Board

Jeff Kutash, President
Jeff combines an extensive background in strategy development for social sector organizations with significant experience in education. Jeff leads FSG's San Francisco office and oversees the firm's Education & Youth Impact Area. Recent engagements include leading work with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a statewide vision for higher education in Texas, with Target Corporation to develop their education social responsibility strategy, with DC Public Schools to create strategic priorities for the Office of School Innovation, and with the State of New York to develop a reform plan for the state's juvenile justice system. Prior to joining FSG, Jeff was the Director of California Operations for The SEED Foundation where he was responsible for assessing the feasibility of establishing college-preparatory boarding schools in California. Jeff also spent three years as a public  and private sector strategy consultant, first with McKinsey & Company, and then with The Bridgespan Group. Jeff's direct experience in education includes three years creating and leading nonprofit educational support and college access/success programs as the Director of Programs at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund in New York City. He also spent three years teaching math at a New York City public school as a Teach For America corps member. Jeff holds an M.B.A in General Management from Harvard Business School and a B.A in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Debbra Lindo, Vice President
Debbra Lindo is the Superintendent of the Emery Unified School District. Previously, she served as the Director of Secondary Education for the Palo Alto Unified School District and College Track's CEO and Chief Academic Officer. Dr. Lindo has also served as principal of Carlmont High School in the Sequoia Union High School District and Castlemont High School in the Oakland Unified School District where she directed the small schools conversion initiative with support from a national network of urban school reformers. Prior to OUSD and College Track, Dr. Lindo served as Vice President of Educational Services for ViaNovus, Inc, a Program Management software application company located in Oakland. She is a graduate of Stanford University's School of Education and has her doctorate in Educational Leadership from St. Mary's College.

Jose Ruben Olivares, Secretary
A founding teacher at Think College Now Elementary School in Oakland, Ruben now serves as Principal. Ruben is a graduate of the Principal Leadership Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences and Spanish from UC Irvine. Ruben was born and raised in Compton, California, and now lives in San Leandro with his wife and two children.

Hae-Sin Thomas, Treasurer
Hae-Sin is a founder of Great Oakland Public Schools and the new CEO of Education for Change, a charter management organization based in Oakland, California whose mission is to provide excellent educational opportunities throughout the "flatlands" of Oakland.  She was the co-founder and CEO of urbanED solutions, a non-profit education consulting organization committed to improving academic outcomes for children in historically underserved urban centers across the country. Previously, Hae-Sin worked for the Oakland Unified School District for 15 years - as a teacher, principal, school developer, and executive officer, including as founding principal of ASCEND. Her last three years, she led a team charged with designing and leading two key foundational tenets of OUSD's nationally recognized reform effort Expect Success, where she was responsible for facilitating the design and opening of 22 new schools, replacing 18 chronically-failing schools. Hae-Sin holds a B.A in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Francisco, and a Masters in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University.

Jonathan Klein, Member-at-Large
Jonathan has experience in teaching, educational leadership, entrepreneurial ventures, and nonprofit organizations. From 2006 to 2008, he played a critical role in ensuring the progress of Oakland Unified School District's "Expect Success" initiatives through three senior leadership transitions as Special Assistant to the State Administrator. In addition to his current role as Chief Program Officer at the Rogers Family Foundation, Jonathan teaches nonprofit management at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and serves on the boards of the Oakland Schools Foundation and New Leaders for New Schools, Bay Area. Jonathan is also a fully credentialed California teacher and an alumnus of Teach For America. In 2009, he was named one of the "40 under 40" national progressive political entrepreneurs by the New Leaders Council. Jonathan lives in Oakland with his wife and two children.

Kirsten Vital, Member-at-Large
Kirsten Vital is the Superintendent of the Alameda Unified School District, appointed January 1, 2009. Under her leadership, the district has seen a 26% increase in proficiency rates on the California Standards Tests district-wide, a 24-point increase in the Academic Performance Index district-wide, and a 92% high school graduation rate. Superintendent Vital is also implementing a performance management system district-wide with student milestones, department scorecards and school tiering system. Collaboratively with the community, she wrote a 5-year district Strategic Plan with a year-long community engagement process, and initiated and placed a $12 million dollar parcel tax that was overwhelmingly passed by voters in Alameda in March 2011. Her previous position was Chief of Community Accountability, an Associate Superintendent position in the Oakland Unified School District. Prior to Oakland Unified, Mrs. Vital held roles within the Los Angeles Unified School District which included Director of Instruction, Health and Human Services (East Los Angeles local district) and Administrator for School Reform (South Central Los Angeles local district).  Prior to these roles, she served as Co-principal at Santa Monica High School, where she led the school reform efforts, including the implementation of an Advanced Placement (AP) access program that tripled the number of underrepresented students enrolled in AP courses.  Mrs. Vital has also served as an Assistant Principal, House Leader, Humanities teacher, college-level professor, and has consulted in school reform in other districts.  Mrs. Vital earned her BA from Northeastern University and her MA in Education at Whittier College and is currently pursuing her doctorate at Saint Mary's College of California.