Meet the Team

Albert is an education policy researcher with deep expertise on secondary education, postsecondary education, and workforce development. He has a PhD and MA in economics from Cornell University and has worked at Westat, Insight Policy Research, Mathematica Policy Research, and the Urban Institute. Albert and his wife Denise have lived happily in the Bay Area for almost 15 years and have two young children who are both avid readers. He serves on the Governance Committee and is very excited to support Aspire Education as it grows to better support the East Bay community!

Blerina Sanocki is a strategic partnerships leader and longtime Alameda parent with a deep commitment to equity, advocacy, and expanding educational opportunity. With over 15 years at Google leading global partnerships and inclusion initiatives, she brings deep experience in cross-sector collaboration, community engagement, and culturally responsive leadership. As the parent of two children in Alameda public schools—and someone whose family has directly benefited from special education services—Blerina brings both professional insight and lived experience to her work. She has a strong track record of championing neurodiverse learners and underrepresented communities. Blerina is honored to support Aspire Education’s mission and is passionate about building bridges between families, educators, and communities to unlock student potential and ensure inclusive, high-quality learning for all.

Brian has dedicated his career to reducing inequity in society, and is particularly passionate about equity in our educational systems. He currently works in corporate strategy at Kaiser Permanente, and has had previous roles in climate and climate justice investing, strategic operations at New York City government’s early education division, and risk consulting at KPMG. Brian holds a BA in history from Brown University and an MBA from UCLA. A relative newcomer to the East Bay, he enjoys taking advantage of the great local hiking options, reading in scenic places, and running with his local run club.

Jack is an Oakland native with a career in education and affordable housing. He holds a B.A. from Bard College and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Before joining the Aspire Education board in 2018, Jack served Aspire for five years in a staff capacity starting in 2013, first as Program Director and then as Executive Director. Jack is an ADU fanatic and completed his own unit in 2019. He serves as Board Chair of Aspire and spends his free time biking, backpacking, hanging with family, and overcoming his fear of singing in public.

Jonathan is a co-founder and CEO of Landed. Landed raised over $200M of equity to pilot an innovative new form of down payment assistance for thousands of public school teachers and other essential professionals. Jonathan led the design of the consumer product, obtained regulatory and other industry approvals, as well as raised money from the capital markets. Jonathan is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and also holds degrees in Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Katherine is a results-oriented marketing and brand strategy executive with 20+ years of experience building value at diverse organizations ranging from ecommerce startups to Fortune 500 consumer product organizations to nonprofits. Katherine brings high level marketing leadership combined with executional expertise to bring brands to life and help key stakeholders achieve organizational goals. Katherine gained her classical marketing training at Kraft where she managed $40 to $100MM iconic consumer brands prior to joining Prophet, a global brand and management consultancy based in SF. As Founder of KO Strategy, an independent brand and marketing strategy consultancy, Katherine has helped senior management teams unlock key insights to build brand growth. She has also served as CMO for EnChroma, an NIH-backed startup that invented lens technology and eyewear for color blindness where she had the opportunity to build the brand and marketing team, and spearheaded the launch of numerous new product lines across ecommerce and distribution channels in pursuit of their mission to expand color accessibility for all. With a life-long commitment to community leadership and engagement, Katherine has also served on several nonprofit boards in recent years supporting youth development, economic empowerment and education including Piedmont Scouting, Strive for Change Foundation, and on the Piedmont Havens School Parent Board as President and Co-Chair of the major annual fundraising event. Katherine received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia. Originally an East Coaster, Katherine has lived in the East Bay for more than 25 years where she and her husband Jerry have raised their three children.

Mike is a long-term Bay Area resident who has long had a passion for educational equality. He owns his own law firm which represents employees and tenants in discrimination and retaliation cases. Mike earned his BA in Politics from St. Mary’s College of California and his JD from Golden Gate University School of Law. With all three of their kids at college, Mike and his wife live in the East Bay with their two rambunctious chihuahuas.

Monica’s professional passion is to leverage her strategic business and leadership skills in support of life changing programs for East Bay children and families. After spending the first part of her career in finance, analytics, and process design at Oracle Corporation and Deloitte Consulting, Monica currently works with non-profit organizations on smart and creative solutions to address challenges related to strategy, operations, collaboration and fundraising. In addition to consulting work, Monica currently serves on the Board of the East Bay Agency for Children Auxiliary, an Oakland-based organization that helps mitigate the impact of trauma on children and families. She also recently served as Chair of the Development Committee for the Bishop O’Dowd High School Board of Regents – an experience which provided a unique perspective of the rewards and challenges facing educational institutions in the region. Recreationally Monica enjoys hiking with the family’s Rhodesian Ridgeback, swimming, skiing, kayaking, traveling, cooking and reading historical fiction!