Staff

Greg Richmond
President & CEO
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Phone: 312.376.2300

Greg Richmond is NACSA’s President and CEO. He was a founding board member of NACSA, serving as the chair of the board from 2000-2005. In 2005, Greg became NACSA's full-time President. Under his full-time leadership, NACSA's national influence has expanded substantially, including a significant role in the re-opening of New Orleans schools as charter schools, in-depth training of California Department of Education staff, a multi-authorizer training and development project in New York City, and multi-year projects in Florida and Ohio. Greg holds a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Master of Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Phoebe Harlan Anderson
Director, The Fund for Authorizing Excellence
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Phone: 312.376.2320

Phoebe Harlan Anderson is the Director of NACSA’s Fund for Authorizing Excellence. She oversees the grant application and decision making processes and directs the grant monitoring process and networking opportunities for all Fund grantees. Phoebe also leads special human capital projects for the organization. She has a background in fundraising and education through roles at Communities In Schools of Chicago and Teach For America, and holds a BA in History from the University of California-Berkeley. In addition to her role at NACSA, Phoebe serves on the Local School Council at Abraham Lincoln Elementary on Chicago’s northside.

Lynn-Marie Baker
Executive Assistant to the President
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Phone: 312.376.2322

Mia Barricini
Director of Development
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Phone:  312.376.2332

Mia Barricini is NACSA’s Director of Development. In this role, she provides leadership for NACSA’s resource development work, heading the development and implementation of fundraising strategies and establishing infrastructure for the management of the organization’s cultivation efforts. Prior to joining the organization, Mia worked as a  fundraising consultant, collaborating with a variety of non-profits to increase their donor base and improve their strategic approach to resource development and visibility. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Northwestern University School of Law.

Courtney Leigh Beisel
Communications Manager
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Phone: 312.376.2316

Courtney Leigh Beisel is NACSA’s Communications Manager. Her responsibilities support the full range of NACSA’s communications work, aiding in the development and implementation of advocacy and media strategies, assisting in the writing, production and dissemination of key messages.  She holds a B.A. in public relations from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Public Administration, with a specialization in non-profit management, from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Michael R. Cernauskas
Chief Financial Officer
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Phone: 312.376.2313

Michael Cernauskas is NACSA’s Chief Financial Officer, leading NACSA’s business and administrative operations. Mike is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of major non-profit management experience. He previously served as Vice President of Finance and Administration for a 26,000-member international nonprofit association with budgets in excess of $20 million and 70 staff. In that capacity, he successfully administered numerous federal grants.

Sean Conlan
Director of Research and Evaluation
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Phone: 312.350.9514

Sean Conlan is the Director of Research and Evaluation for NACSA.  He is responsible for the ongoing design, implementation and oversight of NACSA’s research and external evaluation efforts. Prior to joining NACSA, Sean was a research design and statistics consultant. He also taught at Texas State University, where he was responsible for designing and teaching courses in psychology and research methods. Sean earned his doctoral degree in Psychology, with minors in statistics and measurement, from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. He also holds a B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Stacey Frank
New Media Manager
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Phone: 312.376.2328

Stacey Frank is NACSA’s New Media Manager. Her responsibilities include coordinating NACSA’s presence on social media channels and managing content development on NACSA’s website. Stacey also assists with the implementation of the organization’s communications and outreach strategies.  She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

William Haft
Vice President of Authorizer Development
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Phone: 312.376.2323

William Haft is NACSA’s Vice President for Authorizer Development. He is responsible for improving authorizer practices through direct services and partnerships. NACSA’s current authorizer development activities include a three-year partnership with Denver Public Schools; ongoing management of the New Orleans charter school application process on behalf of the Recovery School District in Louisiana; and comprehensive evaluation of authorizer practices. William is a former school teacher and attorney and serves on the board of directors of Democracy Prep Charter School in New York City. William is a graduate of Carleton College (B.A., Classical Studies), and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.Ed. (Administration) from Arizona State University.

Katie Kelly
Chief of Staff
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Phone: 312.376.2327

Katie Kelly is NACSA’s Chief of Staff.  She previously served as NACSA's Director of Policy and Communications. Prior to joining NACSA, Katie was a public affairs and public policy consultant to a variety of government agencies and non-profit organizations. In the late 1990s, she served as a consultant to Leadership for Quality Education, providing critical assistance to Chicago’s initial charter school developers on issues relating to facilities and school operations. She also directed a Chicago-based project to improve the quality of principal candidates and has served as Chief of Staff for the Chicago Housing Authority.

Alex Medler
Vice President of Research
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Phone: 720.635.8329

Alex Medler is NACSA’s Vice President of  Research. He served on NACSA’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. Alex has been a national expert on charter school policy since the opening days of the movement, analyzing the first laws in 1992. He is a founding board member and current board chair of the Colorado Charter School Institute and received an Expert Appointment to the U.S. Department of Education in 1997. Alex earned his Ph.D. (political science) from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a B.A. (politics) from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Katie Piehl
Director of Authorizer Development
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Phone: 847.521.8234

Katie Piehl is Director of Authorizer Development for NACSA. Katie, formerly with Volunteers of America-Minnesota, brings her knowledge of improving charter school and authorizer accountability through state policy reform to the organization. In her role at NACSA, Katie will lead implementation of model practices for authorizers and develop comprehensive authorizer partnerships that focus on improved practice. Katie holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. 

Christina Ricordati
Administrative Assistant for Authorizer Development
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Phone: 312.376.2325

Christina Ricordati is NACSA’s Administrative Assistant for Authorizer Development.  She works with application processes and authorizer evaluations as well as provides logistical support to the department.  Prior to coming to NACSA, Christina held positions at several nonprofit organizations in Chicago including the Renaissance Schools Fund and DePaul University’s Stean’s Center for Community-Based Service Learning.  Christina has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in Public Policy and Sociology and a Master’s in Public Administration from DePaul University.

Courtney Smith
Policy and Research Analyst
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Phone: 312.376.2334

Courtney Smith is an Analyst for NACSA’s Policy and Research Division; she joined NACSA in 2008 as an intern for Research and Evaluation. As an analyst, Courtney assists in the collection, analysis, documentation and interpretation of research and policy-related information. She also contributes to the development of data, information and materials NACSA uses to create resources related to the improvement of authorizer policy and practice. Courtney is a University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) Scholar.

Whitney Spalding
Senior Project Manager
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Phone: 312.376.2335

Whitney Spalding is a Senior Project Manager at NACSA.  She is responsible for managing NACSA’s federal Charter Schools Program National Activities Grant work focused on identifying and disseminating authorizer best practices in charter school performance management, replication, and closure. Whitney previously served as the Director of Recruitment and Selection at the Chicago Public Schools Office of New Schools where she oversaw the recruitment and authorization of new charter and contract schools for the nation’s third largest school district. Whitney earned her A.B. in English from Princeton University.

Delfino Unzueta
Senior Staff Accountant
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Phone: 312.376.2333

Delfino Unzueta is the Senior Staff Accountant with NACSA. He is responsible for supporting the implementation and management of the organization’s General Accounting and Reporting with a focus on Federal Grant Compliance. He also manages and coordinates the organization’s maintenance of core information technology systems and applications. Delfino has previous public accounting experience conducting audits, reviews and compilations for various profit and not-for-profit entities. He graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce in Accounting.

Kristen Vandawalker
Senior Program Manager
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Phone: 312.376.2315

Kristen Vandawalker is the Program Manager for NACSA’s Authorizer Development department. She coordinates the authorizer evaluations process and manages logistics and workflow for other client services.  Prior to joining NACSA, Kristen worked at the Renaissance Schools Fund, working with Chicago charter schools, donors to the fund, and serving as liaison to the Board.  She has also worked in private client wealth management, non-profit, and arts organizations.  Kristen holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and English from Rutgers University.

Mary Zawaski
Finance and Administration Manager
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Phone: 312.376.2326

Mary Zawaski is NACSA’s Finance and Administration Manager. In this capacity, Mary leads NACSA’s day to day office operations, bookkeeping and human resource planning. Mary graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science in Business. Prior to joining NACSA she worked as an account manager for a marketing research firm.