Jeremy Resnick serves as the Executive Director and is a founder of Propel Schools. With his leadership, Propel Schools has grown to be a regional force in efforts to reform Southwestern Pennsylvania public education, serving more than 2,400 students at eight locations in Allegheny County. Propel Schools has become one of Pennsylvania's top performing charter school organizations with long waiting lists and with student achievement results better than any demographically comparable public school district. His work has been recognized with the Pittsburgh Business Times' 2007 Diamond Award and the Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners' 2009 Social Venture Award. Prior to founding Propel, he was a founder and the Administrative/Educational Leader at Northside Urban Pathways Charter School, a founder and director of the Charter Schools Project at Duquesne University, founder and director of the Steel Center Technical Academy, and a teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

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Dr. Carol Wooten serves as the Superintendent for Propel Schools. She came to Propel to become the first administrator of a Propel School and to help open future schools. She taught biology and other sciences for 18 years and served as a high school principal in the Riverview SD, worked with curriculum and instruction in the Mars Area SD, and served as a middle school principal, Director of Curriculum and Instruction and Superintendent of the South Side Area SD. She worked as a researcher and evaluator for the University of Pittsburgh on the New Futures Project, a project aimed at drop-out prevention, in the Pittsburgh City Schools. She served as co-chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee for PA ASCD, where she served on the Executive Board. Her international experiences in education include research in Taishi-Cho, Japan and Augsburg, Germany. She is a member of the Western PA Forum for School Superintendents. She serves on the Board of Directors for Three Rivers Connect and Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity, where she chairs the Family Selection Committee.

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Michael T. Anselmo

Mike Anselmo is the Market Manager for PNC’s Corporate Bank for Western Pennsylvania, Western New York and West Virginia. This group offers a comprehensive portfolio of financial products and services to meet the needs of corporate clients in the region. In addition to his role in the Corporate Bank, Mike is a key leader in PNC’s college recruiting efforts. In addition to leading the bank’s efforts with Penn State undergraduate and MBA business schools, he also is heavily involved with PNC’s efforts to attract and hire qualified future finance professionals from CMU and the University of Pittsburgh. Leveraging over 25 years of banking experience, Mike has developed and taught several Credit and Management Training courses within both the PNC Credit Training Program and well as his previous employer, Mellon Bank.

Prior to joining PNC in 2001, Mike enjoyed a long and successful tenure at Mellon Financial where he held positions of increasing management responsibility including roles in Business Credit, Middle Market Banking and Corporate Finance. Mike is a past board member of the Association for Corporate Growth-Pittsburgh and the Sacred Heard Parish Finance Council, represents PNC as the sponsor for the Pittsburgh Chapter of Financial Executives International. Mike holds a degree in Finance from Penn State University and an MBA from Duquesne University.

William J. Axtman

William J. Axtman is a partner with the law firm of K&L Gates LLP in Pittsburgh. Mr. Axtman practices in the firm's corporate group and specializes in the area of mergers and acquisitions. He earned his law degree at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.

Stewart B. Barmen

Stewart Barmen is an attorney who through out his career specialized in divorce and family law cases.  After a nine year hiatus he is currently "Of Counsel” to the Pittsburgh firm of Frank, Gale, Bails, Murcko & Gubinsky. He previously was a shareholder of Buchanan Ingersoll, PC and chairman of it's Family Law Practice. He is serving on the boards of four nonprofit corporations in western Pennsylvania and Sarasota, Florida.

Tom Canfield

Tom Canfield most recently was an investment banker, running Equity Catalysts LLC (EC), which he founded in 1999. EC matched local “angel” investors to start-up technology firms. Prior to that, he was president of The Enterprise Corporation of Pittsburgh. Enterprise was a non-profit firm founded in 1983 that was dedicated to building more successful entrepreneurial firms in southwestern Pennsylvania. He also founded the Western Pennsylvania Adventure Capital Fund and the Pittsburgh Seed Fund. He earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and a MBA from Harvard University.

Bernard E. Carter

Bernard Carter is a derivatives analyst with The Bank of New York Mellon.  Previously, he was self-employed as a private investor.  From 1992 to 2005, he worked as a Financial Advisor, specializing in SEC Rule 144 transactions at Morgan Stanley Inc. He is a volunteer for the Allegheny County Special Olympics and the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council and is a member of the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project.

Mark DeSantis, Ph.D.

Mark is President and Co-founder of Mobile Fusion, Inc., a technology firm that builds portable sensor platforms for the military, law enforcement, and the US intelligence community. He was previously the US Managing Director of ANGLE Technology, PLC, a publicly traded venture capital and consulting firm. Prior to joining ANGLE, Mark co-founded, and was director to several technology firms in the US. He was also a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute and Carnegie Mellon Research Institute. Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, Mark was the Director of Government Relations for Texas Instruments, Inc. Mark has served in a number of policy positions in the US federal government including as a Senior Policy Analyst in both The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Administration of George H. W. Bush.
Mark holds a BA and MBA from the University of Dayton, an MS in Technology Management from The American University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University.

Mark serves on the board of the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, the advisory board of Sustainable Pittsburgh, and the board of the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. He is the host of a local monthly radio program and a public policy columnist. He co-founded local non-profit organizations and advocacy groups whose mission is to improve the performance of local government and promote economic development in western Pennsylvania.

Don Elliott

Don Elliott is the Chief Operating Officer of Wesley Spectrum Services.  In this capacity, he is responsible for finance, asset management, human resources, quality, strategic planning, public relations, information technology, vendor relationships, and facilities management. Prior to joining Wesley Spectrum Services, Elliott served as County Administrator for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  There he directed the day-to-day operations of the 5th largest county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. From 2002 to 2004, Elliott served as Director of the Global Hose Division of Eaton Corporation, a leading provider of electrical, fluid power, and truck drivetrain systems and components; automotive engine air management systems; and powertrain solutions worldwide. From 1995 to 2002, Elliott held several positions at Dana Corporation, a global leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of value-add products and systems for automotive, commercial and off-highway vehicles. Prior to 2002, Elliott held several positions in the financial industry.

 
Elliott earned his MBA from the University of Virginia’s Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business.  He also received his BA in Economics from the University of Virginia. Elliott currently serves on the boards of Federal Prison Industries (appointed by former President George W. Bush), and Bethlehem Haven. 

Wendy Etheridge Smith, Ph.D.

Wendy Etheridge Smith, Ph.D. is the Director of Community Initiatives and Partnerships at United Way of Allegheny County. Prior to serving this position, she served as the Director of Policy and Planning in the Departments of Education and Public Welfare Office of Child Development and Early Learning. Dr. Smith is a developmental psychologist with expertise in evaluation and strategic planning. She is leading efforts to launch United Way’s initiatives, which focus on identifying gaps in critical need areas and finding evidence-based programs to address those gaps.

Gretchen G. Generett, Ph.D.

Gretchen Generett is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Duquesne University. Gretchen joined Duquesne University after teaching at Robert Morris University, being in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University and on the faculty of Virginia Tech. Her research interests are in foundations of education, qualitative research methodology, cultural studies and women's studies. Gretchen has authored and co-authored numerous publications and has presented at state, regional and national conferences. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. 

Kristin Hughes

Kristin Hughes is an Associate Professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon. Recurring themes in her research and professional practice focus on utilizing design methods as a catalyst for community and civic engagement. She is currently looking at the design of products that allow participants agency over their own learning space. They are invited as co-creators in the design process, a process that they may eventually engage and sustain on their own. Most recently, this question has led her to explore game design, examining learning processes and ways that play spaces provide a powerful platform for uninhibited learning.

Tom Joseph

Tom Joseph is the President and CEO of Bookminders, which provides outsourced accounting and information management services to businesses and non-profit organizations. Bookminders has been listed six times in the last seven years as one of the Pittsburgh 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies by the Pittsburgh Business Times. In 2000, Bookminders received the People Do Matter Award: Recognizing Innovation in Human Resources from the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association.

Patrick J. Kenny

Patrick Kenny is Vice President, Corporate Marketing at PPG Industries, Inc.  headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.   He has been with PPG in various sales and marketing leadership roles domestically and internationally since 1980.    Patrick earned his undergraduate degree in marketing at Indiana University and his master of business administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business.

Karl Krieger – Trustee Emeritus

Karl Krieger is retired from Choptank Holdings. He grew the business and its predecessor, TransTech, from a single small plant in East McKeesport to a manufacturing and holding company with 400 employees. He is a general partner in the Pennsylvania Growth Fund and serves as an emeritus trustee of Shady Side Academy, as well as a partner is Pittsburgh Social Ventures Partnership.

Suzannah Maduro

Suzannah Maduro joined the Datavibes business development team, bringing her broad-based experience in program management and business development over a diverse cross-section of industries. As a result of her work in talent acquisition in finance and technology, in addition to her experience in helping develop a regional plan for attracting business to the area, she has earned considerable trust among the local business community, based on her ability to develop profitable business synergies.
Suzannah also worked with a large regional technology company in a business development role.Suzannah is active in intentions that further Pittsburgh's development as a center for emerging industries.

Sean W. Moran

Sean W. Moran is an attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll P.C. in Pittsburgh. He also has worked as an associate attorney in the Corporate and Securities Group at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Pittsburgh. He earned his law degree at University of Pittsburgh School of Law and his master of business administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business.

Ron Porter

Ronald D. Porter is the founder and President of RDP Consulting Services since 1983.  Since 1992 he has served as an adjunct instructor of multicultural management at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy and Management.  He services on many boards including the Pressley Ridge Schools; Transitional Services, Inc., and the Homeless Children’s Education Fund.  He is currently (2008) serving as a senior consultant to the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, with a primary focus on strategic planning and community relations.

Kiron Skinner, Ph.D.

Kiron Skinner is an expert in the area of international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and political strategy.  She is director of Carnegie Mellon University’s International Relations and Politics Program. Skinner is the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and is an associate professor of international relations and political science at Carnegie Mellon. Skinner’s government service includes membership on the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board (2001-2007) as an advisor on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Executive Panel, and the National Security Education Board. She has co-chaired the CNO task forces on the Middle East and Africa. She also serves on the board of the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and is a former fellow of CFR’s Studies Department. Skinner is the coauthor, along with political scientists Serhiy Kudelia, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, and Condoleezza Rice, of The Strategy of Campaigning: Lessons from Ronald Regan and Boris Yeltsin. Additionally, she authored Turning Points in Ending the Cold War, a landmark work in international history featuring a collection of essays by leading American and Russian statesmen and scholars. She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science and international relations from Harvard University and undergraduate degrees from Spelman College and Sacramento City College. She is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Molloy College on Long Island. Dr. Skinner currently serves on the Hoover Institution’s Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy.