Chairman & CEO – Steve Villano

Steve Villano is EnCorps’ Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.  Mr. Villano has served as President and CEO of nationwide nonprofits including Cable Positive where he raised $20M in 9 years for HIV/AIDS education; developed, produced and distributed Public Service Announcements & long and short-form documentaries for national distribution into 80+ million cable television households; initiated the first-ever collaboration with PBS to air the documentary “Age of AIDS” across all PBS & Cable stations; and developed and implemented several strategic plans.  In addition to his socially entrepreneurial background, Mr. Villano has deep roots in American public K-12 and higher education.  He has worked as a public education advocate in several key roles during the Administration of New York State Governor Mario M. Cuomo, for the National Education Association, and as an adjunct faculty member at Cornell University’s ILR School for over 22 years. He has also served at the Associate Dean and Vice President level at two major public academic medical centers in New York State. Mr. Villano’s partner in life for 37 years, Carol, served as a K-12 teacher for nearly 25 years, specializing in Reading, but also certified in Math K-12 in New York State.

President – Jennifer Anastasoff

The founding CEO of EnCorps and its current President, Ms. Anastasoff has significant experience engaging the corporate sector in pro-bono projects as well as in education. In her capacity as CEO of BuildingBlocks International (BBI), a San Francisco-based nonprofit that is working with multinational corporations to develop what Business Week calls a corporate "Peace Corps," she created the corporate and programmatic infrastructure to support professionals transitioning into the public sector, conducted a national public education campaign, and successfully built strategic relationships with companies like Pfizer, UPS, Cisco and PwC. Her prior work includes teaching through Teach for America and serving as an analyst in the California Legislature.  She has spoken and presented papers at Harvard University and its Business School, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Comparative International Education Society Conference.  Ms. Anastasoff has a Masters in Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she received the prestigious Public Service Fellowship. 

Program Director, Northern California - Elaine Guarnieri Nunn

Elaine Guarnieri-Nunn has extensive experience in secondary education, professional development and in teacher training.  She has taught social studies in East Los Angeles, New York City and, most recently, at Leadership Public Schools, a charter school in in Hayward, CA.  Prior to joining EnCorps,  she was a faculty member in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, teaching graduate courses to first-year teachers in Baltimore City.  She has also worked as a program associate at Facing History and Ourselves, a national professional development organization that focuses on social justice issues for middle and high school students.  Elaine was Director of the Teachers' Institute at Goucher College, where she administered a summer program of graduate education courses. Elaine has a Masters of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in history.

Program Director, Southern California - Kathryn Hayes

Kat Hayes began her teaching career at Inglewood High School in Inglewood, CA in 1994.  Kat has 15 years of experience in education as a high school English and ESL teacher, new teacher mentor, and designer of teacher training and certification programs.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis on second language acquisition and teaching English to speakers of other languages from New York University.  Prior to joining EnCorps Teachers Program, Kat worked for The New Teacher Project as the Director of Training and Support for the ~ 1500 new teachers participating in the New York City Teaching Fellows program and then moved back to Los Angeles to work for The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.

Community Development Consultant - Debbie Brennan

Debbie combines her past experiences in both the tech and public sectors to engage STEM professionals as well as community partners in EnCorps Teachers Program opportunities. Debbie spent several years in the tech sector as a COBOL programmer and marketing representative. As a new resident of Sonoma, CA, Debbie has lived in the Bay area for 12 years. She moved to California from Massachusetts and continued her participation in many community building activities, including working for a non-profit that supports families of children with disabilities, leading a support group for families of children with disabilities, mentoring a high school student, as well as countless hours of 'hands-on' tutoring activities with her own children. She believes every child deserves a quality public school education.

Events and Communications Manager - Amy Whittaker

Amy recently returned to her native home of San Francisco after living in Chicago for 3 years, where she worked with non-profits focused on building communities through events. As Project Manager with KaBOOM!, Amy traveled throughout the United States assisting communities in coordinating one day community playground builds in low-income areas. She left KaBOOM! to assist a charter school and initiate an after-school tutoring program in a township outside of Franschhoek, South Africa. Upon returning to Chicago, she worked as a Service Events Coordinator with Chicago Cares where she collaborated with corporate volunteers and community partners to provide services to under-resourced schools and agencies. Amy graduated from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California with a B.S. in Graphic Communication. As the Events and Communication Manager with EnCorps, Amy is responsible for planning the Pass the Torch luncheons and Boot Camp among other events, spearheading communication efforts and creating marketing materials.

Salesforce Administrator - Cary Matthews

Born and raised in San Francisco, Cary Matthews recently completed an MBA at the University of San Francisco, and is finishing a Masters in Nonprofit Administration, also at USF. Before starting her degree in business, Cary worked for six years for the Center for Mathematics and Teaching at UCLA, which develops and implements math professional development courses for K-8 teachers, and also developed a one-year algebra readiness curriculum that has been adopted in California. As the program’s Publications Manager, Cary was responsible for the oversight, support, and organization of the writing of the program’s curriculum, as well as shared responsibility for marketing and promotion. Through a fellowship with Education Pioneers, Cary worked with College Track to utilize Salesforce.com to develop a reporting system to help determine the success and impact of the organization. Cary graduated with a B.A. from Colorado College in Creative Writing. As a Salesforce Administrator with EnCorps, Cary is responsible for ensuring that the scoping, ongoing administration of, and training is implemented on the Salesforce.com platform.

Education Pioneer, Summer 2010 - Paul Perry

Paul joins the EnCorps team as their 2010 Education Pioneer, a program that places young leaders in education with organizations that are transforming our educational system. He is currently pursuing his Master of Public Policy degree at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Before heading back to graduate school, Paul worked as a middle school English teacher in Southwest Philadelphia through Teach For America. He earned his Master of Education degree at the University of Pennsylvania during this time. Paul attended American University in Washington, DC where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and International Studies. While in DC, Paul worked for then-Senator Barack Obama, the NAACP, and the Center for American Progress. In his spare time, Paul enjoy thriller flicks, recreational sports, walking his dog Astaire, and being a social butterfly.