About Us: Education Elements’ Leadership Team

Anthony Kim, CEO and Founder

Anthony Kim is the CEO and founder of Education Elements, a blended learning technology company he created in 2010. A seasoned entrepreneur, Anthony also founded and led Provost Systems, a provider of software and services for operating online schools, where he worked with K-12, post-secondary and Department of Defense institutions to support innovation in instructional delivery and instructional technology. After selling Provost Systems to EdisonLearning (formerly Edison Schools) in 2008, Anthony served as Executive Vice President of Online at EdisonLearning until 2010, building out its newly formed online business unit. Anthony graduated from Cornell University and has served as an advisor to several software companies. He lives in San Francisco with his family, including two huskies.

Shelli Taylor

Shelli is the Chief Operating Officer for Education Elements, supporting the team in creating classrooms that inspire teaching and learning. Prior to joining Education Elements, Shelli was the Vice President of Disney English China, China’s leading English Language provider delivering immersive English language learning experiences, products and services for children ages 2 to 12 years of age. Shelli oversaw all operational aspects and scaled the business from 15 centers in 5 cities to 34 centers in 8 cities educating more than 24,000 young learners. Shelli enjoyed an 18 year distinguished career at Starbucks Coffee Company. She held several executive positions including Regional Vice President, China; Vice-President of New Business Development, Greater China; and Vice President of Operations and Store Development, Taiwan. Shelli graduated from University of California Riverside. She lives with her husband and son in Northern California.

David Sanchez

David Sanchez leads Product Development and Platform Partnerships for Education Elements. David brings over 15 years of experience developing technology products and services that deliver transformational user experiences. Most recently he held product and marketing strategy roles for Jawbone, the leading innovator in mobile lifestyle electronics and Tellme, a platform-as-service pioneer and leader in voice recognition services which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007. David began his career with Accenture where he was a founding member of the Strategic Alliances and Channels practice and spearheaded its growth worldwide through long-term assignments in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

Jane Bryson

Jane Bryson works to design and implement blended learning into schools at Education Elements. Jane has six years of teaching experience, including two years at Town School for Boys, a private school in San Francisco, and four years at East Palo Alto Academy, a charter school serving a low-income neighborhood. At East Palo Alto Academy, she was a lead teacher and administrator running the Early College program focused on college readiness. Beyond the school environment, she has also worked with NewSchools Venture Fund as well as with the US Department of Education on the Race to the Top federal grant program. She graduated from Stanford University with an MBA and MA in education, as well as a BA from Stanford.

Angela Chubb

Angela Chubb serves on Education Element’s School Partnerships Team. Prior to joining Education Elements, Ms. Chubb was the Senior Vice President at Leeds Global where she worked as an international education consultant. Her work included advising the government of Abu Dhabi on the design and implementation of comprehensive school system reforms, including the adoption of world-class standards, the implementation of new instructional methods and approaches, and the transition to a bi-literate curriculum. In addition, she supervised the design and delivery of professional development services to 800+ school leaders across the United Arab Emirate, resulting in the successful implementation of the country’s groundbreaking New School Model. Previously Ms. Chubb was the Senior Product Manger for EdisonLearning. In addition, Ms. Chubb also served as Vice President and Executive Director of Achievement Services and supervised 60 schools and principals along the east coast. Ms. Chubb was the founding principal and CEO of an award winning K-12 Charter school with over 1000 enrolled students. Ms. Chubb also served as an Academy Director and Elementary School teacher. Ms. Chubb graduated summa cum laude from Kansas State University with a B.A. degree in Education and earned Master’s degrees in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Leadership.

Keara Duggan

As part of Education Elements' Service Delivery Team, Keara works closely with school leaders and teachers to design and implement blended learning solutions that accelerate student achievement. Keara began her career as a Teach For America corps members, serving as a third grade teacher on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Since then, she has managed development, operations, programming, communications, curriculum design, and professional development projects for education organizations in the non-profit and for-profit sector, including Education Pioneers, Teach For America, InsideTrack, and Brooklyn Historical Society. She received an M.A. in Public History from New York University and a B.A. in History and International/Intercultural Studies from Claremont McKenna College.

Janice Flynn

Janice Flynn works with schools to implement Education Elements’ blended learning model.  Janice comes to Education Elements from UPD Consulting where she provided project management support to state education agencies, school districts, and education nonprofits. She holds a masters degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelors degree in American Studies and Spanish from the University of Notre Dame. Janice currently lives in the Washington, DC area.

Vanessa Gonzalez

Vanessa Gonzalez works closely with school leadership to implement blended learning as part of Education Elements' technology team. She began her career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, working with clients across multiple sectors. Vanessa has also worked as a strategy consultant to nonprofits at the Bridgespan Group and through pro bono projects while at Bain. She most recently worked with the Academy for School Leadership, a network of teacher training academies and turnaround schools in Chicago. Vanessa graduated from Stanford University with an MBA and MA in Education, as well as Emory University with a BA in Economics. She is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico and currently lives in San Francisco.

Bo Han

Bo Han works with schools to implement Education Elements’ blended learning model. Prior to Education Elements, Bo was a New York City Teaching Fellow for three years, teaching math and chemistry at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem. In addition to teaching, she has worked at Microsoft in product management and at the Office of the Chief Academic Officer at D.C. Public Schools, helping to develop their Teaching and Learning Framework. Bo graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Masters in Public Policy and the MIT Sloan School of Management with a MBA. She received her B.A. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently lives in Washington, DC.

Erik Kronstadt

Erik Kronstadt works to design and implement blended learning into schools at Education Elements. Erik has three years of teaching experience as a Teach for America Corps Member at the Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School (Stern MASS), a charter school in East Los Angeles. Erik was also the Director of College Counseling at Stern MASS. Erik most recently worked at Nestle USA, where he was an associate in the Emerging Markets Division. Prior to Nestle, Erik worked for the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, where he served pharmaceutical and government clients. Erik received his MBA and MA in education from Stanford University and his BA in American Studies from Cornell University.

Sharif Morad

Sharif Morad works with schools to implement Education Elements’ blended learning model as smoothly as possible. Prior to joining Education Elements, Sharif worked at the technology consulting firm Accenture, where he managed several successful software releases and provided rigorous testing for his primary engagement at the U.S. Department of Education. He has also led cross-country cycling trips for young adults for the nonprofit Bike & Build, which raised money for affordable housing and involved youth in civic engagement. Sharif graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. He is originally from Maryland and now lives in San Francisco.

Kusha Tavakoli

Kusha Tavakoli works with schools to implement Education Elements’ blended learning model as smoothly as possible. Prior to joining Education Elements, Kusha worked across a wide range of industries in various consulting environments for more than five years with Deloitte Consulting and The Hackett Group. During this time, he worked on consulting engagements with companies such as Genzyme Genetics, General Motors, Alcoa, and Navistar, among others. The central focus of these engagements was improving business processes by working alongside clients to drive sustainable results. Kusha has a B.S.E. in chemical and biomolecular Engineering from University of Pennsylvania.

Simon Urrutia

As a part of Education Elements’ Client Support Team, Simon Urrutia strives to help resolve any questions our clients have with HLMS and to further efforts to implement blended learning in the classroom. Prior to joining Education Elements, Simon worked with vendors in Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services. He has also served in other client support roles at Charles Schwab and Alameda County Office of AIDS. Simon’s approach to customer service has also been influenced by his professional and academic experiences in education. Simon holds a MA in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University and has completed additional graduate coursework in Educational Psychology.

Mike Wolking

Mike Wolking works with schools to implement Education Elements’ blended learning model. Mike spent four years as a teacher at Charles R. Drew Middle School in south Los Angeles, a position he began as a Teach for America Corps Member. While at Drew he fostered outdoor education partnerships with Burton Snowboards and the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, and spent summers as a language learning leader for Putney Student Travel in France. Mike comes to Education Elements from the Office of Innovation at the New York City Department of Education, where he supported the visioning and implementation of blended learning programs for 18 New York City public schools. Mike holds a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Michigan, a masters degree in education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and a masters degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He grew up in the Detroit area and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Supriya Booth

As part of Education Elements' Technology Team, Supriya works closely with school leadership to design and implement blended learning solutions that accelerate student achievement. Supriya began her career at CitySquash, an after-school program in the Bronx. Since then, she has worked with Aspire Public Schools, StudentsFirst (a national policy organization led by Michelle Rhee), and NewSchools Venture Fund. Supriya holds a joint MBA/MA Ed degree from Stanford University, and a BA in Economics with a Chinese language citation from Harvard College. Originally from Mumbai, India, Supriya now lives in the Bay Area with her family, including two Puggles.

Beverly Chung

Beverly Chung leads product development for Education Element's core HLMS platform and content and tools integrations with key ecosystem partners. Prior to Education Elements, Beverly worked as a product manager for EF Education in Shanghai, the leader in online English education globally. She also brings several years of experience working across the social sector, as a former strategy consultant and director of internal strategic projects. She has helped organizations like Teach For America create, evaluate and launch innovative programs and products. Beverly earned her BA from Stanford University and MBA from Columbia Business School. She currently lives in San Francisco.

David Shackelford

As a product manager, David works on need-finding, prioritization, feature design, QA, and other tasks in our development cycle. Before joining Education Elements, David spent two years in the Teach for America corps, and spearheaded implementations of various technology platforms at his placement school. Before that, he spent time in IT support for SAY Media and Lewis & Clark college, as well as on marketing, copywriting, and translation projects for businesses in Japan and the US. David currently lives in San Francisco, and holds a B.S. in Economics from Lewis & Clark college and a California teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University.

Justin de Leon

Justin serves on Education Elements’ Knowledge Management Team. In this role, he analyzes EdTech providers to help schools make informed decisions about which content best suits their needs. Most recently, Justin taught 5th grade ELA at a KIPP middle school in San Jose, CA. Before that, he taught middle school ELA for six years in Miami, FL where he employed a blended learning model to help his students maximize their achievement. For three summers, he worked with The New Teacher Project in Miami and Louisiana to train new teachers and lead summer training institutes. He also worked with a group of Teach For America Corps Members to develop their instructional design and classroom management skills. Justin holds a BA in English from the University at Albany and an MA in Education from Stanford University. He lives in San Jose, CA.

Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek

As Education Elements’ Data Analyst, Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek enables teachers to be data-driven decision makers. Meg’s work centers on the belief that technology has the potential to both enhance student learning and facilitate teacher practice. She spends her time investigating the type and scope of data available through different content providers, developing methods to see and interact with that data, and ultimately making sure teachers, principals, and administrators have what they need to make critical instructional decisions. Prior to her current role at Education Elements, she earned a Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science in Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. Her dissertation focused on the evaluation and use of educational technology in a variety of different classroom settings.

Kawai Lai

Kawai Lai leads the Knowledge Management team in its efforts to curate education technology and build Education Elements’ expertise in blended learning. Kawai started as an Education Pioneers Fellow with Education Elements in 2011. Prior to joining the company, Kawai helped Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits implement and prepare for new technologies with Deloitte Consulting’s Technology practice. She is passionate about promoting STEM subjects among young women and serves on the Board of Directors at Arise High School in Oakland, CA. She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from Haas, UC Berkeley. She lives in the bay area with her family and labradoodle.

Jenni Tonti

As the Finance Manager at Education Elements, Jenni Tonti is responsible for all aspects of financial management as well as financial planning and analysis.  Prior to Education Elements, Jenni worked at Fiscal Management Associates, providing financial consulting services to nonprofit organizations.  There she worked with numerous education-focused organizations to improve their financial systems and processes.  Jenni began her career as the finance and operations director at an organization dedicated to youth leadership development. As a graduate student Jenni participated in the Education Pioneers Fellowship Program, acquiring content knowledge about the education sector while gaining work experience in strategic operations.  Jenni has a BS in Architecture from University of Michigan and an MBA from UC Berkeley-Haas.  She currently lives in San Francisco.

Amy Jenkins

Amy Jenkins is managing strategic initiatives at Education Elements. Amy comes to Education Elements after spending five years leading projects at the Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm. Her global projects spanned across commercial and non-profit sectors, and ranged from marketing to innovation to general strategy. Prior to Monitor, Amy worked at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs. In 2001, Amy co-founded the local affiliate site of America SCORES, an after-school program for low-income youth, where she was in charge of program development as well as fund-raising. She served as a teacher through Teach for America in Oakland, California and has been active on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including being the Chairman of Prize4Life since its founding in 2006. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kyle Rutledge

Kyle Rutledge develops new Education Elements partnerships as a Regional Director of Growth & Development in the Eastern United States. Before joining the company, Kyle was a Vice President of Sales and Senior Regional Sales Manager at Blackboard, Inc. where he helped to start virtual learning programs at the state, district and school levels. He has also worked as a Director of Sales at k12, inc. and Aventa Learning establishing virtual and blended learning programs with state departments of education, school districts and charter schools. Kyle holds a BS in Communications from the University of Tennessee. He resides in Davidson, NC with his wife and two daughters.