Alpha’s Mission

A product of public education and native Californian, Allison is passionate about ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to pursue educational and cultural opportunities. She currently leads the development team at Teach For America Bay Area (TFA), which raises millions of dollars each year from individuals, corporations and individuals to support educators across the region. Prior to TFA, Allison led a team of Americorps members to implement tutoring and extended learning time at an elementary school in East San Jose through City Year San Jose / Silicon Valley. She also gained event planning and on-site logistics experience at Maritz, Inc., where she executed events for Fortune 500 companies both domestically and internationally.

Allison is a proud TFA alumna and taught 5th grade in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Southern California and Masters degrees in Arts Management and Business Administration from the University of Oregon.

Frances is the founder of Voices College-Bound Language Academies. As a National Board Certified Teacher, Frances is committed to serving children in urban school settings. She has worked as a university instructor, principal coach, school administrator, instructional facilitator and Dual Immersion Language teacher.

Frances grew up in East San Jose and didn’t speak English until she went to Kindergarten. Although she did well in high school, she wondered why her education didn’t prepare her for college. This experience motivated her to establish a school that would improve the lives of historically underserved students by building on a student’s assets and home culture.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Child Development and a Masters of Elementary Education from San Jose State University.

Patricia is a passionate immigrant rights advocate and strong supporter of pro bono volunteerism in the legal community. She has been in private practice since April 2012 and specializes in family-based immigration.

Since September 2014, she has appeared on Noticiero Telemundo’s weekly immigration segment, helping viewers navigate the complex immigration system. Patricia is also a Board Member of the Santa Clara County La Raza Lawyers Association, an Advisory Board Member of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, and a former Board Member of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN.)

Patricia was born and raised in San José, California and is a first generation college graduate. Her parents immigrated to the United States in 1974 from Zacatecas, Mexico.

She received her J.D. from Lincoln Law School of San Jose and her BS in Sociology, with a double minor in Ethnic Studies and Anthropology, from Santa Clara University.

As Chief Strategy Officer, Valerie leads KIPP’s multi-year strategic planning and communications as well as special projects through which network-wide working groups pursue strategic initiatives. In addition to leading KIPP’s national Strategy Team, Valerie partners with and oversees KIPP’s Government Affairs team (focused on leading KIPP’s federal advocacy strategy and execution while advising KIPP regional teams on local advocacy strategy) and the national Marketing team.

Valerie came to KIPP from McKinsey & Company where she led teams to develop strategies for leading institutions in the financial, technology and education sectors and helped launch McKinsey’s Financial Inclusion Practice. Prior to McKinsey, Valerie worked as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Latin America and Real Estate groups and also served as weekly tutor at a local public school. Valerie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an BA in Economics from Princeton University.

Kyle is a career management consultant specializing in corporate performance improvement and turnarounds for Private Equity funds and Fortune 500 companies. He has advised clients across diverse industries and geographies including financial services, technology, biopharmaceuticals, manufacturing, entertainment, healthcare, and higher education.

Kyle’s public school upbringing and corporate career has driven him to be passionate about ensuring that all students are prepared to meet the workplace demands of today and tomorrow. He currently works in Boston Consulting Group’s [BCG] Principal Investors and Private Equity practice. Kyle earned his B.A. in Music from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri – Kansas City.

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.

As the founder and CEO of Alpha Public Schools, John Glover helps to prepare and empower over 1,600 TK-12 students from East San José for a successful future. Alpha was founded in 2010 when a group of East San José parents recruited John to their community. They worked in close partnership to launch Alpha’s first school in 2012. Now, Alpha operates a network of four high-performing charter schools that emphasize data-based instruction, leadership development, and rigorous academic programming that prepares students to succeed in college and beyond.

An experienced teacher and administrator, John worked as a financial advisor before entering the field of urban public education. He quickly rose from effective teacher to leader and administrator, including school principal, executive director, and chief operating officer at a network of high-performing charter schools in Oakland, California. As a teacher, John ensured that all of his students were accepted to four-year colleges and universities; later, as COO, he supported the schools’ operational needs, including staffing and student recruitment.

John is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum. He serves on the Board of Directors for Navigator Schools which focuses on using education to improve communities in California’s Central Coast. He is an alumni of the Achievement First Charter Network Accelerator, an intensive cohort-based training program for charter management organization (CMO) leaders that draws on the learnings of high-performing CMOs. John also serves as the Chair of the Charter Community of Silicon Valley – a community of leaders from public charter schools operating with Santa Clara County who have united around a mission of serving students, engaging families, and advocating for quality public school options where children can thrive and reach their full potential.

John earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and his teaching credential from the Hufstedler School of Education at Alliant International University.

As Chief Schools Officer for Alpha Public Schools, Shara Hegde supports school leaders across four school sites and special education, and also partners with the CEO to provide leadership, vision, and strategic direction for the organization.

Prior to joining the Alpha team, Shara served as the Founder and Executive Director of Cornerstone Academy, a K-8 charter school that is now part of the Alpha network. 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.

Shara also serves as Vice-Chair of the California Charter Schools’ Association Member Council for Region 5 and is an advisory board member for several nonprofit education startups. She was named a 2015-16 Leverage Leadership Institute Fellow with the Relay Graduate School of Education. Prior to founding Cornerstone, she taught elementary school in Miami, Florida for several years through the Teach for America program.

Shara received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Brown University in Providence, RI and has her Master’s 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, marketing, 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.

Greg Callaham co-developed Alpha’s “Personalized Leadership Training” program – an integrated social-emotional learning program with a focus on hands-on practice and leadership development. This innovative program empowers students to coach, mentor and teach their peers, with adults as facilitators. Greg also coaches school leaders in implementation of positive culture systems and strategies across the network’s elementary, middle and high schools.

Greg served as an assistant principal at Alpha’s flagship middle school prior to taking on his current role. He also participated as a school leadership resident at High Tech Middle School in San Diego, California, was the director of educational game design at an EdTech startup in Shanghai, China, and taught middle school math in Portland, Oregon.

Angelica Ruiz is the Executive Assistant to Alpha’s CEO, John Glover. 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 principal of Blanca Alvarado School, Cynthia Nava Zavala is responsible for setting the vision and strategy for data-driven instruction and student and staff culture.

Cynthia began her career in education as a recruitment coordinator for the Raza Recruitment and Retention Center, while completing her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Cynthia joined Teach for America in Newark, NJ, where she taught self-contained fifth and sixth grade bilingual students. After teaching in Newark, Cynthia went on to study at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, simultaneously serving as an instructional coach for Match Education and the Harvard University Undergraduate Teacher Education Program. Cynthia also served as a Campus Director for Citizen Schools in East San José, where she launched the first school partnership with Alum Rock Union School District.

Cynthia 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.

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.

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 at our school.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As the bookkeeper for Alpha Public Schools, Pawan Kaur assists in managing day-to-day accounting and finance requirements. Pawan started her career as a junior accountant with a consulting firm in New York City. She also worked in Inventory and Reconciliation Accounting at Barnes & Nobles College and was a treasury Analyst at Dow Jones & Company.

Before relocating to California, Pawan worked as a Family Office Accountant at an Investment Bank where she helped multiple families with their finance needs.

As Director of Finance, Damone Jordan is responsible for overseeing 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.

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.

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.

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

Prior to joining Alpha, Crystal was a founding 8^th grade Spanish teacher in Memphis, Tennessee where she created her own curriculum and contributed to the systems, procedures, and traditions of the 8^th grade class. She then worked in school operations for two charter schools in Houston and San Jose where she gained invaluable experience with systems, processes, student recruitment, and the day to day logistics of schools. Having worked with teachers, administrators and families in different capacities, Crystal is excited to be a part of the Talent Team to continue supporting scholars. Crystal graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor’s in Political Science.

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.

As the Associate Director of Talent Acquisition, Alex oversees and manages the implementation of Alpha’s talent 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.

Jennie oversees the communications and marketing strategy at Alpha to increase brand awareness as well as enhancing Alpha’s image to gain continued support for growth.
She began her career as a recruiter and social media marketer for an in-home care company in Los Angeles where she managed full cycle recruiting and streamlined the social recruiting process to amplify hiring efforts. Jennie then transitioned to direct response marketing at DIRECTV/AT&T to target specific markets for customer acquisition in bundled services.

Jennie received her B.A. in Zoology and minor in Management at Miami University of Ohio.

Nicole is Alpha’s Director of Talent. She is responsible for talent strategy and execution — ensuring we attract, develop, and retain the best teachers, school leaders, and supporting team to serve our scholars at Alpha.

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.