Eric Schwarz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Citizen Schools, a leading education nonprofit that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income children across the country. Citizen Schools was awarded Fast Company magazine’s Social Capitalist Award in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008 and the Skoll Foundation’s Skoll Award in Social Entrepreneurship in 2005. The organization currently serves an estimated 4,600 students and engages 3,700 volunteers across seven states and 18 school districts.
Schwarz has been tapped to speak about education reform and Expanded Learning Time at numerous conferences across the country. He has served as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Task Force on 21st Century Skills, the Center for American Progress working group on Expanded Learning Time, the transition team of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the Social Entrepreneur Advisory Board for the New Profit, Inc. Gathering of Leaders. He is the author of Realizing the American Dream: Historical Scorecard, Current Challenges, Future Opportunities, a widely cited essay examining social change efforts and the role of social entrepreneurs, and co-editor of The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning. Schwarz wrote a chapter, “Calling All Citizens,” in the recently published best-selling book, Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save America's Failing Public Schools.
Previously, Schwarz served as a Public Service Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, as Executive Director of City Year Boston, and as a Vice President at City Year. He also served as national student director for Gary Hart’s 1984 Presidential campaign and as a journalist and columnist at The Oakland Tribune and The Patriot Ledger, where he won two national awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Schwarz earned his B.A. at the University of Vermont and his Masters in Education at Harvard University. He lives in Boston with his wife, Maureen Coffey, and their two children.
Emily McCann joined Citizen Schools in 2003 as the Chief Financial Officer and is now President, responsible for developing and overseeing top-level financial, technology, human resources, and administrative support services for the organization. Before coming to Citizen Schools, Emily worked in Business Planning & Development for the Walt Disney Company and in North American Mergers & Acquisitions for J.P Morgan & Company. She earned an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Harvard College and a graduate degree from Harvard Business School.
Kate Mehr joined Citizen Schools in 2005. After beginning her career as a teacher, Kate helped found the Massachusetts Legislative Children's Caucus and launched the Massachusetts State Commission on National Service. Kate was asked by Governor William Weld to run the Massachusetts Summit on Children and Youth. In 1998, she was appointed to a White Fellowship for national leadership. Kate then launched the United States- Canada Program for Ashoka. Kate served as the Vice President of Community Impact for the United Way of America, assisting 3,000 United Ways to increase impact in communities. She attended Amherst College and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Jerri Fatticci joined Citizen Schools in 2006. Prior to Citizen Schools, Jerri had a successful career in the financial services sector. She served as a financial advisor at Bank of America, working closely with clients to develop financial plans and portfolio strategies to meet their long-term goals. While at Bank of America, Jerri served as a chairperson for the Women’s Impact Fund, and served on the Citizen Schools Council of Champions. She is also a Community Advisory Board Member for Junior League. Jerri has a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Economics from Campbell University.
Suzanne Goodwin joined Citizen Schools as Executive Director of New Mexico in 2007, with twenty five years of experience as a teacher and administrator within the Australian government education sector. In 2001, she was nominated for participation in the Eleanor Davis Mentorship Program for Outstanding Women in Leadership. In 2003, her innovative work in challenged educational communities was acknowledged by the award of a national Sir Winston Churchill Fellowship in Education, which took her to the United States to explore exemplary practices in this field. In the same year, Suzanne was the state runner up for 'Outstanding educational Leadership' by the state education department. In 2006, Suzanne commenced work as a consultant for the Center for RelationaLearning based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Suzanne is the current Chair of the Global Community Learning Network Committee of the National Community Education Association (USA). Suzanne graduated from Deakin University (Australia) with a Bachelors Degree in Education and is completing a Masters Degree in Educational research by thesis from the Monash University (Australia).
Patrick Kirby joined Citizen Schools as Massachusetts State Executive Director in 2007, with over a decade of management experience in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. He is currently Executive Director for Massachusetts. Before joining Citizen Schools, Patrick spent five years managing Timberland's global volunteer programs as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility department. Over his five years, employee engagement increased globally by more than 800 percent. Prior to Timberland, Patrick briefly taught high school before spending five years at City Year, where he held a number of senior leadership roles at their founding Boston site and their national office. Patrick is a graduate of McGill University, where he received his BA in Political Science in 1995. He has served on the Board of Directors of GroundWork USA, The Brookings Institute's Building Bridges Task Force on International Volunteering and Service, and Volunteer NH!
Todd Litton joined Citizen Schools as Executive Director of Texas in 2009. In this capacity, he leads the development of the Citizen Schools network in Austin and Houston, and also cultivates the growth of Citizen Schools across the state. Prior to Citizen Schools, Todd was a vice president and Wealth Advisor for UBS Financial Services for almost five years, where he worked with clients to help them grow, preserve and distribute their assets. Prior to UBS, Todd directed Preschool for ALL, a joint early childhood-business effort to expand access to high quality preschool in Houston and in Texas. The Children’s Defense Fund recognized him as an Emerging Leader for his work there. Todd has played an active role in the Houston and Texas community for many years, including board leadership on The Immunization Partnership, the Education Foundation of Harris County, Small Steps Nurturing Center and the Texas Lyceum Association. Todd earned an A.B. in English from Duke University, a J.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
Nitzan Pelman opened the New York region of Citizen Schools in September of 2007 and serves as its founding Executive Director. In her role as ED, she oversees a state office comprised of 50 staff members who in turn work with 600 students in 5 public schools in 3 boroughs. She is also responsible for raising 2.4 million dollars in FY11. Citizen Schools was founded in 1995 to bring new solutions the education reform landscape and seeks to reimage the school day.
Prior to joining Citizen Schools, she worked at the New York City Department of Education for four years in the Klein/Bloomberg administration. In that time, she served as the Assistant Director of the Office of New Teacher Induction and helped create a mentoring program for 6,500 new teachers. In her final year at the DOE, she developed, designed, and implemented the citywide "learning environment survey" administered to 1.8 million people through the Office of Accountability. She also served as the first Development Director for Teach For America New York where she organized its first New York City benefit.
Nitzan has participated in CORO's Leadership New York program and served in special project capacities at KIPP and at New Leaders for New Schools. She is a graduate of New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Stern College for Women.
Joe Ross joined Citizen Schools as Executive Director of California in 2010. Prior to joining Citizen Schools, Ross worked at Cisco Systems where he led corporate strategy and operations in Mexico for the Linksys and Flip Video brands. During his eight-year military career, Joe Ross served as Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for the fleet component of the U.S. Southern Command and was responsible for leading security cooperation programs in Latin America. A Truman Scholar and a fellow of the Truman National Security Project, Ross holds a BA from Yale and a JD from Stanford Law School, where he was 59th President of the Stanford Law Review. Joe is also the parent of three children, ages 14, 9 and 7.
Claudia Alfaro joined Citizen Schools in January 2007 as the Director of Volunteers for Boston and became Chief Civic Engagement Officer in 2009. Originally from Mexico City, Mexico, Claudia is a bilingual professional with over seven years in the non-profit community and nine years of professional work in various aspects of business development, marketing, operations and recruiting in high growth companies and organizations. Claudia formerly worked for Building Excellent Schools as their Director of Recruitment implementing a national recruitment strategy for a start-up program in a non-profit organization. There, she developed national relationships and brand recognition with key stakeholders in non-profit, private, and government sectors. Prior to that, Claudia was the Director of the USA High School Program, part of the Council of International Educational Exchange, and she managed the operations and marketing. Claudia has also worked in international markets, primarily Europe and South America. She is currently working on her MBA at Northeastern University.
Kristin Brennan joined Citizen Schools in 2007. Prior to Citizen Schools, Kristin was a consultant for the Bridgespan Group, where she focused on working with educational and youth development organizations in their efforts to create organizational structures and systems that would support significant increases in scale. Prior to her work at Bridgespan, Kristin spent four years as a mediator and negotiation strategist, largely in public education. Kristin earned her B.A. in Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and her M.B.A. from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
George Chu joined Citizen Schools in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer, and has since taken on the role of Chief Analytical & Financial Officer. Prior to Citizen Schools, George worked as a consultant for the Bridgespan Group, a non-profit consulting firm, centering on youth and education organizations such as Year Up, City Year, New Sector Alliance and the College Board. He was a management consultant at Arthur D. Little and a manufacturing engineer for Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates. George currently serves on the boards of The Bottom Line, a Boston college access and retention program, and ESAC, a community-based agency that strives to improve the quality of life for residents of eastern Massachusetts. He attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Christin Driscoll joined Citizen Schools in 2008 with 20 years of experience working on workforce development, education, poverty, hunger, and family income issues in national advocacy and research organizations. Prior to joining Citizen Schools, Christin served as Senior Director for Policy Development and Advocacy at Catholic Charities USA. Christin has also served as Senior Director of Public Policy at the Association for Career and Technical Education; Policy Director of the Workforce Alliance; Senior Policy Analyst at the Food Research and Action Center; and in the research and public relations departments of the Economic Policy Institute. She was awarded the Leland-Emerson Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Congressional Hunger Center for her commitment to ending hunger and poverty and her excellence in mentorship. Christin received her master's degree in Public Policy from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in Government from Georgetown University.
Will Nourse joined Citizen Schools in 2008, with unique and varied professional experience. He began his career in Boston, MA as a trader/investment banker, after which he ventured into freelance consulting for educational non-profit organizations such as the Children's Television Workshop. He joined Arthur Anderson's business consulting practice in the late 1990s to advise corporate clients on the development of sound business processes and technology tools. Will then served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE), a non-profit international education organization until 2007. Most recently, he was Vice President of Product Development at a technology start-up. He has an A.B. in Government from Harvard College.
Lori Stevens joined Citizen Schools in 2006. Previously she directed fundraising for Harvard's cross -university public service initiative to support the Graduate School of Education, Kennedy School and School of Public Health. She helped secure many major gifts, including $10 million to establish the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship. During her 11- year career at Harvard, Stevens also led major gifts fundraising in the New York region and worked with alumni in the Boston region and the Southeast. She has an A.B. from the College of William and Mary and an M.Ed. focused on urban education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
John helped transform Citizen Schools from a concept paper in 1995 into a thriving national educational program. He now holds the titles of Managing Director and Chief Mobilizing Officer, connecting leaders from all sectors to the ways they can break open opportunities for kids.
As the founding director of Citizen Schools’ first school partnership at the Dever, the creator of the beloved 8th Grade Academy and the Writing Coach program, the first Executive Director for all Citizen Schools sites in Boston, and the overseer of the Expanded Learning Time pilot, John has not only helped thousands of young people in Boston create paths towards high school graduation, college, and career success, but also launched innovations that are now redefining how learning happens across the country.
John graduated from Hamilton College and was a Boston Public Schools teacher for four years and principal of Wediko Children Services. John has served on the Governor's Readiness Project, the Lt. Governor's STEM Advisory Council, the WGBH Community Advisory Board, and the boards of many Boston education and youth organizations. He was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Connector at Boston World Partnerships, an Executive Curator of TEDx Boston, and a member of LeadBoston and City to City Leadership Exchange. He has presented at TED University in Long Beach, CA, TEDGlobal, the Intel Visionary Conference, Google’s TechTalk, and BIF (Business Innovation Factory).
He is an active photographer (www.johnwernerphotography.com), and has been an on-air host of "Yo! What's the Origin of That?", two hundred weekly live shows that he created. John loves racing triathlons and qualified and raced at Nationals and Ironman World Championships. John is also a Director and Coach for the Brookline Youth Lacrosse.
John is married to Erika Alvarez Werner and they are parents of three children and have a bilingual Spanish household.
Bing Howell joined Citizen Schools in 2009 as the Director of Civic Engagement and Development. In this role Bing developed strategic outreach efforts to engage and manage volunteers, building partnerships to increase the region’s volunteer pipeline and revenue base.
Prior to joining Citizen Schools, Bing was a Business Development Associate at Bryanston Square Consulting in London, a Program Manager at CIMBA Undergraduate near Venice and a Senior Specialist at Merrill Lynch in New York. He holds a triple bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems, Logistics and International Business from Iowa State University (minor in French and Spanish) and an MBA from the University of Kansas. Bing is a Six Sigma Green Belt and is a certified trainer in Kepner-Tregoe process management.
Priscilla Cohen joined Citizen Schools as Director of Strategic Initiatives in 2007 after serving as a founding national board member of the organization. Priscilla brings to her role extensive experience in strategic planning, program development and partnership creation. After business school, Priscilla was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. She then worked for seven years as a Vice President at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she developed community benefit programs for the hospital’s network and served as a member of the senior management team responsible for the organization’s overall strategy and growth. Priscilla then took on the role of Vice President at Pearson’s FamilyEducation.com, an education-related internet company, where she created strategic alliances and collaborative programs. Priscilla graduated with honors from Harvard Business School and summa cum laude from Williams College. She was the recipient of a Rotary Graduate Scholarship in Italy and of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs in California. Priscilla also serves as the Executive Director of the FAO Schwarz Family Foundation and the Vice Chair of the Board of Beacon Academy.
Melissa Rouette began her career in education as a Teach For America corps member, teaching 2nd grade in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for three years. During that time Melissa consistently made dramatic academic gains in student achievement with her students, served as the chairman of the School Improvement Plan Committee, and was voted Teacher of the Year by her colleagues. After her three years in the classroom, Melissa served as a Curriculum Specialist at the Teach For America Summer Institute, ensuring that new teachers mastered the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in their first year in the classroom. Melissa also worked as a Program Director and then Director of Program Design with Teach For America in South Louisiana, responsible for the ongoing support of teachers during their first two years and ensuring their growth as instructors to lead their students to significant academic gains. Since 2007 Melissa has been a member of the Citizen Schools staff. She started as a Talent Manager with the Massachusetts region, overseeing the recruitment of volunteer Citizen Teachers, Teaching Fellows, and Team Leaders throughout the region. Most recently Melissa served as the Director of Civic Engagement for Massachusetts, leading the region’s recruitment and training of more than 600 volunteer Citizen Teachers each year. Melissa now serves as the organization’s Chief Program Officer. In this capacity she leads the strategy and execution of Citizen Schools programs across the country via strategic management of performance data, continuous improvement of the program model, and support to regions in their high-fidelity, high-quality implementation of the program model. Melissa leads the National Program Department, a team dedicated to program design and implementation, as well as the training and support of more than 300 school-based staff members nationwide. Melissa’s favorite activity outside of the office is playing board games with her two young sons.
John Werner helped transform Citizen Schools from a concept paper in 1995 into a thriving national educational program. He now holds the titles of Managing Director and Chief Mobilizing Officer, connecting leaders from all sectors to the ways they can break open opportunities for kids.
As the founding director of Citizen Schools’ first school partnership at the Dever, the creator of the beloved 8th Grade Academy and the Writing Coach program, the first Executive Director for all Citizen Schools sites in Boston, and the overseer of the Expanded Learning Time pilot, John has not only helped thousands of young people in Boston create paths towards high school graduation, college, and career success, but also launched innovations that are now redefining how learning happens across the country.
John graduated from Hamilton College and was a Boston Public Schools teacher for four years and principal of Wediko Children Services. John has served on the Governor's Readiness Project, the Lt. Governor's STEM Advisory Council, the WGBH Community Advisory Board, and the boards of many Boston education and youth organizations. He was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Connector at Boston World Partnerships, an Executive Curator of TEDx Boston, and a member of LeadBoston and City to City Leadership Exchange. He has presented at TED University in Long Beach, CA, TEDGlobal, the Intel Visionary Conference, Google’s TechTalk, and BIF (Business Innovation Factory).
He is an active photographer (www.johnwernerphotography.com), and has been an on-air host of "Yo! What's the Origin of That?", two hundred weekly live shows that he created. John loves racing triathlons and qualified and raced at Nationals and Ironman World Championships. John is also a Director and Coach for the Brookline Youth Lacrosse.John is married to Erika Alvarez Werner and they are parents of three children and have a bilingual Spanish household.
Lucy Castillo Prior to joining Citizen Schools, as a Senior Associate of Program Development at The City University of New York, Castillo managed the development and delivery of custom learning programs for numerous government agencies and nonprofit partners, including the New York City Housing Authority, the New York State Authorities Budget Office and the New York City Board of Elections, consulting closely with organizations to assess their needs and design customized strategies to help them attain their learning goals. Previously, Castillo served as a consultant with Frontline Solutions where she helped organizations maximize resources, effectively managing growth and developing staff to meet organizational needs. Castillo has also held leadership positions with the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Coro Leadership Center, Teach for America, the New York State Education Department and Seton Hall University. Castillo holds a B.A. in Sociology from Seton Hall University and an M.PA. from the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College.
Tonya Horton Tonya is a seasoned educational leader who has spent most of her career working with students, teachers and administrators in low performing schools. Prior to joining Citizen Schools, Tonya served as a District Transformation Coach for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. In this role, she worked with district leadership to build capacity and structures to foster school improvement. Her work was critical in helping one of the lowest-performing districts in North Carolina make major strides forward in student achievement. Hallmarks of her work are being a thoughtful agent of change, using strategic planning and data to drive effective action, engaging communities in accessing resources for students and teachers, and building strong relationships and
partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders. Tonya Horton has served in various school district roles in North Carolina and Texas, including leadership coach, curriculum coordinator, principal, assistant principal and teacher. Horton holds a B.A. in History Education and a M.A. in History from North Carolina Central University, as well as a M.Ed. in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas.
Nicole Gantz Murray
joined Citizen Schools in January of 2008 as the Director of Growth, responsible for identifying and cultivating new states, districts, and schools with whom Citizen Schools can partner.
Prior to Citizen Schools, Nicole spent five years with United Way of America, the national leadership organization for the 1300+ local United Way organizations. Nicole started as a Manager and was promoted to Director in the Community Impact Division where she worked on national early childhood initiatives such as Success by 6 and Born Learning, for which she helped local communities to develop early childhood public awareness campaigns. Nicole also led the youth and young adult engagement programs for the United Way system. While at United Way, Nicole helped to develop United Way’s now annual week-long national youth service trip to the Gulf Coast. Nicole also served as a transformation consultant to local United Ways during her tenure.
Before United Way, Nicole worked for Youth Venture, a national youth development organization focused on helping young people launch their own socially-minded ventures. At Youth Venture Nicole served as the National Partnership Director, where she led the negotiation and development of national partnerships. Prior to that, she worked as an Associate at Ashoka, an international organization focused on social entrepreneurship.
Nicole attended Miami University in Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor degree in International Studies and Political Science.
Bryce Bowman
joined Citizen Schools in January of 2008 as the Director of Growth, responsible for identifying and cultivating new states, districts, and schools with whom Citizen Schools can partner.
Prior to Citizen Schools, Nicole spent five years with United Way of America, the national leadership organization for the 1300+ local United Way organizations. Nicole started as a Manager and was promoted to Director in the Community Impact Division where she worked on national early childhood initiatives such as Success by 6 and Born Learning, for which she helped local communities to develop early childhood public awareness campaigns. Nicole also led the youth and young adult engagement programs for the United Way system. While at United Way, Nicole helped to develop United Way’s now annual week-long national youth service trip to the Gulf Coast. Nicole also served as a transformation consultant to local United Ways during her tenure.
Before United Way, Nicole worked for Youth Venture, a national youth development organization focused on helping young people launch their own socially-minded ventures. At Youth Venture Nicole served as the National Partnership Director, where she led the negotiation and development of national partnerships. Prior to that, she worked as an Associate at Ashoka, an international organization focused on social entrepreneurship.
Nicole attended Miami University in Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor degree in International Studies and Political Science.
Kait Rogers
joined Citizen Schools in January of 2008 as the Director of Growth, responsible for identifying and cultivating new states, districts, and schools with whom Citizen Schools can partner.
Prior to Citizen Schools, Nicole spent five years with United Way of America, the national leadership organization for the 1300+ local United Way organizations. Nicole started as a Manager and was promoted to Director in the Community Impact Division where she worked on national early childhood initiatives such as Success by 6 and Born Learning, for which she helped local communities to develop early childhood public awareness campaigns. Nicole also led the youth and young adult engagement programs for the United Way system. While at United Way, Nicole helped to develop United Way’s now annual week-long national youth service trip to the Gulf Coast. Nicole also served as a transformation consultant to local United Ways during her tenure.
Before United Way, Nicole worked for Youth Venture, a national youth development organization focused on helping young people launch their own socially-minded ventures. At Youth Venture Nicole served as the National Partnership Director, where she led the negotiation and development of national partnerships. Prior to that, she worked as an Associate at Ashoka, an international organization focused on social entrepreneurship.
Nicole attended Miami University in Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor degree in International Studies and Political Science.
Liza Aguirre-Oviedo
joined Citizen Schools in January of 2008 as the Director of Growth, responsible for identifying and cultivating new states, districts, and schools with whom Citizen Schools can partner.
Prior to Citizen Schools, Nicole spent five years with United Way of America, the national leadership organization for the 1300+ local United Way organizations. Nicole started as a Manager and was promoted to Director in the Community Impact Division where she worked on national early childhood initiatives such as Success by 6 and Born Learning, for which she helped local communities to develop early childhood public awareness campaigns. Nicole also led the youth and young adult engagement programs for the United Way system. While at United Way, Nicole helped to develop United Way’s now annual week-long national youth service trip to the Gulf Coast. Nicole also served as a transformation consultant to local United Ways during her tenure.
Before United Way, Nicole worked for Youth Venture, a national youth development organization focused on helping young people launch their own socially-minded ventures. At Youth Venture Nicole served as the National Partnership Director, where she led the negotiation and development of national partnerships. Prior to that, she worked as an Associate at Ashoka, an international organization focused on social entrepreneurship.
Nicole attended Miami University in Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor degree in International Studies and Political Science.
