Ted Preston joined ANet in 2008 after spending many years as a manager and consultant. His clients ranged from charter management organizations to portfolio companies of private equity firms. Ted spent 8 years at EF Education, serving as CEO of Smithsonian Student Travel and CFO for EF Educational Tours. Prior to his roles as CEO and CFO, Ted held several financial and sales management positions in EF Educational Tours. Ted has also worked as the Executive Director of Summerbridge Cincinnati, an educational non-profit organization, and as the Director of Educational Programming for The Community Builders Inc., a nationally recognized developer of affordable housing. He is a founding Board Member and former Board Chair of the Edward W. Brooke Charter School, a high performing charter school in Boston. A graduate of Brown University, Ted also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John Maycock is a former Senior Director of Score! Educational Centers, Inc. At Score!, John managed multiple after-school education centers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was responsible for managing the reading, math and writing performance of over 1,200 students. After leaving Score!, John served as the Manager of Business Services for Edtec Inc., a company that offers business, development and educational services to California charter schools. In this role, he managed overall client relations, analyzed student assessment data, and wrote whole-school accountability plans. Most recently, John served as the Managing Director for the Qatar School Reform Project, where he served as a consultant to a national school reform initiative in Doha, Qatar. He holds a BA in English from Middlebury College and an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Tara Czupryk joined ANet in 2009, where she is responsible for the coordination of events and support across ANet’s various regions. Tara was a Teach For America corps member in Houston, Texas where she taught middle school English and held various leadership positions in both the Houston Independent School District and at YES Prep Charter Schools. She has also worked for Teach For America as a Corps Member Advisor and English Learning Team Leader. Tara received her EdM in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University, where she was awarded the Urban Scholars Fellowship and served as a Research Assistant for the Urban Superintendent’s Program. Most recently, she was a member of the 2009 Boston cohort of the Education Pioneers Fellowship. Tara holds a BA in Political Science and BS in Psychology from the University of Florida.

Josh Densen joined ANet in 2009 and is a career educator with experience as a classroom teacher and in school district administration. He worked as a special educator in Oakland, CA, through Teach For America as a member of the 2000 corps. Later, Josh spent 3 years teaching 5th grade math at KIPP:STAR in Harlem, NY. Between those two classroom experiences, Josh participated in the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and was the Special Assistant to the Region 7 Superintendent in the NYC Department of Education. Josh holds a dual BA in Religious Studies and American Culture Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Lana Ewing joined ANet in 2008 and is a former founding 1st and 2nd grade teacher at the Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Boston. As a member of the founding team, she helped design and implement their elementary school program, specializing in data-driven curriculum writing, strategic planning, and operations management. Prior to joining Brooke, Lana worked as a Senior Account Manager for Integrity Interactive, designing ethics and compliance educational programming. As part of the 2003 Teach for America Corp, Lana taught 2nd and 3rd grades in the South Bronx, New York. She holds a BA in International Politics from Connecticut College and an EdM from Fordham University.

Leslie Hunt joined ANet in 2007 and is a former Litigation Legal Assistant at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. At Skadden, she was responsible for assisting in the research and drafting of pleadings, as well as managing the maintenance of multiple cases. Most recently, she received her M.Ed from Boston University. She spent the year working at the Edwards Middle School, Charlestown, MA in student services and built upon her undergraduate senior thesis, which was a quantitative study on the relationship between academic achievement and socioeconomic disparities. She also holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Union College.

Justin Jones joined ANet in 2009 and has worked in education for the past eight years as a teacher, trainer, and manager. He began his education career in 2002 through Teach For America as a 6th grade teacher in Phoenix, Arizona where he took on a variety of leadership positions and also worked for Teach For America training new teachers as a Corps Member Advisor. Upon leaving the classroom, Justin worked for four years on the full-time staff of Teach For America where he began as a Recruitment Director charged with recruiting students from a set of colleges and universities in the Chicago area. After that, he established the organization's post-college outreach team as Director of Graduate Outreach, managed a 17-person recruitment team as a Managing Director of Recruitment, and led various data system and strategy initiatives. Most recently, Justin worked for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in Washington, DC, where he led the creation of a statewide longitudinal education data (SLED) system as the SLED Director. Justin holds a dual BA in Psychology and Political Science from the University of North Carolina and an EdM in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University.

Cassie Kearney joined ANet in 2007 and is a former Manager in the Corporate Investments & Development Group at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Inc. in New York. At Starwood, she was responsible for the analysis and implementation of strategic investments, partnerships, and other capital initiatives to enhance and expand Starwood's lines of business. Prior to Starwood, Cassie was an investment banking analyst in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology Group at JPMorgan. Most recently, she was a consultant in the Strategy and Analytics Group at Digitas LLC where she was responsible for the development and implementation of strategic marketing partnerships for a non-profit client. Cassie holds a dual BS in Finance and Operations & Strategic Management from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Catherine (Katie) Minihan joined ANet in 2007 after teaching for three years at Nations Ford Elementary School, an urban public elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina. While at Nations Ford Katie served as grade level chair for fifth grade. She also analyzed state assessment data to inform school instructional practice, including the ongoing analysis of data from the statewide formative assessments conducted throughout each school year. Katie also utilized the North Carolina Standard Course of Study while creating assessments for use within her classroom. While completing her graduate program Katie focused her studies on educational measurement and assessment. She holds a dual BS in Elementary Education and Sociology from Vanderbilt University and an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Blake Reynolds joined ANet in 2008 after serving as a former Civil Rights Analyst at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, GA in 2007. He had the responsibility of collecting and analyzing student demographic data from Georgia's public and private schools to examine the aspects of desegregation when considering enrollments within each of Georgia's 180 school districts. His success in research on private schools resulted in co-authoring the State Advisory Committee [SAC] report and presenting a briefing to the SAC about the role of private school enrollments with re-segregation. Blake's undergraduate work included educational ability grouping, transformative wealth, and racial privilege and discrimination. He holds a BA in Sociology focused in race and urban studies from Georgia State University.

Christine Sweeney joined ANet in 2009 after working as a Custody Account Manager for Brown Brothers Harriman in Dublin, Ireland for two years. As a member of the client servicing group, she was the day-to-day point of contact for Dublin’s largest client. Additionally she acted as the Cash Comptroller for all the Dublin clients. Christine has spent time volunteering in urban public schools in Worcester, MA as well as in Dublin, Ireland. Christine is currently enrolled in a part-time program to obtain her M.Ed. She holds a BA in English from The College of the Holy Cross.

Lindsay Wheeler joined ANet in 2009 and began her work in education as a 5th grade teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. While teaching, Lindsay took on a variety of leadership roles in her school and also worked as a Curriculum Specialist and Differentiated Learning Team Leader for Teach For America. During the 2008-2009 school year, Lindsay pulled herself away from the classroom to pursue a graduate degree in Education Policy and Management. While in school, Lindsay interned with Boston Public Schools in the Office of Professional Development, supporting teacher leaders and researching teacher development. She also served as the project assistant for the development of Susan Moore Johnson’s research-based website on Peer Assistance and Review. Most recently, Lindsay completed a fellowship through Education Pioneers, working with Teach Plus to codify and develop a curriculum for the Policy Fellows program. Lindsay holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from The College of William and Mary.

Jen White joined ANet in 2007 with experience as an organizational development and training professional specializing in education reform and program development. For five years, she worked with Pearson Education, training educators to analyze child progress to inform program improvement and to integrate technology into school communities. Most recently, she consulted for a non-profit cancer research foundation, aligning their strategic plan to sustainable organizational systems and documenting operational processes. Jen has four years of assistant teaching experience, including three years volunteering in 10th-11th grade English classes at Bell Multicultural, a charter high school in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in Intercultural Communication with certification in Spanish Language and an MA in School Psychology from Tufts University.

The Achievement Network employs a team of English and Mathematics part-time assessment development consultants. These talented individuals are all experienced educators, most of whom have experience teaching within our Networks. These consultants are enlisted to write questions based on their grade and subject area expertise and skills.