SSO Team
Terence Johnson, CEO
Terence comes to Caliber with more than 30 years of experience in all aspects of education. He began his career as a teacher, athletic director, and Principal in Colorado Public Schools, before moving to Houston where he led the turnaround of schools in underserved communities. Terence then moved on to the KIPP Foundation leadership team, where after serving 12 years as Senior Director of Leadership, Terence joined KIPP Memphis as Chief Schools Officer, and eventually returned to Houston as Head of Schools for KIPP Houston. Terence says that he is “very excited about the opportunity to work with the Caliber team, parents and students to continue making Caliber Schools a place that exemplifies excellence and continues to prepare our learners for their next steps.”
Rachael Weingarten, Head of Schools
Mrs. Weingarten is absolutely thrilled about being the founding school Leader at Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy in Vallejo. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Elementary Education and completed her masters in Urban Education and leadership from the University of Southern California. Rachael began her teaching career in Tucson, Arizona, where she taught 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grade. She then taught 3rd and 4th grade in Detroit. She was the founding second and third grade teacher at KIPP Empower Academy (KEA) in Los Angeles, CA. After teaching she transitioned into being Dean of Instruction and Culture at KEA. Rachael is a lifelong educator and is committed to her students, families, and the community of Vallejo.
Markus Mullarkey, President
Markus Mullarkey comes to Caliber after a long and successful career in the private sector. He spent over 15 years in marketing and leadership roles at successful blue-chip companies such as Proctor & Gamble, the Boston Consulting Group, and CNET Networks. And he founded and grew his own mobile entertainment start-up for 8 years before joining Caliber. Markus has a passion for K-12 education, having consulted to EdTech companies in the sector and having served as a fundraising board member at his daughter’s school. He also has a lifelong connection to the East Bay. He grew up and went to school in Richmond and Albany and now lives with his wife and two daughters only a few miles from Caliber:Beta Academy. Markus graduated from Harvard College and went on to complete an MBA and a post-graduate Finance Fellowship from Harvard Business School.
Andy Grossman, TK-4 School Leader at Caliber Beta Academy
After spending the past three years as a teacher, coach and Assistant Principal at Caliber Beta Academy, Andy Grossman is excited about the opportunity to move into the role of School Leader in the 2018-2019 school year. Andy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 and began his teaching career in Oakland Unified School District that same year. Andy completed his Masters in Teaching at John F. Kennedy University in 2006 and received his School Leadership Credential from Cal State East Bay in 2014. Prior to joining the Caliber Team, Andy spent 11 years in San Leandro Unified School District where he won the Cynthia Copp Award for Innovative Teaching and worked on initiatives to bring Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to district schools. Andy brings a passion for student learning, an enthusiasm for building strong relationships, and a commitment to rigorous academics to campus every day, as well as a strong sense of gratitude that he gets to be a part of this community of “fire breathing, book reading, Caliber Dragons!”
Timothy Pruitt, 5-8 School Leader at Caliber Beta Academy
Tim Pruitt provides leadership development and coaching for school leaders, the teams they support, and the communities they serve. In partnership with Dallas ISD, he has designed and facilitated in-depth instructional leadership training for 230 principals, 450 assistant principals, and over 30 district executive leaders. As a lifelong educator, he has worked with students, families, and community partners in the pursuit of equitable opportunities in schools. Tim entered education as a high school English teacher and has held roles as a Dean, Instructional Coach, Assistant Principal, and Principal. He has worked with The New Teacher Project, Teach For America, Teaching Trust, and the Salvation Army. Tim earned a Bachelors of Arts degree from Rhodes College and a Masters in Teaching degree from the University of Memphis. He stays balanced through exercise, travel, and quality time with family and friends.
Aisha Ford,
Aisha Ford has worked in public elementary education for over 10 years. She holds a B.A.Degree in Political Science and a M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Early Childhood Development. She began her career in Prince George's County Maryland with Teach for America as a Kindergarten teacher and has held roles as a founding Assistant Principal of Rocketship Futuro Academy and Instructional Coach at other high performing public charter schools and most recently interim principal Changemakers Academy. Aisha is committed to Caliber's mission and vision to meet the desires and needs of the communities we serve in Vallejo.
Alesha Williams, 5-8 School Leader at Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy
Alesha Williams has worked in Education for over 10 years. She began her educator training in the US Navy where she was a Master Instructor at the Naval School of Health Sciences in SanDiego, California. After being honorably discharged from the military she went on to earn her teaching credential in Texas where she taught for 3 years in various public schools in Houston ISD and Spring ISD. She holds a BS degree in Health Science and a MBA from Colorado Tech. The past 3 years she has been part of the Caliber family as an 8th grade English teacher, an Instructional Coach/AP, and now as CMA's 5th-8th grade Principal. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, dancing and spending time with family and friends.
Sarah Strom, Head of Talent and Communications
Sarah joins Caliber with 15 years of experience in education. She began her career as a 4th and 5th grade teacher with the District of Columbia Public Schools. After teaching she became a teacher coach, coaching MS ELA teachers in Washington, D.C. She began working with charter schools as the Director of the Capital Teaching Residency at KIPP DC where over five years she worked with schools to train over 400 new teachers. At KIPP DC Sarah also worked as an Elementary School Assistant Principal. She recently moved to the Bay Area with her husband and young daughter, Mari. She is involved with everything related to recruiting and hiring, as well as taking part in organizational strategy, teacher sustainability, professional development, and all things communication. Sarah got her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, her teaching degree from American University in Washington, D.C. and recently received her MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In her free time, she enjoys almost every kind of work-out, hiking, spending time with friends and family, and cooking or being inspired to cook by watching cooking shows.
Cormac Harkins, Head of Data & Analytics
Cormac is returning to Bay Area after spending a year back at his home in Boston where he earned a M.Ed in Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. Prior to graduate school, he worked in San Francisco at Breakthrough Collaborative as Manager of Research and Evaluation where he supported the internal evaluation process for Breakthrough’s students and teaching fellows across the country. Before moving to Bay Area, Cormac worked (and lived) at the Match Charter High School in Boston where he tutored students, coordinated the after-school program, and helped coach the basketball team. He graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Anthropology.
Estefania Garcia, Managing Director of HR
Estefania was born in Ecuador and raised in Oakland. She earned her degree in Legal Studies from UC Berkeley in 2017. After graduating college, she worked at Kaiser Permanente's Human Resources Department for their Benefits and Enrollments team. While doing this work, she was also able to learn a lot about Human Resources and how to better assist employees regarding both benefit and leave concerns. However, she found that she was not living her passion, which has always been to work in a place where she could give back to a community like her own. While in college she volunteered at her elementary school as well as at a Head Start located in Oakland and found that she could do meaningful work outside of the classroom. Through these volunteer experiences, she realized that there was a lot of work to do be done for the families in our community; this is where a passion to aid in this work began. During her last years of UC Berkeley, she expanded this mission by volunteering at a non-profit Immigration center located in Berkeley. She is thrilled to have found her way back to serving communities that mirror the one she grew up as the Human Resources Lead.
Devin Gross, Managing Director of Operations
Devin comes to Caliber Public Schools with over 10 years in the education field and 15 years overall leadership experience. A native of Washington DC, Devin spent 6 years as the Youth and Family Services Director at the Alexandria YMCA running after school programs and summer camps for over 200 students. After spending some time in retail management and moving to California, Devin has spent the last 4 1/2 years at Rocketship Public Schools as a Business Operations manager helping to grow its East Bay region and founding a TK-5th grade school (Rocketship Delta Prep) in Antioch,CA. Devin is a people person and is dedicated to serving school communities through innovation and teamwork through operational systems and routines. Devin is super excited to be with Caliber and help continue to impact our students and communities in a positive way.
Wendy Villalobos, HR and Credentialing Lead
Wendy Villalobos is a Mexican-Salvadoran Xicana, born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelors of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley ℅ 2015 with a Major in Spanish and Portuguese Latin American Literature and an Education minor focused on the politics of students of color in the U.S. education system. Wendy has worked with educational institutions for over 10 years in a range of capacities from high school college counselor to school administration. Before joining the Caliber team, Wendy worked at consulting firms exploring the various tech innovation ecosystems in North America. She is involved in continuous outreach and advocacy work towards demystifying higher education in underserved communities and is a board member for the UC Berkeley Chicanx/Latinx Alumni Association. Wendy is thrilled to join the Caliber team as the Administrative and Talent Coordinator.
Favorite quote: “Enseñar, es enseñar a dudar” — Eduardo Galeano
Andy Santiago, Ops and Communications Associate
Andy is a Los Angeles native with a strong Mexican-American heritage. He earned his BA in Media Studies and Performance Studies Minor from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. Andy has work experience in non-profit, startup, and international (Singapore) environments that has allowed him to gain knowledge on intersectionality, and the importance of wanting to better a community. During his time at Berkeley, Andy was involved in a handful of leadership positions within dance organizations at Cal to showcase the importance of the arts for one’s individual health. Andy has always been interested in the education realm and he is excited to use his knowledge to implement processes and support the Operations team to further Caliber’s success.
Katherine Hendrickson, Managing Director of Strategy
Katherine has spent the last thirteen years working and learning in excellent public high schools. She began her career at the Denver School of Science and Technology, one of Colorado’s top public high schools for traditionally underserved students. Katherine served the network content lead for Social Studies and her students earned the highest AP scores in the city. While serving as the Academic Dean at Leadership Public Schools in Richmond, California, the academic program was recognized by US News and World Report to be among the nation’s top 1% of public high schools. 77% of 11th graders met or exceeded standards on the SBAC- ELA, more than doubling the proficiency of neighboring high schools. Katherine has also worked for the XQ SuperSchool Project, a $131 million philanthropic effort to redesign the American high school, and has led redesign efforts for non-profit organizations, including the Presidential Leadership Class at the University of Colorado - Boulder. She holds an MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado – Denver and an MA in Organizational Leadership from Stanford University.