Barbara Beske
Mathematics Curriculum Design
Barbara has spent her life focused on mathematics education. Her career began with twenty plus years of educating students in the South Jersey area ranging from young children to young adults. Prior to joining Math Action, Barbara worked at Student Achievement Partners as a Senior Mathematics Specialist, leading projects that focused on products such as the Coherence Map, the Instructional Practice Guide, and online math learning for educators, all in pursuit of strong implementation of College- and Career-Ready standards for all students. Barbara holds a BA in Mathematics and Education from Bucknell University. When not focused on improving ways for all students to be successful in learning and loving mathematics, Barbara can be found hiking, kayaking, or playing competitive Sudoku with her family.
Sogolon Best
Mathematics Curriculum Design
As a 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade mathematics teacher for over 15 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sogolon is committed to inspiring young people to learn and appreciate math, and to be confident in their abilities to apply mathematical concepts and skills. Sogolon has brought his expertise in project-based learning to his roles at Synergy School, Bentley Middle School, and Head Royce School. In his current role at The Imagination Lab School, he continues to foster collaborative, authentic experiences for students where they generate questions and explore and test their thinking and theories. Sogolon is passionate about supporting youths and adults through teaching and through The Garden Project, which helps former offenders and at-risk youth to expand their math skills, overcome their shame about math, and successfully complete their high school courses and/or GED exam.
Jen Bloom
Professional Learning
Jen started her career in education as a first grade teacher in San Francisco teaching English Learners and hasn’t been far from a classroom ever since. Jen was a primary teacher, instructional coach, and administrator in Bay area school districts for twelve years prior to joining the New Teacher Center (NTC) where she partnered with school districts focusing on teacher and school leader growth and development. Jen held various roles at NTC for thirteen years. Most recently, she was the Senior Director, Bay Area. Jen also serves as a Senior Board Advisor for Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation. Jen holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of New Hampshire and an MA in Educational Leadership from Cal State East Bay.
Antonella Caruso
Board Member
A former advisor to Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Antonella Caruso brings to the position more than 20 years of experience working in the Middle East. Prior to joining the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, she was the Founder and Director of a “track two” project to support the Iraqi Dialogue on National Reconciliation, which brings together leading politicians and parties in the Iraqi Parliament. Ms. Caruso has also worked in the private sector as an analyst and advisor with emphasis on North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf. She speaks four languages including Arabic. Ms. Caruso has participated twice as a judge and a panelist in the MathAction refugee investigation.
Toufic Chahin
Data Science Curriculum Design
Toufic Chahin uses a number of data science and machine learning tools to analyze policy such as NLP, machine learning, and many varieties of quantitative analysis to create critical insights into the field of education. Toufic is currently pursuing his PhD in Education Policy and Planning at The University of Texas at Austin. Toufic taught high school math for seven years including AP and non-AP Statistics in and around Austin, Texas. He also holds a Master's degree in STEM Education and a MS in Science and Technology Commercialization.
Vinci Daro
Mathematics Curriculum Design
Vinci brings a cultural anthropologist's lens on learning and student identity development, and over 25 years of combined experience in mathematics teaching, curriculum and assessment development, and professional development design and delivery. Vinci currently serves as Director of STEM Learning at Envision Learning Partners; prior to Envision, she was Director of Mathematics Learning at Understanding Language/Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, & Equity (UL/SCALE), and before that she worked for Ann Shannon & Associates doing professional development with teachers in Kentucky and New York City with the Shell Centre Formative Assessment Lessons (Classroom Challenges). In 2011-12, she was involved in the development of the TRU Math rubric as a Postdoctoral Scholar in mathematics education with the Algebra Teaching Study at UC Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a BA in Mathematics and Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Khyatee Desai
Data Science Curriculum Design
Khyatee is passionate about exploring data to uncover societal trends, and using those insights to advocate for a more equitable world. Khyatee has a BS from the University of Michigan School of Information, where she studied Data Analytics and User Experience Design, and later developed her love for data science at the Flatiron School of Manhattan. Khyatee helps startup companies architect their business applications and build out new workloads in the AWS Cloud.
Gina
Chief K-9 Officer
Gina is the perfect dog. She is sweet, cuddly, and super smart!
Gina brings a positive attitude and wagging tail to every meeting, workshop, and school she has attended and continues to be the shining light of our team!
Lily Jones
Mathematics Curriculum Design
Holding an MA in Education from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in math instruction, Lily has been an elementary school teacher, instructional coach, and teacher trainer. She has written K-8 curriculum and English Language Learner supports for publishers and Ed Tech companies, developed assessments for Common Core assessment consortiums, and managed large-scale curriculum projects. Lily lives in El Cerrito, CA with her two kids, husband, and small dog. In her spare time (of which there is little!), Lily can be found reading, running, and drinking tea... though not at the same time!
Fredah Kamene Rajab
Board Member
Fredah is passionate about community building, international development, eradication of HIV/AIDS, and mitigating the effects of poverty in key populations. Prior to her current role as the Country Director of Student Shoulder to Shoulder, Fredah worked within the Center for Learning and Innovation at the San Francisco Department of Health and also served on the board for International Peace Initiative. Freda holds a B.A. in Political Science and is certified in Peace and Conflict Resolution, both from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a B.A. in Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services from Kenya Methodist University.
Jenny Morgan
Professional Learning and Partnership
Prior to working with MathAction, Jenny was Vice President of Product Development at New Teacher Center. During her fifteen years at NTC, Jenny worked directly with new teachers and principals in a coaching capacity, supported district leaders with program design and implementation for teacher support and professional learning, and wrote and oversaw the development of NTC’s professional learning curriculum. Before NTC, Jenny served as the co-director of the Peninsula New Teacher Project and helped grow the project to twenty one districts across San Mateo County, CA. Jenny began her career in education in Daly City, CA, just south of San Francisco, where she served as a middle school teacher, administrator, and coach for new teachers. It was at that time Jenny developed her passion for supporting educators through coaching, collaboration, and professional learning. Jenny holds a BA in English Literature from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University.
Tamar Posner
Founder and President
Dr. Tamar Posner is a mathematician and educator who has pioneered the development of Creative Math® programs for K-8 and MathAction® for middle and high schools. Tamar has a proven track record of transforming young people with a wide range of math abilities and interests into confident mathematicians who use math as an integral tool for understanding their world. In fact, she has been called "The Math Whisperer" by many educators and parents. Tamar has taught students and teachers around the world, including the U.S., Israel, India, Indonesia, and Japan, in both public and independent school settings. Tamar is committed to sharing her passion for math in order to develop students as critical thinkers and leaders in an increasingly complex world. She holds degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and MA and PhD in Mathematics Education in the Education for Math, Science, and Technology program (EMST) from UC Berkeley, California
Jad is a Mechanical Engineer at Mainspring Energy where he works on developing high efficiency, low emissions energy systems. Jad’s love of mathematics has been instrumental in enabling his work and research in the fields of fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. Jad received a B.S. from Brown University and an M.S. from Stanford, both in Mechanical Engineering.
Jad Ramzi Nasrallah
Board Member
Joel Walsh
Data Science Curriculum Design
Joel Walsh is a PhD student in STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin, and is also working on a Master’s degree in Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. Prior to his time at UT he was a high school mathematics and computer science teacher in Los Angeles, CA. Joel researches curricular approaches to emerging technologies like quantum computing and data science, as well as applications of natural language processing and knowledge representation in K-12 settings. Joel brings a unique combination of extensive math teaching experience and data science, grounded in social good, as seen in his TedTalk.
Glen Water
Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design and Civic Education Partnerships
Glen is deeply passionate about identifying, understanding, and creating new ways for schools to promote active citizenship education. In his role at Mathaction, Glen supports the integration of math and developing students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Glen spent more than 10 years in teaching, evaluation, curriculum development, and education leadership in Hawai’i, Palestine, and the Bay Area. Glen holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, an MA in Education from the University of Hawai’i - Manoa, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.