks, a social impact firm committed to solving today’s problems working in partnerships through philanthropy, policy, and social entrepreneurship. She draws energy from collaborating with individuals and groups committed to creating a voice for communities often left out of the conversation.
Jeanne Rotunda
Board of Advisors
Jeanne Rotunda has had extensive experience as a school designer, leader, and coach. Over the nineteen years as principal of West Side Collaborative, MS250, she restructured and innovated a progressive school for Title 1 middle school students. Before her work at WSC, she designed, established and led the Wadleigh Alternative Arts School, a 7-12 public school in Harlem. Jeanne has focused on building collaborative school communities through developing teacher team structures and empowering teachers in multiple leadership roles. Working with a colleague, she implemented a middle school lab-site for citywide inter-visitations and was a facilitator for the NYC DOE Office of New Schools. Her schools have been widely recognized for implementing innovative programs, promoting student involvement in learning and building organizational structures.
Chrystina Russell
Board of Advisors
Chrystina Russell is the executive director of Southern New Hampshire University's Global Education Movement, providing US accredited Bachelor's degrees and pathways to employment across 9 sites in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Lebanon, and Rwanda. Previously, she was the chief academic officer of Kepler, a nonprofit university program based in Rwanda. In that role, she launched the organization's no-cost-to-students US-accredited degree program in two campuses -- one in Kigali and the other in Kiziba refugee camp. Previously, she was a founding principal of Global Tech Prep, a high-performing, innovative public school in Harlem, New York. Chrystina started her career as a bilingual special education teacher in the Bronx.
Charles Wright, Jr.
Board of Advisors