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Meet the Teach For America Washington Advisory Board

Our regional advisory board provides strategic direction and support for our work in Washington state.

July 7, 2022

Michael Orbino
Managing Broker, Avenue Properties
Board Vice Chair, Teach For America Washington

Michael Orbino is a Managing Broker with Avenue Properties in Downtown Bellevue. Michael brings over 16 years of real estate sales, marketing and consulting experience to every client relationship. He holds numerous REALTOR designations including Council of Residential Specialists, Accredited Buyers Representative and Graduate Realtor Institute. He was recognized as the 2015 REALTOR of the year by Seattle King County Realtors which is the highest honor they can bestow on only one of over 6,000 members. Real estate specialization areas include land development, pro-forma analysis, marketing plans, and sales team training. Client profiles include builders, developers, and investors as well as individuals and families at every economic level seeking holistic representation and assistance for long term or complex real estate needs.

Industry leadership includes 2017 SKCR Vice President of Governmental Affairs, Young Professionals Network Founding Chairman, and Federal Political Coordinator for the National Association of Realtors. Michael is also passionate about community and philanthropic involvement. He currently serves on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Seattle, Teach for America, and the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition. Individually he works to inspire and encourage young men who may be experiencing temporary challenges through his mentor role in the Bellevue School District’s VIBES program.

Michael’s proudest role is maintaining the rank of Sergeant after serving 6 years in the United States Army Reserve with one year of active duty mobilization to support Operations Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom. His mission in the Finance Corps was maintaining solider readiness for overseas wartime deployments. The respect and awe for individuals who give up everything on a moment’s notice to serve our county and the humbling responsibility to make sure they don’t have to worry about their family’s finances while in harm’s way is something that will stay with Michael forever.

On a personal level, Michael enjoys spending his free time with family and friends. Hobbies include skiing, boating, reading, traveling, and intense conversations. Recent trips include India, Italy, Switzerland, French Polynesia, and Nicaragua with plans to visit Japan, Korea, or China soon.
 

Dawn Lepore
Former CEO and Chairman of the Board, Drugstore.com

Dawn Lepore is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of drugstore.com, inc., a leading online retailer of health, beauty, and wellness products, which she led from 2004 until the successful sale to Walgreens in 2011. During her tenure, Dawn repositioned the company to focus on the over-the-counter, beauty, and vision businesses and led the company to record revenues, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. drugstore.com operated a wide variety of sites, including drugstore.com, Beauty.com, SkinStore.com, AtHisBest.com, TheNaturalStore.com, and VisionDirect.com. In addition, drugstore operated private label sites for Luxottica Retail North America Inc. and Medco CHP, LLC.

Prior to joining drugstore.com, Dawn held leadership positions at The Charles Schwab Company where she played a key role launching, and then building Schwab's highly successful e-commerce business. In her 21 years with Schwab, she held a wide variety of roles and responsibilities. She served as vice chairman of technology, operations, administration, strategy and active trader, was chief information officer, a member of Schwab's Executive Committee and a trustee of SchwabFunds.

Currently Dawn serves on the boards of loanDepot, RealNetworks, Accolade and Servco Pacific Inc. She previously served on the boards of eBay, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., TJX, AOL, Quotient, and The New York Times Company. Dawn has been honored by Fortune Magazine four times as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business, by the National Organization for Women at their Aiming High Conference, was named one of InformationWeek's Chiefs of the Year, and was listed as one of the Ten Hottest CIOs by Future Banker Magazine. She is one of fourteen Renaissance CIOs selected in 2008 for their major and enduring contributions to their companies and their industries. Dawn graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Kevin Chase
Superintendent, Educational Service District 105

Kevin Chase is the superintendent of the Yakima-based Educational Service District 105, which assists in the programs of 25 public school districts and 23 private and tribal schools in south central Washington.

Kevin was raised in Sunnyside, where he graduated from high school, then obtained his B.S. degree in agriculture education from Washington State University, his master’s degree in education administration from Heritage College, and his superintendent’s certification from WSU.

He has served his entire career as an educator within Yakima County, beginning as a 7th-12th grade vocational agriculture teacher in Granger (1985-1990) and at Mabton (1990-1994). Afterwards, he moved into administration as vice principal at Sunnyside High School (1994-1997) and then assistant superintendent at Mabton (1997-1998). At the time of his appointment as ESD 105 superintendent in 2016, Kevin had been the longest tenured school district superintendent in the region, having led the Mabton School District during 1998-2004 and then the Grandview School District during 2004-2016, for a total of 12 years.

He and his wife Leslie are the parents of two daughters. Kevin’s hobbies include barbecuing and attending music concerts.

Omar Contreras
Attorney, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt P.C.

Omar is an attorney at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt P.C. where his practice focuses mainly on advising social impact ventures and advising clients engaged in domestic and international corporate transactions. His passion for education was instilled in him at an early age through the example of the educators in his family: his great-grandfather, grandmother, mother, and aunt were all teachers in the Dominican Republic, Omar’s native country. From his family members’ leadership within the island’s educational community and their committed dedication to the betterment of others’ quality of life, Omar learned that positive personal and societal change can occur when compassionate mentoring is paired with a tireless focus on pushing beyond the perceived limits in one’s capabilities. 

Prior to receiving his law degree from the University of Washington, Omar attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He received his bachelors of arts in economics with a minor in political science from Rutgers in 2010. After graduating from Rutgers and before attending law school, Omar worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in New York City, led a family-owned and operated commercial insurance brokerage, and interned for a member of the House of Representatives. In addition to his involvement on the TFA-WA board, Omar is also Co-Director for Fundraising at Minds Matter Seattle, a volunteer-led non-profit organization mission-focused on transforming the lives of accomplished high school students from low-income families by broadening their dreams and preparing them for college. 

In his spare time, Omar enjoys dinners at Cascina Spinasse, long urban hikes through Seattle, and practicing Tom Misch songs on the drums. 

Michael D. Corral
Associate Partner, Promise 54

Born and raised in Yakima, WA, Michael is the proud son of Mexican Immigrant parents and has a passion for serving his home state and Latinx comunidad. Professionally, Michael is currently an Associate Partner for Promise54 - a research and consulting firm that supports public school systems and other non-profits in implementing and improving DEI and antiracism to better serve their communities.  

Over the past 12 years, Michael has work and research experience in the K-12, higher education, and non-profit sectors of education. Past roles have included a middle and high school math interventionist/teacher in Phoenix, AZ, adjunct professor and research assistant at the University of Connecticut, Director of State Affairs at Teach For America, and Research Associate at Inflexion. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Eastern Oregon University, an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Administration from the American College of Education, and a Ph.D. in Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy from the University of Connecticut.

Michael currently resides in Vancouver, WA with his wife Courtney, their beautiful new born son Diego, and lazy 12-year old pitbull pup Josephine. 
 

Jacqueline Downey 
Instructional Leadership Executive Director of secondary schools, Highline Public Schools

Jacqueline Downey is an Instructional Leadership Executive Director of secondary schools in Highline Public Schools. In this role, she supervises principals and oversees implementation of instructional initiatives at the secondary level. Previously, Jacqueline was the principal of Evergreen High School in Highline Public Schools. As the principal, she merged three small schools and established a new comprehensive high school that consistently achieved the highest graduation rates in the district. Jacqueline is also a Cambiar Catalyst Fellow. She began her career in education as a Teach For America Colorado corps member in 2010. 

Jacqueline holds an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado with a focus on secondary literacy, her principal certificate from the Danforth Educational Leadership Program at the University of Washington, and a B.A. in Sociology and Music from Whitman College. 

Bree Dusseault
Practitioner-In-Residence, Center On Reinventing Public Education

As a resident of Southeast Seattle and former principal and teacher, Bree believes deeply in working with families and community to create schools that will realize their hopes and dreams for students. Most recently, Bree served as the Director of the Leadership Center at WA Charters, helping school leaders design new schools for Washington students. She also served as the Executive Director of Schools for Seattle Public Schools, overseeing its Southeast region of schools, and was a public charter school principal in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Bree has researched charter schools nationally with the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education and started her career in education as a high school math teacher. Having worked in a variety of traditional and public charter schools where academically underserved students successfully find a path to college and beyond, she is excited to see what our students make possible in Washington State. Bree proudly serves on the boards of City Year Seattle-King County and Teach for America Washington.

When not working Bree loves live music, the outdoors, and a good book by the fire.

Larry Estrada
Vice President of Private Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs & Co

Larry provides financial advice, education and investment management expertise to high net worth family groups, tribal governments, endowments, and foundations across the U.S. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Larry established and managed a global government relations team at Hewlett-Packard. While at HP, he served as an advisor to the company’s CEO and executive council on tax and technology policy issues in the U.S. and emerging markets.

Larry received an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and graduated from Stanford University with a concentration in behavioral economics.

Larry served on the corporate advisory board for the World Economic Forum and was a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (SIFMA) retirement and savings committee. Larry currently serves as a board member for Russell & Ciara Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation, the Seattle Symphony, 5th Avenue Theatre, Cascade Public Media, and IslandWood.

Jennifer Flood (Bay Area '97)
Education Consultant
Board Chair, Teach For America Washington

Jennifer Guerrero Flood has been a lifelong advocate for educational equity and currently leads her own consulting practice working with foundations, districts, and non-profit organizations to increase their impact. Jennifer grew up in California’s Bay Area where she also began her career as a 1997 corps member and bilingual third grade teacher in East Palo Alto. Her experience in education includes teaching in Chile and Stockholm, managing Title I and early childhood programs at the U.S. Department of Education, and serving as Executive Director of a non-profit supporting Ugandan schools during the country’s transition to universal primary education.

A first-generation college graduate, Jennifer received her BA in Political Science and Psychology from UCLA, and an Ed.M. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University. Jennifer and her husband have three children who are currently in middle and high school. In their free time they enjoy backpacking in the Pacific Northwest, cooking and eating delicious food, and traveling as often as possible. 

Trevor Greene
Superintendent, Yakima School District

Prior to his current role, Trevor led in a large, multi-linguistic, urban district, adjacent to Seattle. His work there, supervising and developing principal leadership, helped realize the largest graduation rate increase in 10 years. In addition, his partnership efforts resulted in both the establishment of a bilingual teacher pathway for instructional assistants to become teachers and a dual-language principal preparation program for teachers to become administrators — only the second of its kind in the United States. Trevor’s leadership also improved “equity in hiring” practices and systemic recruitment efforts, resulting in an over 35 percent increase in employing diverse, high-quality educators.

As a principal on the Yakama Indian Reservation, Trevor led a high school with a 99 percent poverty rate to unprecedented success. His staff established nationally certified engineering and biomedical programs, and his students realized a near 95 percent graduation rate and a 67 percent increase in state science scores. Subsequently, Trevor was selected by his colleagues as the Washington State High School Principal of the Year and is the only principal from the Pacific Northwest, and first Native American, to be recognized as the National Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Following this honor, which included numerous presentations nationwide and meeting with President Obama, Trevor completed the first principal fellowship for the Association of Washington School Principals.

Apart from serving on the Teach for America Washington Advisory Board, Trevor is the current board chair for College Spark Washington, a grant funder that helps low-income students become college-ready and earn their degrees. He has also previously served on the education committee for Leadership Tomorrow Seattle and on the board of directors for Minds Matter Seattle. Trevor was named Alumnus of the Year for the College of Education at Central Washington University and earned his superintendent certification through Washington State University. He currently attends the University of Washington, where he is earning a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership. He and his wife, Melanie, live in Yakima and have four children.

Marguerite Kondracke
Social Entrepreneur and Retired CEO, America's Promise

Marguerite Kondracke has had a 40-year career working in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with a focus on education, children and families. She has a special passion for addressing the needs of disadvantaged children. Marguerite most recently retired as CEO of America’s Promise, (founded by Colin Powell), whose work centers on a national campaign to end the high- school dropout crisis.

Marguerite also co-founded Bright Horizons, which has over 1000 workplace child care centers today. In the public sector, Marguerite served as Commissioner of Human Services in Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander’s cabinet, and later in the U.S. Senate, as Staff Director for the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families.

Marguerite is a graduate of Duke University and served twelve years on their Board of Trustees. In addition, she has been a member of the boards of five private and four public companies, as well as several non- profits, including IslandWood, where she currently serves as board chair. She also was a member of the advisory board for UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Science.

Marguerite and her husband, award-winning political journalist Morton Kondracke, live on Bainbridge Island and most enjoy spending time with their five grandchildren.

Srilakshmi (Sri) Remala 
Program Officer, Post Secondary Success, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Srilakshmi (Sri) Remala is a seasoned technology professional who is motivated to build and design products that fit the needs of students and teachers in the education sector. Her focus on raising education outcomes for underserved and minority communities has fueled her work for the last decade. In Spring 2018 Sri is excited to start a new role as the General Manager/Head of Attain Product, a new edtech venture focused on helping first generation college going students track their goals towards a degree or credential.

While Sri was always passionate about social equity, there was a single day in 2008 as a part of Leadership tomorrow where she saw the striking difference between a resource rich and a resource poor high school in our region. Since that day she has since steeped herself in equity issues in the education community. She began this journey, active board member of Powerful Schools, a community-based organization that serves to reduce the achievement gap in high needs elementary schools through literacy arts and after-school programs.

In 2010 she left her management consulting career to focus on the local work at systems change non-profits such The Roadmap for Education Results and Washington STEM. Most recently; she has been in the edtech sector at companies such as AgileMind and DreamBox Learning to design and develop product features that help educators improve the content knowledge and help them improve their instructional practices.

In her free time, Sri is an avid outdoors woman and loves spending time outdoors with her husband and two young boys.

Zoë Stemm-Calderon (Houston '00)
Director, Education, Raikes Foundation

Zoë joined the Raikes Foundation in 2015 to lead its education strategy. Before joining the foundation, Zoë served as a resident at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation while completing her doctorate in education leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She wrote her dissertation on philanthropic strategy for incubating and scaling personalized learning. Previously, Zoë was assistant superintendent of professional support and development at Houston Independent School District (ISD). Prior to her work in Houston ISD, Zoë was a senior leader at Teach for America, where she spent her 10-year tenure focused on advancing the organization's approach to teacher, coach and manager development.

Zoë began her career as an elementary school teacher in Houston. In addition to her doctorate from Harvard, Zoë earned a bachelor's degree in international studies from the University of Washington

Priscilla Trevino
Executive Director, Yakima Schools Foundation

Priscilla Trevino is the Executive Director of Yakima Schools Foundation. She passionately believes in the importance of providing programs, support, and resources for all children regardless of socioeconomic standing, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or family life-style in order for them to achieve academically and have more opportunities in our communities. Priscilla is focused on deepening how the community sees the importance of investing in students and educators by building bridges with those who don’t have direct connections in schools.

Priscilla feels a deep connection to the Yakima Valley; she was born there, grew up there, and returned there after earning an Associates of Arts in Marketing from The Art Institute of Chicago-Seattle. She has over 12 years experience and knowledge in organization & operations management, communications, business development, leadership, and developing & implementing innovative strategies. As an active community leader, Priscilla has been able to use her voice to influence change, identify opportunities, advise, and implement new processes and practices that promote inclusive and diverse collaboration. She’s committed to impacting what’s happening around her for the greater good of all people, especially the learning community. 

Not one to sit still, Priscilla, with her husband Thomas and lovable pet boxer Barkley, also enjoy experiencing the natural beauty of the region, taking road trips, camping, and hiking the trails that trace the volcanoes and valleys wherever they can.