Staff
Eric Adler is co-founder and managing director of The SEED Foundation. Eric taught high school physics for eight years and was dean of students at St. Paul's School in Baltimore, before earning an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a management consultant to Fortune 500 clients, the principal of an investment advisory firm and an adjunct faculty member of the Johns Hopkins University Graduate Division of Business and Management. He is a graduate of the Sidwell Friends School and of Swarthmore College, where he earned degrees in engineering and economics. Eric is an Echoing Green fellow and was named a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine. He serves on the boards of Swarthmore College and the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust. He is a 2001 recipient of the Manhattan Institute’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship Award and received an Oprah Winfrey “Use Your Life” Award. He is also a recipient of the Innovations in American Government Award from the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is a multi-year recipient of Fast Company/Monitor Group’s Social Capitalist Award.
Vincena Allen is the director of college transition and support at The SEED Foundation. She is responsible for developing transition support programs for SEED graduates. For almost 15 years, Vincena has worked as a higher education administrator and non profit manager. As a college admissions counselor, she traveled throughout the U.S. & Caribbean conducting college and financial aid seminars for students and families, recruiting students and facilitating college access presentations for an inner-city education outreach effort. She has also managed campus visitation, alumni admissions and multicultural student recruitment programs for a number of universities. Before joining SEED, she was the assistant director of the D.C. Metro Area Consortium of Universities’ College Information Center, where she coordinated education and career workshops for youth and adults and managed partnership development, volunteer recruitment and staff training initiatives. Vincena has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.
Carol Beck is the director of new schools development for Maryland. Carol joined The SEED Foundation in April 2005 to assess the opportunity of opening an urban public boarding school in Maryland. Before joining SEED, she worked in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector in Baltimore for more than 20 years and consulted with emerging charter schools. Carol is also active as a parent leader at one of Baltimore’s first charter schools. She received a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
Cheye Calvo is the director of expansion at The SEED Foundation. He is responsible for working with communities and leaders from across the country to open new SEED schools. Cheye has two decades of experience working with elected leaders at all levels of government. He spent seven years with the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), serving as a senior policy advisor and representing state lawmakers before Congress and federal agencies. Cheye managed government relations with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and served as a policy advisor to the Southern Governors’ Association (SGA). Early in his career, Cheye worked for the Prince George’s County Council in Maryland as a legislative aide. He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in History from the University of Wyoming. Cheye currently serves his second term as mayor of the inner-Beltway town of Berwyn Heights, Maryland.
Dwight Crawford is the chief financial officer of The SEED Foundation. He was formerly CFO and COO of HomeQuest Network and executive vice president and CFO of Black Entertainment Television (BET). Prior to joining BET, Dwight served as vice president of financial services, senior vice president and treasurer of Discovery Communications. He is president of the board of directors and a volunteer for Bread for the City. Dwight also serves on the advisory board of the Salvation Army in Washington, D.C. and Harbor Light Addiction Treatment Center. He received a degree in accounting from The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.
Mike D'Amato is the Wisconsin director of The SEED Foundation. He served twelve years as Milwaukee Alderman in the 3rd District before retiring earlier this year. During his time on the Milwaukee Common Council, Mike served as the Chairman of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, the Chairman of the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, and the Vice Chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee. Prior to his work on the Council, D’Amato was the Executive Director of ESHAC, Inc., a nonprofit housing, economic development, and neighborhood organization corporation working in the northeast side of Milwaukee. He has also served on the Board of Directors of numerous Wisconsin nonprofits, including the League of Municipalities, the YMCA Downtown Milwaukee Branch, and the Local Government Institute of Wisconsin, of which he was a founding member.
Pyper Davis is the chief operating officer of The SEED Foundation. Pyper is a business executive with a track record of building and managing media and technology-related businesses. She spent nine years in the television business, primarily as an executive with The News Corporation. Prior to joining SEED, Pyper was a principal with Katalyst LLC, providing consulting and venture capital services to early-stage technology companies. Pyper graduated from Princeton University with a degree in East Asian studies and a certificate in women's studies. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School. For the past ten years, Pyper has been involved with public schools as a tutor, mentor and charter school board member.
Aimee Evan is the performance and evaluation manager at The SEED Foundation. Aimee joined SEED to design and implement an ongoing program evaluation for the SEED schools as well as work with the schools to assess educational outcomes. Prior to joining SEED, she was a quantitative task leader and qualitative researcher on several national reform initiative evaluations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants and Early College High School initiative, at the American Institutes for Research. She has evaluated individual schools on implementation and student outcomes improvement as well as helping to design and advise the Microsoft Corporation regarding their strategies for systemic educational reform at the middle school level. Aimee is a former Teach for American middle school teacher, where she taught 7th grade English Language Arts and Social Studies in North Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Law from Purdue University and a Masters in Teaching from American University in D.C.
Elizabeth Frazier is the director of board governance of The SEED Foundation. She directs the outreach and communications for directors and trustees of The SEED Foundation and current SEED Schools, as well as manages the efforts to establish boards of future SEED Schools. Elizabeth has previously served as director of communications for the SEED Foundation, during which she directed the marketing and public relations initiatives of the Foundation, as well as director of operations, during which she managed all internal operations of the Foundation, including technological and financial management and human resources. Prior to SEED, she worked as a consultant for T. Rowe Price Associates, the Economic Development Agency for Lyon, France and the Adventis Corporation. She earned a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Princeton University and an MBA from The Darden School of the University of Virginia.
Melissa Freedman is the college support associate at The SEED Foundation. She provides college support to students as they transition from SEED to college, collects and analyzes alumni data, administers communication and information distribution efforts, and handles programming logistics for the College Transition and Support program. Prior to joining SEED, Melissa spent two years teaching third grade in Baltimore through Teach For America, an organization committed to ending educational inequality. She earned a bachelor of science degree in human resource management and marketing from the University of Maryland, graduating magna cum laude, and a master of arts degree in teaching from Johns Hopkins University.
Jason Friedman is the director of communications at The SEED Foundation. Jason spent seven years as a television news reporter, covering local and national politics as well as a variety of issues in education. During his time in journalism, Jason filed stories for CNN and for local television stations in Missouri and Arkansas, where his work was recognized with the National Edward R. Murrow Award. More recently, Jason served as a communications director on Capitol Hill. Before joining SEED, Jason also worked as a managing associate at a D.C.-based communications consulting firm, where he advised national associations and Fortune 500 companies on strategic messaging and crisis communications. Jason graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with a degree in political science and journalism.
Kate Garland is the development manager of The SEED Foundation. Before joining SEED, she served as legislative counsel for the education committee of the Ohio House of Representatives. She received a bachelor's degree in history and French from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Shanette Johnson is the staff accountant and office coordinator with The SEED Foundation. In her accounting role, she works directly with the chief financial officer on financial reporting for the organization. In her role as office coordinator, she provides general administrative support to the Foundation staff. Additionally, Shanette provides support to the human resources director and assists with employee orientation, payroll processing, and retirement reporting. She graduated cum laude with a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from Howard University’s School of Business in December 2001. Since graduating from college, she has worked in both public and private accounting providing services from audit to daily bookkeeping to nonprofit organizations including public charter schools in the DC metropolitan area.
Daniel Kohl is The SEED Foundation’s director of new schools development for Wisconsin. A Milwaukee native, Dan is leading the private and public efforts to launch a public boarding school in Wisconsin. Prior to joining SEED Dan spent 14 years with the Milwaukee Bucks in a variety of positions, most recently as assistant general manager. He has been involved with many civic and non-profit organizations including COA Youth & Family Centers, Columbia Health Care Foundation, United Way and currently serves as President of the Milwaukee Jewish Day School. Dan is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Wisconsin Law School, and earned an M.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Jerry Kountz is the director of leadership training at The SEED Foundation. In this role, he oversees the development and management of a comprehensive leadership training program for staff at both current and future SEED schools. Prior to joining SEED, Jerry was a teacher and principal in Prince George’s County Schools, as well as director of coach development for New Leaders for New Schools. He currently serves on the Maryland Middle School Association board of directors, the board of trustees for the Youthbuild Charter School and has served as both a member of the CEO’s executive council of Prince George’s County Public Schools and as chairperson of Prince George’s County Middle School Principals. Jerry received a bachelor’s of science in elementary education and psychology from Slippery Rock University, and a master’s of education in administration and supervision from Bowie State University.
Kimberly Krasnow Kimberly Krasnow is the program associate at The SEED Foundation. She provides programmatic support to the chief operating officer. In this role, Kimberly is responsible for the information and knowledge management initiative along with other projects. Prior to joining SEED, Kimberly taught English in a suburb of Paris and interned with The National Institute of Deaf Youth. Kimberly also spent four summers working with diverse groups of middle school students at Maryland Leadership Workshops' residential programs. Kimberly received a bachelor’s degree in French and sociology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Dave Moss is the development associate at The SEED Foundation. Prior to joining SEED, he was the Chief of Staff at Scott + Yandura Consulting. He has worked as a fundraiser for Progressive Majority, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Before moving to Washington, he spent a year teaching at The Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont and interned for Portland Stage Company in Portland, Maine. He was born and raised in Waterville, Maine and is a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Emily Nolan is the manager of annual giving at The SEED Foundation. Prior to joining SEED, Emily was an Event Manager for the Human Rights Campaign. Emily also spent two years as an Associate Director at a nonprofit consulting firm. At SEED, Emily is responsible for building an effective annual giving program and planning events. A native Washingtonian, Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Michael Robbins is the director of outreach and strategic initiatives at The SEED Foundation. Prior to joining SEED he was director of operations at FIRST, a multinational nonprofit that inspires student interest in science and technology. Michael’s 15 years of experience as a social entrepreneur includes launching a national lead poisoning prevention program, running a “double-bottom line” business that employed juvenile offenders, and working on the start-up of AmeriCorps. After graduating from Rhodes College, he spent a year of service working with children and families involved in the juvenile justice system in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He has an MBA and MPM from the University of Maryland, where he focused on nonprofit administration and social entrepreneurship. He serves on the board of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools.
Loretta Rodriguez is the director of human resources for The SEED Foundation. In this role, Loretta is responsible for managing employee relations and establishing the human resources model and best practices for The SEED Foundation and for all SEED schools. Prior to joining SEED, Loretta served as director of human resources for Varsity Group, Inc., where she planned, directed and administered all HR functions in both the strategic operational and functional levels for the headquarters and associated marketing firm, warehouse and bookstores across the country. Prior to this, she served as minority recruitment specialist and human resources manager for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Loretta holds a master of business administration degree from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor of science degree in kinesiology and minor in psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management, National Society of Hispanic MBAs, National Council of La Raza and the Latino Virtual Gallery Educational Advisory Committee for the Smithsonian Institution’s Latino Center.
Rajiv Vinnakota is co-founder and managing director of The SEED Foundation. Prior to co-founding SEED, Raj was an associate at Mercer Management Consulting, where he worked on strategic and financial projects in a variety of industries. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in molecular biology and a certificate of studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy. Raj has been an Echoing Green fellow and an Ashoka fellow. For his work at The SEED Foundation he was named a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine and has received the Manhattan Institute’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship Award, the Princeton Club of Washington’s Community Service Award, an Innovations in American Government Award from Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, an Oprah Winfrey “Use Your Life” Award and two Fast Company/Monitor Group’s Social Capitalist Awards. He served on the board of The Empower Program, which works with youth to end the culture of violence, and is currently a trustee of Princeton University.
