National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Board of Directors

Our Board

The Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is comprised of some of the most respected and experienced names in the charter school world, including school leaders; national and state association executives; and representatives from foundations, management companies, and other supportive organizations. We strongly believe that in order to serve and advance this movement, the board must understand its complexities and reflect its great diversity.

Mashea Ashton
CEO, Newark Charter School Fund

Mashea Ashton is the CEO and a Partner with the Newark Charter School Fund, having joined the organization in February 2009. Mashea previously served as the Executive Director for the New York Program and Senior Advisor for Charter School Policy for New Leaders for New Schools. There she worked with over 100 New Leaders impacting approximately 40,000 students and families in New York City and Newark. Mashea also served as the Executive Director for Charter Schools for the New York City Department of Education. As head of the Charter Schools Office, Mashea set the vision and policy direction of nearly 50 charter schools throughout the Big Apple and supported the city's unprecedented $130 million effort to open 200 new small schools, including 50 new charter schools. Mashea formerly served as the National Director of Recruitment and Selection and Midwest Director of Business Development for the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP). Mashea served several years as a special education teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She serves on the boards of the Black NAPCS for Educational Options, the National Association of Public Charters Schools and the William and Mary Alumni Association. Mashea has a M.Ed in Special Education with emphasis on learning disabilities and emotional disturbance and a B.A in Sociology and Elementary Education from the College of William and Mary.

Chris Barbic
Superintendent, Tennessee's Achievement School District

Chris Barbic will lead Tennesse's efforts to turn around the state's lowest performing schools in order to ensure that all Tennessee students have the chance to receive a high quality public education. Barbic was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of YES College Prep, a network of charter schools. He oversaw all of the senior management and school directors of YES Prep Public Schools. YES Prep exists to increase the number of low-income Houstonians who graduate from a four-year college prepared to compete in the global marketplace and committed to improving disadvantaged communities. In 1995, he earned Houston ISD’s Outstanding Young Educator. Chris has earned a number of awards for his contribution to the educational reform movement, including The Do Something Foundation’s Do Something Brick Award in 2000. In 2001, he was selected by President Bush to serve on the President’s Commission on Excellence in Hispanic Education and in 2006 was awarded Vanderbilt University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

David Dunn
Executive Director, Texas Charter School Association

David Dunn is the executive director of the Texas Charter School Association. He most recently served as chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of Education. David's experience includes service as special assistant to the president for domestic policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council, the associate executive director and chief lobbyist of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), and 15 years in education and fiscal policy analysis for the State of Texas.

Joshua Edelman
Senior Program Officer, Empowering Effective Teachers, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Josh Edelman is the Senior Program Officer for Empowering Effective Teachers at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to this position Edelman was the Deputy Chief, Office of School Innovation within the D.C. Public Schools system. His past position was that of Executive Officer in the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of New Schools. Prior to this he worked for the SEED Foundation, where he served as the Academic Program Advisor. He also served as principal of the SEED Public Charter School, the country’s only public urban boarding school, which serves grades 7 – 12. Mr. Edelman received a bachelor's degree in American history from Harvard University. After college, he taught and administered at Milton Academy before earning a master's degree in education from Stanford University. For the next seven years, he taught social studies at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California and directed RISE (Realizing Intellect through Self-Empowerment), a youth development program targeted at African-American youth. In 2002, Mr. Edelman completed the Prospective Principals Program at Stanford University, receiving an administrative credential and a master's degree in educational administration. He grew up in Washington, D.C., and joined SEED in July 2001. He has held both instructional and administrative positions in numerous schools during his career, and has served on the board of such institutions as the SEED Foundation and the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning.

Ron Gonzales
CEO, Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley

Ron Gonzales is currently the CEO at the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley (HFSV) and has more than 35 years of professional experience spanning both the public and private sectors. Prior to his role at HFSV, he was Founder, Chairman and CEO of Presencia, LLC providing marketing and sales consulting services in the government, education, enterprise and SMB markets. Gonzales also worked as an executive with the Hewlett-Packard Company, in the areas of marketing, human resources, and corporate philanthropy. In the public sector, Gonzales served as the Mayor of San José (1999-2006), the Capital of Silicon Valley and the nation’s 10th largest city, on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from 1989-1996, and as mayor of Sunnyvale, CA. He has served on numerous non-profit boards and is the Founder of The Role Model Program for which he received a National “Daily Points of Light Award.” His specialties are Foundation leadership, marketing and sales, public policy, education and student mentoring

John Lock
President, Kaplan Higher Education Campuses

John Lock is President at Kaplan Virtual Education. His immediate past position was that of CEO at Project Lead the Way, an organization that prepares students to be innovative leaders in STEM industries. Lock also served as President and CEO of the Charter School Growth Fund (“the Fund”) where he managed all aspects of its startup and operations. He is a successful business advisor, operational manager, hands-on private equity investor and investment banker. Throughout his career, he has focused on helping people and organizations realize their potential. He has extensive experience managing early-stage companies and has served as CEO, CFO, COO and board member of companies that range from technology to insurance to financial management.

Lydia Logan
Senior Education Director, The Broad Foundation

Lydia Logan is the Senior Education Director with The Broad Foundation. Logan develops and manages a portfolio of policy and advocacy grants that promote the Broad Foundation’s education reform priorities. She was previously vice president and executive director of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that promotes high educational standards and effective workforce training systems so that they are aligned with each other and with the today’s business demands. Logan was also vice president of programs for The Kimsey Foundation, where she worked for six years, designing and implementing the foundation’s grant-making program and supervising the arts and education grant portfolio.

Dr. Michael Lomax
President and CEO, UNCF

Michael Lomax, Ph.D. is the president and chief executive officer of UNCF, the nation's largest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. Dr. Lomax joined UNCF after serving in a series of high-level academic and political positions. His immediate past position was as president of Dillard University in New Orleans. In the years before Dillard, Dr. Lomax pursued simultaneous full-time careers as a university professor and public servant. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Atlanta's Morehouse College and, after receiving his M.A. degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in American and African American literature from Emory University, taught literature at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and the University of Georgia.

At the same time, he became a prominent figure in Atlanta government and politics. He began his public service as an assistant to Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African American mayor, and went on to serve as the first head of Atlanta's Bureau of Cultural Affairs. In 1978, he was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Two years later, he became the Board's chairman, the first African American ever to hold that position and served in that position for twelve years.

Deborah McGriff
Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund

Deborah McGriff, Ph.D. is a partner with the NewSchools Venture Fund in San Francisco, California. She focuses primarily on quality teaching, investment strategy, and assists with management of portfolio ventures.

Previously, Ms. McGriff worked as the Executive Vice President and Chief Relationship Officer of Edison Schools. Deborah was the first public school superintendent to join Edison Schools in 1993. She held numerous positions at the company, including President of Edison Teachers College and Executive Vice President of Charter Schools.

Prior to Edison, Deborah served as the first female general superintendent of the 200,000-student Detroit Public Schools where she successfully opened 25 schools of choice and expanded decentralization. Crain’s Detroit Business named her newsmaker of the year for 1992. Before that, she was the first female assistant superintendent in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the first female deputy superintendent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. McGriff is a former President of the Education Industry Association and both a founder and national board member of the Black NAPCS for Educational Options. She received a B.A. degree from Norfolk State University, an M.A. degree from Queens College and Ph.D. from Fordham University.

Christopher Nelson
Managing Director, Doris & Donald Fisher Fund

Christopher Nelson is the Managing Director of the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund, a San Francisco-based philanthropy created by Doris and Donald Fisher, founders of the Gap, Inc. The Fund seeks to leverage change in K-12 public education, especially in schools serving disadvantaged students, by making strategic investments in organizations whose products or services bolster student academic achievement, foster choice and competition in schooling, or otherwise expand the public’s ability to provide a high quality education to all students. Chris manages the Fund’s portfolio of philanthropic investments and directs the Fund’s policy initiatives and research and advocacy efforts in California and nationwide. Prior to joining the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund, Chris spent six years as a litigator at Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco where he specialized in complex business litigation, intellectual property matters, state and federal government investigations, and white collar criminal defense. Chris serves on the Board of Directors of the California Charter Schools Association, the membership and professional organization serving charter public schools in California. Chris received a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.

Julie Pippenger
CEO, Agassi Foundation

Julie Pippenger is the Chief Operating Officer of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, she joined the Foundation in 1997. For two years, she also served as Chief Operating Officer for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a Clark County independent public charter school. In these capacities, she was involved on a daily basis with myriad activities pertaining to both the Foundation and Agassi Prep, including overseeing design and construction of the school and subsequent expansions (a $40 million project), managing fiscal affairs, strategic planning, coordinating fund-raising efforts such as the annual Grand Slam For Children (which over the past 14 years has raised more than $70 million), and submitting grant applications to various funding sources. Prior to her current position, Julie served as a special events supervisor for the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and worked on the Grand Slam for Children event, which eventually led her to join the Foundation in 1997. Julie received her BS in Travel and Tourism from Niagara University in New York, and has served on numerous boards in the Las Vegas area, such as, the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas for which the Foundation funded and built the Andre Agassi Boys & Girls Club that opened in 1998. Her contributions to the community have garnered several awards including the “Woman & Youth” award in 2000 as well as a “Hometown Heroes” award in 2006.

Whitney Tilson
Founder and Managing Partner, Tilson Mutual Funds

Whitney Tilson is the founder and Managing Partner of T2 Partners LLC and the Tilson Mutual Funds. The former manages three value-oriented private investment partnerships, while the latter is comprised of two value-based mutual funds, Tilson Focus Fund and Tilson Dividend Fund. Mr. Tilson is also the co-founder, Chairman and co-Editor-in-Chief of Value Investor Insight, an investment newsletter; and is the co-founder and Chairman of the Value Investing Congress, an investment conference that takes place twice per year, in New York City in November and Los Angeles in May. Mr. Tilson currently writes a regular column on value investing for the Financial Times, has written for the Motley Fool and TheStreet.com, was one of the authors of Poor Charlie's Almanack, the definitive book on Charlie Munger, and teaches financial statement analysis and business valuation for The Dickie Group. He was one of five investors included in SmartMoney's Power 30, has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Lou Dobbs MoneyLine and Wall Street Week, has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and has spoken widely on the topics of value investing and behavioral finance. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cutter & Buck, a public company that designs and markets upscale sportswear. Prior to his launching his investment career in 1999, Mr. Tilson spent five years working with Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter studying the competitiveness of inner cities and inner-city-based companies nationwide.

Fernando Zulueta
President, Academica Corporation

Fernando Zulueta is the President of Academica Corporation, one of the nation's most successful charter school service and support organizations. He is Chairman of the Florida Charter School Review Panel and founding Board Member of the Florida Consortium of Charter Schools. Mr. Zulueta has helped establish numerous high performing charter schools that have been recognized on local, state, and national levels for their achievements. For example, Somerset Academy was selected by DigitalCities.com as "the Best Elementary School" in Florida and identified by the Washington-based Education Trust among those schools in the nation that are challenging the myth that minority students cannot perform as well their non-minority peers. Mr. Zulueta graduated Summa Cum Laude and first in his class with a major in Public Accounting at the University of Miami School of Business and was the Reid Scholar at the University of Miami School of Law, where he served on Law Review and from which he graduated with Honors. He has received numerous awards for his work with charter schools including the "Cervantes Award" sponsored by Nova Southeastern University for his contributions toward excellence in the education of Hispanic students.