Board of Directors

Evin Orfila

Advocate Counselor, JCCA, Liberation Diploma Plus High School

Evin Orfila is a graduate of Liberation Diploma Plus High School, a transfer school in South Brooklyn, and Baruch College, where he graduated with honors with a dual major in English and Political Science. Currently, Evin works as an advocate counselor in the NYC Department of Education with a focus on postsecondary planning and readiness. He develops curricula that are centered in social emotional growth and development while being culturally responsive. Evin is a public speaker who works to convey the complexities of transfer schools and students.

Anne Martin Williams

Education Consultant

Anne is currently an independent education consultant supporting districts and non-profits with report writing, strategic planning and program implementation. Prior to this role, Anne spent over 10 years at the New York City Department of Education leading large-scale human capital programs including The Teacher Career Pathways Program and The Big Apple Awards. Before moving to New York City, she worked with KIPP DC to start the Capital Teaching Residency Program (CTR). Anne graduated from the University of Virginia and has a Masters in Education from Harvard. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons and is a proud NYC DOE public school parent and active member of the PTA.

Lisa LeCointe-Cephas

Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Merck & Co

Lisa LeCointe-Cephas is the Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer of Merck & Co, reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors. Lisa is an accomplished business advisor to publicly traded global companies, their senior management and their boards. She has developed a deep expertise in identifying and mitigating risk over her more than 15 years’ experience counseling some of the world’s leading companies in highly regulated industries. Lisa has a proven track record of leading legal, compliance, privacy, diversity, and business functions as well as managing human capital around the globe. She has built her career on transforming, modernizing, and digitizing organizations.

In her current role, Lisa is responsible for driving an ethical and values-based culture for approximately 74,000 employees around the world. She also oversees compliance for each company division, including Merck Research Labs, which currently has $13.5B invested in research. Lisa has advised Merck on crisis management and is a leader in scoping Merck’s Covid-19 response plan. Lisa has been instrumental in building out Merck’s data analytics center of excellence, cybersecurity enforcement program, and ESG governance framework. She is called upon regularly as a leader in strategic decision-making related to human capital and digital initiatives. She works extensively with Merck’s board and is responsible for presenting frequent reports on enterprise risk, the compliance health score of the company and overall culture assessments to the Audit Committee and Governance committees. As a Section 16 officer of a Fortune 100 Company with a Market Cap of over $180 Billion, Lisa is responsible for reviewing and certifying to the company’s financials, SEC filings and press releases. Lisa’s team also coordinates due diligence for prospective business development projects.

Lisa serves as the global Executive Sponsor of the League of Employees of African Descent (“LEAD”) Employee Business Resource Group. She previously served as the Head of the Global Investigations organization for Merck for over three years, as lead Government Investigations counsel at Bristol-Myers Squibb Corp., and as a partner in the Government Investigations and White-Collar Defense practice at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Lisa is globally recognized as a leader in the fields of anti-corruption and ethics. She is a member of ACI’s Global Anti-Corruption Advisory Board. Lisa is also a member of the Antiracism Legal Impact Board, which works in support of inclusion, fairness, and justice within the legal community. Lisa is a frequent speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Lisa is also a proud member of the Morehouse School of Medicine Board of Trustees.

William “Billy” Kearney, Jr.

Founder, Conceive. Believe. Achieve IT!

Billy is an expert educator and change agent in schools and school systems. He brings over 20 years’ experience, providing executive coaching to principals, district level leaders, and their leadership teams in districts throughout Louisiana, Memphis, and Los Angeles. He has been the Founding Executive Director at both Teach for America, Atlanta and New Leaders for New Schools, Memphis. Most recently, he served as Communities in Schools of Memphis’ first Chief Program Officer and Strategic Advisor to the CEO for Partnerships. For more than 10 years, he held leadership positions in the DC Public School System, including School Principal of the Charles Hart Middle School, Director of School Leadership on the Chancellor’s Transition Team, and Deputy Chief of Innovation. Billy brings a commitment to race and equity and his abilities as an effective listener and talent developer to his work with developing the skill and will of adults working with children.

Tonya Breland, Ed.D.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist

Tonya Breland has a passion and commitment to increasing access and opportunities for those who have been historically marginalized, particularly Black & Brown students and has dedicated her life’s work to ensuring equity in education and other sectors. Through her research, she birthed a framework for sustainable equity planning in which she helps districts identify areas where they are equitable, have inadequate capacity, or are vulnerable to inequities. Her work is also transferrable to organizations looking to address matters of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI).

Tonya is a highly respected National Milken Educator Award recipient and educational leader with a lifelong mission to make a difference in the lives of others.

In her career, Tonya served as an Elementary School Principal, Curriculum Supervisor, as well as a Middle and Elementary school teacher. She previously served as the Co-Chair of the State Professional Learning Committee with the New Jersey Department of Education and has been a sought-after Trainer/Coach/Consultant/Speaker to school districts, individuals, educational and other organizations. She also taught in the NJEXCEL Program preparing professionals for licensure to become school/district administrators. She served as Director for the Office of Professional Learning at the New Jersey Department of Education and most recently as Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Division of Academics & Performance before leaving to relaunch her educational consulting firm, TESO Consulting Group. TESO specializes in DEI.

She has authored two books: Fight to Make It Happen: 6 Power Principles to Fulfilling Your Purpose & Living Your Dreams and Mykayla Mitchell Moves Away, a children’s chapter book. Tonya is a graduate of Howard University, where she received her Bachelor of Science, Nova Southeastern University, where she received her Master of Science and New York University, where she received her Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation.

Clare Bertrand

Senior Director, JFF Labs

Clare Bertrand is a senior director at JFF Labs. For over a decade, she has led efforts to integrate technology and innovative best practices within education and workforce systems to ensure that young people and adults from under-resourced communities can make well-informed decisions about their education and career pathways. She leads Career Discovery & Navigation @ JFF Labs which works with communities, networks, and districts to identify and leverage career pathways for young people. She launched JFF’s first web and mobile platform, MyBestBets, and leads a team that works with thousands of youth and staff in community-based organizations and large youth-serving networks. Past roles include leading the design, development, and expansion of the national online platform, Students of the Center Hub, which elevates student-centered teaching and learning research, policy, and practice. Before joining JFF, Clare worked with Teachers21, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that focuses on reshaping the profession of teaching. She began her career as an out-of-school-time educator at the Mattapan Family Service Center in Boston leading an empowerment program for high-school aged young women.

Clare holds a Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.) in Education Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Gender and Women’s Studies from Trinity College Dublin. She received her Bachelor’s from James Madison University in Virginia.

Dr. Shawn S. Savage

Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction for Equity, Watson College of Education at The University of North Carolina Wilmington
Eskolta Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Director

Dr. Shawn S. Savage is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction for Equity in the Department of Educational Leadership within the Watson College of Education at The University of North Carolina Wilmington. Dr. Savage has over 10 years of experience in K-12 and Higher Education— both as an academic and student affairs professional.

A diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice scholar-practitioner, Dr. Savage’s research investigates issues of access, equity, and justice in K-12, teacher education, and higher education. Dr. Savage especially studies the experiences of racially minoritized males across their educational and professional lives—with a specific focus on Black males—using justice-centered qualitative research approaches. Importantly, his work is undergirded by Afrocentricity and explores the experiences of, and supports the well-being of Black and other people who are minoritized.

Nationally, he was one of the University of Texas at Austin’s 2020-2021 Project MALES Scholars, and is an inaugural 2021-2023 Emerging Research Fellow for Educator Diversity with the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity. He is also actively involved in various professional organizations including R.A.C.E. Mentoring and special interest groups of the American Educational Research Association such as Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Education as well as Research Focused on Black Education. Dr. Savage is also connected with several practitioner communities including the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education.

David Yeager

Psychology Faculty, University of Texas Austin

David is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his PhD in Developmental and Psychological Science from the Stanford University School of Education in 2011. Prior to beginning his career as a researcher, he was a middle school teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Yeager also holds an M.Ed. in Secondary English and a B.A. in the Program of Liberal Studies from the University of Notre Dame, as well as an MA in Psychology from Stanford University. He has appointments at the UT Dana Center, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the University of Texas Population Research Center, and is a member of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group and the New Paths to Purpose network, both at the University of Chicago.

Wesly Toussaint

Assistant Principal, Bronx Community High School
Eskolta Compliance Officer

Toussaint is the Assistant Principal at Bronx Community High School, a transfer school serving underage, over-credited students in Bronx, NY. Toussaint has been involved in a variety of projects with Eskolta, including participating in design projects, having his work documented in a publication through the Transfer School Common Core Institute, and serving as a Conference Advisor for the annual transfer school conference. He is serving on the Eskolta Board of Directors for two years, and provides important perspectives on the work happening on the ground in schools.

Dan Siracuse

Chief Financial Officer, TruMid Financial
Eskolta Board Treasurer

Dan has served as Chief Financial Officer at TruMid Financial LLC since January 2015. Previously, Dan was the Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy at Elm Ridge Capital Management, LLC since December 1, 2013 and served as its Controller since October 2013. Dan holds Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Danielle Moss Lee

Chief of Staff, New York Civil Liberties

Danielle has over twenty years of experience in education and human services. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff at the New York Civil Liberties. Previously, she was Chief Executive Officer at the YWCA of the City of New York. Under her tenure, the organization expanded its program portfolio to once again include speakers’ series for professional women, girls leadership, and technology programs, and increased advocacy for women and girls in New York City. Danielle has previously served as President of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, Assistant Principal of the Grace Lutheran School, Assistant Executive Director of the Morningside Area Alliance, Director for Community and Parent Partnerships at The After-School Corporation, and Consulting Project Director for The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. She has significant experience in expanding access and opportunities in underserved communities. She received her B.A. in English Literature and History with a concentration in Black Studies from Swarthmore College and holds M.A. and Ed.M. degrees from Teachers College Columbia University, where she completed her doctorate in Organization and Leadership.

Doug Knecht

Executive Director, Bank Street Education Center
Eskolta Board President

Doug is the founding Executive Director of the Bank Street Education Center. In this role, he leads large-scale instructional improvement engagements with districts and other school management and support organizations, bringing Bank Street’s deep expertise in adult learning and child development to central offices, schools, and classrooms across the country. Doug began his career as a high school science teacher in New Jersey after graduating from Princeton University. He then taught in New York City, where he helped to start Humanities Preparatory Academy, a progressive public transfer school. Later, Doug earned a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education and returned to the New York City Department of Education, serving in various school support and academic policy roles that culminated in an opportunity to lead 10 school networks, where he was responsible for the quality and effectiveness of supports to roughly 300 schools.

Cristin Frodella

Head of the Grow with Google NYC Learning Center
Eskolta Board Secretary

Cristin leads Google’s NYC Learning Center, which is focused on driving economic opportunity for all through teaching digital skills via free classes. Previously, she served as the Head of the Global Education Marketing team at Google where she worked with teachers, students and administrators in over 100 countries to reimagine the classroom of the future. She founded the Google Teacher Academy, a professional development program for outstanding teachers and the Google Science Fair, which challenges students to change the world through scientific inquiry.

Michelle Fine

Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center

Michelle is a Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Women’s Studies and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY. A student of Morton Deutsch at Columbia University, Michelle was trained in the tradition of Kurt Lewin. Her work addresses theoretical questions of social injustice that sit the intersection of public policy and social research, particularly with respect to youth in schools and criminal justice. After 12 years as The Goldie Anna Chaired Professor of Human Development at the University of Pennsylvania, Michelle joined the Graduate Center at the City University of New York in 1992. Michelle’s work integrates critical psychological theory with feminist and post-colonial theory, participatory designs, qualitative and quantitative methods and strong commitments to research for social justice.

Sophie Lippincott Ferrer

Director of Learning and Quality Delivery, Education First

Sophie supports state and district education agencies and foundations on strategies that improve teaching and learning. This includes helping 10 states develop teacher evaluation policy in the area of non-tested grades and subjects as part of the USED’s Reform Support Network and implementing a more robust teacher evaluation and development model with Baltimore City Schools. Sophie focused her career in education policy after volunteering for a large, failing school in the Bronx. This experience led her to work in both the public and private sectors, including the New York City Department of Education. Sophie holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. Sophie is also a graduate of The Broad Residency in Urban Education. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

Tarika Barrett

Chief Operating Officer, Girls Who Code

Tarika serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. Most recently, Tarika worked as the Chief Program Officer at iMentor, supporting first generation students in graduating high school and succeeding in college. Prior to this, she worked in the Office of Postsecondary Readiness at the New York City Department of Education supporting a portfolio of options for students significantly off-track academically, as well as developing new school models including the Academy for Software Engineering. Tarika holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brooklyn College, an M.A. in Deaf Education from Columbia’s Teachers College, and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from New York University.

Ariel Amdur

Co-Head of Eagle Intelligence, First Republic Bank

Ariel is the Co-Head of Eagle Intelligence at First Republic Bank. Prior to First Republic Bank, Ariel spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs. While there, he was a strategist and held numerous roles including Chief Data Architect for Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities, Co-Head of Bengaluru Securities Division Strats, Head of Bengaluru Credit Strats and was a Credit Sales Strat. Ariel has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Physics (summa cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a concentration in Finance (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School, and a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Afsheen Afshar

Senior Business Executive and AI Expert
Eskolta Board President

Afsheen is a senior business executive and deep AI expert who has led large-scale technological transformation across a variety of industries and enterprises, generating hundreds of millions in value. He regularly advises start-ups, universities, investors, enterprises, and others across the globe on how to best leverage modern technology.

Most recently, he was the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and a Senior Managing Director at Cerberus, where his role was to start and lead the development of a proprietary data and advanced analytics platform, the goal of which was to empower Cerberus‘s portfolio companies and trading desks across the asset management and operate companies with actionable insights that extract measurable value out of raw data.

During his tenure, he was seconded to Albertsons Companies as an Executive Vice President and the interim Chief Data and Analytics Officer, where he led the standing up a modern analytics and data function, inclusive of its strategy, organization, and infrastructure. Applications ranged from personalized product recommendation systems to store labor optimization.

Prior to joining Cerberus, Afsheen was the Chief Data Science Officer and a Managing Director of JPMorganChase’s Corporate and Investment Bank (>$40B in revenue), responsible for data science efforts across every business and supporting function of that part of the firm. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he led the data science, engineering, and machine learning teams that worked across multiple businesses. His teams have created products ranging from improved management of operations risk to assisting investment bankers on prioritizing deal flow.

Afsheen holds dual-doctorate degrees (MD and PhD) from Stanford University. His PhD is in Electrical Engineering with a focus on AI/machine learning and neuroscience (advisor: Krishna Shenoy; co-advisor: Andrew Ng). He also holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University.

Board of Directors

Every board member sits on at least one of the board’s three committees:

Afsheen Afshar

Ariel Amdur

Clare Bertrand

Tonya Breland, Ed.D.

William “Billy” Kearney, Jr.

Lisa LeCointe-Cephas

Sophie Lippincott Ferrer

Anne Martin Williams

Evin Orfila

Dr. Shawn S. Savage

Wesly Toussaint

Evin Orfila

Anne Martin Williams

Lisa LeCointe-Cephas

William “Billy” Kearney, Jr.

Tonya Breland, Ed.D.

Clare Bertrand

Dr. Shawn S. Savage

David Yeager

Wesly Toussaint

Dan Siracuse

Danielle Moss Lee

Doug Knecht

Cristin Frodella

Michelle Fine

Sophie Lippincott Ferrer

Tarika Barrett

Ariel Amdur

Afsheen Afshar

Pin It on Pinterest