OUR TEAM
Working together to achieve our mission. Our team is our greatest strength.
Staff
Lernard Freeman
Vice President of Communications & Marketing
Board of Directors
Jyllian Bradshaw
Jyllian began her career as a high school teacher in Orange County, FL teaching high school language arts and ethics. After attending the University of Dayton School of Law, she went on to focus on Education Law and Labor and Employment practice.…
Steven Carniol
Steven Carniol is currently the AVP of Instructional Support and Student Experience at Galen College of Nursing, where he joined in July 2010 to oversee the launch of Galen’s online and web-enhanced programs.…
Terrans Edmonds, Jr.
Tj is a Richmond, VA native who grew up playing sports and working at summer camps. Growing up he always wanted to make things better than he found them and viewed himself as a small inventor.…
Rhonda Henderson
Rhonda Henderson is a native Washingtonian. She began her career in education teaching high school history after an “aha!” moment as a college sophomore: public education was designed to reproduce class stratification.…
Brian Holland
Brian Holland is a recognized expert in the design, implementation, management and planning of urban and workforce development policies and initiatives that expand educational and economic opportunities for marginalized populations and which build healthy communities.…
Dr. Jess Ingrassellino
Jess Ingrassellino started her career as a music teacher at the age of 18, teaching music in public and private schools, following her time as a violin scholarship student at the University of Vermont (BS, Education).…
Mamie Jackson Williams
Mamie is the Chief External Officer for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington (PPMW), where she strategically leads the development, public affairs and communications programming for the Affiliate. While at PPMW Mamie completed their $20M Capital Campaign for the organization’s new administrative headquarters and clinic in Washington, DC and is currently leading the organization through launching another $20M Capital Campaign.…
Ashley Jenkins
Board Chair
Ashley Jenkins is the Human Resources Director of the Americas Sales Organization at Meta, currently living and working in the New York City metropolitan area. A native of Chicago, Ashley received her BA in Sociology from DePaul University and her Master of HR & Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.…
Dr. Dana Kravchick
Dana has a doctoral degree in Neuroscience. She constantly strives for innovation and practices lifelong learning. In the past three years, Dana took her passion for education a leap forward. Transitioning from her full-time position as a Neuroscientist in biotech to becoming a founder and CEO.…
Dr. Manisha Maskay
Dr. Maskay has over 40 years of experience in public health, medical nutrition therapy, health education, and facilitation of positive change in health behaviors. She is devoted to promoting all forms of literacy to enable people to live their best lives.…
Quinci Moody
Treasurer
Quinci Moody is the Vice President of Finance and Operations at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, “America’s Black think tank”. A dedicated nonprofit executive with nearly twenty years of experience, Quinci is passionate about guiding emerging nonprofits to achieve their highest potential.…
Jermaine Myrie
Jermaine Myrie is the Chief Executive Officer at MENTOR, INC. Prior to this, Jermaine was the Chief External Affairs Officer (CEAO) at uAspire, currently living and working in the greater Boston area.…
Rita Sadhavani
Rita Sadhvani is an optimistic humanist and passionate problem solver who is excited to serve on The Literacy Lab’s Board of Directors. With over 29 years of experience in technology product innovation, Rita is eager to contribute her expertise to support The Literacy Lab’s mission of providing equitable literacy education to children in underserved communities.…
Christian Shaboo
Christian Shaboo has been focusing on building great teams and cultivating purpose-driven leadership for close to two decades. For the last 12 years, Christian has served in a variety of roles with The Future Project: from a Dream Director collaborating with hundreds of students and dozens of educators in the transformation of a public high school in New Haven, CT into a project-based, purpose-driven, and student-centered school; to serving as the VP of Content and Program, overseeing all programming online and in-person across the US.…
David Tate, Jr.
David Tate Jr. is a kindergarten educator in the great city of Milwaukee and a proud Alumnus of The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship. David has an Early Childhood Technical Diploma and an Early Childhood Associates degree from Milwaukee Area Technical College.…
Jackie Thomas Suggs
Vice Chair
A career dedicated to the art of philanthropy. Jackie Thomas-Suggs has been a fundraising professional for over 35 years. A student of and advocate for the promotion of the profession of development to a new and energized community.…
Keon Toyer
Keon brings over 25 years of experience in Technology, Operations, and Fiscal management.
Previously, he served as the VP of Strategic and Business Operations at the United Negro College Fund and as the Senior Director of IT at KIPP DC, a national public charter school organization with 7,000 students.…
Donald Walther
Board Chair
Donald (Don) Walther is the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ: CMTL), where he provides legal counsel to the Board of Directors and Executive Management on corporate governance, risk mitigation, and the execution of business strategy in highly regulated economies around the globe.…
