See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Schools (See Forever/Maya Angelou) is a multi-campus collaboration of charter schools and schools for disconnected youth dedicated to empowering young people to reach their potential and to transition to college, career, and a lifetime of success.
Within the supportive learning environments offered at our public charter schools and schools for adjudicated and disconnected youth, we offer a comprehensive academic program and wraparound socio-emotional services that support every student’s ability to set and reach goals that will transform their lives and their community. While the term “at-risk” is often used to define the demographics of our student population, we prefer to focus on our student’s promise.
Our organizational infrastructure is configured to address the specific needs of the See Forever Foundation and the Maya Angelou Schools. Accordingly, our board members have expertise in key fields, including: education, community service and nonprofit management, parenting and community engagement, finance, law, communications and corporate governance. There are ad hoc and standing committees of each board who engage in more in-depth organizational planning, support, and operations. Following, is a listing of board members of the See Forever Foundation and the Maya Angelou Schools:
Fred L. BollererSusan CunninghamJack DaviesDavid DomeniciDr. Gertrude M. EatonEllen FoltsJames Forman Jr.J. Robby Gregg Jr.Dr. Peter LeoneCheryl MillsShemin ProctorPhyllis RumbargerReid Weingarten
Geral BittleRobbye Braxton-MintzJane Dimyan-EhrenfeldDavid DomeniciJames Forman Jr.Dr. Norman Gold Dr. Anne KendallMary KennedyDr. Lucretia MurphyJim RyanDr. Edith S. TatelHeather Wathington
Vice Chair
Fred Bollerer currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design. He recently retired as a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners, where he focused on financing and asset management. He began serving as a partner in 2001, and was a management advisor at the Morino Institute beginning in 1998. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer of the instituteÂ’s Potomac KnowledgeWay project. Bollerer has an extensive background in the banking industry and has held senior leadership roles at multiple banking institutions. He received his BA degree from Ohio University and his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, AZ. Bollerer serves on the boards of Child Trends, Heads Up, and the District of Columbia Education Compact, as well as several for-profit boards.
Susan is the Lead Project Manager/Sustainability Leader for Gensler. At Gensler, Susan delivers sustainable real estate portfolio strategies, implementation, and education to clients. In addition, she leads internal sustainability education, ensuring Gensler project teams integrate sustainable design in all projects. Susan has led innovative partnerships between government, nonprofits, and corporations to solve complex real estate challenges. Her passion for sustainability research and implementation are grounded in her experience researching renewable energy and building and operating cutting-edge public school campuses. As a Fulbright Scholar, she has traveled widely in Africa and Europe, supporting community and sustainability efforts. Susan was formerly co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of EdBuild, a local, entrepreneurial nonprofit working in partnership with school leaders, parents, community leaders and business leaders to create and sustain more high-performing public schools in Washington, DC. Susan has supported public school excellence locally and nationally at The SEED Foundation and The SEED School. As Director of New Schools Development, she led strategic planning for the national organization and for a second SEED boarding school campus in the Washington, D.C. area, including green design planning. Susan also directed design, construction and operation of The SEED School, the nation’s first public urban boarding school campus. Susan received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Yale University.
Jack Davies served as senior advisor to the chairman and CEO of America Online, Inc. from January of 2000 until the end of 2002, following six years as a senior executive with the company. Prior to his role as senior advisor, he was founder and president of AOL International, where he led the global expansion of AOL. Before joining AOL, he worked as managing director of Citicorp’s London-based consumer mortgage business, as vice president, Europe, for RCA Records, and in consumer marketing management positions for General Electric. Davies earned an MBA in Marketing (1973) and a BA in Political Science (1972) from the University of Rochester. He is a member of the board of directors of Scholastic and Tickets.com. He also serves as a special advisor to General Atlantic Partners. Davies is a member of the board and the executive committee of Venture Philanthropy Partners, a “venture philanthropy” fund designed to help underprivileged young people in the greater Washington D.C area. He also represents VPP on the Board of Heads Up. Davies is a minority partner in Lincoln Holdings, which owns the Washington Capitals NHL hockey team and is a minority owner of the Washington Wizards NBA basketball team.
Co-Founder
David Domenici is a co-founder of the See Forever Foundation. He now serves as chair of the See Forever Board of Directors and is a founding board member of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School Board. He also recently transitioned into serving as the Principal at the Oak Hill School, DCÂ’s secure facility for youth who have been adjudicated delinquent, now currently being operated by the See Forever Foundation. He served as the executive director of See Forever until July 2006 and the schoolÂ’s principal from its founding until June 2002. He has worked with our target population since the inception of Project SOAR, the predecessor program to See Forever and Maya Angelou in 1995. His work experience includes teaching school full-time in D.C. for one year, an internship at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, two years in finance on Wall Street, and three years in general practice at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. He also served for eight years as the volunteer director of DCWorks, a summer pre-college program for at-risk teens from DC, Philadelphia, and New York. Domenici is a 1992 graduate of Stanford Law School, an Echoing Green Fellow (1998), a member of the 1998-1999 Washington Post Principals Leadership Institute, and a 2002 Ashoka Fellow.
Gertrude Eaton served as associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs with the University System of Maryland (USM) from 1980 to 2007. Eaton also served as executive director for the USM higher education Shady Grove Center in Montgomery County, MD. Prior to 1980, she served as academic program coordinator for the National Institutes of Health Upward Mobility College and director of American UniversityÂ’s Office of Program and Research Development. For the past 18 months, Eaton has served, part-time, as the program director of a six year Title II partnership grant for Teacher Quality Enhancement that included Maryland institutions of higher education and the Prince GeorgeÂ’s County school system. She received her Bachelor of Arts, MasterÂ’s Degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Treasurer
Ellen Kennedy Folts is Executive Director and CFO of the Bruhn-Morris Family Foundation, which supports creative and effective public-private partnerships, the prevention of child abuse, and efforts to improve the lives of AlexandriaÂ’s children. Previously Ellen was Chief Financial Officer for Ted Leonsis and his sports ownership entity, Lincoln Holdings LLC, as well as Executive Director of the Leonsis Foundation. Ellen received a B.A. from Stanford University and is a CFP. She volunteers on the Finance Committee for ACT for Alexandria and on the Steering Committee for ACTion Alexandria, and serves on the boards of St. GeorgeÂ’s Windsor Castle Foundation and Washington Capitals Charities.
Chair & Co-Founder
James Forman, Jr., is a co-founder of the See Forever Foundation. He now serves as Chair of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School Board of Directors and is a founding board member of the See Forever Foundation Board. He also assists the organization with capacity-building efforts. Forman is a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 2001, he served as a fellow at the New America Foundation, where he wrote about issues including juvenile justice and public education. A 1992 graduate of Yale Law School, Forman practiced for over five years as a staff attorney at the Public Defender Service, where he represented both juveniles and adults, and trained and supervised other lawyers. Prior to that, Forman served as a law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
J. Robby Gregg, Jr. is vice president, strategic partnerships and alliances with Cook Ross – an internationally recognized firm committed to creating organizations in which all people communicate effectively, recognize their value, develop themselves as leaders, and contribute powerfully to their organizations. In this role, he assists a global portfolio of clients in increasing return on investment for their diversity and inclusion efforts. A nationally recognized diversity expert, Robby offers deep experience in developing workplace inclusion initiatives that increase opportunities for professionals from all segments of society, especially those with disabilities. Robby is an accomplished motivational speaker and has served as an advisor to numerous advocacy, education, and service organizations including Maya Angelou Public Charter School, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and Bright Beginnings, a day care center for homeless children. He is a graduate of Wake Forest University and as a former student of Dr. Maya Angelou, he enjoys a unique and special relationship with our school’s phenomenal namesake.
Dr. Peter E. Leone, a professor of special education, specializes in behavior disorders at the University of Maryland. His experience includes direct service to troubled youth, as well as field-based research which examines the multidimensional problems associated with behavior disorders. Dr. Leone points to the role of environmental and cultural factors in the inception of behavior disorders and believes educators need to take a multidisciplinary approach when implementing programs for troubled or troubling youth.
Dr. Leone’s research interests focus on program environments for troubled youth educational entitlements of incarcerated youth, and policy studies. He is currently furthering these interests through several grant-supported research projects. He directs EDJJ: The National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice, a research, training and technical assistance project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Leone has had numerous articles published in professional journals and has made many presentations at national, state, and local conferences on topics related to the effective treatment and instruction of behaviorally disordered youth.
Vice Chair
Cheryl Mills currently serves as the Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Prior to joining Secretary ClintonÂ’s staff, she was a senior vice president and general counsel for Oxygen Media. For eight years, Mills worked for President William Clinton, first as an associate counsel and then as the Deputy White House Counsel, where she gained significant media exposure through her representation of Mr. Clinton in the impeachment hearings. Mills is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia and of Stanford Law School. Mills sits on the boards of a number of for-profit and not-for-profit institutions, including Stanford Law School.
Shemin Proctor is the Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office of Andrews Kurth LLP and she divides her time between the Washington and Houston offices. She represents major energy companies, including natural gas pipelines, energy marketing and trading companies, and midstream service providers, in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and has represented natural gas pipelines before the federal courts. Proctor has represented and counseled clients in numerous rate, tariff, certificate, complaint and compliance matters before the FERC. She also works with clients seeking to construct natural gas storage and liquefied natural gas facilities. In addition, she has counseled energy companies on natural gas matters arising from bankruptcy and has experience in the antitrust area.
In December 2009, Ms. Rumbarger retired after 20 years at the Commonwealth Foundation where she most recently was Vice President of Special Projects. From 2002-2009, Rumbarger served as executive director of that foundation. During her tenure, she focused on developing and directing numerous operating programs that provided high quality educational opportunities for under-served youth. These included an Anacostia “I Have a Dream” program, the Pathways to Success Boarding & Day Scholarship Program, the School Enhancement Program and numerous academic programs that partner with nonprofits in the Washington area. Prior to her work with the Commonweal Foundation, she worked was as a developer, supervisor and teacher trainer of academic services for learning disabled children; plus she served as a job coach for court-involved adolescents. She has experience as an education consultant to numerous private/public school systems. While raising their children, Phyllis and her husband Chuck were also foster parents to four high-risk children. Phyllis received her bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and her master’s degree from University of Maryland – College Park.
Reid Weingarten is a partner with the Washington, D.C. based law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, LLP and is head of the firm’s white-collar crime defense group. Prior to joining the firm, Reid served as a trial attorney for the Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice and as a deputy district attorney for Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Weingarten was inducted in the fall of 1995 as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He serves as a council member of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section and served for two terms as chairman of the White Collar Crime Committee. He also teaches courses on Public Corruption and Professional Responsibility as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Geral Bittle is the mother of a MAPCS middle school student. She has been a parent volunteer for years, and currently serves as an Administrative Assistant at the middle school.
Robbye Braxton-Mintz is a parent representative from our Evans Campus. Robbye has served over 14 years working in the field of corrections, first starting her career at the Arlington SheriffÂ’s office. Currently, she works with the National Institute of Corrections in the Community Connections Division where she serves as a correctional program specialist.
Jane is Deputy Director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar. Prior to law school, Jane taught public school for eight years in Prince GeorgeÂ’s County, Maryland and in Boston. During law school, Jane interned for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and was also a summer associate at Relman & Dane, a civil rights litigation firm. Jane’s publications include a journal note in the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy entitled Making Lemonade: Restructuring the Transfer Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, which grew out of a project that she presented with author Jonathan Kozol to Senator Edward Kennedy in December, 2007. She has also published opinion pieces in several major publications. Jane holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College, and an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Co-Founder
David Domenici is a co-founder of the See Forever Foundation. He now serves as chair of the See Forever Board of Directors and is a founding board member of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School Board. He also recently transitioned into serving as the Principal at the Oak Hill School, DCÂ’s secure facility for youth who have been adjudicated delinquent, now currently being operated by the See Forever Foundation. He served as the executive director of See Forever until July 2006 and the schoolÂ’s principal from its founding until June 2002. He has worked with our target population since the inception of Project SOAR, the predecessor program to See Forever and Maya Angelou in 1995. His work experience includes teaching school full-time in D.C. for one year, an internship at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, two years in finance on Wall Street, and three years in general practice at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. He also served for eight years as the volunteer director of DCWorks, a summer pre-college program for at-risk teens from DC, Philadelphia, and New York. Domenici is a 1992 graduate of Stanford Law School, an Echoing Green Fellow (1998), a member of the 1998-1999 Washington Post Principals Leadership Institute, and a 2002 Ashoka Fellow.
Chair & Co-Founder
James Forman, Jr., is a co-founder of the See Forever Foundation. He now serves as Chair of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School Board of Directors and is a founding board member of the See Forever Foundation Board. He also assists the organization with capacity-building efforts. Forman is a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 2001, he served as a fellow at the New America Foundation, where he wrote about issues including juvenile justice and public education. A 1992 graduate of Yale Law School, Forman practiced for over five years as a staff attorney at the Public Defender Service, where he represented both juveniles and adults, and trained and supervised other lawyers. Prior to that, Forman served as a law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Norman Gold is a Senior Research Associate with the program evaluation staff of WestEd. He is currently working on a national monitoring project of Charter Schools for the Department of Education. Dr. Gold recently completed a study of Comprehensive School Reform for the Department of Education and an evaluation of the Public Education Partnership designed to improve curriculum and instruction for the District of Columbia Public Schools.
Secretary
Anne Kendall spent seven years as a high school history teacher before she returned to school to get a Ph.D. in School Psychology. She currently is a member of a group practice in psychology and education that concentrates on assessment and counseling of children and adolescents. Kendall works with individuals ages 5 to 66 and is also a consultant to various schools in the area. She was a member of the board at The Field School for eight years.
Mary Kennedy joined Arnold & Porter LLP as trial training counsel. Ms. Kennedy’s responsibilities include providing advocacy training through in-house training and by co-counseling pro bono criminal cases with eligible lawyers. Ms. Kennedy has over 20 years of litigation and training experience, including over 50 jury trials, numerous bench trials, and countless trials during which she supervised other attorneys. Before entering private practice, Ms. Kennedy spent two years at the Federal Defender Training Group. The bulk of Ms. KennedyÂ’s trial experience came from her 11 years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), where she represented both adults and juveniles at every stage of the criminal process. Ms. Kennedy was the Training Director at PDS during her last four years with the agency. Her responsibilities included training all new attorneys hired by the agency and providing monthly training to lawyers appointed to represent clients pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act.
Ms. Kennedy taught trial advocacy for many years as an adjunct at George Washington University Law School and continues to teach trial advocacy to the Prettyman Fellows at Georgetown Law School. Since 1990, Ms. Kennedy has been on the faculty of trial skills programs around the country, including the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School, the Western Trial Advocacy Institute in Laramie, Wyoming, the National Trial Advocacy College in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy in San Diego, California.
Dr. Lucretia Murphy is the executive director of See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Schools, where she oversees the charter schools and the school and transition center for young people committed to the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services. She was formerly the director of youth transitions for Jobs for the Future (JFF). As part of JFFÂ’s “Connected by 25 Team,” MurphyÂ’s work addressed the need for structural systemic change to increase high school graduation rates and postsecondary access and success for low-income youth. For JFFÂ’s work in the Boston High School Renewal – Small Schools Initiative, she focused on the redesign of high school systems with a particular focus on policy and school reform to improve educational opportunities for disconnected youth. Throughout her career Murphy’s work has been focused on the educational needs of disconnected youth. Murphy holds a Ph.D. in higher education policy from the University of Michigan. She earned a law degree from University of Texas and a BSFS in International Policy Law and Organization from Georgetown University.
Jim Ryan joined the University of Virginia faculty in 1998 after completing a two-year public interest fellowship in Newark, NJ. He teaches law and education, constitutional law, land use law, local government law, and, on occasion, torts. His scholarship focuses primarily on law and educational opportunity, and he has authored or co-authored articles on school finance, school desegregation, school choice, school governance, a right to preschool, and the No Child Left Behind Act, which have appeared in the Harvard, Yale, Michigan, Virginia, California, and New York University law reviews. In 2002-03, Ryan was a visiting professor at Yale Law School. He was named the William L. Matheson & Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor in 2004, and in that year was also appointed Academic Associate Dean. In fall 2006, Ryan was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.
Ryan received his A.B. from Yale University and his J.D. from Virginia. After graduating from the Law School in 1992, Ryan first clerked for J. Clifford Wallace, then-Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit, and then for William H. Rehnquist, the late Chief Justice of the United States.
School Performance Committee Chair
Edith Tatel is an education consultant whose practice focuses on new teachers in struggling schools. She formerly served as director of professional development of Teach For America; the assistant professor and director of teacher education at American University School of Education, where she also taught writing in the Department of Literature; and a middle and high school English teacher. Tatel earned a BA and teaching certificate from the University of Michigan, an MA in English from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration from the University of Maryland-College Park. She serves on the Advisory Board of Teach For America-DC, as a reviewer for the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, as chair of the School Performance Committee of MAPCS and as a teaching mentor for the Center for Artistry in Teaching.
Dr. Wathington is an Assistant Professor of Education at University of VirginiaÂ’s Curry School of Education. She serves as a tenure-track faculty member in the Education Leadership, Foundations, and Policy Department, and teaches courses in the Center for the Study of Higher Education for graduate students. Her research interests include access, equity, and diversity in higher education and the growth and development of minority-serving institutions, and she serves on various university and school-wide committees at the request of university leadership.
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