Staff
Steven Kellner
Steve serves as the Director of District Leadership and State Policy where he develops and delivers a clear external communications strategy that supports the recruitment of districts and funders while informing other external stakeholders about the organization’s work. Additionally, he works directly with superintendents to provide coaching, support and coherence. Over his 25 years in […]
Janna Smith
Janna is the Director of Operations, People and Culture where she is responsible for managing the many systems in service of our program work, organizational mission, and team member success. These duties include event and platforms oversight, Board and building management, operations administration, and developing a positive and supportive team culture. Prior to her current […]
Laura Wentworth
Laura serves as the Director of the Research Practice Partnership (RPP) program that helps school districts and universities across California work together in partnerships that produce and use research to improve policies, practices and student outcomes, with a focus on supporting students historically underserved by the public school system. Under Laura’s leadership, Ed Partners supports […]
JoDee Marcellin
As the Director of District to District Program, JoDee leads the Program staff in the design and delivery of the district-to-district collaborative, continuous improvement model and approach that differentiates district support in service of improving student outcomes. Additionally, she partners with Ed Partners’ Leadership to create coherence of district support and the evaluation of program […]
Laura Schwalm
As Chief of Staff, Laura provides strategic counsel to key leaders in Ed Partners to consistently move work forward in alignment with the organization’s mission and objectives. By creating and maintaining relationships with outside partners, cross-departmental relationships with internal staff and working collaboratively with the Executive Director and Board of Directors, she is charged with […]
Jose Silva
As Data and Analytics Manager, Jose is responsible for providing insights and identifying opportunities through the use of statistical, mining, and data visualization techniques. His work involves the translation of complex analytics-derived insights into meaningful, actionable information for the organization. Jose began his career in the private sector working as a systems manager and continuous […]
Melinda Leung
As Chief Financial Officer, Melinda manages all day-to-day finance and accounting activities for the organization, including budgeting/forecasting, audit, and financial reporting. She is responsible for aligning Ed Partner’s financial position to its strategic goals and assuring all accounting functions are in compliance with nonprofit accounting standards. Melinda brings over thirty years of accounting and finance […]
Violet Leo
Violet is the Administrative Assistant in the Ed Partners Oakland office. She supports Program staff to ensure that program curricula, systems and tools are consistent across the organization. She assists with events by coordinating and preparing resources for convenings. Prior to Ed Partners, Violet worked as administrator for the largest preschool in Hong Kong. She […]
Keyur Shah
Keyur is the Senior Program Manager for the Pilot Pre-K to 3rd Grade Coherence Collaboration where he works with districts across the state to develop coherent systems that serve California’s youngest learners. He serves as a coach, knowledge broker, and change management consultant to help accelerate improvement in districts. Keyur also supports other collaborations as […]
Luis Argueta
Luis serves as the Program Manager for the 8th grade On Track collaboration where he supports districts in reducing the D/F rate to increase the number of students eligible for college admission. Luis’ understanding of student learning and district systems has been shaped by over 20 years of experience in education. Before coming to CA […]