Susan has been a nationally recognized expert for more than four decades. Her transformational work in public schools has centered on the development of comprehensive technical assistance for system wide change, training on educational equity and culturally responsive pedagogy and practice, school climate and culture, family, school, and community engagement, and multicultural gender-related issues. Currently, Ms. Shaffer is the Executive Director of MAEC’s Center for Education Equity. She also represents MAEC as a partner with the Chief State School Officers to create a State Consortium on Family Engagement, developing a Birth to Age 21 Family Engagement Framework for 18 states. Ms. Shaffer has published extensively on gender equity, family engagement, civil rights, multicultural education, and disability. Her publications include a co-edited journal, Equity-Centered Capacity Building: Essential Approaches for Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation, and co-authored book, How to Connect with your iTeen: A Parenting Road Map.  

Ms. Shaffer serves on several boards, including the National Association of Family, School and Community Engagement since 2013, (co-founder) and the Bowie State University School of Education Board of Directors from 2012 to 2019 as well as the Harmony Through Education Board of Directors since 2006. Her other equity work includes Continuous Improvement for Equity and as a national member of the Model Design and Initiation program with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; with the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement (CAFÉ) State Family Engagement Center since 2019; as the Co-Chair of the Maryland Family Engagement Framework Committee; a member of the Equity-Centered Capacity Building Network since 2014; she has been a member of the Committee of Title I Practitioners for the Maryland State Department of Education since 2010; and she is a member of the Maryland Superintendent’s Family Engagement Advisory Council. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her service, leadership, and significant contribution to curricular materials on women. She holds a B.A. in History and M.A. in education from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Nyla is a native Philadelphian and fourth generation Black educator with over 20 years of experience working at the intersections of equity, social justice, and public education. Nyla has devoted her life and career to educational justice as an adult educator, technical assistance provider, advocate, English teacher, scholar and youth organizer. Nyla’s more recent experiences working to advance equity and justice in education include teaching graduate courses on race and critical pedagogy to pre-service teachers; developing social justice curricula as a classroom teacher; and providing professional development on culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy to in-service teachers. Nyla earliest experiences include testifying before Philadelphia’s superintendent on the poor condition of textbooks and serving as editor of a newsletter that covered topics like racial disproportionality in AP and honors classes. In response to systemic racial inequities and hate incidents, Nyla’s early experiences also include co-leading the work of establishing Penn State University’s first and only Africana Research Center and organizing a first of its kind Black Women Studies conference. With strong foundational knowledge on the intersections of racial, economic, and gender inequality, and on the culture and politics of public schooling, Nyla continues her ed justice work at MAEC by providing consultation, training, evaluation services, and technical assistance to educators and policy-makers in schools, districts, and state departments of education on a wide range of the most salient issues related to equity in schooling. Nyla is an alumna of, and board member with the Philadelphia Student Union, and is also longtime member of the Free Minds, Free People (FMFP) Leadership Committee. Nyla holds a Masters of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Philosophy degree with an interdisciplinary focus on social inequality, and with honors in African and African American Studies and Women’s Studies, from Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

Mira received her Bachelor’s of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018 and her Master’s of Arts in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago in 2019. Throughout her undergraduate education, she worked as an intern at three nonprofits, and realized a strong commonality among all three—the impactful role data had on their service provision and on the clients they served. This realization led her to the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, where she gained further experience working with data to inform practice. Before coming to MAEC, she evaluated an array of social services delivered by a large Chicago-based nonprofit, with an emphasis on early childhood programs. She believes strongly in using a data-driven, evidence-based approach to address social issues, gaps in service delivery, and systemic inequities. She is also very fond of hazelnut coffee, her dog, and the Oxford comma.

Leah is the Director of Development at MAEC, focusing her efforts on fundraising and marketing. Prior to joining MAEC, Leah served as the National Development Director for a pro-bono consulting firm, where she focused on major gifts and grant writing. Leah has more than 14 years of experience in business development, major gift fundraising and building high-functioning development departments. Leah holds a B.A. in International Economics & French from the University of Kentucky and an M.P.H. from The George Washington University, where she specialized in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of global health programs. She lives in upper Northwest Washington D.C. with her husband, mini-schnauzer, and her two spunky daughters.

Kate Farbry has over 20 years of experience working in digital communications for non-profit organizations, understanding the multifaceted needs of diverse audiences with varying capabilities and access. In her current role, Ms. Farbry develops and executes MAEC’s communication strategy and manages dissemination channels, including the website, email campaigns, and social media. With a focus on maximizing engagement and user experience design, Ms. Farbry’s background is in front and back-end website development and branding, print publication production, and email outreach.  

Most recently, Ms. Farbry helped develop MAEC’s universal services in response to COVID-19. When schools moved to virtual learning in 2020, MAEC produced a series of webinars, newsletters, and web-based resources, to assist educators and families as they transitioned to at-home learning. Ms. Farbry also serves as the project manager for the CI4E Resource Hub, a project funded by the Gates Foundation, to increase the usability of and engagement around Continuous Improvement for Equity tools.  

Prior to joining MAEC, Ms. Farbry served as the website and outreach specialist for a national advocacy nonprofit and as an independent consultant developing websites and marketing materials. She holds a B.A. in Writing from the University of Evansville, IN 

Originally from Pensacola, FL, Dannele is passionate about narrowing the research-to-practice gap and collaborating with stakeholders in education to use, interpret, and apply evaluation methods and findings in order to continuously improve the quality of and equitable access to education for children and youth. Dannele has over 7 years of experience in the education, youth development, and child welfare fields. She began her career in education at the University of Alabama, serving as a research technician for the Alabama Quality STARS QRIS pilot project for early childhood programs. She then served as a program and grants manager for Chain Reaction, an afterschool-based service-learning and leadership development non-profit for high school students based in her hometown. Following graduate study, Dannele spent three years at ICF where she served as an evaluation and research analyst for various projects in child welfare and education. Dannele holds a B.S. in Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College and a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia.

Carol  Gant works as a part of the Together Juntos team in providing Technical Assistance and Training to assist the state of Maryland Department of Education in their efforts to improve early childhood services and outcomes. Carol has over 20 years’ experience in the field of early childhood special education. After starting her career as an early childhood special education teacher, Carol went on to serve as the Early Head Start and Head Start Special Education Program Coordinator for Johns Hopkins Hospital/ Department of Pediatrics and Educare of Washington DC. She later joined Bowie State University as Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Special Education and Bethany College as Assistant Professor of Special Education. 

 Carol joined The National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (NCQTL) in 2013 where she served as a Regional Field Specialist in the Migrant and Seasonal Program Branch of the Federal Office of Head Start Head and transitioned to the same position at the National Center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning (NCECDTL) in 2015 when the contract shifted from the University of Washington to Zero to Three. Carol’s primary responsibilities were to support the Office of Head Start (OHS) staff in improving their efforts to put research-based concepts into everyday practice in Head Start programs, to deliver  training and technical assistance,  provide consultation on using data collection and analysis to make changes that improve child outcomes in support of school readiness and to provide oversight of grantees to assess program performance to ensure federal school readiness requirements were met. 

 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. 

As a Senior Family Engagement Specialist at MAEC,  Young-chan Han coordinates the delivery of high–impact family, school, and community engagement programming and technical assistance with partner organizations to underserved communities across Maryland and Pennsylvania.   

Before MAEC, Ms. Han served as a Title I/Family Engagement and Title III Specialist at the Maryland State Department of Education.  In her role, she provided technical assistance and guidance to local school systems on the implementation of Title I and Title III requirements.  She also worked closely with Family Involvement Coordinators to ensure all families, especially low-income families, are meaningfully engaged in education. In 2020, Ms. Han spearheaded the State’s publication, A Guide to School for Families of English Learners.  

Committed to equip and empower immigrant families, as an International Student and Family Engagement Specialist at the Howard County Public School System (1999-2007), Ms. Han was instrumental in building a sustainable structure of support for immigrant families including, the creation of the Interpreting/Translation Office.  Ms. Han has over 20 years of experience in language access, family engagement, leadership development, and English learners.   

Ms. Han has been recognized for leadership in educational equity and family engagement. She received the 2017 Human Rights Award by the Howard County Human Rights Commission for her dedicated leadership and outstanding achievement to support equal access to programs and services for all families. She also received the 2017 Konrad Lindenberg Memorial Award for Leadership in Developing Community Partnerships awarded by the Pennsylvania Coalition Involvement.   

Jessica Lim reports to and assists the Director of Finance, Phoebe Schlanger, with day-to-day bookkeeping and administrative tasks. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from American University. In addition to finance and administrative support, Ms. Lim assists in the drafting, tracking, and organizing of contracts from independent contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and clients. Using her experience in Microsoft Excel and other software gained from research and data analysis internships – mainly as co-author of an academic paper about airline ancillary fees with Professor Mark Kahan from American University –, she provides assistance in generating supporting documents for reports, generating budgets and financial analysis, and creating other program tools that aid in automating recurring tasks and increasing budgetary accuracy. Ms. Lim also provides IT support for webinars and any other general tasks as required.  

Michelle has over 25 years of experience as a teacher, Civil Rights Investigator, and trainer specializing in the reduction of hate crimes, school-based harassment, bullying, racial tension, prejudice, and gangs. As MAEC’s Pennsylvania State Equity Coordinator and the Center’s Safe Schools Manager, Michelle is responsible for multiple statewide initiatives aimed at improving school safety and reducing youth violence. She is a certified trainer for: Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, Partners Against Hate, Lifelines, and Nonviolent Crisis Intervention. She has a B.A. in English Education from Messiah College and an M.S. in Education Law from Nova Southeastern University. Michelle is a graduate of the National Institute Against Hate Crimes and Terrorism, the Anti-Defamation League’s Advanced Training School course on Extremist and Terrorist Threats, and the FBI’s Citizen Academy.

As equity intern, Jenny Portillo supports CEE and CAFE initiatives including research and development of family engagement materials for the families of English Learners. Ms. Portillo also supports MAEC teams with gathering data and reviewing materials related to culturally responsive curriculum and instructional practices.  Prior to joining MAEC, Ms. Portillo worked as an instructional leader for a high performing public charter school network in New York City.  Ms. Portillo has over ten years of experience as an elementary school educator in both traditional public school and charter school settings in Texas and New York.  Throughout her career, she has also worked as a teacher evaluator, instructional coach, professional development facilitator and curriculum designer exclusively in schools serving students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and students from communities of color. Ms. Portillo brings extensive experience in working with English Learners and developing curricula to support learners from diverse backgrounds.  Ms. Portillo is currently an Ed.M candidate in School Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ms. Portillo also holds a BA in English and History from Fordham University and an MA in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.  

Mariela serves as Program Manager for the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement Center (CAFE) and as the Senior Education Equity Specialist for MAEC. She works with educators and families to help them build effective partnerships for supporting student learning and well-being. Mariela has spent her career working with educators, families, and communities to promote equitable learning outcomes for all students. In crafting trainings and technical assistance focused on reducing disparate outcomes based on race, gender, language, and socioeconomic status, she has helped school leaders across several states develop skills and strategies for equitable and effective family engagement practices. Prior to her role at MAEC, Mariela hired and supervised staff, and directed the summer program at a public charter school in Washington, D.C., and she managed enrichment programs for educational nonprofits in New York City. Mariela holds a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, where she was also a Donovan Scholar with a focus on urban education, and a B.A. in Educational Psychology from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

Kathleen has over 10 years of experience working with communications in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Kathleen currently is MAEC’s communications and administrative coordinator and assists the CEO and works with the Associate Director of Communications in managing the websites, social media, e-newsletters, and designs layouts for print publications. Prior to joining MAEC, she worked in the travel industry and as a communications consultant. She earned her degree in Communications at Marymount University, VA and graduate degree in Public Communications at American University, DC.

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. Prior to joining MAEC she worked for ICF where she served on the internal evaluation team for the Capacity Building Center for States funded through the Children’s Bureau. She is also played an integral role with the Regional Education Laboratory Mid-Atlantic (REL MA). As the REL MA Maryland State Coordinator, she used her understanding education policy and knowledge of the state to ensure that Maryland’s needs are well represented in REL activities. In her role as Coordinator of the REL Mid-Atlantic Longitudinal Data Use Research Alliance (LDURA), she advised stakeholders on implementing new data processes. She has also worked with the Puerto Rico Department of Education on numerous research and technical assistance projects and is fluent in Spanish.  In her spare time Kasia teaches English to kids in China through an internet platform.  Having moved to the U.S. from Poland at the age of 14, she is deeply passionate about ensuring access to education for all children, especially English Learners and immigrants.

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Karmen Rouland, PhD serves as the Director of Programs and Delivery at MAEC. In this role, she provides leadership, supervision, oversight, and management of MAEC’s programs and services, as well as, collaborating with senior leadership to develop future business for MAEC. Karmen also manages technical assistance and training services to state departments of education, school districts, and schools on civil rights and educational equity issues. Specifically, she provides training on issues related to cultural competence, family engagement, equitable access to education, implicit bias, privilege, and structural inequality. Karmen has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and technical papers on issues related to family engagement and equity. Prior to joining MAEC, Karmen worked at the intersection of education policy and data at the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).

Karmen has extensive experience in educational research and youth development programs. Karmen also served as School Liaison for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) and as a Co-Site Director for It’s Great to Be a Girl Mentoring Program. Before working for the government of the District of Columbia, Karmen worked at Howard University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow studying the role of HBCUs in diversifying the K-12 teacher pipeline. She has also provided research consultation for several non-profit organizations and school districts.

For more than 15 years, Karmen has taught undergraduate and graduate-level education courses for pre-service and in-service teachers at Howard University, George Washington University, the University of Michigan, and Washington Adventist University. She graduated summa cum laude from Howard University in Washington, DC with a B.S. in psychology. She received her Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Combined Program in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan. Karmen is a 2021 Leadership Montgomery CORE participant, a board member of Girls Prep, Inc and a Co-Troop Leader with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

Phoebe has over 20 years experience as a lawyer, writer, editor, and budget manager. At MAEC, she divides her time between finance and editing. Under finance, she manages contracts, grants, budgets, A/P and A/R. She writes and edits publications, including grant proposals. Prior to joining MAEC, she was an attorney and a managing editor. Phoebe has served on several non-profit boards, and is currently the President of the Board of the non-profit Kids’ Corner Day Care Center in Washington, D.C. Phoebe has a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Rochester and a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.

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. In addition, Paul provided technical assistance for the US Department of Education’s High School Graduation Initiative and the Department of Labor’s Persistently Dangerous Schools grant, each of which significantly increased the graduation rates of at-risk youth. Paul also leads the Reconnecting Youth Campaign for Baltimore, which advocates for pathways to education, training, national service and employment opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds. Paul earned a MA in Teaching from Trinity University and a Masters of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He currently resides in Baltimore with his wife and two children.

Marianna Stepniak develops cohesive organizational messaging for MAEC and delivers technical assistance and training to clients to address equity issues they are facing. She coordinates MAEC’s outward-facing communications, including developing social media content and reviewing publications. Her technical assistance projects range from facilitating webinars to developing tools and publications in order to meet the needs of education leaders. Ms. Stepniak specializes in culturally responsive gender-related issues, Title IX compliance, social emotional learning, and continuous improvement for equity practices. 

Prior to joining MAEC, Ms. Stepniak served as an AmeriCorps Member in a 2nd/3rd grade classroom with City Year Sacramento, and as chief of staff for a gubernatorial campaign in Maryland. These experiences sparked her decision to address systemic inequities in the US education system, pursuing work at the intersection of education, politics, and social justice. Ms. Stepniak earned her Ed.M in Education Policy & Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education ’20, and her B.A. in English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies from the College of William & Mary ’17. 

Nikevia manages MAEC’s ALIVE after-school program. For 15 years, she’s been dedicated to enriching the lives of children and families. Prior to joining MAEC, she’s served as the program director or coordinator of enrichment and educational programs in non-profits throughout Washington, DC and Long Beach, California. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Western Governors University and Master of Business Administration from Trinity Washington University.

Heather Biggar Tomlinson is Senior Specialist for Early Childhood and Family Engagement at MAEC, Inc.  She is the founding Executive Director for a non-profit organization overseas, established in 2015, that serves over 600 vulnerable, low-income children and families annually.  Previously, as Professional Development Specialist for NAEYC, she oversaw the national teacher preparation accreditation system for early childhood serving colleges across the United States, and conceptualized and wrote position statements, policy papers and numerous chapters in NAEYC’s flagship series on developmentally appropriate practice.  Prior to this position, she was part of the prestigious AAAS science diplomacy fellowship program under the auspices and funding of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), where she served as a research-policy liaison on the HELP Committee, in the office of Senator Edward Kennedy.  There, under the supervision of Roberto Rodriguez, Heather worked on the School Readiness Act of 2003, reauthorizing Head Start programs.  She has also served as a research analyst for the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and as a researcher on poverty, parenting education and early childhood for the World Bank and UNICEF.  Author of more than 40 publications, she has written peer-reviewed journal articles, state-level and international-level reports and two books, including The Early Years Matter: Education, Care and the Well-Being of Young Children, Birth to 8 (Teachers College Press, 2016). Her most recent publication, currently in press, is Maryland’s strategic plan on early childhood, published by MAEC, Inc., and the Maryland State Department of Education.  She was one of nine invited editorial board members of the 2016 SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education, for which she wrote the entries on effects of poverty and developmentally appropriate practice, among others.  Heather has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and a Master’s degree in clinical psychology specializing in children and families. 

Daryl Williams is a Senior Education Equity Specialist at MAEC, providing technical assistance and professional development training to schools and school districts to ensure that students are given access to an equitable education. As a former Associate Superintendent for Student Services, Dr. Williams provides support to superintendents and executive leadership teams  in developing equity assistance plans as part of the district’s strategic work. His work included training teachers and educators on strategies to increase diversity in talented and gifted programs in Henrico County (VA) Public Schools. He has collaborated with the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC), a partnership between Richmond-area public school districts and Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Williams is also the Chair and Doctoral Instructor in the College of Doctoral Studies at the University of Phoenix.