The Partnership Staff

Mrs. Anderson joined the Partnership in early 2011 as the Strategic Partnerships Associate. She moved to Los Angeles in 2010 from Philadelphia, where she worked in community development and fundraising as an Americorps VISTA for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Denise graduated cum laude from Bucknell University in 2008, where she earned a B.A. with a double major in Sociology and Anthropology. In her spare time she enjoys exploring urban gardening, going on bike rides with her husband Dan, and practicing her Spanish

Stanley Anjan's Biography

Mr. Anjan, a Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement, comes to the organization from the Partnership's very own Ritter Elementary School. He received his Undergraduate degree at California State University of Fullerton with a Bachelor of Science in Human Services with an emphasis in Education. He then received his teaching credential and Masters in Education through the University of California in Los Angeles. He was LAUSD teacher from 2006 to 2010 and served on multiple school committees including the Family Action Team. In 2010, he was elected and served at Ritter E.S. in the capacity of Categorical Program Adviser, where he supported all state and federal compliance matters, developed and oversaw the school budget and worked closely with Parent Advisory Councils as well as helped support parents with Instruction Based Workshops to help build home and school connections. In 2010, Stanley was awarded Partnership's Family and Community Engagement Teacher of the Year award.

Phyllis Bradford's Biography

Ms. Bradford recently joined the Partnership after 25 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Over the course of her career, Ms. Bradford has served as an elementary teacher, a Title One Coordinator, an assistant principal and an elementary school principal. In addition to her school site experience, she brings seven years of administrative experience in Human Resources. She possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University-Hayward, a teaching credential from the University of California-Los Angeles and a Master’s Degree in School Administration and Education from Pepperdine University. She now serves as the Partnership’s Senior Director of Human Resources.

Xochiltl Bravo's Biography

Throughout her career, Ms. Bravo has worked for a number of organizations supporting youth and families. From serving on the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Corps with The Salvation Army to working with youth in local juvenile detention centers, Xochiltl’s passion has always been to serve families and youth in need. Although originally from Los Angeles, she most recently comes to the Partnership from the New York City Department of Education where she served as Project Manager for the Gang Intervention Unit. She later took on the role of Program Manager for the NYCDOE Office of Students in Temporary Housing. She brings her vast experience with at-risk populations and addressing community needs to her role as Manager of Community Engagement and Advocacy to best support our Partnership families. Ms. Bravo graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. in Sociology and an emphasis in Secondary Education and holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Columbia University.

Claire Brown's Biography

Claire recently completed a Master of Public Policy degree at USC, where she focused on education policy issues. Over the past two years, she co-directed USC’s ReadersPlus tutoring program for the University Park neighborhood elementary schools and was part of the 2010 Education Pioneers fellowship program. Additionally, Claire served as a member of a USC practicum team that researched a variety of talent management strategies for LAUSD. She began her career as a third grade teacher with Teach For America in Phoenix after having completed her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Susie Burgos' Biography

Susie Burgos has been an educator in LAUSD schools for more than nine years before joining the Partnership as the Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement. Prior to the Partnership, Mrs. Burgos was the English Language Coordinator at the Partnership’s very own Gompers Middle School where she led all parent and community engagement programs and was awarded the Partnership Family and Community Engagement Coordinator of the Year for 2009-2010. Previous to Gompers, Susie taught at 92nd Street elementary school where she played an integral role in helping that school improve over 200 API points. Mrs. Burgos received her Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Administrative Credentials from Cal State Northridge and her Bachelors degree in Urban Learning and Teaching Credential from Cal State Los Angeles.

L.J. Carusone's Biography

Mr. Carusone is the Development Manager with the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Before joining the Partnership, he was living in central Mexico where he raised funds to establish an Internet company that serves rural communities. Mr. Carusone also worked independently as a consultant for many years fundraising for political campaigns and social justice organizations. He is committed to civil rights and has worked extensively on coalition building and grassroots organizing throughout California to push for gender parity and LGBT equality. A native of upstate New York, Mr. Carusone holds a BA in English from the University of Vermont.

Luz Maria Castellanos' Biography

Luz Maria Castellanos is the Communications Manager. She has over ten years of experience working in public relations and marketing. She kicked off her career in 1999 as a publicist at Shore Fire Media in New York City managing campaigns for international stars such as Enrique Iglesias, Maná, Café Tacuba, and the Chris Perez Band.

Later she established herself as the senior editor for MiGente.com, the leading community site for Latinos. Luz Maria helped set the groundwork for the editorial voice of the site and helped make MiGente the fastest growing destination for English-speaking Latinos online. She made her foray into television heading up publicity for the launch of Si TV. Under her supervision, Si TV received wide media attention, including coverage in the New York Times, cover stories in Diversity Inc., and Hispanic Trends, and a cover story in Multichannel News in which the network was named one of Multichannels’ Top 10 Next Networks.

Luz Maria is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton.

Carl Christopher's Biography

Mr. Christopher joined the Partnership in August 2011 as Director of School Operations. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the strategic delivery of high quality operational support and services to the Partnership schools. Prior to joining the Partnership, Mr. Christopher was an Executive Director at Kaplan Inc., where he was responsible for managing school operations as part of Kaplan's Higher Education division. Earlier in his career, Mr. Christopher was also an Associate Director at the Stanford University School of Education, where he supported education reform efforts in school redesign, small school start-ups and performance assessment. Mr. Christopher holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Economics from UC San Diego. He enjoys golf, bowling, exercise and travel in his spare time, and loves spending time with his wife Cristina and son Casey.

Jessica de Barros' Biography

Ms. de Barros is the Director of Impact for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Jessica has created education policy at the district, state and national levels. Prior to joining the Partnership, she worked for Seattle Public Schools as Director of the Teacher Incentive Fund and Manager of Academic Planning, where she put systems in place to set organizational goals, measure progress and provide data to school and district staff to help achieve results for students. Jessica also led a process to select and implement a district-wide student assessment system in reading and math in order to more frequently monitor student progress and provide teachers with data to inform instruction. Previously, she served as senior policy analyst in the Seattle mayor’s office for education, where she developed and managed policy for the Families and Education Levy, a $17 million investment in preschool, after-school, middle school, dropout prevention and school-based health programs. She worked with stakeholders to develop a new system to measure outcomes and make program changes to improve results for low-income children and children of color. Jessica holds a bachelor's degree in political science from American University and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Washington.

Oliver DelGado's Biography

Oliver DelGado joined the communications team in early 2010. He supports internal, external communications and coordinates all mayoral engagement across the 22 Partnership schools. Prior to joining the Partnership, he served as a media aide for MTV Networks, Creative Artists Agency and the Obama Campaign for Change.

Mr. DelGado studied Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Doc Ervin's Biography

Mr. Ervin has dedicated his career in education to setting a high standard of excellence that is conducive to increasing student achievement in every classroom, every day, every year. Prior to joining the Partnership staff, Doc served as principal at a high performing high school, Heritage College Ready Academy High School, which outperformed all local high schools by 120 API points. Prior to his appointment as principal of Heritage, Doc was Principal at Colton High School and Yucca Valley High School. During his career, he has also served as an Assistant Principal as well as a teacher at Mesa Verde Middle School in Poway Unified School District. Doc holds a Masters in Education Administration and a Bachelors in Liberal Studies.

Margarita Fernandez's Biography

Ms. Fernandez joined the Partnership is November 2011 as the Manager of Impact. Over the last ten years she has worked to support student achievement across California. Most recently, as Senior Project Manager for Red Schoolhouse Software, creator of OARS, an assessment and reporting software for K-12 school districts. There, she designed and implemented AYP and API estimate reports for schools and supported several databases for publisher and district assessments. Margarita also provided professional development for district staff, principals, and teachers on the use of standards-based item analysis to inform instruction. Previously, she worked for Paramount Unified School District as Senior Researcher where she developed target profiles of students predicted to fail algebra using multiple measures. Margarita holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from Occidental College and a master's degree in Applied Statistics from California State University, Long Beach.

Sergio Flores' Biography

Mr. Flores comes to us with a variety of leadership experiences over the past nineteen years. Since 2010, he has served as assistant superintendent in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District where he led the human resources division and also worked directly with principals on their instructional programs. Prior to his time in Santa Maria, Sergio served as principal at Fontana High School (Fontana Unified), William Workman High School and Sparks Middle School (Hacienda-La Puente Unified), and started his career as a bilingual teacher in the Pomona Unified District. While serving as principal, Sergio built a track record of transforming schools by creating a strong student centered culture and increasing student achievement, particularly through growing students’ access to college-ready curriculum, increasing teacher leadership and collaboration, implementing strong talent management systems, and consistently using data to drive instructional decisions. He holds a BA in Spanish Linguistics and an MS in Education Administration from California State University, Fullerton and an Ed.D. in Leadership in Urban Schools from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Sofia Freire

Dr. Freire was the former Complex Principal at Roosevelt High School, and current Sr. Director of Transformation with the Partnership. Her position allows her to continue to work with Roosevelt while supporting and mentoring additional Partnership principals. She also leads the development of systems and structures to ensure Roosevelt’s small schools remain on the path to excellence.

Tatiana Gonzalez's Biography

Ms. Gonzalez joined the Partnership team after being an intern and became part of the Instructional division a year ago. She previously held a three-year teaching assistant position at Grant Elementary School in Hollywood. She possesses an Associate’s degree from Pasadena City College and a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Learning from Cal State University- Los Angeles

Adriana Ibarra, Coordinator of School Improvement

As a Coordinator of School Improvement, Ms. Ibarra has worked as secondary support, most extensively with the transformation of Roosevelt High School into seven small schools, but also with the opening of the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center and master schedule support at Santee Education Complex. Before joining the Partnership, Adriana worked as Director of Instruction at a high-performing charter school in Watts, supporting professional development and instructional supervision. Prior to that she spend seven years with the Los Angeles Unified School District as a middle school English Language Development teacher in South Los Angeles, teaching beginning through advanced ESL courses and grade-level English and history classes, as well as serving as media/yearbook advisor, English Department Chair, and assisting the local and central district in the development of materials used to supplement district curriculum for English Language Learners. Adriana holds a B.A. in Communication and American Studies with a Specialization in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University and attended the Principal’s Leadership Institute at UCLA, earning a Masters in Education and administrative credential. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her wonderful husband and two beautiful children.

Abram Jimenez's Biography

Abram Jimenez the Coordinator of School Transformation, focusing his efforts on a rigorous intervention plan for secondary ELA and Math. He is coming to us from Sweetwater Union High District and San Diego Unified before that, where he served as an Assistant Principal. His expertise is in supporting high schools to use data purposefully and design intervention programs to push student growth.

Mark Kleger-Heine's Biography

Mr. Kleger-Heine is a member of the senior management team for The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. He joined The Partnership after 4 years at McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm. At McKinsey, Mark counseled senior executives in nonprofit and government organizations, as well as large biotech and medical device companies. Prior to McKinsey, Mark was the Deputy Director for Project GRAD Los Angeles in the northeast San Fernando Valley. Mark also has worked in several community-based nonprofit organizations working in partnership with public schools. He began his career teaching math to 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th graders in Brooklyn, New York. Mark has an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, with a concentration in Domestic Policy. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a degree in Psychology.

Melody Levine's Biography

Ms. Levine is the Director of School Transformation with the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Before joining the Partnership, Melody was a Senior Educational Consultant with the Consortium on Reading Excellence, where she served as the District Implementation Advisor for San Jose Unified School District and as the Lead Consultant for English Language Development Resource Teachers of Pasadena Unified School District. She has worked with over thirty schools across the country to provide professional development and technical assistance in implementing scientifically-based reading research and best practices in literacy instruction. Melody also served as a Teach For America School Director in Long Beach Unified School District and began her career in education teaching in Compton Unified School District. Melody received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a Masters degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction from California State University of Los Angeles.

Karen Lucero's Biography

Karen Lucero is a Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement. Karen taught for past six years and came to us from Gabriella Charter School where she was a fourth grade teacher. Prior to that, Karen taught at our very own Ritter Elementary School where she had experience teaching at the third, fourth and fifth grade levels and was a a co-leader of the Ritter Family Action Team. She was also awarded the 2010 Family and Community Engagement Teacher of the Year at last year’s FACE Awards. She attended UC Irvine as an undergraduate and received her Master’s in Education at UCLA and multiple subject teacher credential.

Cecilia (Ceci) Marn's Biography

Ms. Marn is the Technology and Operations Manager with the Partnership for LA Schools. Prior to joining the team, Ceci served as a project manager for Epic, a world-renown healthcare software vendor, where she led change management and process improvement programs at the nation's leading medical organizations. She also was selected as an Education Pioneers Fellow through which she obtained a role consulting for the Los Angeles Unified School District's Maintenance and Operations division. Ceci holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis. In her free time she enjoys training for marathons and spending time at home with her fiancé and two cats.

Zoe Melczer's Biography

Ms. Melczer joined The Partnership in May 2011. Prior to The Partnership, she worked in the development department of the Zimmer Children’s Museum. She is interested in enhancing educational and social opportunities for youth, having volunteered at Free Arts for Abused Children and The Chase Foundation. She received her Bachelor’s degree from New York University in Metropolitan Studies, and her Master of Public Administration from University of Southern California, with a focus in nonprofit management.

Arturo Nagar's Biography

Mr. Nagar is the Office Manager for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Prior to joining the Partnership, Mr. Nagar served as Office Manager at The Solis Group, overseeing the administration and accounting departments of three businesses and one private foundation. He served as a key advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, guiding the companies to their most profitable years in business during his tenure. In the early aughts, Mr. Nagar worked as Campaign Manager for Pangaea Marketing, Inc. where he and his team lead the company in revenue generated from the moment he entered the company to the moment he left. Arturo holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one in Communications and one in Philosophy, from Fordham University in New York.

Katherine Nelson's Biography

Katherine Nelson joined our team as Senior Director of School Transformation. Katherine will work directly with several of our elementary schools and lead our network efforts around effective teaching, including the teacher development/evaluation pilot.

Katherine comes to us with twenty years of professional experience, where for the past five years she served as the director of the Watts Learning Center Charter School. Under Katherine’s leadership, Watts Learning Center maintained an API of over 800 for the past five years, was named the California Charter School of the Year in 2007 and received a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award in 2007-09.

Katherine started her career in LAUSD as a teacher at 96th Street School and also worked as an instructional coordinator at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary (both schools were part of the “10 Schools Program”) and as an assistant principal at both LaSalle Avenue and Wilmington Park Elementary Schools. Katherine brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the areas of data analysis, alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessments, teacher development and collaboration, and parent engagement – all critical areas for successful school transformation.

Colleen Oliver's Biography

Colleen Oliver is the Partnership's Chief Academic Officer (CAO) overseeing the organization's Instructional team. Prior to joining the Partnership, Ms. Oliver served as the Senior Program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Education Division (US Program). As a member of the effective teaching team, Colleen worked with the newly formed Intensive Partnership Sites (IPS) – a deep partnership that the foundation formed in 2009 with four sites (Memphis, Pittsburgh, Hillsborough County, a group of Charter Management Organizations in Los Angeles) to support effective teaching reforms. Colleen lead the IPS work in Memphis and also managed the foundation’s education grants in Chicago.

Prior to joining the foundation, Colleen served as a regional director for instructional leadership and support with the KIPP Foundation. The majority of Colleen's career has been spent in public education. She served as the Middle School/K-8 Education Director with Seattle Public Schools and was a middle school principal, high school assistant principal, and teacher within the Shoreline School District which is located just north of Seattle.

Saskia Pallais' Biography

Ms. Pallais is the Director of Strategic Partnerships with the Partnership. Before joining, Saskia was the Director of Development with Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools, where she helped the school expand from a single high school serving 250 students in temporary facilities to three permanent campuses serving 1,500 students in grades 6 through 12. Prior to her work at Chavez Schools, Ms. Pallais worked with a private foundation on a program called Women Waging Peace, where she developed a grant program designed to cultivate women’s leadership in public policy roles and managed a network of over 300+ members. Saskia holds a master is theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and a BA in theology and women’s studies from the University of Florida.

Myeisha Phillip's Biography

Ms. Phillips joined The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools in late 2009. Prior to coming to the Partnership, Myeisha worked for UCLA Center X as a Math Coach, Teacher Leader, Professional Development Provider, and Institute Director. Myeisha continues to keep a very close relationship with UCLA Center X, primarily working with the UCLA Math Project and some work with UCLA Writing Project. Her most recent work with the UCLA Math Project includes serving as Co-Director of the Supporting Teachers to Increase Retention(STIR) Grant. Myeisha’s classroom experience includes seven years as a teacher at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. During this time she taught both 6^th and 8^th grade math/science, served as Math Intervention Coordinator and teacher, Computer Lab Teacher, and served on various other Leadership committees. She completed both her Undergraduate and Graduate work at UCLA and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, a Minor in Education, and a Masters in Education with a focus on Urban Schools.

Evangelina Ramos' Biography

Ms. Ramos joined the Mayor's office in April 2007, where she provides administrative support and plays a key role in ensuring the education and Partnership efforts proceed effectively and efficiently. Evangelina has been a long time member of City family, having extensive experience working for City of Los Angeles. Beginning in 1999, Evangelina has held roles in the City's Housing Department and the LA Zoo & Botanical Gardens. Prior to joining the Mayor's Partnership team, she was a Marketing Coordinator for the Laugh Factory Comedy Club in West Hollywood. She is a native of Los Angeles and possesses a BS in Business Administration Cal State LA and a MS in Journalism from Columbia University.

Stephanie Schmier's Biography

Stephanie Schmier has been working with under-performing schools as an instructional coach for the past 10 years. She began her career as a classroom teacher and technology coordinator in LAUSD. Most recently, Stephanie completed her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, during which time she worked as a literacy advisor in small high schools in the Bronx and taught university level teacher education courses. Prior to her doctoral work, Dr. Schmier coordinated and implemented technology professional development for K-12 teachers at the UCLA IMMEX project. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Rossier School of Education at USC. Dr. Schmier’s recent publications include Multimodal Pedagogies: Playing, Teaching, and Learning with Adolescents’ Digital Literacies and Multiliteracies in Action: Integrating Technology into the Balanced-Literacy Classroom.

Patrick Sinclair's Biography

Mr. Sinclair joined the Partnership team in late 2009. For more than two decades, he has handled major public affairs, public relations and financial communications assignments for clients ranging from the governments of the Netherlands and Hong Kong, to corporations such as Aetna, Marsh, Inc., Jardine Matheson, Pacific Dunlop and Racal Electronics.

Patrick worked for Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan as Executive Director of Progress LA, a city-wide campaign to reform the land use process. He has also served as head of investor and financial communications for Ketchum, and as a vice president at Gavin Anderson & Company. In addition to a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School, Patrick holds a BA degree from New York University. A native of Missouri, Patrick has three children and currently lives in Playa Del Rey, CA.

Krishna Smith's Biography

Dr. Smith is the Coordinator of School Improvement for the Partnership Los Angeles Schools Organization. She joins us with over 13 years of educational experience. Over the past 13 years, Mrs. Smith has served in many areas of education. She has been a professor of Language Arts Methodology at National University, an Arts Program Advisor servicing all the schools in LAUSD, and finally has proudly served LAUSD as an elementary classroom teacher for many years. She is a graduate of Howard University receiving her BFA, Cal State Dominquez Hills, MA in and is currently a Doctoral Candidate, completing her Ed.D Degree from the University of Southern California in Educational Leadership.

Ryan Smith's Biography

Mr. Smith is currently the Senior Director of Family and Community Engagement for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Prior to joining the Partnership, Smith was the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Parents Union, a 4,000 member organization dedicated to empowering parents to advocate for the transformation of failing public schools. Preceding that, Smith managed new school development and public affairs for Green Dot Public Schools. Ryan has also worked for Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages as a researcher and writer, was the one of the founders of the Youth United for Community Action’s statewide “Higher Learning Project” and worked as a volunteer teacher in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Mexico. Ryan graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Political Science, was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and is currently a candidate for the Doctorate in Educational Leadership (Ed.D) at UCLA.

Julia Stuart's Biography

Ms. Stuart is the Human Resources Manager for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Prior to joining the Partnership, Julia served as the Director of Recruitment for San Francisco Unified School District, where she was responsible for certificated recruitment and selection for the District’s 112 schools. Julia began her career as an elementary teacher in the South Bronx as part of Teach for America. She holds a B.A. in Development Studies from U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Teaching from Pace University, and a M.Ed. in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University.

Marshall Tucks' Biography

Mr. Tuck joined Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s staff in 2007 to help lead the effort to improve public education for all children in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the Mayor's office, Marshall was President and COO of Green Dot Public Schools, one of the leading operators of charter schools in the country. At Green Dot, Marshall led a team of 250 employees that operated ten charter high schools in some of the most need-based areas of Los Angeles. Under his leadership, students at all Green Dot schools outperformed their peers at comparable schools in both academic achievement and graduation rates. Prior to Green Dot, Marshall acted as General Manager of the Strategic Accounts group at Model N, a successful enterprise software company. Marshall’s background includes work as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers and a volunteer Math and English teacher in Zimbabwe and Thailand. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA and received an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Francisco Villegas' Biography

Francisco has been with the Colton School District, Bloomington High School, for the past twelve years where he has served as a master math teacher (teaching everything from pre-algebra to AP calculus BC), department chair, and Saturday school coordinator. While at Bloomington, Francisco has consistently increased students’ math achievement, has provided ongoing PD, mentoring and support to all math teachers, and has led a district wide effort to align and enhance mathematics course offerings in order to position students for success. Additionally, over the past four years, Francisco has more than quadrupled the enrollment in his school’s AP Calculus program and has seen a 100% pass rate four years in a row. This achievement, in a high school with 90% students of color and 74% students eligible for free and reduced price meals, has earned him and his district honors from the College Board.

Ivan Ventura's Biography

A graduate of Garfield High School and native of East Los Angeles, Mr. Ventura brings many talents to the Partnership. His commitment to youth and passion for student success are just two of the strengths he brings to his work. Mr. Ventura first began his work with the Partnership in 2010 as an outreach campaign team member helping link school initiatives to the surrounding community. Mr. Ventura has served as an event/logistics manager for many successful family engagement programs, teacher events, community campaigns, and student events. He supports student leadership and scholarship programs aimed at promoting academic and personal success. In addition to this work, Mr. Ventura knows how to effectively make use of print, video, online, and social media tools to best connect with and engage students. He has his fingers on the pulse of our student population and knows how best to adapt work to meet their needs and interests.

Kalia Waits-Smith's Biography

Ms. Waits-Smith is the Manager of Special Projects for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Kalia first joined the Partnership in March 2011 as a consultant on several Technology and Human Resources projects. Prior to that, Kalia worked for the Pasadena Unified School District as a project manager for the School Funding for Results initiative. Although she spent the first part of her career in television production and aviation finance, she became passionate about education through an internship with Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and a fellowship with Education Pioneers. Kalia holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Studies from UCLA and an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

Lisa Alva's Biography

Lisa Alva has served as an English teacher at Roosevelt High School since 2000. She is an outstanding educator and her students have consistently demonstrated significant growth in her classes. She has held many leadership positions at Roosevelt, including being lead teacher for her design team/small learning community, school site council member, WASC coordinator and single plan for student achievement coordinator. Ms. Alva also holds a Masters in Business Administration, highlighting her strong organizational skills. She will bring these strong skills in teaching, governance and management to the Board.

Trébor Jacquez's Biography

Trebor Jacquez has taught computer technology and design courses at Santee Education Complex since 2005. He has an enormous passion for improving student achievement. He inspires his students to achieve at exceptional levels and continually strives to improve his own performance. Mr. Jacquez has held numerous leadership positions at Santee, including school site council member and leader of the APEX credit recovery program, which helped lead to a 12% increase in Santee’s 4-year graduation rate last year. Recognizing these and other accomplishments, he was nominated for teacher of the year by UTLA in 2006.

Robin Kramer's Biography

Robin Kramer is the former Chief of Staff to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Kramer has been a creative, effective leader in Los Angeles for more than three decades, combining her love of the community with a varied experience in the public, private, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors.

In addition to her leadership roles at the Broad Foundation (2004-2005), and The California Community Foundation (1998-2004), Kramer has worked extensively as a consultant and facilitator for institutional problem-solving for a variety of arts and cultural institutions, foundations, Los Angeles-based corporations, and also for a variety of community-based efforts to transform public schools.

Kramer previously served in the entrepreneurial administration of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, joining as Deputy Mayor for Communications and Community Affairs and becoming Chief of Staff in 1995. She was the first woman to serve in this post in the city's history. She previously was Chief Deputy for Councilmember Richard Alatorre (1985-1990) and Councilmember Bob Ronka (1978-1981). In the 1980's, Kramer was executive director of the Coro Foundation, having been a Coro Fellow in 1976, and then serving as director of the Democratic Party of Southern California.

Kramer holds a BA in Political Studies and Journalism from Pitzer College in Claremont, and an MA in Urban Studies from Occidental College. She currently serves as Chair of Pitzer College's Board of Trustees, is a member of the Jewish Community Foundation Board, and continues to be active in the Breed Street Shul Project. Kramer is married with three sons and resides in Los Angeles.

Melanie Lundquist’s Biography

Melanie Lundquist is one of the leading philanthropists in Southern California, where she gives her support to various education and health care initiatives. Most notable among her philanthropic activities is her generous support of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The Lundquists’ $50 Million gift to the Partnership is the largest private donation ever made to Los Angeles schools.

Mrs. Lundquist is a founding member of the Board of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, past chair of the Advisory Board for Teach for America, and is co-chair of a $165 million capital campaign for the California Science Center. In addition, she is a significant donor to the Alliance for College-Ready Schools, a Los Angeles charter organization. She also lends her support to the Fulfillment Fund's endowment fund for college scholarships, and has taken active roles in Inner City Arts, United Friends of the Children, and Alliance for Children's Rights, among others. She established the Cardiovascular Institute at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center where she emphasizes women’s heart health.

Mrs. Lundquist and her husband Richard are graduates of Los Angeles public schools where, as she told Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, "I got a wonderful education, and there are 50 teachers I could name right now who were some of my best friends, and even after I graduated, they continued to be friends." She says her public school teachers were some of the most influential people in her life.

Mrs. Lundquist is also a graduate of the University of Southern California, from which she holds both a BA and MA in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Melanie Lundquist comes from a family of individual philanthropists. Her grandfather, a migrant to this country, became a successful business owner and was a member of the Los Angeles Merchants Association, the group that founded what would later become the City of Hope. Her mother raised funds to establish a dental clinic for impoverished children in Los Angeles in the 1920s when she was a student at USC.

Matt Miller's Biography

Matt Miller is an author, columnist, radio host and consultant whose work focuses on solving some of our country’s toughest challenges. He has a wealth of public and private sector experience that he brings to his work and believes firmly that all students can learn at exceptional levels. Mr. Miller has held numerous senior-level public sector posts, including his service in the Clinton administration at the Office of Management and Budget. He was a White House Fellow and he consults regularly to corporations, foundations and government organizations. He is the author of “The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America’s Problems In Ways Liberals And Conservatives Can Love,” other books and numerous columns in national periodicals. He also hosts the public radio show “Left Right & Center.”

Joan Sullivan's Biography

After more than a decade leading school reform in New York City, Joan Sullivan is Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa’s Deputy Mayor of Education. She oversees mayoral policy and strategy for the second largest school system in the nation. Previously, she was a founding principal for the Urban Assembly, a nonprofit at the forefront of new school development in New York City. She served as senior advisor to the organization’s president and as a member of the expansion team, helping to hire principals and oversee its growth from an organization of one, to an organization of twenty schools. She was on a citywide advisory council tasked with crafting high school reform policies for Chancellor Klein, developed her own school-based leadership program to recruit and train new school leaders, and mentored aspiring principals from some of the nation’s top leadership programs. A frequent speaker on school innovation, Sullivan has advised other school reformers on establishing school leadership structures, creating advisory boards, instituting comprehensive evidence-based teacher evaluation systems, and designing curriculum.

Sullivan founded and served as principal for the Bronx Academy of Letters High School (2003) and Middle School (2007). The extraordinary success of the Bronx Academy of Letters, which provides a college-bound education to students in America’s poorest congressional district, has been widely recognized by New York City’s Department of Education, as well as by the larger public. The Bronx Academy of Letters ranked 7 out of more than 400 high schools on Chancellor Klein’s first high-stakes Progress Reports and was selected by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best in 2009. As a principal, Sullivan not only raised $5 million in public and private grants, but also pioneered a unique school-based endowment model for her two public schools. She has been profiled as an exemplary school leader in The New York Times and on Nation Public Radio.

Before becoming a principal, Sullivan was a teacher, and before working in public education, she worked on Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign. She documented her experiences working in national politics in a book entitled An American Voter, published in 2002 to critical acclaim. Prior to working for Bradley, she worked for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, New York City’s first independent mayoral agency charged with investigating police misconduct.

She graduated from Yale College with a B.A. in American Studies in 1995, where she earned All-American honors in lacrosse. She grew up on a farm just outside of Trenton, New Jersey and is the youngest of ten children.

The Partnership Staff

Time for Innovation

The Time Is Now

Time For Action

Time For A Renaissance

Time to Change The Way We Look At Education