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Danielle Baussan
Danielle Baussan serves as Counsel for the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy and Global Warming, where she focuses on state and local environmental initiatives, sustainable development, and other issues. Prior to joining the Select Committee, she was the Director of Government Affairs for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. A proud District resident, she also worked for the District of Columbia as a Capital City Fellow and Policy Advisor under former Mayor Anthony Williams. She is a graduate of Rutgers College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Shanita Burney (Vice-Chair)
Shanita Burney recently joined the DCPS Office of Out of School Time as
the Manager of After School Programs. Prior to this, Ms. Burney served
as the Assistant Director for Project My Time at the DC Children and
Youth Investment Trust Corporation where she assisted in building and
delivering an integrated and coordinated out of school time system that
assured high quality opportunities for DC middle school students so that
they would engage fully in their development and learning, and enter
high school better prepared for success. Previously, she served as the
Director of Prevention for Covenant House Washington since its inception
in January 1999. Over this time period, she grew the Peer-Supported
Pregnancy Prevention Program for adolescents (PSP“), into a Prevention
Services Unit, tripling in size and locations and housing multiple
programs. Ms. Burney has served on numerous committees and councils
within the DC Public Schools System as well as community-based
organizations and served as a counselor for adolescents in the District
as well as in Prince George's Public School System. Ms. Burney received
her B.A. in Psychology from Winthrop University and her M.A. in
Counseling Psychology from Bowie State University.
Virginia Di Tata
Virginia Di Tata is a second-year M.B.A. student at
Michael Duffy
Michael F. Duffy is serving his second term as a member of the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Review Commission for which he served as Chairman from
2002-2009. A member of the DC Bar, he has written extensively on matters
relating to labor, administrative, and environmental law. Mr. Duffy
received his B.A. in English from the Catholic University of America and his
J.D. from George Washington University. While attending law school at night,
he taught high school English and law at Archbishop Carroll High School in
Washington, D.C., and served as chairman of the English department. A
District resident, Mr. Duffy has also tutored and moderated a book club for
foreign students in a non-profit, English as a second language program in
D.C.
Dr.
Dr. Doran Gresham serves as the Director of Educational Programs with CaseNEX, LLC which
provides professional development courses to educators.
Dr. Gresham earned his doctoral degree in Special Education from The George
Washington University, where he studied general education teachers’ perceptions about
the overrepresentation of elementary aged black males in classrooms for students with
emotional disturbance. He is an active member
of 100 Black Men of Greater Washington, D.C., and a prior recipient of the “Elliott
Hair Member of the Year” award which recognizes efforts that made a significant
difference in the Greater Washington, D.C. chapter of 100 Black Men. He is also a proud member of Guerilla Arts Ink,
LLC, which is a grassroots organization that seeks to strengthen the bonds that exist
between the arts and education communities in and around the
Robert Hunter, III
Robert Hunter,
III
is the Owner and Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer
of Technical Staffing Group, LLC (TSG). He manages the operational end
of TSG, a company that provides professional technical staffing services
for audio visual companies in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.
Robert attended DeVry University Institute of Technology in
Valerie Mitchell
Valerie Mitchell serves as Program Director for Education Pioneers
because of her dedication to providing high-quality, free educational
opportunities to traditionally underserved young people and her
understanding that many of those involved in this endeavor do not
necessarily carry out their charge in a classroom or even within a school.
She relishes the opportunity to work with talented individuals and
organizations to think outside of the box in finding creative and viable
solutions for ongoing educational issues. Valerie was previously a middle
school English and reading teacher at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in
Roxbury, MA. She has also served as Student Life Coordinator for the
middle and high school girls' afternoon and evening program at the SEED
Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Most recently, Valerie has
worked as a Relationship Manager for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program,
which provides cost-of-attendance assistance and leadership development
opportunities to college and graduate students of color who exhibit high
potential and financial need. She is also a co-founder and a founding
board trustee of Achievement Preparatory Academy, a charter middle school in
Southeast Washington, DC. Valerie majored in English at Spelman
College and earned a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University
of California at Berkeley.
Bill Tucker
Bill Tucker is a social entrepreneur who has founded and led both
nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies. His expertise ranges from
finance to strategic development and technology, he has extensive knowledge
of the nonprofit sector, and he has led the growth of several organizations;
in 2000, he co-founded SmarterOrg, Inc, an e-learning company, and sold
it in 2002 to the Isoph Corporation, a provider of specialized e-learning
software, services, and content development. Through 2005 he served as
Isoph's chief knowledge officer, co-managing the company's operations and
advising organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Land Trust
Alliance, and the National Wildlife Federation on organizational learning
strategies and business models. Prior to graduate school, Tucker managed the
training, conference, and publishing operations at CompassPoint Nonprofit
Services, the nation's largest provider of management and technical training
to nonprofit organizations. In 1997, Tucker helped to found the Young
Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) and later served on YNPN's national
board of directors. As a founding board member in the mid-1990s, he also
helped to launch Hands on San Francisco (now Hands on Bay Area). His
involvement in education dates to early in his career, when he managed a
middle/high school student volunteer and service learning program, working
with 22 schools and over 75 nonprofit organizations, and also served a year
in VISTA, the domestic Peace Corps, as a community organizer for an adult
literacy program in Tampa, FL. He is a graduate of Duke University and has
both an MBA and a Master's of Education from Stanford University.
Shantelle D. Wright
serves as the Head of School for Achievement
Prep, spearheading the effort to develop and found a successful charter school. Ms. Wright attended
Ursula Wright is the Chief Operating Officer for the National Alliance
for Public Charter Schools. Before assuming her current position,
Ursula served as the Chief Financial Officer for the National Alliance
for Public Charter Schools for three years. Her diverse professional
experience includes corporate finance, operations, and business
development positions at some of the nation’s leading firms, including
The Chase Manhattan Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cassidy & Associates,
and, most recently, GXS (formerly a General Electric subsidiary). She
has been active in the World Bank’s Development Marketplace Business
Plan Competition and helped to found a charter school in Washington,
D.C. Ursula earned an Economics degree from Spelman College and a Master
of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University.
