Elissa Barba, Development & Administrative Associate

After receiving a B.A. in English from Brown University, Elissa moved to New Orleans to join teachNOLA as an Early Education Fellow.  She was a founding elementary teacher at New Orleans College Prep Charter School, welcoming the school's first class of 1st graders.  In her second year, she became a primary grade team leader and was a member of the curriculum development committee.  After serving New Orleans children in the classroom for the past two years, Elissa is excited to continue to have an impact on students as part of the NSNO team.

Indrina Kanth, Special Projects Manager

Indrina Kanth is a recent addition to the NSNO team and a recent transplant to New Orleans from New York City.  She received a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Creative Writing from The George Washington University.  Indrina joined Teach For America's recruitment team after graduation thinking it would be a one-year job.  She loved the work and remained on the TFA  team for 5 years.  During her time on staff, Indrina was promoted to the Senior Recruitment Director position where she managed teams of Recruitment Directors, Recruitment Associates and Campus Campaign Coordinators and recruited at over 100 universities around the country.  After investing significant time in raising the awareness of educational inequity on a national level, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to work more directly toward reform here in New Orleans and to be part of the NSNO team.

Jenny Katz, School Review Program Manager

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Studies from The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Go Blue) she began working on Teach For America’s Recruitment Team. In her two years recruiting top college graduates she, in turn, recruited herself. When applying to become a Teach For America corps member, she was drawn to New Orleans because of the unique opportunity to revitalize the school system. Throughout her time teaching 4th and 5th grade, she was inspired by the work NSNO was doing across the city and is thrilled to become a member of the NSNO team.

Neerav Kingsland, Chief Strategy Officer

Neerav Kingsland joined New Schools for New Orleans at its inception after graduating from Yale Law School. As a law student, he co-wrote an amicus brief to the United State Supreme Court, was director of the Education Adequacy Project legal clinic, worked as a legal assistant at a war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, and drafted a human rights report on the state of democracy in the Tibetan Government In-Exile. Neerav was first drawn to education reform as an undergraduate at Tulane University, where he tutored students at Woodson Middle School and taught creative writing to illiterate adults at the Y.M.C.A.  After Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, Neerav and two other law students formed the Hurricane Katrina Legal Clinic, which assisted in the creation of New Schools for New Orleans.

Ting-ting Liang, Grants & Investments Director

Ting-ting previously served as the Founding Director of Finance and Operations for a transformation charter school in New Orleans - placed within an existing, low-performing K-8 public school to take over the earliest grades, adding a grade each year.  Prior to that, Ting-ting provided quantitative analysis and investment banking services for municipal clients across the country while working at Bank of America and UBS.  She also worked in New York City government and for a New York State elected official.  Ting-ting holds an MPA  from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a BA from Yale University.  She is also proud to participate in the Louisiana Effective Leadership Program, which supports the development of Fellows as servant leaders focused on racial and economic justice.

Matt Leffert, Development Director

Matt joined NSNO with over 10 years of experience in development. His fundraising experience spans a broad spectrum of non profit organizations including PRBO Conservation Science and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Most recently, Matt served as the Legacy Development Director for Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico.

Bernadette Lucas, Director of Accounting

Bernadette Lucas received a B.S. in Accounting from Dillard University and a M.B.A. from the University of New Orleans.  With fifteen years of experience in accounting and business, Bernadette, a native of New Orleans, is excited to bring her experience and knowledge to NSNO and to participate in supporting NSNO's vision of excellent public schools for every child in New Orleans.  She has served as a volunteer After School tutor and worked in Summer Enrichment programs.

Matthew Matera, Human Capital Fellow

Matthew Matera taught middle school English for five years, first as a Teach for America corps member in St. Louis and then at Innovation Academy Charter School in the Boston area.  He next returned to New Haven, where he previously received a BA  in English from Yale, to attend Yale Law School.  While in graduate school, he served as a student director of the Education Adequacy Project legal clinic, was a board member of the Project for Law and Education at Yale, was a student editor of the Yale Law Journal, and twice co-taught an undergraduate seminar on education policy. 

Veronica Reed, Director of Community Engagement

Born and raised in Avoyelles Parish, Veronica Reed returned in 2008 to aid neighborhood recovery in New Orleans as the Deputy Director for Housing Policy with the City. She is an accomplished community development professional with demonstrated success in customer relations and community engagement and outreach.  She was the first executive director of a statewide membership organization for community development organizations, a policy analyst and project manager under contract to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and an account manager and performance manager for a private sector consulting and IT firm serving Fortune 500 companies.  Veronica has a B.A.  in Political Science from Creighton University and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.  She also has a Six Sigma Black Belt.  Veronica has worked in Washington D.C., Indiana and Houston.

Maggie Runyan-Shefa, Schools Partner

Maggie Runyan-Shefa recently re-joined the staff of NSNO serving first as the Managing Director of Schools and now as Schools Partner. Maggie previously served as NSNO’s Instructional Quality Director in 2007 before heading to Harvard’s Kennedy School, where she earned a master’s degree in public administration in 2009. Maggie founded and led KIPP STAR College Prep Charter School in Harlem, New York City and is a graduate of the KIPP School Leadership Program. Under her leadership, KIPP STAR was among the highest performing open-enrollment public schools in Harlem and its graduates gained acceptance into some of our nation’s finest college preparatory high schools. She was recognized by the Robin Hood Foundation with its Hero’s Award in 2004. Maggie is a former Teach for America corps member (Mississippi Delta ’97) and holds a B.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University.

Tom Shepley, School Review Director

Tom received a B.A. from the University of Michigan with a concentration in history and political science, an M. Ed. in reading instruction from Loyola College, and an M.Ed. and Ph.D. in education administration and policy from the University of Michigan. Tom began his career in 1992 as a charter Baltimore Teach for America corps member and taught intermediate grades in Baltimore City and later in Detroit Public Schools.  After returning to Baltimore, Tom served as a co-principal of Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle School and then moved to serve as principal of Mt. Washington Elementary School.  During his leadership tenure, Mt. Washington closed the achievement gaps previously apparent at the school, raising math scores in the primary grades by nearly 30% and virtually closing the gap between those students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.  During his last year as principal, Tom was proud to announce that Mt. Washington had the highest reading achievement levels in the Baltimore City Public School system and the school was subsequently named a Blue Ribbon School for the sustained progress made.  Tom moved to New Orleans in 2008 and while in the city, has served as Senior Managing Director of Program for Teach for America as well as Leadership Coach and Interim Executive Director of New Leaders for New Schools.  Tom is the proud father of two young children, Adam and Claire.

Michael Stone, External Relations Partner

A New Orleans native, Michael is thrilled to be helping ensure that every child in New Orleans has access to a high quality education.  Prior to joining NSNO, Michael was with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York.  While at McKinsey, Michael worked on a number of education-related projects, including developing Pennsylvania’s Race to the Top application strategy.  Prior to McKinsey, Michael taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade math in public schools in Brooklyn and Manhattan through the New York City Teaching Fellows program.  He has worked in various capacities for the Achievement First charter school management organization and for Bronx Charter School for the Arts.  Michael is a graduate of Harvard College, and received a teaching degree from Pace University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.  

  

Sarah Newell Usdin, Founder & CEO

Sarah Newell Usdin has spent the last eighteen years in education reform. In 1992, after teaching in Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship, she joined Teach For America, a national corps of recent college graduates who teach in our nation's lowest-income communities. Usdin spent the next three years teaching in Baton Rouge before becoming Teach for America's Executive Director in Louisiana. Believing that more needed to be done to systemically impact the quality of teachers in public schools, she became a Partner with The New Teacher Project, a national nonprofit teacher recruiting and training organization. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sarah formed New Schools for New Orleans to assist in the recovery and reformation of public education. Sarah majored in religion and German at Colgate University. Sarah also holds a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Louisiana State University.