The Uncommon Schools team is comprised of professionals who are passionate about improving educational opportunities for under-served youth and communities. Each of our staff members has extensive experience working in education and mission-driven non-profit organizations.

Maya Ahlstrom    Associate Director of Development

Maya Ahlstrom joins Uncommon Schools from Roxbury Prep Charter School in Boston, which will continue to be her home base. Maya joined Roxbury Prep in April 2010 to oversee the facility renovation and work with the directors on the new charter applications and other projects. Prior to Roxbury Prep, Maya was with the Chicago school district's Office of New Schools, where she helped ensure the operational success of all newly opened charter and district innovation schools. Maya was initially introduced to charter and new school work after receiving a Public Interest Fellowship to work for the Chicago Public Schools after college graduation. Maya has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and Europe, and has always enjoyed working with children and educators. Originally from Somerville, MA, Maya is excited to return to the Boston area and put her passion for education and experience in education administration to work for the children of Boston and beyond.

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Sarah Allen    Business Analyst

Sarah Allen joined Uncommon Schools in 2010 to help drive business intelligence on the IT team after completing an M.B.A. at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.  Prior to business school, she was a senior associate consultant at Bain & Company.  During her time at Bain, she worked on strategy projects for clients in a broad range of industries.  While at Bain, she also volunteered additional time on consulting projects in the education sector through Inspire, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing schools and small nonprofits with the same strategic thinking and analysis that consultants provide for corporate clients. She has also worked at DW Healthcare Partners, a middle market private equity fund, and spent time in Nepal volunteering for Wild Earth, a small company founded to promote women’s and rural economic development.  She received an A.B. in psychology and a certificate in environmental studies from Princeton University.

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Michael Ambriz   Chief Operating Officer, North Star Academy Network

Michael Ambriz joined Uncommon Schools in May 2008 and serves as the Chief Operating Officer for North Star Academy. Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Mr. Ambriz served as the Managing Director, National Institute Operations for Teach For America, where he was responsible for overseeing all marketing, admissions, technology, human resources and finance projects related to corps member training. During his time at Teach For America, he held many positions, beginning at the 2003 charter Los Angeles training institute. Having subsequently been responsible for institute operations in New York City and Philadelphia, he then joined the centralized operations team to provide better support nationwide. Prior to joining Teach For America, he worked at the LAUSD Academic Mentor Program, where he helped to recruit community volunteers to tutor at 16 schools across the Los Angeles area, and put systems into place to reduce the transition time between recruitment and placement. He also managed the Cesar Chavez Service and Learning Grant for the California Governor's Office of Service and Volunteerism. Mr. Ambriz holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Paul Bambrick-Santoyo   Managing Director, North Star Academy Network

During Paul Bambrick-Santoyo’s seven years at North Star, the network has seen dramatic increases in performance in student achievement, making North Star one of the highest achieving urban schools in New Jersey. Author of the book “Driven by Data” (to be published February 2010), he has trained over 1,800 school leaders nationwide through his work at Uncommon Schools and as the Data-Driven Instruction faculty member for New Leaders for New Schools, the leading national urban school leadership training program.  Prior to joining North Star, Mr. Bambrick-Santoyo worked for six years in a bilingual school in Mexico City, where he founded the International Baccalaureate program at the middle school level, led significant gains in English test score results, and was named Teacher of the Year in 1999.  He earned a B.A. in Social Justice from Duke University (1994) and his M.Ed. in School Administration via New Leaders for New Schools from the City University of New York—Baruch College (2003).

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Sara Batterton   Director of Real Estate

Sara Batterton received her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 2007 with a concentration in Real Estate and Finance. During her time at Columbia, Ms. Batterton was a recipient of the Forté Fellowship for Women in Business and a Teaching Assistant for the Real Estate Finance course, and also managed the school's fundraising efforts for the Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship Program. Ms. Batterton joined Uncommon Schools as Director of Real Estate in the summer of 2008. Prior to this, she worked as an Associate at Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate firm, providing real estate finance and development consulting to public agencies. Ms. Batterton's previous experience also includes roles in community economic development with the Higher Education Public Finance group at Lehman Brothers, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. In these roles she was responsible for managing foundation investments in affordable housing and financial services and also worked to develop innovative financial services delivery programs for low-income families and communities. She received her B.A. cum laude in Political Science and Spanish from Columbia University.

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Wendy Blommendahl    Associate Director of Special Education

Wendy Blommendahl started volunteering in 2000 in San Francisco high-need classrooms while earning her BA in Sociology.  Later, she coordinated the Youth Transitional Volunteer Program for the Volunteer Center of San Francisco helping teenage youth with disabilities gain job-readiness skills.  Ms. Blommendahl earned her Special Education Teacher Certification while teaching math and science in a Special Day Class as a 2003 Teach For America Corps Member at Burton High School in San Francisco. Prior to joining Uncommon, Ms. Blommendahl worked for The New Teacher Project’s Teaching Fellows Programs selecting and training high-quality teachers for high need schools across the country.  She advised Site Managers on their interview and selection processes, trained Institute staff, and managed the pre-screening process of approximately 40,000 applicants annually.

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Lauren Brom   Special Projects Director - Operations and Instruction

Lauren Brom joined Uncommon Schools as a Special Projects Director in 2008 after serving as a Teach For America corps member in New York City. In her two years as a math teacher, Ms. Brom led her students to achieve a class average of 82% content mastery. Further, 99% of the 7th grade students at MS 317 (KAPPA 2) passed the state math assessment. In addition to teaching, Ms. Brom wrote her school's 7th grade math curriculum and led an after school program that reinforced remedial math skills and allowed students to develop entrepreneurial skills by creating their own mini-businesses. Outside of the classroom, Ms. Brom created and executed staff workshops on collecting and tracking student data to differentiate instruction and served as the Chair of the School Leadership Team. Ms. Brom received her B.A. in Economics and Media Studies from Pomona College and will soon complete her M.A. in Teaching from Pace University.

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Kara Christianson   Associate Director of Recruitment

Kara Christianson joined Uncommon Schools in September 2009, after serving as a Curriculum Specialist at Teach For America’s Los Angeles Institute. Prior to this, Ms. Christianson was a Teach For America corps member in Los Angeles, where she taught 6th grade math and science. She also previously worked with Iridescent, a non-profit committed to teaching high-level physics concepts in urban classrooms. Ms. Christianson holds a double major in Business Administration and Theatre Arts from the University of Puget Sound, and an MA in Elementary Education from Loyola Marymount University.

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Abby Cooperberg   Business Manager , North Star Academy

Abby Cooperberg joined Uncommon Schools with extensive experience in management and systems consulting. Ms. Cooperberg worked at Andersen Consulting (currently known as Accenture) for six years on various projects in the government, non-profit, and financial services sectors. She then joined Bankers Trust as a Vice President, where she worked as a senior project manager and systems liaison for the Defined Contribution business. Ms. Cooperberg has most recently taken time off from the business world to focus on raising her family. She has been very active as a volunteer for the Montclair school system, the Junior League of Montclair/Newark (JLMN), and various other organizations. She served on the board of the JLMN, responsible for league projects. Ms. Cooperberg graduated from SUNY Albany with a degree in Accounting and Computer Science.

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Dan Deckman    Chief Operating Officer, True North Public Schools

Dan Deckman is Chief Operating Officer for True North Public Schools Network.  He formerly served as Director of Operations for True North Rochester Prep Charter School.  Mr. Deckman previously worked for two years as Research Analyst & Marketing Coordinator at Civic Builders, a nonprofit real estate development organization that strives to implement facilities solutions for New York City charter schools.  Prior to that, Mr. Deckman developed a deep background in legal and investigative analysis, including over four years as Senior Litigation Paralegal at the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton.  In addition, he has held roles managing political campaigns at the state and local levels.  Mr. Deckman holds a B.A. degree from Fordham University. 

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Ebony Dunn   Associate Director of Recruitment

Ebony Dunn joined Uncommon Schools in September 2009 as an Associate Director of Recruitment.  Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Ms. Dunn received her M.S.W., with a focus in non-profit management and education, from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University.  During her time at the Brown School, Ms. Dunn developed and evaluated programs for the St. Louis Public Schools, and served as a community organizer with Metropolitan Congregations United.  Ms. Dunn was a 2005 Teach for America corps member in Houston, where, during her second year of teaching, she led her fourth grade students to a 96% passing rate on the state writing assessment.  Ms. Dunn also served as a corps member advisor at Teach for America’s Houston Institute in 2009. She received her B.A in American Studies from the University of Virginia, and teacher certification from The University of St. Thomas.

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Anne Eidelman  Director of Finance

Anne joined Uncommon Schools in the summer of 2010, after earning her MBA from Columbia Business School where she was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society and was awarded the Nathan Gantcher Prize for Social Enterprise. Anne's commitment to education reform stems from her work with a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that helps students achieve grade-level competency in reading and math.  In addition to redeveloping the K-12 mathematics curriculum, Anne, as Manager, led a replication effort that more than doubled the program's earned revenue. Following her work in D.C., she taught high school mathematics and chemistry in Miami, Florida and founded an educational consulting and tutoring company through which she facilitated professional development courses for teachers and administrators; provided individualized student instruction; and developed a curriculum for a national entrepreneurship education program.  Anne graduated Summa cum Laude from Washington University in St. Louis where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Master of Science from Northwestern University as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

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Meghan Fitzgerald   Director of Special Education

Meghan Fitzgerald joined Uncommon Schools as Director of Special Education in 2006. Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Ms. Fitzgerald served as a Special Education Coordinator at InterActive Therapy Group, where she was responsible for providing special education instruction, coordination, and consultation for over 15 charter schools in New York City.  While working at InterActive Therapy Group, she authored a series of compliance and instructional resource manuals for charter schools in New York City and New York State. Ms. Fitzgerald has presented workshops on best practices in special education for the California Charter School Association, Building Excellent Schools, New York State Charter School Association, New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, and the Chicago Renaissance Schools Fund. She is working with Uncommon Schools to establish collaborative support systems for principals, teachers, and therapists to maximize student achievement. Ms. Fitzgerald holds a M.A. in Learning Disabilities from City University of New York – Hunter College with a specialization in education for gifted students. She earned her B.S. in General and Special Education with a concentration in Spanish from the State University of New York – Geneseo. 

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Lisa Flores     Associate Director of Real Estate and Facilities

Lisa Flores joined Uncommon Schools in 2009 as the Special Assistant to the CEO. Ms. Flores began her career as a  Teach For America corps member in New York City. As a corps member, she taught 8th grade science in the South Bronx, served as the school’s science team leader, and more than doubled the school’s passing rate on the 8th grade state science test. As an undergraduate, Ms. Flores’ mentored middle school students through Project A.I.Y.M.E., tutored elementary school students through the Stanford Youth Project, and conducted research on colorblind ideology. Ms. Flores holds a B.A. in Psychology with two minors in Spanish and Human Biology, and an M.A.  in Psychology, both from Stanford University. She also holds an M.S. in Teaching from Pace University.

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Sandra Franco    Business Manager

Prior to joining Uncommon Schools in 2009, Sandra Franco worked as a Bookkeeper at New York Rehab Pain Management for four years. There, she was responsible for the Payroll, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable of the company.  Prior to this, Sandra was a Senior Accountant at Safe Horizon, a not-for-profit organization in lower Manhattan, where she prepared financial reports for funders; she also prepared budget analysis and projections for cost-based grants. For six years, Sandra served in the United States Army Reserves as a Personnel Administrative Specialist.  She holds a BA in Accounting from Queens College

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Antonio Freitas    Associate Director of Recruitment

Prior to joining Uncommon’s Recruitment team, Antonio Freitas taught second grade for six years in New York City. He began his career as a 2003 Teach For America Corps Member at PS 170 in the Bronx. In 2006, Antonio joined Leadership Preparatory Bedford Stuyvesant Charter School as a second grade Lead Teacher. There, Mr. Freitas worked strategically to lead 96% of his students to mastery in math, and 91% of his students to mastery in literacy, according to nationally-normed year-end assessments. Mr. Freitas received his BA in Social Work from Seattle University and his MS in Teaching from Pace University.

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Brigid Ganley    Director of Development

Brigid Ganley joined Uncommon early in 2009 from the New York City Department of Education where she served as the Senior Manager of Operations for the Partnership Support Office (PSO). In that role, she led the design of the PSO service model, assessed external partners for the instructional and managerial capacity to serve schools, built partner autonomy, and drove high quality support to 187 schools that chose to align with the partnership organizations. Her first assignment at the Department of Education was designing and implementing the Leadership Development Institute, a cross-functional leadership training program for over 350 administrative staff.  After earning her MBA, Ms. Ganley was a director of Content Delivery at the Corporate Executive Board where she designed and presented best-practice research to Strategy and Corporate Development officers at Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Ganley completed the Broad Residency in Urban Education in 2008. She holds a B.A in English from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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Carolyn Hack   Chief Financial Officer

Carolyn Hack is a 2005 graduate of Columbia Business School, where she was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society and was awarded the faculty-bestowed prize for Nonprofit and Public Management. Ms. Hack joined Uncommon Schools as Chief Financial Officer in the summer of 2006. Prior to this, she worked as the Associate Executive Director of Development and Administration at Anchor, Inc. While at Anchor, Ms. Hack was responsible for the financial management of the organization, strategic planning, the development of a new evaluation model, the oversight of a capital renovation project, and fundraising. Her previous work experience also includes a summer associate position for the Chief Financial Officer of Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. Prior to business school, Ms. Hack taught high school mathematics and coached basketball and soccer for five years in Northern California. She received her B.A. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and her M.A. from Stanford University's School of Education.

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John Harper    Associate Director of Development

John Harper joined Uncommon Schools in 2010 as Associate Director of Development and Marketing.  Prior to joining Uncommon, Mr. Harper worked in fundraising and development for Friends of E Prep Schools (FOEP), a nonprofit designed to raise funds and awareness to support Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, a high performing public charter middle school in Cleveland, Ohio.  While at FOEP, Mr. Harper managed all donor related events and communications, volunteer activities, and all online marketing efforts.  During his time in Cleveland, Mr. Harper also supported the fundraising and marketing efforts of the Ohio Boychoir and Revelation Arts Academy.  He has also held summer positions with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Center in Washington, DC.  Mr. Harper received his B.A. in African American Studies and his B.M in Vocal Performance from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music.

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Cortney Harris   Public Grants and Special Projects Manager

Cortney Harris has over 10 years of experience in government, youth, and community development programs. Before joining Uncommon Schools as PublicGrants and Special Projects Manager in 2007, Ms. Harris served as the Assistant Director of College and Community Programs at the University of Rochester. There she led the admission office's diversity recruitment efforts. Previously, she worked in the City of Rochester's Mayor's Office for the Pathways to Peace Program. While at the Mayor's Office, she helped secure over $2 million in federal and state grant funds to support the program. Ms. Harris is the CEO of Roc City Dance and Fitness, a dance studio that focuses on arts and fitness awareness for urban youth and adults. Ms. Harris received a B.A. in Sociology from the University at Albany.

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Jessica Hendrix   Director of Organizational Learning

Jessica Ochoa Hendrix joined Uncommon Schools in the summer of 2009 after receiving her MBA with a concentration in Social Enterprise from Columbia Business School. During her time at Columbia, Ms. Hendrix was the recipient of the prestigious Board of Overseers Fellowship, and was awarded the Nathan Gantcher Prize for Social Enterprise. Additionally, she was the founding head of the Education Peer to Peer group and a vice president of the Social Enterprise Club. Ms. Hendrix served as an Education Pioneer at the New York City Department of Education, and also previously worked with Brooklyn Prospect Charter School as a Development Associate. Prior to business school, Ms. Hendrix worked in marketing for the Harvard Business Review and The Economist.  She holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Ashanti Herndon   Director of Finance

Ashanti Herndon joined Uncommon Schools as a Director of Finance in the summer of 2010 after receiving her MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.  While at Fuqua, Ms. Herndon served as the lead coordinator of Junior Achievement, a program that uses community volunteers to teach business concepts to children in grades K-12.   She was an Education Pioneer Fellow in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer at DC Public Schools in the summer of 2009.  During her internship, she developed a comprehensive reporting structure for a $300M special education budget to increase transparency.   Prior to business school, Ms. Herndon was the Director of Finance for Henry’s Wrecker Service, where she was responsible for the financial management of the organization, human resources, and business integration.  Ms. Herndon, also, previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers and International Paper as an auditor in the industries of manufacturing, telecommunications and government contracting.  She received her BBA in Finance from Howard University.

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Ahkilah Johnson    Director of Facilities

Prior to joining Uncommon Schools as Director of Facilities in the spring of 2009, Ahkilah Johnson served as Chief of Staff Investment Services at Cherokee Investment Partners. At Cherokee, Ms. Johnson’s responsibilities included investment underwriting, portfolio management, project management and deal structuring. She is LEED (Leadership in Energy an Environmental Design) accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council. She has served on the Board of Trustees for Teaching Firms of America Charter Schools and previously managed a community development proffer that included the design and predevelopment of a 300-student LEED Platinum middle school. Ms. Johnson’s previous experiences include her work with the Clark Construction Group coordinating field construction, as well as negotiating contracts to insure all work was completed in compliance with planned sequences, specifications, budgets and schedules. In addition, she spent two years as an Apprentice-Architect with the architecture firms of Schwartz and Associate Architects and Little and Associate Architects. She received her M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and her B.S. magna cum laude in Architecture from the Howard University College of Engineering Architecture and Computer Sciences, where she was a Trustee Scholar and the AIA Henry Adams Scholar.

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Lindsay Kruse   Senior Director of Human Capital

Prior to her role as Senior Director of Human Capital, Lindsay Kruse was the Director of Leadership Development for Uncommon Schools. As Director of Leadership Development, she developed the leadership fellowship program that prepares new instructional and operations leaders to open an Uncommon school. Ms. Kruse started at Uncommon in 2006 as the Director of Operations and developed the Operations infrastructure for Uncommon including defining and developing the role of school-based Operations leaders, developing systems to support those leaders, and managing projects that leveraged scale across schools. She received her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Social Enterprise in 2006. Winner of the Joanne Martin Award for Excellence in Public and Nonprofit Management, she has experience working with many youth development and poverty-fighting agencies including Ashoka, Robin Hood Foundation, Groundwork, Echoing Green, and the UNDP’s Growing Sustainable Business Initiative. Before earning her M.B.A., Ms. Kruse worked as a management consultant for Ernst & Young /Capgemini.  In this capacity, Ms. Kruse worked on the founding team for the School Evaluation Services project for Standard and Poors, now known as SchoolMatters.com. She is an alumnus of the Broad Residency in Urban Education and holds a B.S. from Cornell University.

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Dana Lehman    Managing Director, Boston Network

Dana Lehman joined Uncommon Schools in July 2010 as Managing Director of the Boston network.  She previously served as Co-Director for Curriculum and Instruction at Roxbury Prep for six years.  Roxbury Prep has been one of the highest-performing schools in Massachusetts, with the top 8th Grade Math MCAS scores in 2007 and 2009.  In 2009, Roxbury Prep’s 8th graders were 96% Advanced/Proficient in Math and 98% Advanced/Proficient in ELA.  In addition, 80% of Roxbury Prep’s graduates are enrolled in college.  Ms. Lehman also served as an eighth grade Science teacher and the Enrichment Coordinator at Roxbury Prep.  Prior to Roxbury Prep, Ms. Lehman taught Physics at Fort Worth Country Day School and Radnor High School.  She also served as Director of Summerbridge Fort Worth, a non-profit academic enrichment program.  Ms. Lehman holds a B.A. in Physics from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in Educational Studies from Tufts University. 

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Doug Lemov   Managing Director, True North Public Schools

Doug Lemov is the Founder of School Performance, an Albany-based non-profit that provides diagnostic assessments, performance data analysis, and academic consulting to high performing charter schools. He is a founder and the former principal of the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Boston, regarded as one of the highest performing urban charter schools in the country. After leaving Academy of the Pacific Rim, Mr. Lemov served as the Vice President for Accountability at the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute, the leading authorizer of charters in New York, where he designed and implemented a rigorous school accountability system. He has since served as a consultant to such organizations as KIPP, New Leaders for New Schools, and Building Excellent Schools. Mr. Lemov is a Trustee of the New York Charter Schools Association and of KIPP Tech Valley Charter School. He has a B.A. from Hamilton College, an M.A. from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

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Crystal Leveillee    Associate Director of Development

Crystal Leveillee joined Uncommon Schools in 2009 as Associate Director of Development and Marketing.  Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Ms. Leveillee was a Marketing Associate at FLAG Capital Management.  In that role, she was responsible for supporting investor relations and fundraising activities for FLAG’s Private Equity and Real Assets funds based in Boston.  Previously, Ms. Leveillee served as an Analyst in the Energy Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan, where she worked on M&A and equity transactions in the Power space.  She also held summer positions at Merrill Lynch and the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at MIT Sloan School, and taught in elementary schools in Nicaragua with Global Learning.  Her volunteer work in the education field includes directing the Wellesley Words on Wheels tutoring program in Framingham, MA public schools and volunteering at the Boston Renaissance Charter School.  Ms. Leveillee received a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College.

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Tara Marlovits    Chief Operating Officer,  Preparatory Network

Tara Marlovits is the Chief Operating Officer of the Preparatory Network of Uncommon  Schools.  She previously served as the Co-Director for Operations and Finance at Leadership Prep Bedford Stuyvesant Charter School, a member of the Uncommon Schools network.  Ms. Marlovits joined Leadership Prep in 2006 as the Founding Director of Operations, and was instrumental in the school‘s growth from its launch, through its start-up phases, to becoming a high-performing elementary school serving 330 students in Kindergarten through 4th Grade. On the 2009 New York State Exams,  89% of Leadership Prep Bedford Stuyvesant students scored Advanced or Proficient on the English Language Arts exam, and 100% scored Advanced or Proficient in Math.  Prior to joining Leadership Prep, Ms. Marlovits was the Associate Executive Director of Anchor, a nonprofit organization that designs and builds urban boarding schools in Brooklyn.  She began her career in education as the Founding Director of Programs at The Neighborhood Academy, a private high school serving low income students in Pittsburgh, PA. Ms. Marlovits holds a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross and an M.A. from Harvard University.

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Jared McCauley    Video Coordinator of Organizational Learning

Jared McCauley joined Uncommon Schools in November 2009 as a Video Analyst, and transitioned to the role of Video Coordinator for Organizational Learning in the summer of 2010.  Before joining Uncommon, Mr. McCauley was a 5th and 6th grade English Language Arts teacher at Explore Charter School in the Flatbush community of Brooklyn.  In addition, Mr. McCauley tutored high school students and taught critical writing and grammar as an instructor with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, a non-profit that prepares high school students of color to gain admission to and succeed at competitive colleges.  Before coming to New York, Mr. McCauley taught 6th through 8th grade Language Arts at St. Anthony Elementary in Long Beach, CA as a member of the Alliance for Catholic Education, an Americorps service teaching program.  Mr. McCauley holds a B.A. in English from Duke University and an M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame.

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Laura Lee McGovern   Chief Operating Officer, Collegiate Charter Schools

Laura Lee McGovern is the Chief Operating Officer of the Collegiate Network of Uncommon Schools. Ms. Lee joined Uncommon Schools in 2007 as the Founding Co-Director of Operations at Kings Collegiate Charter School. Ms. Lee helped establish the systems, processes and cultural foundation that has led Kings to early outstanding achievement and parent/student satisfaction. Ms. Lee also worked as a Summer Fellow and Education Pioneer with Uncommon in 2006. In this capacity, she helped develop school inspection and performance measurement processes. Previously, Ms. Lee worked as a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners LLC, advising companies on strategic and organizational issues, and also served as the founding Director of Analytics in student enrollment at the New York City Department of Education. Ms. Lee received her MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar and co-leader of the Education Leadership Group. Ms. Lee earned her A.B. in Social Studies at Harvard College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

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Searcy Milam    Director of Marketing & Communications

Searcy Milam joined Uncommon Schools in 2008 as an Associate Director of Recruitment. Previously, she taught middle school ESL and 7th grade English in East Los Angeles through Teach For America. Outside of the classroom, Ms. Milam served on the school’s five-person governing body, managed the teacher expenditure budget, and chaired the 7th Grade House committee. Originally from the Mississippi Delta, she studied abroad in Spain through a foreign studies fellowship and discovered her interest in bilingual education through tutoring elementary-age Spanish students. In her first two years at Uncommon Schools, Ms. Milam worked as an Associate Director of Recruitment. She received her B.A. in English and Hispanic Studies from Rice University.

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Allison Million    Business Manager

Allison Million joined Uncommon Schools in 2008 and serves as a Business Manager on the finance team. Before joining Uncommon, Ms. Million worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Houston, Texas as a Systems & Process Assurance Associate. At PricewaterhouseCoopers she was involved in Sarbanes-Oxley 404 external and internal audit assessments, focusing on both business process and IT-related control activities. She also participated in risk assessment and identification of internal controls for the financial audit team. Further, Ms. Million worked as a tax associate during a six-month tax rotation during which she assessed tax implications of business financial information. While at PricewaterhouseCoopers she served as a Junior Achievement volunteer, educating young people about business and entrepreneurial concepts. Ms. Million is a CPA and a CISA. She holds a Master of Accountancy and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University.      

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Simon Moloney   Chief Information Officer

Simon Moloney is the Chief Information Officer at Uncommon Schools.  Mr. Moloney has over 20 years of experience working with companies ranging from startups to large multinationals, including nonprofits.  His broad industry experience spans Communications, High-Tech, Telecom and the Public Sector.  His specialties include Customer Relationship Management and Service Delivery; Performance Management / Business Intelligence (Metrics, Balanced Scorecard); IT Outsourcing; Technology Strategy and Applications, and Large-scale Enterprise Systems implementation.  Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Mr. Moloney was the General Manager of Consulting and Services for NPower.org a nonprofit organization providing IT services to other nonprofits nationwide.  Mr. Moloney joined NPower in late 2003 and was responsible for redefining and expanding NPower's Consulting, IT Outsourcing and Application Development practices in New York.  Adhering to a philosophy that IT should help nonprofits deliver their mission effectively and efficiently, he set a renewed focus on helping nonprofits define their IT strategy and the development of best practices for infrastructure and data management. Prior to joining NPower, Mr. Moloney was an executive with Accenture Inc., a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.  Previously, he was Vice President of products at American Telecorp (now Convergys), a developer of operational support and customer relationship systems for telecommunications companies.  Mr. Moloney received a B.E. in Engineering from National University of Ireland, Galway, and attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business – AEA/Stanford Executive Institute.     

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Stephanie Nelson    Director of Recruitment

Stephanie Nelson joined Uncommon Schools as the Director of Recruitment in the summer of 2010.  Most recently, Ms. Nelson worked as a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting LLP in their Human Capital practice.  While at Deloitte, Ms. Nelson specialized in organization and talent projects for public sector clients.  Prior to working at Deloitte, Ms. Nelson received her MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, where she was the recipient of the Keller Scholarship and the Forté Fellowship for Women in Business.  While at Fuqua, she served as the Sustainability and Social Responsibility chair of the MBA Association and co-founded The House that Fuqua Built, a leadership development and community service partnership with Habitat for Humanity.  Ms. Nelson’s previous experience also includes roles as a change management consultant with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and program director at Heads Up, a non-profit specializing in after-school and summer school programming.  Ms. Nelson began her career as a Teach For America Corps Member, where she taught 3rd grade in Washington, DC.  While teaching, she received her MA in Teaching from American University.  Prior to teaching, Ms. Nelson graduated cum laude from Duke University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology.    

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Jenny Ng   Senior Business Manager

Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Jenny Ng worked for Kiwi Partners Inc. as an accounting consultant responsible for general accounting, audit preparation, financial reports, and grant reporting. In her role, Ms. Ng worked with an array of non-profit organizations, ranging from start up non-profits to large, well-established organizations, and including The Brain Trauma Foundation, Water Aid USA, and International Network for Public Schools. While at Kiwi Partners, she assisted in developing a set of standard accounting systems for organizations across various social sectors. Ms. Ng is a certified non for profit accountant and received an M.P.A. in Non-Profit Management from City University of New York - Baruch College. She earned her B.A. in Financial Investment from CUNY - Baruch.

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Brett Peiser   Managing Director, Uncommon New York City

Brett Peiser is Founder and former Principal and Executive Director of Boston Collegiate Charter School. Boston Collegiate, a college preparatory middle and high school serving over 500 students, is one of Massachusetts’ highest performing schools. In 2005, Mr. Peiser founded Collegiate Charter Schools, an Uncommon Schools network of middle and high schools in Brooklyn, New York. The network's first and second schools – Williamsburg Collegiate and Kings Collegiate Charter Schools – were the #2 and #6 ranked middle schools in all of New York City on the Department of Education’s 2009 progress reports. Since those schools began, Mr. Peiser has also helped start two new middle schools, Bedford Stuyvesant and Brownsville Collegiate Charter Schools, as well as Uncommon Charter High School which will serve students from all of Uncommon’s New York City elementary and middle schools. In 2009, Mr. Peiser became Managing Director of Uncommon New York City, overseeing nearly 2,000 students across Uncommon’s 10 elementary and secondary schools in Brooklyn. Uncommon New York City will ultimately grow to serve 7,000 students across 20 schools. Mr. Peiser is a graduate of New York City Public Schools and a resident of Brooklyn where he taught History at Midwood High School and founded an after-school community basketball program for Midwood/Flatbush teenagers. Mr. Peiser received a BA from Brown University and a MPP degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he also earned the 2001 Rising Star award.

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Melinda Phelps   Video Project Manager

Melinda Phelps joined Uncommon Schools in September 2008 as a Video Analyst, and transitioned to the role of Video Project Manager in August 2009. Prior to joining Uncommon, Ms. Phelps served as Documentarian at KIPP SHINE Prep in Houston, Texas, where she was responsible for the production of media used for professional development, public relations, and recruitment. While at KIPP SHINE, Ms. Phelps introduced the Literacy Through Photography program, taught photography and writing to second grade students, and also co-taught a Pre-K class.  In addition, Ms. Phelps previously taught Photojournalism to high school students at the Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women. As an undergraduate, Ms. Phelps held internships in the Education and Outreach department of Houston PBS and with Scribe Video Center, a non-profit media training center in Philadelphia. Ms. Phelps earned her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in the Growth and Structure of Cities with a Concentration in Media.

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Joshua Phillips   Chief Operating Officer

Joshua Phillips joined Uncommon Schools as COO in the summer of 2008. He was previously the Co-Director of Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston. In 2007, Roxbury Prep’s 8th graders had the highest math MCAS scores in the entire state of Massachusetts. As of 2009, nearly 80% of Roxbury Prep’s college-aged graduates are currently enrolled in college – over seven times the national average for low-income students. A Co-Director at Roxbury Prep for six years, Mr. Phillips brings a track record of results and extensive operational and management experience to the role of COO. He previously served as the Enrichment Coordinator and sixth grade World History teacher at Roxbury Prep. Mr. Phillips also was a History teacher-intern at the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science while earning an Ed.M. in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Colgate University and his M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

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Frank Rosado    Chief Technology Officer

Frank Rosado is the Chief Technology Officer at Uncommon Schools. Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Mr. Rosado was the Technical Consulting Manager for NPower NY. Mr. Rosado helped develop the NPower Basic program. NPower Basic is an outsourced technology infrastructure solution that delivers non-profits a top notch "in-a-box" technical infrastructure. This, in turn, provides a model that enables graduates of NPower NY's Technology Services Corps to deliver high impact serivces to the everyday operations of an array of non profits. He also led the effort to improve the quality of technology consulting that NPpwer NY provided to their non profit clients. Prior to joining NPower NY, Mr. Rosado worked at Marsh Inc. where he provided network support and disaster recovery expertise. Prior to joining Marsh, Mr. Rosado helped start Henry Street Settlement Youth Services Division's computing environment for education and administrative purposes. Mr. Rosado has a B.A. in History and Political Science from Williams College, an M.S. in IS from Baruch College, as well as several technical certifications.

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Evan Rudall   Chief Executive Officer

Prior to becoming CEO in July 2008, Evan Rudall served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer for nearly three years. Mr. Rudall is the Founder and former Co-Director of Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, a nationally recognized urban college preparatory public school that was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of eight of the highest-performing charter schools in the country. After founding Roxbury Prep, Mr. Rudall served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning of the New York City Department of Education. Prior to founding Roxbury Prep, Mr. Rudall directed Summerbridge Louisville, a non-profit academic enrichment program. He also taught, coached, and served as Assistant Middle School Director at Kentucky Country Day School. Mr. Rudall received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, his Ed.M. from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Columbia Law Review.

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Kendra Shumway Associate Director of Development

Kendra Shumway joined Uncommon Schools in 2010 as Associate Director of Development. Prior to joining Uncommon Schools, Ms. Shumway was a Development Officer with New Visions for Public Schools in New York City, where she managed a fundraising portfolio representing over $10 million in gifts annually. Ms. Shumway began her career working with students, first as a fourth grade teacher and then as a college admissions consultant in Northern California. She holds a B.A. in government from Harvard University – where she served as Personnel Director for the College’s largest after-school program – as well as an M.A.  in education (Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies) from Stanford University.

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Idrissa Simmonds Program Manager - Summer Teaching Fellowship

Prior to joining Uncommon, Idrissa served as a College Advisor at Brooklyn Academy, a transfer high school in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood.  As a 2009 New York Education Pioneers fellow, Idrissa worked with the Department of Education’s Office of Academic Intervention Services to produce a college readiness resource guide. During her time at NYU she was actively involved with The Center for Multicultural Education and Programming, serving as an Instructor for the Center’s Intergroup Dialogue Program, a Fellow in the Center’s ISM Project, and a Mentor in the Focus Mentorship Program. She received a 2009 NIA Award from the Center for her commitment to diversity and social justice in higher education. Prior to graduate school, Idrissa managed the health education program for the Ghana Cooperative Credit Union’s Association in Accra, Ghana. She taught adult ESL in Vancouver, Canada, and volunteers as a Workshop Leader for the New York Writer’s Coalition. She holds a BA in English Literature and International Relations from the University of British Columbia. 

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Denise Thomas    Director of Human Resources

Denise Thomas joined Uncommon Schools as the Director of Human Resources in the summer of 2009. Most recently, Ms. Thomas was the Director of Retail Analytics at Longs Drugs/CVS where she ran an operations analysis team charged with identifying and monitoring performance improvement opportunities. Prior to Longs, Ms. Thomas was a merchant at the TJX Companies, a management consulting associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, and an operations consultant at Frito-Lay.  At the beginning of her career, Ms. Thomas was awarded an Echoing Green Fellowship to co-found mytown, a non-profit organization that combines urban history and youth development. At mytown, Ms Thomas was responsible for developing the organization’s internal structures, programs, and partner relationships. She holds an MBA from Stanford, a BA from Yale and has served on several non-profit boards in Boston and New Haven.

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Ka Yee Tom   Director of Special Projects

Ka Yee Tom joined Uncommon Schools in June 2010 as Director of Special Projects.  Prior to this, she worked as a Manager in Private Equity Finance at The Blackstone Group.  In this capacity, she helped manage the quarterly valuation process for the company’s private equity investments.  Previously, Ms. Tom was an Associate at JPMorgan Chase, where she led a number of finance and strategic planning initiatives across different lines of businesses at the firm.  Prior to business school, Ms. Tom spent four years at Public Resources Advisory Group, a financial advisory firm providing cities, states and local governments with quantitative, credit and market expertise in municipal bond issuances.  During her time at PRAG, she participated in over 20 transactions totaling more than $4.5 billion.  Ms. Tom received her M.B.A. from Columbia University in 2007 with a concentration in Finance and her B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.  She is currently a Broad Resident in Urban Education.      

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Amanda Warco   Special Projects Coordinator for the Collegiate, Excellence and Preparatory Networks

Amanda Warco joined Uncommon Schools in July of 2009 as Special Projects Coordinator for the Collegiate, Excellence and Preparatory Networks. Prior to joining Uncommon, she worked at the MATCH Charter Public High School in Boston, where she served as a tutor and Teaching Assistant to the freshman English teacher. In 2008, she was a founding member of the MATCH Charter Public Middle School, where she held the role of Building Manager and oversaw the school’s AmeriCorps program. Ms. Warco graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in English and French.

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Tasha Washington    Accounting Associate

Tasha Washington joined Uncommon Schools in February 2010 as an Accounting Associate.  Prior to joining Uncommon, Tasha worked as a Budget Analyst for The Baruch College Fund, where she managed the budget, grant revenue spending, accounts payable and prepared financial statements.  Previously, Tasha also worked with MTV Networks as an International Business Analyst.  She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Monroe College.

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