Kate Cushing, Member
Kate Cushing is an Operations Fellow for Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn. WCS is part of the Uncommon Schools Charter Network, and following her fellowship Kate will be opening a new middle school in the Uncommon Network. Prior to working at Uncommon, Kate was the Director of Operations at Roads to Success, where she started at Roads to Success in 2004 as the second employee. Kate was an Education Policy major at Brown University, and previously interned for US Senator Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the National Peace Corps Association in Washington, DC.
Don Mathis, Treasurer
Don Mathis is the CEO of Epic Advertising (www.EpicAdvertising.com), and is responsible for the strategic vision and overall management of the enterprise. He was previously the company's President and COO and, earlier, the SVP of Operations and Technology.
Prior to Epic, Don most recently served as COO of Small World Sports. Previous posts include: CFO of the government consultancy organization FH Inc.; operational restructuring advisor for the turnaround firm AlixPartners; strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company; programmer and technology consultant with Accenture. Don's background also includes service as a Naval Officer, most recently as a mobilized reservist following the 9/11 attacks, and previously as a P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft Flight Communications Officer.
Don graduated with honors from Harvard Business School and Vassar College.
Dawn Porter, President
Dawn Porter is a Vice President at the A&E Television networks, which include such properties as The History Channel, The Biography Channel, and A&E. A lawyer by training, Dawn develops ethical standards and practices for A&E and supervises their Rights Department. Prior to coming to A&E Dawn worked for five years as the Director of News Practices for ABC News, advising news anchors, reporters and producers for World News Tonight With Peter Jennings, Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and the news magazine 20/20. During her time at ABC News, Dawn developed script narration for news programming developed editorial comments, documentaries and breaking news stories. Dawn worked in private practice for five years at the law firm of Baker and Hostetler in Washington, DC advising media and television clients including Scripps Howard, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and the ABC Television Networks. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Georgetown University Law Center, Dawn’s many volunteer engagements include serving as President of the Board of Directors of the Cornerstone Learning Center, a tutorial program for low-income middle school children of New York City.
Lata N. Reddy, Member
Lata Reddy is the Managing Director of the Robertson Foundation. In this role, she helps to oversee this $1 billion family foundation. She also assists in managing a team of six program officers.
Previously, Ms. Reddy led The Prudential Foundation. Her responsibilities included management of Foundation staff and program strategy and overseeing the distribution of $25 million in annual Foundation grants. Ms. Reddy oversaw education policy for Prudential Financial, Inc. and advised senior management on their support of education initiatives. She also served as Secretary of the Foundation.
Ms. Reddy joined Prudential from the New York regional office of the U.S. Department of Education, where she was an attorney in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to joining the Department of Education, she served as the Director of Finance and Legal Services at the Council for Educational Development and Research.
She is the Vice-Chairman of the Public Education Network and a board member of Cause Effective.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Emory University School of Law. Ms. Reddy is admitted to the bar in New York.
Jonathan Rosenberg, Secretary
Jon Rosenberg is the CEO of Repair the World, an organization dedicated to making service to others a defining element of American Jewish life, learning and leadership. Before joining Repair, he served for nearly 5 years as the founding Executive Director of Roads to Success. His previous roles include serving as: Deputy General Counsel of Edison Schools Inc. (now Edison Learning); Senior Attorney at the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights; Director of The Children's Aid Society's Immigration and Welfare Reform Project; and Associate Appellate Counsel at The Legal Aid Society. He has also served as Chair of the NYC Bar Association's Education Committee, as a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Teachers College.
