Alpha’s Mission

Peter is an executive in high tech and specializes in negotiating and managing corporate partnerships. He is currently head of strategic partnerships at Snowflake, a data analytics company. Prior to that he spent over 10 years at Microsoft and previously worked at Yahoo, Netscape, the Boston Consulting Group, and the National Academy of Sciences.

Peter has long had a passion for the education of underprivileged children. He tutored inner city youth in Washington, DC, after graduating from Dartmouth College. He later tutored students in East Palo Alto while a student at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he co-chaired the Public Management Initiative on Education.

Adam is a private equity investor at Symphony Technology Group (STG), focused on investing in software, technology-enabled services and data services businesses and transforming those companies by partnering with management to build customer-centric market leaders. Adam sits on the board of several STG portfolio companies.

Adam’s public school upbringing in the Midwest and prior experience working with Minds Matter of San Francisco serving low-income high achieving high school students have driven him to be passionate about ensuring that all students have access to quality education and the tools and opportunities for college success. Adam earned a B.S.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Drake University and attended the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Silvia Scandar Mahan leads the San Jose region at the nonprofit Innovate Public Schools. In that role, she brings together Innovate’s community organizing, research and policy work, and schools expertise toward a vision of a world-class school for every student in San Jose. Previously, Silvia led Innovate’s Communications team, where she developed and executed subscriber communications, web development, social media strategy, content development, and press relations. She also managed Innovate’s partnership with GreatSchools, expanding the accessibility of school data and advocacy tools to parents of underserved students.

Before joining Innovate, Silvia founded and ran an e-commerce company and online art community where she led product development, partnerships, and online marketing.

A native of Miami, Florida, Silvia holds a BA in Economics from Harvard College and a JD from Georgetown Law. Silvia also has experience producing social impact films, and was a volunteer digital producer for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. She is passionate about civic engagement and quality education for all. She previously served as Bay Area board chair of Generation Citizen, a nonprofit re-imagining civics education.

Cindy is a seasoned product and business leader who is passionate about building great consumer experiences, products, brands, and communities. She has a proven track record of delivering top-notch products, defining strategies, driving revenue and user growth, and building teams at companies such as Shutterfly, Disney, Gap, and Philz Coffee. In recent years, she has been an independent consultant for consumer-oriented start-ups providing marketing, product, and general management support.

Cindy has a keen interest in education and improving access to quality education for all children given her own experience in the public school system in Asia and the US. After graduating from Harvard Business School, she became involved with the HBS Community Partners in SF where she has worked on a number of projects for education-related non-profits such as the Bay Area Discovery Museum, YMCA Youth & Government, and Readworks.org. Cindy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Stanford University.

Janine Ramirez is an education advocate with over a decade of experience and a track record of collaborating with community stakeholders to bring educational opportunities to underserved communities. She currently serves as the Regional Director for Rocketship Public Schools in the South Bay, where she is responsible for regional leadership, strategy and vision setting, navigating external politics and showcasing Rocketship’s impact externally while fostering collaboration with external stakeholders. Janine was identified as a 40 under 40 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2018 for her strategic partnership, vision setting, cross-functional initiatives and bridge-building which has led to an impact for thousands of students across the Bay Area. 

Previously Janine served as Regional Director for the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) supporting statewide policy efforts and prior as Executive Director of Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) where her leadership directly impacted nearly 2,500 students annually. 

Janine served on the board of directors for Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley (LCSV), serving as Board President in 2017. She is a proud alumni of the Latino Board Leadership Academy (LBLA), Latino Leadership Alliance (LLA) and SVO’s Leadership San Jose Class of 2020. Janine begins the Aspiring Latino Leaders Fellowship with Latinos for Education in the Fall of 2021.

Cheria Funches is originally from Boston, MA. She has a Master’s in Education Leadership from Queens University in Charlotte, NC and currently serves as the Director of Innovation and Design at Teach for America – Bay Area.  Cheria begin her career in education as a founding 3rd grade teacher in New Orleans, and has since served as an elementary school teacher and leader in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and in San Jose, CA.  She is passionate about working alongside schools to create equitable educational experiences for students.

Ms. Hegde serves as Chief Executive Officer for Alpha Public Schools, a K-12 network of charter schools in San Jose, CA, focused on preparing students for college and career. In this role, she provides leadership, vision, and strategic direction for the organization. 

Before assuming the role of CEO, she served as Alpha’s Chief Schools Officer, directing the academic program vision and providing coaching and management to several key senior leaders. Prior to joining the Alpha team, Ms. Hegde served as the Founder, Executive Director, and Principal of Cornerstone Academy, a K-8 elementary charter school that is now part of the Alpha network of schools.  Since its opening in 2010, Cornerstone Academy has been amongst the highest performing schools in the city of San Jose and was named a California Distinguished School in 2014 and 2018.

Ms. Hegde received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Brown University in Providence, RI and has her Masters Degree in Education Policy, Organizations, and Leadership Studies from Stanford University. She also has an additional Master’s Degree in Instructional Leadership from the Reach Institute for School Leadership in Oakland, CA.

As Chief Operating Officer for Alpha Public Schools, Chris Kang manages the operations and finance teams. Prior to joining Alpha, Chris worked as Senior Director, KIPP School Leadership Programs Operations at the KIPP Foundation.

Chris began his career in education as an AmeriCorps member at Partners in School Innovation in San Francisco. After moving to New York City, Chris worked for the next five years as a middle school math teacher in public and charter schools in New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey. Chris then served as the Director of Operations of the Excellence Boys Charter School Middle Academy, part of the Uncommon Schools network in Brooklyn, New York.

Chris holds a BS from the University of Michigan, an MA from Bank Street College, and an MBA from Yale University.

Angelica Ruiz is the Executive Assistant to Alpha’s CEO, Shara Hegde. In her role, she has a high level of responsibility for being the groundskeeper at the Network office while also managing the CEO’s scheduling and correspondence. She has also taken on additional duties that have expanded her skills in project coordination especially with Network-wide events and executive board meetings.

Angelica started her career with Alpha Public Schools as an Office Assistant at Alpha: Blanca Alvarado. Her transition to the Network has helped her learn more about the organization as a whole and it has allowed her to make a positive impact across all four campuses.

This community is near and dear to her as she was born and raised in East San Jose. She believes in helping all of our scholars achieve greatness and helping our community excel forward.

As the Managing Director of Academics and K-8 Schools, Ms. Nava provides direct support to our K-8 principals and Academic Team, supporting the vision and implementation of Alpha’s model and driving academic excellence for our students.

Ms. Nava began her career at Alpha in 2015-16 as an Assistant Principal. That year, the Principal at Blanca transitioned out of her role in October, and Ms. Nava immediately stepped in. Despite being new to school leadership, she effectively managed the school and held the team together, and was ultimately promoted to Principal for the 2016-17 school year. Over the next four years, Ms. Nava built strong foundational systems for the school, improved the adult and student culture, and led the team to achieve stronger results year after year. Blanca was twice recognized as a top school for underserved students by Innovate Public schools, a testament to Ms. Nava’s strong leadership.

Ms. Nava holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and earned a M.Ed. in Education Policy and Management from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

Nicole is Alpha’s Chief Strategy Officer. She oversees Talent as well as Development for Alpha Public Schools.

Nicole began her career as a first grade teacher in Atlanta, GA, where her students achieved nearly two years of reading growth in a school year. From there, she joined DC Prep Public Charter School in our nation’s capital and was responsible for academic performance management and data-driven decision making. In addition to her experience in education, Nicole spent several years with the Boston Consulting Group, advising clients on topics ranging from change management and organizational culture to blended learning and nonprofit growth strategy. Nicole holds an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BA in History from Yale University. She is currently participating in the Broad Residency in Urban Education.

As Chief Financial Officer, Damone Jordan oversees the annual budgeting process, preparing financial statements and reporting financial information to key stakeholders, including funders, lenders and members of the Board of Directors.

Before joining Alpha, Damone spent three years working in public schools in New Jersey and Maryland in various roles, including Paraprofessional in a Special Education fifth grade classroom, Long Term Substitute Teacher for sixth-grade math and social studies, In-School Suspension Coordinator at a middle school, and fifth-grade Classroom Teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools.

Damone also spent time working in the private sector as a consultant for an economics consulting firm, as a Senior Analyst at Wells Fargo, and as a Finance Analyst for Johnson & Johnson.

Damone holds a B.S. in Accounting from Rutgers University. He also has a M.A. in Economics from Duke University where he studied Public Policy and the Economics of Education.

Dr. Carlson began her teaching career in East Palo Alto as a 3rd grade teacher. While she was there, she also taught 5th grade and was the Math and Technology coach. Upon her acceptance to University of Southern California (USC) for her master’s degree in teaching, she moved to southern California. She moved out of the classroom as a Dean of Instruction and worked closely with the principal to create and monitor the instructional program as well as to provide workshops for families. Dr. Carlson went back to school where she received her doctorate degree in educational leadership and also completed a principal-leadership residency.

She was most recently the principal of a TK-8 school in Boyle Heights – located in Los Angeles, where her school serves a community very similar to Alpha’s, where over 90% of students received Free and Reduced Lunch. She’s excited to join the Alpha team as the new principal of Alpha: José Hernández and to continue to grow as a leader and learn something new from her students, staff, families, and community.

Marion Dickel brings extensive educational experience to Cornerstone. She began her career in education in Pennsylvania teaching accelerated reading and math and gifted education courses to students in grades K-5.  After moving to California in 2010, Marion joined Cornerstone in its second year as a first grade teacher. Three years later she became Cornerstone’s Blended Learning Director, designing and leading implementation of its 1-1 blended learning program.  The following year, she served as the school’s Academic Director, with responsibility for scheduling, coaching, curriculum, professional development, and student support. 

Marion spent the last three years in the Saratoga Union School District as a Teacher on Special Assignment. There she worked closely with the district’s Assistant Superintendent and Director of Technology to design and implement professional development, coordinate programs for the district’s English learners, review and pilot curriculum, and coach teachers to differentiate instruction and integrate technology in their teaching. 

Marion has received various accolades for her work, including being named Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Education and Cornerstone Educator of the Year.  Marion Dickel holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan, a JD from Northwestern, and two Masters in Education, one in Elementary Education and the other in Instructional Leadership.

Saman began her career at Alpha: Blanca in 2017 as an Instructional Coach after teaching high school at KIPP College Prep in Washington D.C. for three years. The role of Instructional Coach gave her the opportunity to observe and support Math and Science teachers to implement a rigorous curriculum and instructional strategies that promoted learning for all students. After having success as an Instructional Coach, Saman was asked to serve as an Assistant Principal beginning in 2018. Blanca was twice recognized as a top school in math for underserved students in the Bay Area by Innovate Public Schools, a testament to Saman’s strong leadership.

Saman also brings a wide variety of learning experiences to this new role. While at Blanca, Saman was a fellow in the Innovate Public Schools Start-up School Fellowship, where she trained with other school leaders to run excellent and equitable schools. Prior to Blanca, Saman was an EdPioneers Fellow at Teach For America in New York City. While in NYC, Saman found a non-profit called Coding4Success in partnership with Google and TFA which increased Computer Science opportunities for hundreds of students from underserved neighborhoods. Saman then went onto found the IT Academy at KIPP College Prep DC, the computer science department at the high school, and built partnerships with Howard University and Fortune 500 companies to ensure students were on a rewarding path to a career in Information Technology and Computer Science. Saman simultaneously worked at Opportunity@Work, a White House initiative, where she built partnerships with city councils, coding bootcamps, and employers to design pilot programs allowing young adults from underserved areas to gain access to technology education and employment in the field. Saman continues to work with Computer Science EdTech companies such as Edhesive as a consultant.

Saman received a Masters of Science in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelors of Sciences in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. She holds an Education Specialist credential in California and a Special Education credential in Washington D.C.

As the Associate Director of Talent Acquisition, Alex oversees and manages the implementation of Alpha’s talent acquisition strategy ensuring that we build a world-class team of teachers, school leaders, and support staff. Additionally, Alex works closely with the Talent Team and Hiring Managers to use and analyze data to promote continual growth. 

Originally from Sacramento, California, Alex joined Teach for America and moved to Providence, Rhode Island where she started her teaching career as the founding 8th-grade science teacher at a growing middle school. Alex remained in the classroom for the following five years teaching middle and high school science before transitioning to an education-based research team where she authored a curriculum for a new elective course that prepared high school students for their life after high school.

Alex earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a minor in STEM education from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a single subject teaching credential in general science after the completion of an induction program with The New Teacher Project. She now lives in the Bay Area with her family where she enjoys attending comedy shows and sporting events (Go Raiders, A’s and Sharks!), and spending time outdoors with her dog, Mocha.

As the Talent Acquisition Associate at Alpha Public Schools, Alfonso helps drive the day to day recruitment activities through sourcing, screening, and interviewing.  In partnership with the Associate Director of Talent, Alfonso is charged with attracting and hiring talented individuals to work at Alpha’s four campuses and network office.

Alfonso was born in San Antonio, Texas (so don’t be caught off guard with his use of “y’all”) and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. After attending Arizona State University, Alfonso returned to Las Vegas to complete a term of service with AmeriCorps, advising for first-generation and low-income college students. This experience, coupled with his own collegiate experiences, fueled his passion for higher education access, and he completed a Master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After some time in nonprofit fundraising, Alfonso returned to higher education, working in admissions and recruitment. A move to Austin, Texas took him into the world of Talent Acquisition with KIPP, where he was responsible for managing the hiring process for middle school teachers and substitutes across the district.

Alfonso is passionate about getting the best educators in front of Alpha students to help them be successful on their educational journeys!

As the IT Lead, Andrew is the principal manager of technology and its implementation across Alpha’s schools, focusing on solving the real problems faced by our students and staff. Additionally, Andrew works closely with each school’s Leadership Team, ensuring their specific needs are met.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Andrew joined Alpha in 2014 as a contractor, eventually becoming the senior IT member. He is committed to bringing practical solutions that serve the priorities of the Alpha community.

Ashley began her education career in Kansas City teaching at various different charter schools. After moving to San José, she taught for one more year before beginning her journey into School Operations. She started as a Business Operations Manager at one school site owning all operations then supported multiple sites in order to elevate consistent operations across a network.

Currently, Ashley supports school operations in different ways. She focuses on the back end attendance reporting to the school districts and state as well as supporting school operations teams in the front offices. She also is the owner of reporting to the state ensuring all student records are up to date and accurate.

Ashley holds a B.S. in Political Science and M.Ed. in Elementary Education.

As Alpha’s Director of Teacher Resident Development, Beth Barrett oversees the teacher residency program across the network’s four schools. She is responsible for developing teacher residents, supporting mentor teachers, and overseeing general implementation of the program.

Originally from Michigan, Beth earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Michigan, where she also completed the Program in Secondary Education. She joined Teach For America and moved to Houston, TX, to teach English and English as a Second Language. In 2009, she moved to San José in order to teach at a local charter high school; after a few years, she became a Vice-Principal. For seven years, Beth coached and managed teachers in several departments, handled student disciplinary issues, supervised grade level chairs and initiatives, and developed and implemented the vision for school culture and discipline. Her current role allows Beth to focus on the two things she enjoys the most, teaching students and developing teachers!

Beth is currently working on her M.A. in Curriculum and Supervision from Pennsylvania State University and clearing her Administrative Services Credential through SCCOE.

Claudia is the bookkeeper at the Alpha Network Team. In her role, she assists in managing day-to-day accounting and finance requirements. She began her career at Alpha as an Office Assistant at Alpha: José Hernández.

Prior to joining Alpha, Claudia worked as the Food Program Analyst for a non-profit corporation that served suppers and snacks daily to low-income youth in the Bay Area.

Claudia earned her B.S. in Accounting from Santa Clara University.

Joceline is the Regional Operations Associate at the Alpha Network Team. In this role, she supports state reporting, school site office and lunch staff, and handles facilities maintenance to ensure a safe space for all students and staff.

Joceline was born and raised in East San Jose and holds this community dear in her heart. Because she attended all of her schooling in the East side of San Jose, she understands what it’s like to grow up in a community that is traditionally underserved and relates well not only to our students but to our families as well.

Besides living a few years in Mexico as a child, East San José has been Jorge’s home for over 25 years. Jorge’s academic and professional career started in San José City College, where he took general education classes before transferring to Santa Clara University. During his 3 years there, he worked with special needs students and students who were not doing well in school. At SCU, Jorge attached a Bachelors in Sociology while working at the Bill Wilson Center as a counselor and continued there until getting his teacher credential and Masters in Education.

For the past 4 years, Jorge has been in charge of academic culture, discipline, recruitment, parent participation, special education, and teacher coaching in a charter high school with a similar mission to Alpha. He is excited to bring his life and professional experience to Alpha and looks forward to continue to develop a culture of high expectations and academic excellence in his new role as Senior Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement.

Nelly is one of the founding mothers of Rocketship Los Sueños and Alpha Public Schools. Her energy and passion for Alpha’s mission is limitless. She oversees student recruitment and ensures that families feel compelled and empowered to demand an excellent education for their children.

Robert is the Human Resource Manager for Alpha Public Schools. He is Alpha’s credentialing liaison, supporting our teachers with credentialing requirements and with the day-to-day HR operations. 

Robert is an Army Military Veteran who was born in Stuttgart Germany but was raised in Santa Clara, California. He attended Southern New Hampshire University earning his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resources. He comes from a wide variety of HR industries including Government, Cyber Security, and non-profit.    

Robert is passionate about supporting the staff here at Alpha.

As Alpha’s Director of Special Education, Russ Michaud oversees the development, staffing, execution and measurement of Alpha’s special education services and programs across the network’s four schools. He is also responsible for supporting all of Alpha’s special education staff, including teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, psychologists and the designated instructional services team.

Originally from Boston, MA, Russ joined Teach For America and moved across the country to work with students in East San José. He spent 5 years in the classroom teaching elementary-aged students with emotional disturbance. Russ’s support helped students make significant progress on their academic, behavioral, and social/emotional goals. Russ simultaneously coached new teachers at Teach For America’s Summer Institute and helped in the development of first and second year special education teachers in the Bay Area.

Russ earned B.A. in Psychology from Ithaca College, an Administrative Credential and M.A. in Educational Leadership from San José State University, where he focused on the effective implementation of special education programs in the charter school setting.

Born and raised in Orange County California, Scott understands the challenges that come with working in a technology-driven world; and is committed to providing the best experience for end-users.