Summit Leadership
Summit Public Schools Leadership Bios
Andrea Klein
Executive Director of Summit Atlas Middle School
Before joining Summit in 2017, Andrea held teaching, curriculum development and leadership positions at New York City’s highest-performing charter network for nine years. As a 2006 Teach for America Corps member, she taught in Newark, NJ. A mother and educator, Andrea is passionate about providing all children with quality, innovative and personalized education that will ensure success all the way through and beyond college. She received her undergraduate degree from Whitman College and teaching credential through Seton Hall University. When she is not thinking about, talking about, or working on education, Andrea can be found spending time with her family and friends hiking, reading, and enjoying being back in the PNW!
Angel Barragan
Executive Director of Summit Everest
Since he was a sophomore at Summit Prep in 2007, Angel has been dutifully involved with Summit Public Schools and education in the Bay Area. After completing his Bachelor’s at San Francisco State and Master’s in Education from the University of San Francisco, he began his career as a Spanish Teacher at Summit Everest. Angel quickly became the Ethnic Studies and Human Rights Instructor before beginning his tenure as Dean of Culture and Instruction. During his time as Dean, Angel worked to empower students to fight for social justice and equality for people of color. He spent significant time advocating for his students and providing leadership based on personalized education to ensure success for the Everest community. Bringing nearly a decade of experience within Summit schools, Angel is excited to begin his next chapter as Executive Director of Summit Everest.
Antonio Saunders
Senior Advisor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Summit Public Schools
Antonio never asked for permission to change inequitable systems. As a teenager, he became financially independent and the patriarch of his family, navigating through racial systems in the deep south. He ultimately received his Bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Alabama and spent the subsequent years transforming organizational models to center on the experiences of the global majority. He works with chief executives and leadership teams in education, tech, and healthcare to apply a DEI lens on a range of issues that include strategy, innovation, and change management. Antonio spent 13 years working with Teach for America, advising them and leading complex systems during uncertain or pivotal moments in the future of education. He is now a key advisor to Summit leadership, providing invaluable insight and direction as Summit Schools continue to evolve their work to ensure success for all students.
Andrew Cook
Executive Director of Summit Sierra in Seattle
Mr. Crook is the Executive Director of Summit Sierra. Originally from Davis, California, he went to school in San Antonio, before getting his master’s from UCLA, and school leadership master’s from Columbia University. Mr. Crook was inspired to become a principal like his grandfather, who grew up in Seattle’s Japanese-American community, where Sierra is now located. Entering his 7th year at Summit Sierra, Mr. Crook is motivated to lead a school where a diverse community of young people are prepared with the skills, knowledge, and habits to lead a fulfilled life.
Brett van Zuiden
Chief Information Officer for Summit Public Schools
After over a decade working in the technology sector, Brett is thrilled to empower Summit educators with insights and tools to better serve our students. Brett got his start in education as a Product Lead at Clever where he built data products used by millions of teachers and tens of thousands of schools. He then joined Outschool, a provider of live online classes for kids, where he led the team responsible for the learner experience and online classroom. Now at Summit, he brings his background in technology leadership and product development to ensure Summit leaders and educators have the information they need to improve student outcomes. Brett graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, with minors in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics.
Cady Ching
Chief Executive Officer for Summit Public Schools
Cady was born and raised on the island of Oahu in a multicultural home. Her commitment to working with educational programs in diverse communities across the country has spanned a decade. Cady previously worked as a teacher-coach, biology and AP Environmental Science teacher and a mentor for five years. She has also served as the Director of HR for Summit, and the Assistant Director for Summit Prep before becoming Executive Director in 2020. In addition to her experience in public education, she has worked with a literacy project in Hawaii; an academic and cultural summer program on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho; and a residential program teaching science to Native American high school students in South Dakota. Cady attended Stanford University and attained a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology with an Area of concentration in the Intersection of Ethnicity, Education and Health and a minor in Native American studies. She continued her education at Stanford Graduate School of Education, where she earned her Master’s in Education.
Caitlyn Herman
Chief Academic Officer for Summit Public Schools
Caitlyn has been the leader of Summit Public Schools rich academic and professional development program for the past three years, however, Caitlyn began her time at Summit Public Schools as a science teacher at the Summit network’s second charter school: Everest Public High School in 2011. She was later the founding Executive Director at Summit Shasta and more recently, the Senior Director of Schools providing leadership coaching to school directors across the network. Caitlyn began her career in New York City public schools as a science teacher at Essex Street Academy. At Essex Street she served as the department coordinator building out the school’s project-based curriculum for all grades. She also spearheaded the effort to focus the school’s advisory curriculum around wellness, habits of success and college readiness. While teaching, she also worked as an adjunct professor at NYU’S graduate School of Education teaching science curriculum to aspiring teachers. Caitlyn holds a bachelor’s in Biology from Lafayette College, amaster’s from New York University in Secondary Science Education and a master’s in education from New England College in School Leadership as part of the Principal’s Residency Network program with the New York City Public Schools’ system.
Christian Cabrera
Executive Director of Summit K2 Middle School
Christian Cabrera has been the Dean of Culture & Instruction of Summit K2 Middle for the past 6 years before accepting the role as it’s Executive Director for the incoming school year. Christian’s career in education began at 21 as a Teaching Assistant in Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo, NY, as an undergrad studying Community Mental Health, double minoring in Latin & African American studies. Christian has a strong sense of service to others, and knew that upon graduating he would jump in and give back to his community and city. Returning to his home of the Bronx, he dove into nonprofit work. Coordinating hundreds of undergraduate volunteers, a series of college prep courses, partnering with Kaplan SAT prep and serving youth from all over NYC from Monday through Friday and on weekends supporting ESOL programs for adult learners in his neighborhood of Kingsbridge. Early on in his career, he participated in implementing a 5 year strategic plan where he volunteered to found an independent public charter high school that focused on a community school model. Christian officially joined its staff in 2013 as he continued his education. His focus was public administration as he saw the intersection between strong classroom instruction along with running sustainable public schools. Christian has now served the Richmond community since arriving in California in 2018. He loves his school community almost as much as his wife and three children. Christian acquired his BA: Community Mental Health from State University of New York at Buffalo, and his Master of Public Administration from the City University of New York’s Baruch College via the Executive program. He has served as an educator and leader for the past 18 years.
Claudia Sanchez
Senior Director of People Operations
As a first-generation Mexican American who attended inner-city public schools her whole life, Claudia learned first hand the importance of building strong ecosystems of support for all students. She was born and raised in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, where she was surrounded by a vibrant and diverse community who taught her the importance of grit and instilled many of the core values she centers in her personal and professional life today. After graduating from UC Berkeley in 2012, Claudia explored teaching as a potential career but quickly learned that an in-classroom role was not for her. That said, a career built around helping others was so she has spent the last 12 years building an expertise in People Operations and leveraging that expertise to support organizations provide quality support and experiences to their employee communities. She worked at a number of educational nonprofit organizations across the Bay Area, including the YMCA Urban Services, 826 Valencia, and now Summit Public Schools where she leads the people space as Senior Director of People Operations. In her free time you can catch her exploring the Bay Area food scene, taking long nature-filled hikes with her pup-shadow Lennon, or slowly losing a portion of her security deposit via another creative DIY project in her Pinterest inspired apartment. years.
Dan Effland
Executive Director of Summit Atlas High School in West Seattle
Dan joined Summit in 2017 and has led Summit Atlas High School since 2020. A native of West Virginia and West Virginia University alumni, Dan credits the great city of Chicago for shaping him into the person he is. After 10+ years as a working musician in the windy city, Dan underwent a career change inspired by incredible experiences working with students in Chicago Public Schools and some guidance and advice from trusted friends and family. Going through Teach for America in 2014, Dan earned a Master’s in Special Education from Dominican University and worked as a Special Education teacher for grades 6-12 in Chicago and eventually Seattle. Dan also holds a Masters in Education in Public School Building Administration from Columbia University. He previously served as Dean of Culture and Instruction at Summit Sierra.
Dina Le
Director of Postsecondary Pathways
Dina was born and raised in San Jose, CA, and received her B.A. in English Literature and Ethnic Studies at USC. After graduating, she left Los Angeles with a mission to increase tolerance in the world and serve young people, returning to San Jose to first serve her community. As a child of immigrants, an English language learner, and a first-generation college student, she is passionate about providing equitable and trauma-informed practices to students and families. She has spent the last eight years at Summit as a tutor, teacher, and school leader. She is currently the Director of Postsecondary Pathways, supporting schools in preparing their young people for success in a chosen concrete next step.
Edward Lee
Chief Financial Officer for Summit Public Schools
Ed is an experienced strategy, finance and operations leader. He began his career as an English as a Second Language Teacher in South Korea at Sorabol College, and later went on to establish his career in education in New York City as a founding Science Teacher and Science Department Chair at the NYC Department of Education at Millennium High School and the Brooklyn Latin School. While at the University of Michigan, he was the Social Venture Fund Education Industry Lead where he created and managed partnerships with like-minded education impact investing funds, such as the New Schools Venture Fund and Investors Circle. In 2017, Edward joined the Summit Public Schools team as the Director, Financial Planning and Analysis where he led the strategic planning and cost management for the Summit Learning Program, reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer. He went on to become the Chief Financial Officer for Voices College Bound- Language Academies and Trinity School and has recently returned to Summit as the CFO. He holds a bachelor’s in Chemistry from Duke University, master’s M.A from City University of New York City College in Science Education and an MBA master’s in business administration focused on Strategy and General Management from the University of Michigan Stephen M.Ross School of Business.
Eric Dillie
Executive Director of Summit Tamalpais Middle School
Eric is a 20-year veteran in education. Before joining Summit as the Executive Director of Tamalpais Middle School, Eric served as Superintendent of Schools at Key Educational Group, an educational nonprofit service provider for public charter schools. Eric’s prior educational leadership experience includes three years as Principal of a national award-winning public charter high school, two years as Director of International programs at a large private school group, and a combined four years as Director of Instruction and Campus Principal at a public charter high school group in the Dallas-Ft.Worth area. Prior to his leadership roles, Eric spent seven years as a teacher in traditional district schools. Eric is an active member of the Rotary Club of Livermore Valley and serves on the Board of Directors at Partners for Change Tri-Valley, a Bay Area nonprofit focused on ending the cycle of poverty. Eric earned a bachelor’s in Social Science from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master’s of Education in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas. Eric holds a California Administrative Services Credential and a California Single Subject Teaching Credential.
Felix Li
Chief Operations Officer for Summit Public Schools
Felix brings to Summit over a decade of K-12 school and systems leadership experience in public education with expertise in school operations, systems design, cross-functional project management, budgeting & finance, crisis communication and management, strategy and people development. Felix brings a deep commitment to building a more anti-biased and anti-racist world to his work in his leadership of efficient and effective school systems that drive strong outcomes for all students. Prior to Summit, he started his career in public education serving as a middle school math teacher and Teach for America corps member in the NYC Department of Education for five years. He later spent nine years as an Associate Chief Operating Officer and school leader of an all-boys K-8 school with Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn, New York. Felix is a graduate of Duke University with a dual degree in Public Policy and Sociology, and holds a master’s in Teaching from Pace University.
Greg Ponikvar
Executive Director of the Marshall Street Initatives
Greg is the founding Executive Director of the Marshall Leadership Institute at Marshall Street, and the moderator of the Leadership Fellows Program. Greg is a committed, mission-driven leader and educator with 13 years of experience at Summit Public Schools. He was a founding History Teacher at Everest Public High School, where he earned his National Board Certification. Greg then founded the Summit Expeditions Program, where he led a team of teachers offering elective, enrichment and passion-exploration courses across the Summit Public Schools network of schools in California. He then moved to Tacoma, Washington to be the founding Executive Director of Summit Olympus High School, which was among the first public charter schools in the state to graduate a diverse group of students with a 100% college acceptance rate. Now, Greg dedicates his time to building scalable solutions to problems facing the training and retention of a set of high-quality and diverse school leaders through the Marshall Leadership Institute. Greg holds a bachelor’s in Sociology and History from the University of California, Santa Barbara and received his Master of Arts in Education and teaching credential from Stanford University.
Jackie Wilson
Executive Director of Summit Tamalpais High School
Jackie leads the Summit Tamalpais High School with deep experience as both a school administrator and educator. As the Tam community has experienced, Jackie has a passion and belief in all students and strong conviction in serving diverse communities. Jackie believes that all children deserve a high-quality education that not only prepares them academically to have college and career successes, but also provides a platform for them to become contributing members of society. Having been afforded opportunities to work directly with education reform and advocacy initiatives for charter schools in both Mississippi and Louisiana, Jackie’s leadership is a tremendous asset to the Summit community. She holds a bachelor of science degree in Foreign Language (with an emphasis in French) and a minor in Speech Education as well as a master’s degree in Educational Leadership. She is also certified in Educational Leadership and Administration.
Jonathan Stewart
Executive Director of Summit Tahoma
Jonathan has been a proud Executive Director at Summit Tahoma since 2015. He has over two decades of work in education. Previously he worked for PUC Schools in Los Angeles as the Director of Teacher Development, leading a partnership grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He was a teacher and trainer in the Peace Corps in Namibia and has been an instructional coach in Oakland Unified and LAUSD. As a teacher, he received an award for his exemplary work in the education of highly able students from Johns Hopkins University. Jonathan holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies with a concentration in Education Policy and a Master’s in Education Leadership from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kacy Robinson
Senior Director of Learning Experience
As a 15-year education veteran, Kacy has deep experience as a school leader and former teacher. She joined Summit after spending four years with Berkeley Unified focusing on equity, recruitment and retention efforts. Complementing her education experience, Kacy is also a dedicated volunteer holding positions ranging from a local school site council to serving as an active member of the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Commision. Kacy is passionate about ensuring all children reach their potential and has a particular passion for middle school. She earned her Master’s degree in Education in School Leadership from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and her bachelor’s from the University of California, Berkeley.
Laura Zado
Director of Development for Summit Public Schools
Laura joined Summit Public Schools in 2012 as an English teacher at Summit Shasta. Prior to serving Summit Denali as a Dean of Culture and Instruction four years ago, Laura supported schools across the country in implementing Summit Learning. Laura is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in English and has a Master’s degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.
Meg Lee
Executive Director of K2 High School
Lee’s journey in education began at 19 as a teaching assistant in LAUSD. As a graduate of LAUSD, she felt compelled to give back to her district while earning her BA in English and African American studies at UCLA. After graduating from UCLA, she defected from her beloved Blue and Gold earning an M.A. in Teaching from USC’s Rossier School of Education. She has worked in education for the last 12 years in charters and public schools from California to Texas and back. Lee came to Summit K2 as the Dean of Culture and Instruction in 2020 and resides in the Eastbay with 2 of her 4 children.
Nnanna Ogbu
Chief Legal Officer for Summit Public Schools
Nnanna brings extensive legal and policy experience to Summit Public Schools. Prior to joining Summit as an Associate Counsel in 2017, he worked in various law firms in the Bay Area, where he counseled school districts, counties, community college districts and nonprofit organizations. Prior to that, he worked at the State Bar of California, California Court of Appeal-2nd District and the City of Oakland: Office of the City Attorney. Nnanna is a Thomas M. Menino/AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, where he co-authored resource guides on youth engagement in local government and authored several newspaper articles on education, technology and community service. Nnanna received his bachelor’s in Urban Studies from Stanford University and his Juris Doctorate from University of Southern California Law School.
Pam Lamcke
Executive Director of Marshall Teacher Residency
Pam has over 15 years of experience in education as a teacher, school leader, and instructional coach. Since 2014, Pam has successfully led the development of Summit programs that serve as pipelines and preparation into teaching. Pam holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego, a Master’s in Education and a teaching credential from Stanford University, and a Master’s in Educational Leadership and an administrative credential from the University of California, Berkeley. Pam spends her free time dancing, baking, and playing outside with her two children.
Sharon Johnson
Senior Director of Multi-tiered Support Services (MTSS) at Summit Public Schools
Sharon Johnson is a 25 year veteran of charter school communities in California. As Summit Public Schools’ Senior Director of Specialized Programs, Sharon collaborates with site leadership and network teams to design and implement MTSS frameworks (multi-tiered systems of support) for all Summit learners, including programs for neurodivergent and multilingual learners. Sharon also worked for 20 years at Aspire Public Schools as a teacher, coach, mentor principal, and associate superintendent- roles that have shaped her understanding of the importance of community and equity in systems level leadership development work. She is ignited by continuous improvement efforts toward educational equity and excellence for students historically marginalized in education systems. Sharon is a white, straight, cisgender woman and ally, proud single mother of a neuro spicy biracial black young adult. She’s a performing and visual artist at heart and an aspiring mountaineer. As a National Equity Project Leadership Fellow, Sharon has taught as an Adjunct Professor for Alliant University as well as Alder Graduate School of Education. She holds a MA from San Jose State University and a BS from Northwestern University.
Tiffany Reynolds
Director of Government Affairs
Tiffany Reynolds has spent the last 14 years in education. Currently, Tiffany is the Director of Government Affairs for Summit Public Schools. In her current capacity, she acts as a systems builder with an acumen for community, government, and partnership conditions development. For the past seven years, Tiffany has been with Summit Public Schools as a teacher, a dean, and an executive director. She feels immensely proud to do the work that she does— to strive to build schools that are worthy of our kids, schools that are places of honesty, innovation, creativity, critical thinking, joy, and tireless pursuit of excellence. Before Summit, Tiffany started her career in Colorado serving in various roles, from teacher to leadership and mathematics consultant. During this time, she supported teachers and principals in tackling the CCSS, new teacher evaluations, and data-based initiatives in four diverse school districts, serving over 150,000 students. Internationally, Tiffany supported educational and leadership development for Network Beyond in East Africa, the Middle East, and India.
Wren Maletsky
Executive Director on Special Assignment
Growing up in Durham, NC as the daughter of two teachers, Wren always knew she wanted to be an educator. She truly believes that all students deserve a high- quality education. Wren joined Summit in 2011 as the AP Environmental Science teacher at Summit Prep. In 2014, she became Assistant Director there. In 2016, she moved to Summit Shasta and is thrilled to be Executive Director at Shasta. Prior to Summit, Wren taught biology and AP Biology at a charter school in Harlem, NY; served as a cooperating teacher for the Stanford Teacher Education Program; and is an alumna of Duke University, where she studied Biology and English. She earned a Master’s degree in Education from Stanford University.
