Tina Sachs is the current Director and Finance Accounting at Khan Academy.   Khan Academy is a worldwide organization whose mission is to provide a world class education for learners everywhere.  She has been in this role for 6 1/2 years helping to scale the organization by building out new products and content, keeping the site running smoothly along with providing meaningful tools for teachers and students throughout the pandemic. Prior to this, she was the CFO at KIPP Foundation which serves students in historically under resourced communities throughout the country.  She helped obtain $50M in stimulus funding which supported the growth of its regions around the country.  She was also responsible for leading IT, office management across the four sites around the country and event services. Tina has two kids, one in college and one in high school.  Both of them have learning differences which continue to provide Tina with a unique perspective and hunger to move the needle for all kids.

 

Beth Thompson is currently an Executive Coach at the KIPP Foundation where she builds capacity in KIPP’s regional CEOs and their leadership teams. Beth was previously the founder and CEO of KIPP Northern CA Public Schools for 15 years. In this role, she led the organization to consistently outperform district and state achievement levels, resulting in multiple California Distinguished School and National Blue Ribbon designations; expanded to a TK-12 system of schools across five counties serving nearly 7,000 students and supporting 3,000+ alumni in their postsecondary path; and oversaw an operating budget exceeding $100M. Previously, Beth was the West Coast Trailblazer at the KIPP Foundation, where she created and implemented a strategic growth plan for KIPP schools, including securing charters, start-up funding, facilities, and community support. Prior to her work at KIPP, Beth was on the founding team of NewSchools Venture Fund, a national nonprofit venture philanthropy working to reimagine public education. She holds a B.A. in political science, Masters in Education, and Masters in Business Administration from Stanford University. She is a proud resident of Oakland, parent of two elementary-school children, and Board member of Braven Bay Area and Cambiar Education.

Ron Beller, Co-Founder, Finance Committee Member, Governance Committee Member (Email)
Ron Beller has been active in education for the past 11 years. He led the Children First reform program and restructuring of the New York City school system, the largest in the country with more than one million students, working under Chancellor Joel Klein. He is co-founder and Chair of Governors of King Solomon Academy an all-through state school in London which has been rated “Outstanding,” the highest ranking by OFSTED, the UK schools inspectorate. He is a co-founder and board member of Ark Schools, a high performing network of 31 state schools in the UK and is a founding board member of Leading Educators, a New Orleans based teacher leader training organization. Ron was founder and CEO of investment companies Branch Hill Capital and Peloton Partners and was a partner at Goldman Sachs, a global investment bank.  Ron is a graduate of Brown University. He is married with three children. 

Nolan Highbaugh, Secretary (Email)
Nolan provides legal counsel to the KIPP Foundation on a wide range of issues including strategic decisions, transactions, human resources, governance, and real and intellectual property. Prior to joining KIPP, Nolan worked as an Associate in the Public Finance Department of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. Before entering law school, Nolan was a Budget and Policy Analyst for both the Chief Administrative Office of Los Angeles County and the Office of Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. in the City and County of San Francisco.  Nolan attended U.C. Berkeley (Go Bears!) where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy and a Master’s in Public Policy. He earned his JD from Stanford Law School and is a member of the California State Bar Association. Even more noteworthy, Nolan volunteers as a Section Leader for the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade with twelve years and counting under his belt. Finally, Nolan is very proud to have been born and raised in Vallejo, CA where he returns on a regular basis to visit family and conduct ‘VIP’ tours of the city for friends.

Jennifer Moses, Co-Founder & Board Chair, Academic Affairs Committee, Governance Committee   (Email)
Jennifer Moses has spent the past two decades in education, public policy and philanthropy after a career in investment banking. Most recently, she co-founded and was CEO for seven years of Caliber Public Schools, a TK-8 charter school group in the East Bay in California with 1,700 students. She is now Chair. She is a founding Trustee of Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), one of the largest children’s charities in the UK, and co-founder and Chair of King Solomon Academy, an all-through state school in London. She is a partner at Ed-Mentor, LLC, a VC fund that invests in education technology startups. Prior to moving to California in late 2009,  she was a senior policy adviser to then British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. She was previously Chief Executive of the policy think tank Centreforum, following her banking career as a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs. Jennifer is a graduate of Brown University, where she serves on the Corporation and is Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, and Harvard Business School. She is married with three children.

 

Katy Vasquez is a parent to five children. She has one daughter who attends Caliber in the 8th grade as well as a grandson who attends Caliber in 3rd grade. Ms. Vasquez has been a parent at Caliber for the past eight years and was a part of the SSC for three years. 

 

Ivette Ramos is currently an Office Manager at Elibright Optometry in Vallejo, CA and has over 2o years of experience in the optical field.  Her career spans throughout the Bay Area, with her having worked in several different optometry offices in places like Pinole, Berkeley, and Fairfield. Ivette is married and a proud mother of four, two of which are Caliber ChangeMakers students. She remains active in her children's lives, serving as a sponsorship chair for the Vallejo Aquatics Club, her daughter Naomi's swim team. The club is a USA swimming all year round competitive team offering daily professional coaching and technique instruction for all ages. The Vallejo Aquatics Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving youth in Vallejo and surrounding communities. She also remains a strong advocated for Prader Willi Syndrome awareness, a rare genetic disorder caused by a deletion of chromosome 15 that her son, Victor has. Ivette's two older daughters have bachelor's degrees in Political Science, from San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley.