Executive Officers

Susan Shaffer
President and Co-Founder – MAEC
Executive Director – Center for Education Equity
Proud and happy grandparent, passionate and seasoned advocate for equity working for the civil rights of all people to achieve social justice. Read More »
Staff

Nyla Bell
Senior Education Equity Specialist
Nyla is a fourth generation Black educator and native Philadelphian who has devoted her life and career to advancing equity and social justice as an adult educator, technical assistance provider, advocate, public school teacher, scholar and youth organizer. Read More »

Mira Best
Evaluation Associate
Raised in Richmond, VA, Mira is passionate about the use of empirical data to promote social justice and inform impactful change at the micro- and macro-level. Read More »

Leah Craft
Director of Development
Leah is the proud mother of two kind, brave, and confident girls. She and her family enjoy hiking and exploring nature whenever possible. Leah is an advocate for equitable rights for all and teaches her children to be kind above anything else. Read More »

Kate Farbry
Director of Communications and Engagement
DC-area native, mama to humans and animals alike, lover of sharp wit and vegan junk food. Read More »

Dannele Ferreras
Data and Evaluation Specialist
Dedicated to improving practice and policy so that all young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources to thrive in school, career, and beyond; firm believer in the power of data and evaluation to create long-lasting, systemic change. Read More »

Carol Gant
Senior Early Childhood Equity Specialist
Carol holds a BS Interpersonal Communication from Ohio University and a Masters of Education from Bowie State University with a concentration in Special Education. Carol completed her doctoral coursework in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Maryland and is ABD. Read More »

Young-chan Han
Senior Family Engagement Specialist
Young-chan Han is committed to empower and equip immigrant parents, educators, and community leaders to advocate for linguistically and economically challenged families. She has over 20 years of experience in the areas of language access, family engagement, leadership development, and English learners. Read More »

Jessica Lim
Finance and Bookkeeping Assistant
Born and raised in Malaysia, Jessica embarked to the U.S. in 2015 and graduated with a B.S. in Economics from American University. Here, she pursued her goal of creating meaningful social change, and along the way, discovered a love for numbers, finance and quantitative analysis. In her spare time, she dabbles in digital art and drawing. Read More »

Michelle Gwinn Nutter
State Equity Coordinator
Passionate civil rights advocate and dedicated educator who is committed to helping create and maintain safe, respectful learning environments for all students. Read More »

Jenny Portillo
Equity Intern
A first-generation college graduate, Jenny is passionate about designing and leading schools that focus on promoting equity and agency for students and communities. Read More »

Mariela Puentes
Senior Education Equity Specialist
First generation college graduate who is passionate about educational equity. Washington, D.C., is the most recent of Mariela’s East Coast stops. She was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and grew up in Pomona, California. Read More »

Kathleen Pulupa
Communications Coordinator
DC native with experience in communications in both the non-profit and for profit sector, lover of yoga and farmers markets. Read More »

Kasia Razynska
Director of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Kasia Razynska was born in Gdansk, Poland. She graduated from The Harvard Graduate School Of Education with a degree in International Education Policy with a focus on quantitative research methods. She has 18 years of experience in the education sector and 7 years of continuous experience working on projects requiring evaluation, research design, statistical programming and data management. Read More »

Karmen Rouland
Director of Programs and Delivery
Born and raised in Petersburg, VA. As a wife and mother of small children, I am most passionate about ensuring that our schools meet the needs of all students. Through teaching, advocacy work, and research, I fight for social justice and to end inequity in education. Read More »

Phoebe Schlanger
Director of Finance and Administration
Former New Yorker and unabashed grammar geek, passionate about the beauty of words and their power to affect change, and recently acquired an admiration of numbers. Read More »

Paul Smith
Project Manager
Paul manages the fee-for-service portfolio at MAEC. For the past ten years, he has operated a consulting practice focused on dropout prevention and youth development initiatives for national and local clients including Reading is Fundamental and the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education. Read More »

Marianna Stepniak
Program & Communications Associate
Lifelong learner dedicated to dismantling inequitable systems; passionate about making complex topics accessible, exploring new places, and storytelling. Read More »

Nikevia Thomas
ALIVE Program Director
A vegan foodie who is dedicated to promoting excellence in education. Read More »

Heather Tomlinson
Senior Specialist for Early Childhood and Family Engagement
Heather Tomlinson has more than two decades of experience in research, policy, non-profit and international development work focusing on education, young children and families. She has published extensively, with a particular focus on low-income and marginalized populations: She is co-author of two books, including The Early Years Matter: Education, Care and the Well-Being of Young Children, Birth to 8, an invited editorial board member of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education, author of several chapters in NAEYC’s flagship series on developmentally appropriate practice and numerous policy reports and scholarly journal articles. Read More »

Daryl Williams
Senior Education Equity Specialist
Daryl returns to MAEC as Senior Education Equity Specialist, providing technical assistance and professional development training to schools and school districts to ensure that students are given access to an equitable education regardless of race, gender, national origin (English Learners), sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or religious beliefs. Read More »