Who We Are
Instruct
Instruct
Influence
Influence
Inspire
Inspire
We’re a trusted steward, providing a clear, actionable roadmap that instructs, influences, and inspires everyone in our communities to work together build stronger schools that achieve stellar results for every student.
Ensemble Learning began in 2009 as The College Ready Promise. It initially focused on creating systems to support and measure teacher effectiveness.
Elise Darwish
CEO
Elise leads Ensemble Learning’s strategic vision to improve school quality and remove barriers to achievement for underserved students. Previously, Elise was the founding Chief Academic Officer at Aspire Public Schools, where she grew the organization to a high-performing charter management organization with 38 schools in Tennessee and California. She was also the founding instructional coordinator at the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, the first charter school in California and the second in the nation. Elise is a Pahara Fellow and a Leap Ambassador.
Leigh Mingle, PhD
Senior Director of Operations and Research
Leigh supports the staff with business operations and conducts research and data analysis for partner schools. Leigh holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previously, Leigh served as a data scientist and researcher for a large school district and curriculum development company. Leigh specializes in understanding motivation in education, particularly in math and science.
Katherine Hamilton
Director of Special Projects
Katherine ensures that projects are executed well by planning meetings, establishing relationships with partners, and developing instructional content. Katherine holds a master’s degree in education from Stanford University. Previously, Katherine served charter management organizations, managing teacher development, curriculum, and English learner programs.
Sherre Vernon
Director of Learning and Leadership Coach
Sherre ensures that the Ensemble team is continuously learning and growing and coaches principals in leadership and instruction. Previously, Sherre served as the Chief Academic Officer for THRIVE Public Schools, as a principal for Camino Nuevo, and as a Dean of Student Culture with Green Dot.
Kettisha Jones, EdD
Senior Leadership Coach
Kettisha leads the principal coaches in the approach, design and implementation of coaching. Kettisha holds a doctorate in education from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Previously, Kettisha served as the assistant superintendent of elementary education at Pflugerville ISD and a principal for Houston ISD.
James Waller
Leadership Coach
James coaches principals in leadership and instruction. James holds a master’s degree in educational administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Previously, James served as vice president of secondary student achievement for the ICEF View Park family of schools and ICEF Inglewood Middle and as principal at Alliance Gertz-Ressler High School.
Sarah Molfese
Instructional Coach
Sarah is an Instructional Coach for the Los Angeles Area supporting educators with implementing multilingual learner programming, providing coaching, and delivering professional development. Previously, Sarah served as an Instructional Coach and Academic Program Manager at Aspire Public Schools where she supported teachers and leaders develop science programming and multilingual learner supports. She also has over 20 years of teaching experience in multiple states.
Janelly Garza, EdD
Dual Language Instructional Coach
Janelly supports teachers as they implement dual language best practices. Janelly holds a doctorate of education in English learning from Northcentral University. Previously, Janelly served as a K-12 bilingual/ESL strategist, dual language teacher and lecturer at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Janelly specializes in second language acquisition for multilingual learners.
Eileen Salinas
Dual Language Instructional Coach
Eileen supports teachers as they implement dual language best practices. Eileen holds a master’s degree in special education from the University of Concordia, TX. Previously, Eileen served as district multilingual specialist for Austin ISD, district language arts specialist, and a dual language educator. Eileen specializes in supporting culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students and dual language programming.
Board Members
Beth Hunkapiller
Beth is a former middle school educator and administrator. She is a 19-year member of the Board of Education of the San Carlos School District Board of Trustees. She was a founder of the San Carlos Charter Learning Center and the director of the Charter School Division for the state of California. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma Baptist University and her master’s degree from the University of Southern California.
Pablo Mejia
Pablo is the Vice President of Program Innovation at IDEA Public Schools and leads individualized learning across all 61 schools, impacting over 33,000 students. Before joining IDEA, Pablo worked in the Weslaco Independent School District for ten years as a teacher, curriculum facilitator, and principal. Pablo started his career with Teach for America in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership at the University of Texas Pan American.
Simmons Lettre
Simmons is an education consultant and advises organizations on creating and scaling effective programs to catalyze public K-12 education reform. Prior to launching her consulting work, Simmons co-founded and served as the CEO of Charter Board Partners (CBP), a national nonprofit dedicated to improving charter school board governance in ways that sustain effective schools. She is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow and holds a master’s in School Leadership from the Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College.
Max Polaner
Max is the first Executive Director of the New York region for iMentor. Max came to iMentor after completing ten years as the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer of Achievement First, a network of college preparatory K-12 charter schools, which grew from serving 900 to over 10,000 students during Max’s tenure. Before joining Achievement First, Max spent 12 years in the private sector, primarily at fast-growing start-up companies, and also as a consultant at McKinsey and Company as well as the head of quality control for his family’s business, Polaner Preserves. Max started his career as a public middle school math, social studies and music teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received a Masters of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, an MBA from Harvard Business School, his teacher’s certificate from San Francisco State University and his BA from Yale University.
Maria Christina R. Heredia
Maria Heredia’s work focuses on creating, expanding and supporting innovative and effective educational opportunities for K-12 and college students. She has been actively involved with charter schools and education nonprofits in California for over twenty years. Maria works at High Tech High in the dual role of Chief Operations Officer and General Counsel. She leads a dedicated operations team and supports the HTH school leadership teams in a variety of areas, including establishing and growing operational systems, strategic planning, board engagement, authorizer and stakeholder relations, and the development of policies and practices reflective HTH culture and design principles. Maria previously served as Senior Vice President of Legal Advocacy and General Counsel to the California Charter Schools Association. At CCSA, Maria expanded advocacy efforts on behalf of California charter schools, while leading an action that significantly increased the facilities available to children attending charter schools in Los Angeles.
Partners and Funders
