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Management
The Fund’s lean staff provides the day-to-day strategic
management assistance that is the hallmark of our venture philanthropy
approach. They come to the table with experience in education,
law, business strategy, accounting, public affairs and marketing.
Before coming to The Fund, they were teachers, consultants,
nonprofit executives, financial analysts and attorneys.
Quick jump to:
Janet M. Knupp
Jason
Cascarino
Daniel
Cervantes
Ahmed
T. El-Nazer
Deane
K.N. Mariotti
Sarah V. Mayeda
Bonnie
McCormick
Kristen
Muller
Nina Salomon
Amy L.
Short
Julie Somogyi
Kathleen St. Louis
Kristin
Tschantz
Tamara
Tucker-Anderson
William
C. Wilbanks
PRESIDENT
Janet
M. Knupp
founding president of The Chicago Public
Education Fund (The Fund), is a former educator and venture
philanthropist with nearly 20 years of experience in start-up
and turnaround nonprofit management situations.
Before joining The Fund, Janet worked as the executive director
of Chicago Communities in Schools, where she redirected the
organization from imminent bankruptcy to recognition as the
most cost-effective urban office in a national network of
141 affiliates. Prior to her experience at CCIS, Janet served
as the director of education programs for the Chicago Neighborhood
Organizing Project, leading the organization to fiscal solvency
in one year and creating a nationally recognized program implemented
in 60 Chicago public schools. While earning her master’s degree,
Janet served as the administrative director for Kids in Detroit
Succeed, a start-up youth scholarship program. Janet also
taught high school special education.
Janet earned her M.A. in education foundations and policy
from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and graduated
cum laude from Michigan State University with a B.S. in special
education.
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PROGRAM
Jason
Cascarino
previously served as director of marketing
and new initiatives for Citizen Schools, based in Boston,
a national education program for middle school students. Prior
to that, he worked as a consultant to numerous nonprofit education
organizations and foundations, primarily supporting program
quality, growth, and financial sustainability.
Jason earned his master's degree in international relations
at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and a bachelor's
degree in history, summa cum laude, from The University of
Scranton. He was awarded a J. William Fulbright Fellowship
in 1996.
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Ahmed
T. El-Nazer
previously worked as a business analyst
at Citadel Investment Group, LLC. Prior to joining Citadel,
he was a financial analyst with Goldman Sachs International
in London, and also completed an internship in the Equity
Research Group of Banc of America Securities in Houston.
Ahmed earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.
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Deane
K.N. Mariotti
previously worked in the finance and
academic offices of the School District of Philadelphia, focusing
on quality management and the use of data in educational systems.
Prior to that, she taught fifth grade as a Teach For America
corps member.
Deane earned a master’s degree in government administration
and an M.S.Ed. in educational leadership from the University
of Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in international relations,
also from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Sarah V. Mayeda
previously worked as the coordinator of teacher candidates and external partnerships at National Teachers Academy, a professional development school within Chicago Public Schools. Prior to that, she was a middle school teacher in Chicago Public Schools, and worked in development for Chicago Cares and the University of Chicago.
Sarah earned an M.Ed. in Instructional Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Northwestern University.
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Nina
Salomon
previously worked as a Program Associate
for The Finance Project, based in Washington, DC, a non-profit
consulting organization working on charter school finance
and governance and out-of-school time programs. Prior to that,
she worked in government relations for a youth development
organization, and as an associate for a Head Start technical
assistance center.
Nina earned an M.S.Ed. in Education Policy from the University
of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree in political
science from The George Washington University.
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Kathleen
St. Louis
previously worked as a Senior Professional
Development Coordinator for the Grow Network/McGraw-Hill where
she developed data-driven instruction modules to help parents,
students, teachers, and principals use data effectively. Prior
to working at Grow, she worked as a client team assistant
at McKinsey & Co. before teaching middle school life science
in the South Bronx and high school biology in Harlem.
Kathleen earned her master's degree summa cum laude in science
education from Teachers College, Columbia University and is
currently on track to receive her Ph.D. in science education,
also from Teachers College. She graduated with her B.S. from
the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
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Tamara
Tucker-Anderson
previously worked as a program manager
at The Enterprise Center, an accelerator of minority entrepreneurship
in Philadelphia, where she managed youth entrepreneurship
programs. She also has experience teaching business courses
in the School District of Philadelphia.
Tamara is pursuing her
advanced certificate in philanthropy and non profit managment
from Loyola University Chicago and received her B.A. in Urban
Studies and Political Science from Temple University.
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DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Julie Somogyi
brings extensive experience to her role at The Fund after previously working for Girl Scouts of Chicago as its director of communications and marketing. She has received a Golden Trumpet Award and three Silver Trumpet Awards from the Publicity Club of Chicago for her work with non-profit annual reports, issues management, special event management and institutional branding. Prior to her work with Girl Scouts of Chicago, she specialized in hospital community relations and as a newspaper feature writer/reporter.
Julie graduated with a bachelor’s degree in news-editorial journalism from the University of Illinois at Champaign.
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Kristin
Tschantz
recently graduated from Miami University
where she was actively involved in her Business Honors Consulting
Group. Prior to her senior year, she worked as an intern for
Marketing Werks, a Chicago based mobile marketing firm.
She graduated with a
B.S. in marketing from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business
at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
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FINANCE & OPERATIONS
Daniel
Cervantes
previously worked at KPMG LLP as a Senior
Associate in their Audit practice, concentrating on consumer
& industrial clients and serving as a principal contact
for bilingual matters in the written and oral communication
of Spanish. Prior to joining KPMG, he completed a number of
internships in a variety of business fields including accounting,
finance, and marketing with such companies as CSMG Sports,
The Quarker Oats Company, and Arthuer Andersen LLP.
Daniel earned his B.A.
in accounting from the College of Commerce at DePaul University
with a minor in Commercial Spanish.
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Amy L.
Short
previously practiced law at Mayer, Brown,
Rowe & Maw, focusing on corporate, securities and employee
benefits matters. Before attending law school, Amy worked
as a certified public accountant for Price Waterhouse's Financial
Services group in New York City.
Amy earned her J.D. cum laude from the Georgetown University
Law Center, and graduated from the Wharton School of Business
at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.S. in economics.
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William
C. Wilbanks
previously worked as the controller
of the MidAmerica Leadership Foundation in Chicago. He has
more than 20 years’ experience as a controller and CFO with
numerous companies, including Ernst & Young.
Bill earned his M.B.A. from Michigan State University, and
an M.S. from the University of Cincinnati and a B.A. from
Calvin College, both in physics. Bill is a certified public
accountant.
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ADMINISTRATIVE
Bonnie
McCormick
previously worked as a Senior Executive
Assistant to the President of The Marco Consulting Group,
which provides investment advice to union pension plans, and
as Executive Assistant for the top executives of several financial
firms that provided services to high net worth individuals
both in Chicago and in Cleveland, Ohio. During her time at
Carnegie Capital Management, Bonnie was instrumental in setting
up and running the day-to-day operations side of the State
of Ohio Treasurer’s Fund. Bonnie also organized and
ran a conference for certified professional assistants which
drew over 500 attendees. Her experience runs from large corporate
environments such as American Greetings to mid and small size
private firms.
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Kristen
Muller
Kristen previously worked as an assistant
at Peaks Real Estate Sotheby's International Realty Telluride,
Colorado.
Kristen earned a B.A. in economics and business administration
at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
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