Staff and Advisory Board

Mark has been an educator all of his professional life, mostly in independent schools. He has served as a Dean of Students, Director of Admissions, Director of Diversity and Multiculturalism, and English teacher at such schools as Germantown Friends School (PA), Brooklyn Friends School (NY), and Moses Brown School (RI). Mark is currently the Associate Director of Admissions and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and has Master’s degrees from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Mark’s primary passion over the past 20 years has been finding ways to narrow the achievement gap for disadvantaged students. Mark resides in Cambridge, MA with his wife, Tammy, and 8 year-old daughter, Isabella.

Prior to this appointment, Jeanie practiced as a partner in a successful female owned educational consulting business. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Trinity University, DC. For ten years, Jeanie was Admissions Director for grades three through eight at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC. Adding to Jeanie's experiences in education, she has participated as a teacher, board member, development chair, curriculum committee member, consultant to admissions diversity outreach, and additional involvement as an active parent volunteer. Working with organizations such as Xerox Corporation, Eastern Airlines, Trinity University, John Eaton Elementary School, DCPS, and the Black Student Fund Jeanie continued to hone her instructional, marketing and public relations skills. Jeanie is an active member of the community with Associate membership in Jack and Jill of America and other social and civic organizations.

Yully joined The Steppingstone Foundation (TSF) in 1999 as a Fellow for The Magnet Program, which focused on helping Boston school children enter and be successful at public exam schools. She has since held several positions at TSF. Yully oversees Boston programming as well as supports national initiatives, including NPEA and Steppingstone affiliate programs in Philadelphia and Hartford. She also serves on the board of The Steppingstone Scholars Inc., Hartford Youth Scholars Foundation, and The Meadowbrook School of Weston. Yully received her B.A. in English from Hamilton College. She is presently an M.B.A. candidate at Babson College.

Andy is the Executive Director of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. Prior to taking this position, he spent the majority of his professional career as an attorney, practicing commercial litigation.  Andy made the transition into the field of education after serving on the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund’s Board of Directors. The opportunity arose to take on the role of Executive Director and Andy’s dedication to the work of educational access led to his significant career change. Andy resides in suburban Chicago, is married and has two children.

Prior to her position as the Director of NPEA, Karin was the Executive Director of Summerbridge Cambridge, A Breakthrough Program. Prior to Summerbridge, Karin was the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at Horizons for Homeless Children, where she traveled across the country speaking about child and family homelessness. Karin also spent five years working for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services on Head Start, education, and human service issues. Karin has a M. Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a M.S.W. from Boston College.

Steve has been a teacher and administrator in independent schools for nearly 20 years. He currently is the Director of Prep@Pingree, an academic enrichment program for middle school students from Lawrence and Lynn, and he teaches Advanced Placement Statistics at Pingree School. Steve has extensive experience with educational programs designed for inner city students through his work with Prep@Pingree, Project RISE, Project DEEP and Squashbusters. Steve received his B.S. in mathematics from Tufts University and his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Steve lives in Ipswich with his wife Tracy and three young children Lucas, Jackson and Colby.

Andy Hoge started at New Jersey SEEDS in the fall of 2001 after spending four years teaching high school math at the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont. A 1994 graduate of Colgate University, Mr. Hoge spent two years after college as a US Peace Corps volunteer teaching math in Swaziland.

For the past four years, Constance has functioned as the Executive Director of the Fund for Advancement of Minorities through Education (FAME), a non-profit organization committed to providing bright and talented minority students with financial need scholarships to attend high quality independent schools. In this role, Constance ensures that these students are provided the academic and morale support necessary to graduate from high school and attend colleges and universities across the country. The organization boasts a 100% college attendance and graduation rate for all of its scholars and 66% of FAME alumni have returned to Pittsburgh to live and work. Under her leadership, FAME has increased the number of students it supports each year, the amount of programming offered to scholars and alumni, and the organization’s endowment and fundraising efforts dramatically.

Mr. Knox was the vice president of national expansion at The Steppingstone Foundation, an organization dedicated to expanding college access for underserved schoolchildren and served as the national director of new site development at Jumpstart, a national school readiness program. In addition, he taught high school English in New Orleans. He also sits on the National Partnership for Educational Access board of directors, and is a volunteer at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School.

Mr. Knox received his M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, his B.A. from Boston College, and his teaching certification from the Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers (MINT).

Gina graduated from Trinity College with honors in 1991 and earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Seton Hall University in 1999. She previously worked at Prep for Prep overseeing public policy projects and at the Association for Children of New Jersey, a statewide advocacy organization where she focused on issues and policies affecting Newark's children. Gina also worked in New Jersey at the Victoria Foundation and the READY Foundation. Gina joined The TEAK Fellowship in September 2003 and is the Director of Post-Placement.

Tiffany McQueen joined LINK Unlimited in 2008 as Director of Educational Programs. She is responsible for the development and execution of all of LINK’s educational programs. Prior to joining LINK, Tiffany was a Mentoring Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools, in Church Falls, Virginia. Tiffany has completed her course work for her PhD in Educational Counseling from George Washington University, where she was attending on the Bill Gates Scholarship. She holds a Masters in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University.

Marcia has been the Executive Director of Buffalo Prep, at the University at Buffalo, since 2003. She is responsible for directing programs for gifted disadvantaged minority students and overseeing board, development, and financial components of the organization. Prior to Buffalo Prep, Marcia has held many other administrator and head of school positions in public, private, and independent schools, and has teaching experience at the elementary, high school, and college levels.

Jacqui has been Executive Director of Early Steps for the past 20 years. Additionally, she has over 20 years of classroom and administrative experience in public and independent school settings including a rural six-room schoolhouse in Vermont, suburban open-space classrooms in Maryland and inner city schools in Philadelphia. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) where she serves as Secretary and as a member of the Equity and Justice Committee which she formerly chaired. She is a Trustee at Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School, Trevor Day School and The Town School. Mrs. Pelzer has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Cheyney State Teachers College and has done extensive graduate study.  She is actively sought as a speaker at national conferences and seminars and writes from her experience on diversity issues. She and her husband live in New York City.  Her adult son is an independent school graduate.

Beth Porter has worked for Breakthrough for 14 years in the development and program departments. Beth brings 19 years of fundraising experience to her position and has worked in education, arts and political action organizations. Beth has her B.A. in Sociology and Japanese from Middlebury College and her M.A. in Asia Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

Monique has been an NAIS staff member for the past 11 years. She currently serves as the Director of StatsOnline on the Information Technology and Online Services Team. She has worked with StatsOnline since it was launched and became available to NAIS member schools in the fall of 2000. Prior to working with StatsOnline, she developed and managed the NAIS website, in addition to managing the NAIS membership database.

A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Peggy also holds a MS from the Bank Street college of Education and JD from the University of Maine. She served as the Chair of the History Department at Greenwich Academy where she was also Middle School Curriculum Coordinator and Honor Board Advisor. She has been an American delegate to the schools in Reggio Emilio, Italy and an advocate for at risk students through the Sarah Lawrence Child Development Institute. Peggy joined REACH Prep as the Director of Education. In that capacity she wrote the curriculum for the REACH preparatory and enrichment programs. Today she is serving as the program’s executive director.

Chantal Stevens joined A Better Chance in 2006 as the Director of the College Preparatory Schools Program.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Masters of Science in Higher Education Administration from Bernard M. Baruch College. Prior to joining A Better Chance, she worked in several roles at the City University of New York including working as a Special Project Coordinator at the Research Foundation of the University and as the Assistant Director for Recruitment and Admission Counseling at The City College of New York. Chantal is responsible for the management and growth of A Better Chance's signature admissions and placement program nationally. At present, she also sits on the Advisory Board of St. Mark the Evangelist School in Harlem.