Ian V. Rowe
Chief Executive Officer

A proud product of the NYC public school system, Ian Rowe is a social entrepreneur and leader who has worked for more than 20 years in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, to effect positive change in the lives of young people worldwide.

As CEO of Public Prep, he provides the strategic direction for the network of single-sex elementary and middle public schools that are determined to put their students on a predictive path to earn a degree from a four-year university. Prior to Public Prep, Ian was the Deputy Director of Postsecondary Success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he worked to increase college completion rates among low income young adults. Prior to working at Gates, Ian worked for MTV as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Public Affairs. There he helped develop global and domestic campaigns, such as “Get Schooled,” which used the power of media and popular culture to motivate young people to graduate from high school and go to — and succeed in — college.

Prior to working at MTV, Ian worked as the Director of Strategy and Performance Measurement at The White House USA Freedom Corps office which formed after September 11th to encourage every American to make a lifetime commitment in service of others. Ian also was part of Teach For America in its early days, where he helped develop a comprehensive portfolio model of assessment that measured teacher effectiveness as a function of gains in student achievement.

Ian graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School. He received his BS in Computer Science Engineering from Cornell University and MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an Echoing Green Fellow and a Harvard Initiative for Social Enterprise Fellow. Ian is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Harlem Children’s Zone Asthma Initiative; a founding Board member of the NYC Special Education Collaborative; a current member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Visiting Committee; and a founding Board member of Malaria No More.

Read more about Ian in his interviews with Fast Company and Echoing Green.

Josie Carbone
Principal at Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School

Josie Carbone is the founding principal of Girls Prep Bronx and a proud graduate of a single-sex college. An educator for the past fifteen years, Josie is deeply committed to educational equity and social justice. Prior to opening her school in August 2009, she completed a year-long leadership residency at Girl Prep Lower East Side. During her residency, Josie immersed herself in the Girls Prep curriculum and culture. Josie graduated from Smith College and is an alumna of Teach for America. While teaching at PS 63 in Morrisania, she earned a masters degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street College. In 2003, Josie left the New York City Department of Education and joined the start-up team of Bronx Charter School for the Arts in Hunts Point, where she served first as a founding Lead Teacher and then as the Lower School Director. While completing her Girls Prep Leadership Residency, Josie also finished a fellowship with New Leaders for New Schools and worked towards her masters in Educational Leadership. Josie has served on the adjunct faculty at Bank Street College where she has taught courses in Urban Education and Classroom Management.

Kelly Pesce Cassaro
Managing Director of Leadership Development

As Managing Director, Leadership Development, Kelly supports cross-network and school-based professional development. She also works closely with the Director of Recruitment to strengthen outreach efforts and internal recruitment practices to attract, identify and retain highly qualified and passionate educators and school leaders. In collaboration with the Public Prep team and Resident Principals, Kelly supports the design of the residency year so that our future school leaders strengthen their leadership skills while supporting the network and schools in achieving its goals. Kelly selects the tools and supports the implementation of performance evaluations to promote professional conversations and continuous learning.  She collaborates with her colleagues to design and improve the teacher and leadership pipelines so that staff members have the opportunity and desire to have a long-term career within Public Prep Network.  Kelly came to New York as a 2004 Teach for America corps member and graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University with a BA in Early Childhood Education and Spanish. She spent the fall and winter of 2001 studying Spanish language and literature at Universidad de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. Kelly has taught kindergarten, first and third grades throughout her seven-year teaching career in traditional public and charter schools in the Bronx. Kelly first came to Public Prep in 2009 as a founding lead Kindergarten teacher of Girls Prep Bronx.

She graduated in 2010 with a Masters in Educational Leadership as a member of the Leadership for Educational Change cohort and earned a New York State School Building Leader Certification. 

Julie Jackson- Forsberg
Managing Director of Student Learning and Achievement

As Managing Director of Student Learning and Achievement, Julie Jackson-Forsberg works with the Network’s academic team and school leaders to develop K-8 curriculum and grade-level expectations, oversee curriculum and instructional programs through data inquiry, and monitor instruction at Public Prep schools to ensure academic and social success for each of our students. Julie joined the Public Prep team in 2013. Prior to her work with the Network, Julie was the co-founder of Critical Thinking Works, an education consultancy that specializes in developing rigorous curriculum and instructional practices with schools. With seventeen years experience in education, Julie is dedicated to working to ensure that all students are able to maximize their academic potential and that teachers and schools have the supports they need to develop high quality curriculum and instruction. Her experience is concentrated in instructional program development, curriculum, and data analysis. Julie previously served as the founder and Head of School for Oracle Charter School in Buffalo, New York, a college-preparatory charter high school, and she taught English at the Buffalo Seminary, an all-girls college preparatory high school. Prior to her work in education, Julie worked in public health, in both field and policy development roles. Julie earned an Executive MBA through the Rochester Institute of Technology, Saunders School of Business; she is a past Fellow of the Peabody Professional Institute in Charter School Leadership at Vanderbilt University; she has completed coursework in Educational Leadership and Administration through George Washington University, MA work in English / Composition Studies through Northeastern University, and a BA in Creative Writing and Chemistry through Hamilton College.

Anne Lackritz
Principal at Girls Prep Lower East Side Elementary School

Ms. Lackritz is dedicated to providing a rigorous and supportive learning environment for all of our students. She joined Girls Prep in 2007. Ms. Lackritz earned a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Education in Leadership for Educational Change from Bank Street College. Prior to joining Girls Prep, Ms. Lackritz was a 3rd and 4th grade teacher at PS274 in Brooklyn and a 1st grade teacher and Academic Dean at Achievement First-East New York.

Versha Munshi-South
Resident Principal/Interim Principal at Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School

Ms. Munshi-South joined Girls Prep in 2007. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from The University of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to joining Girls Prep, Ms. Munshi-South taught 2nd and 3rd grade in Montgomery County, MD.

Tiffany Liston
Managing Director of Strategy and Development, Counsel

Tiffany has worked at Public Prep as Managing Director of Strategy and Development and Counsel since its launch in 2009. As MD of Strategy and Development, Tiffany leads Public Prep's strategic planning, external relations and development initiatives. As Counsel, Tiffany supports the network regarding legal issues, and oversees all litigation and relationships with outside counsel. Having worked in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, Tiffany has been committed to working with underserved New Yorkers throughout her professional career. Prior to joining Public Prep, Tiffany was a litigation associate at Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP for seven years. During her tenure at Simpson Thacher, she provided pro-bono counsel to several non-profits including inMotion, RAINN (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) and Harlem Legal Services, amongst others. Prior to working at Simpson Thacher, Tiffany interned for New York Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings, and worked in the development department at MFY Legal Services, a non-profit providing free legal services to low-income New Yorkers. Tiffany is currently on the Board of Directors of REACT to FILM and VIP Community Services. She received her JD from Georgetown University Law Center and her BA from Harvard University.

Kaitlin Seaver
Principal at Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School

Kaitlin Seaver is thrilled to serve as the principal of Girls Prep LES Middle School. Ms. Seaver has dedicated the past ten years of her career to providing all students with the academic and interpersonal skills needed to thrive in the high school, college, and career of their choice. Having graduated from an all-girls middle and high school, Ms. Seaver believes deeply in Girls Prep’s mission to empower all students to become critical thinkers and strong leaders.  After graduating from Georgetown University (magna cum laude), Ms. Seaver joined Teach for America and taught 7th and 8th grade English in Newark, New Jersey. Ms. Seaver later served as a KIPP 6th grade English teacher and dean of students and as a district middle school assistant principal and director of instruction. At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ms. Seaver completed her Master’s degree in School Leadership and led a graduate course and national institute about data-driven instruction for teachers, principals, and district superintendents. Ms. Seaver also won the Harvard University Leadership in Education Award. As the Department of Education’s Lead Senior Instructional Coach of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Pilots, Ms. Seaver coached 21 New York City middle schools to create CCSS-aligned, curriculum-embedded performance assessments. Ms. Seaver guided school leaders to build capacity and collaborative team structures to create the instructional and curricular coherence needed for students to meet the demands of these more rigorous standards. 

Stacey Coburn
Director of Recruitment

As Director of Recruitment, Stacey drives Public Prep’s recruitment efforts for all instructional and non-instructional positions at our schools and network, serving as a vital member of the leadership development team.  Her outreach efforts ensure there is a deep and diverse pool of talented individuals dedicated to our mission for all open positions. Stacey joined Public Prep in 2008 as a Program Associate and supported recruitment efforts for the founding staff members of Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School and Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School. Before becoming the Director of Recruitment, her role also centered on the network’s development and external relations efforts, and she continues this work through her commitment as Co-Chair to the Marketing Committee.  Stacey graduated from Ithaca College with a BA in journalism with minors in Spanish and English. She is currently attending the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University working towards a Masters in Public Administration, Nonprofit Management and Public Policy. Prior to joining Public Prep, Stacey taught fourth grade in Phoenix, Arizona and was a Teach For America corps member. 

David Nitkin
Director of Assessment and Accountability

As Director of Assessment and Accountability, David works with teachers and school leaders to analyze achievement data and design new strategies to maximize student growth. David joined Public Prep in 2012.  He earned an MA from Columbia University Teachers College in the Economics of Education, an MS from Fordham University in the Teaching of Social Studies, and received a BA from Yale University in history.  David entered the education sector as a middle school humanities teacher in the Bronx with Teach for America. He then went on to spearhead an overhaul of the KIPP charter network’s safety systems for its eight New York schools as a member of the KIPP:NYC Operations Team. David also worked with The New Teacher Project as an Education Pioneers Fellow helping to build and implement a comprehensive teacher evaluation system in Newark, New Jersey.

Alexandra Steele
Director of Operations

Alexandra Steele joined Public Prep as the Director of Operations in 2009. Deeply passionate about education reform and compelled to help provide every student with an equal education opportunity, Alex works closely with each school leadership team to create strong, efficient, and sustainable schools. She assists each school in its start-up; manages accountability, compliance and student recruitment across the network; and supports day-to-day operations at the school level.  Alex received a MBA and MA in K-12 Educational Studies from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a BA from Columbia University in New York City.  Prior to joining Public Prep, Alex was an Education Pioneers Fellow in New York City the summer between her first and second years of business school. Prior to graduate school, Alex worked in New York City's art world, where she helped launch and grow Artist Pension Trust (APT), a barter-based investment program providing financial planning solutions to artists. 

Christine Chen
Student and Staff Recruitment Associate

Christine joined Public Prep team as the Student and Staff Recruitment Associate in 2012.  She is responsible for working with Public Prep to support the continuous improvement of our staff and student recruitment efforts, including outreach to candidate and applicant constituents, analysis of candidate and applicant pools, and the implementation of recruitment strategies and tactics. Prior to joining Public Prep, she was a 2010 Teach for America Corps Member in Chicago, and taught high school Reading and Performing Arts at a Noble Street Charter School.  In addition to her work in the classroom, Christine was also the 9^th Grade Level Chair at her placement school, and served as a member of the Noble Street Charter Schools recruitment team.  A proud single-sex alumna, Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Neuroscience from Wellesley College, as well as a Master of Arts in Teaching from Dominican University.  

Tiffney Jones
Finance Manager

Tiffney joined the  Public Prep team as the Finance Manager in  2011. In her role, Tiffney is responsible for day-to-day accounting responsibilities for the Public Prep office as well as support the day-to-day accounting responsibilities for our three schools.  Tiffney graduated from  Lehman College where she majored in Accounting.  Tiffney has over 10 years of accounting experience. Prior to Public Prep she was the Finance Manager at Sentinel Probation Services in Duluth, Georgia followed by Jewish Care Services of Long Island in New York where she was the Assistant Director.  

Jenny Maderal
External Relations Associate

Jenny is part of the development and strategy team at Public Prep.  She is working to cultivate Public Prep’s virtual presence, in addition to planning special events and executing Public Prep’s fundraising initiatives. Jenny joined Public Prep as the Administrative Associate in 2010, and is excited to focus her skills on the growth and sustainability of the organization.   Jenny graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English and Communications Studies. Prior to Public Prep, Jenny worked as the assistant to the Executive Director of Publicity at Henry Holt and Company, and as a sales and publicity assistant at Furlined, a commercial production company.

Catherine Vesey
Executive Assistant to the CEO

Catherine joined the Public Prep team in 2012. In her role as Executive Assistant, Catherine serves as the primary point of contact for internal and external constituencies on all matters pertaining to the CEO and is primarily responsible for assisting the CEO by managing the CEO’s extensive calendar, sorting and filtering requests for the CEO’s time while ensuring strategic priorities are met in a timely manner. Prior to joining Public Prep, Catherine worked as an Adult Education Project Manager at the Centre for Adult Education in Melbourne, Australia and as an Assistant Director of Educational Programs in the Professional and Continuing Studies department at Queens College, CUNY and earned her BA in English from Texas Woman’s University..