Dr. Young comes to Above & Beyond with many years of experience, beginning as an elementary classroom teacher in the Banning and Anaheim Unified School Districts before advancing to the University of California, Riverside as a supervisor for the California New Teacher Project, as well as a supervisor and lecturer in Teacher Education. Dr. Young also taught at UCLA before she started at California State University, Fullerton as an Associate Professor in the College of Education. In 1997, Dr. Young moved to the California State University Chancellor’s Office where she served in statewide administration, eventually as the Systemwide Assistant Vice Chancellor in Academic Affairs.
In addition, Dr. Young has served as the Chair of the WestEd Regional Educational Laboratory Board of Directors, a Commissioner on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the Chair of the Far West Regional Laboratories Board of Directors, an invited member for the University of Michigan Advisory Board for Teaching Works, and as an Advisory Board Member of edTPA at Stanford University.
Dr. Young received her A.B. in English and Liberal Studies, her M.A. in the Diagnosis and Improvement of Reading, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction all from the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of numerous publications on teachers and educator preparation.
Kathy J. Williams currently serves as an independent director on two boards of the American Funds. In addition, she chairs the board governance committee of Aspen Public Radio. With over 20 years of management experience covering organizational, regulatory, and governance issues, she has a broad corporate background that includes COO of Vivo Girls Sports, Inc., Director for International and Regulatory Affairs for Flying Tigers and Federal Express in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and Director of Admissions at Marin Horizon School, a non-profit toddler through 8th grade independent school located in Mill Valley, CA.
Kathy has considerable cross-cultural experience from extended stays in Kenya, Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, and speaks Mandarin Chinese. She’s blessed with two sons and a daughter. Kathy received her B.A. from Stanford University and M.B.A. from the University of Southern California in international business.
As a high school teacher and administrator, Tim also developed programs for at-risk students which served as a model for many other locations around the country. Tim also spent twenty years as a CEO of hospital inpatient psychiatric and chemical dependency programs, and provided drug testing and counseling programs for both the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Rams. In 2007, Tim became the Executive Director of the Carlston Family Foundation and retired in 2021 after 14 years of service.
Lise founded Class V Group, an advisory firm providing strategic guidance to companies preparing for a public listing, to leverage her unique perspective on the equity markets gained from first hand experience as an institutional investor, investment banker, venture capitalist, board member, and internal IPO strategist. As an early member of Google’s finance department, Ms. Buyer was one of the chief architects of the company’s innovative IPO and a recipient of a Google Founders’ Award.
Ms. Buyer serves as the Lead Independent Director for The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and holds the NACD Certified Director credential. She has a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University as an Owen Merit Scholar. She is a past member of the TED Braintrust, Trustee of the Nichols School of Buffalo, and Fellow of the Davos World Economic Forum.
Doug Carlston was the co-founder, in 1980, of Broderbund Software, a publisher of productivity, game, and educational software, where he served as CEO (1991-96) and Chairman of the Board (1981-98). Doug serves on the boards of Aspen Public Radio, Dominican University, and the Long Now Foundation and previously served on the board of directors of the Albanian American Enterprise Fund (2001-2019), the American Bank of Albania (2000-2008), the Albanian American Development Foundation (2009-2019), Belo Corp. (2007-8), Internews (2009-2019), Public Radio International (1997- 2009, Chairman 2004-09), Ploughshares Fund (2008-2017), and the Santa Fe Institute (1996-2005). He is also past Chairman and President of the Software Publishers Association.
Doug Carlston received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1970 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975. He is the author of five published books, from Beginning Swahili (Butu, 1970) to Software People (Simon & Schuster, 1985). He has developed and published many software products and written articles, including “Storing Knowledge, in Time & Bits: Managing Digital Continuity” (Getty Conservation Institute, 1998).
Jude C. Cooks is VP, Operations & Credit Servicing for Synchrony. He received his MBA, with a focus on International Strategy and Management, from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He received his B.A. from Indiana University as well, where he majored in both Computer Science and Philosophy. Jude has previously held a variety of roles in Operations and Operational Risk Management in Cincinnati, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia for Citigroup and Synchrony. In addition to his work with the CFF, Jude co-leads the Volunteer Network and Community Grant process for Synchrony Charlotte. He is a father and a foster parent, and presently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his family and multitude of pets, and spends his free time chasing his kids, enjoying the outdoors, and reading.
Nadya Chinoy Dabby is an education leader with experience in government, K–12 and nonprofit organizations, including 15 years driving public and private investment to improve learning opportunities for underserved students. From 2011–2017, Dabby was a member of the Obama Administration’s senior education team, leading the U.S. Department of Education’s innovation division.
She currently serves as Pivot Learning’s Chief Growth and Impact Officer, and is on the Board of multiple education nonprofits.
Stan Hitomi has worked in education throughout his life. In 2020 he retired after 31 years as a teacher, principal, and district administrator for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
Stan is a Carnegie Scholar, served on the Community Advisory Panel for PBS affiliate KQED-San Francisco, and has been co-chair for the Teaching and California’s Future Task Force and founding chair for the California Teacher Advisory Panel. He has over 20 years of experience (WestEd, SRI, CFTL) working at the state and national level in education policy and research.
Stan continues to work in science education at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he has been a faculty scholar for 27 years. He was the full-time Executive Director of the Edward Teller Education Center at LLNL, 2002-2006.
An accomplished educator, Alec Lee co-founded Aim High in 1986 and served as Executive Director until his retirement in 2022. In his role, Alec collaborates with the Aim High staff and Board of Trustees to sustain, strengthen and expand Aim High and reach the organization’s strategic goals. Alec has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University, a B.A. in history from Bowdoin College, and received a Klingenstein Fellowship from Teachers College. In 2016, Alec was honored as a White House Summer Learning Champion of Change. Under his leadership, Aim High won the National Summer Learning Association’s Excellence in Summer Learning Award twice in 2006 and 2018, and in 2020 his team designed and implemented their first virtual summer learning program, which served 1,200 middle schoolers across Northern California. Now retired, Alec and his wife, Susan, are enjoying traveling and spending time with their two adult children.
Ann Mathieson is the Founding Director at Marin Promise Partnership and a member of the Leadership Council of New Schools Venture fund. Ann also serves as a Bay Area Board Member for Peer Health Exchange and is a Trustee for Marin Academy. She has been the past Board Chair of the Marin Community Foundation and spent nine years as the Director of Marketing, New Product Development at the Collagen Corporation. Ann earned her MBA in Marketing and Health Care from Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Myrtice Salmond is a Program Specialist at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and adjunct faculty member at Santa Ana College. Dr. Salmond began her career in education at Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, CA where she was a tutor, English, Reading, and AVID Teacher, AVID Coordinator, Literacy Coach, and Administrator. Myrtice was honored with the Orange County Department of Education’s Crystal Bell Award, Golden Apple Award, Monte Vista Teacher of the Year, and the Carlston Outstanding Teachers of America Award. In addition, Dr. Salmond collaborated with Dr. Ann Johns to develop and implement the AVID College Readiness curriculum and training material.
Dr. Salmond is a first-generation college student who began her higher education journey in community college at Mesa College in San Diego, CA and Trident Technical College in Charleston, SC where she attained an AA degree. She continued her education at San Diego State University earning a Bachelor’s in English and a MA in Education. In 2016, Dr. Salmond graduated from University of Southern California with a Doctorate in Educational Leadership.
Mary Vixie Sandy serves as the Executive Director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the nation’s oldest independent standards board for educators. In this capacity, she oversees public policy related to educator preparation and licensing and directs an agency that awards over 300,000 credentials per year and accredits more than 250 colleges, universities and local education agencies offering educator preparation programs. Previously, Sandy served as the Executive Director of the UC Davis School of Education Center for Cooperative Research and Education Services for Schools, the Associate Director of Teacher Education and Public School Programs with the California State University Chancellor’s Office, and as a policy analyst for the California Department of Education and the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
Dr. Vixie Sandy is also an elected member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. A native of San Francisco, Mary holds a Doctorate in Leadership for Education Equity from UC Berkeley, a Master’s Degree in Philosophy in Education from UC Davis, and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Sonoma State University. She is the recipient of the 2022 James A. Kelley Award for Advancing Accomplished Teaching from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and the author of numerous articles and policy reports on the use of performance assessment in teacher licensure. Her research and professional focus is on building the capacity of teachers, leaders,
public schools and communities to meet the needs of California’s diverse student body.
