Alex has more than 18 years of executive management and strategic development experience in both the nonprofit and private sectors. Immediately before launching Beyond 12, she was an Entrepreneur in Residence at NewSchools Venture Fund where she conducted the research and developed the business plan for Beyond 12. Alex's previous professional experience includes serving as executive director of The Princeton Review's Silicon Valley office, co-founder and vice president of marketing and online strategy at educational travel startup Explorica, director of operations at EF Education, and operations manager at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she coordinated the efforts of an international youth substance abuse prevention foundation.

Alex was also the executive director of Foundation for a College Education (FCE). She currently serves on the FCE advisory board, as well as the board of directors of the Great Oakland Public Schools Leadership Center. Alex received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and earned a master's degree with a concentration in policy and organizational leadership from Stanford. She is an Ashoka Fellow, a recipient of the 2011 NewSchools Venture Fund Entrepreneur of the year award, and a 2012 Jefferson Award for Public Service. In addition, Fast Company recently named Beyond 12 “one of the world’s top 10 most innovative companies in education.”

‍

Deborah has been committed to transforming the lives of underserved urban school students for more than four decades. In 1993, Deborah became the first public school superintendent to join Edison Learning (formerly Edison Schools). There, she held numerous positions including, President of Edison Teachers College, Executive Vice President of Charter Schools, and Executive Vice President of several external relations functions. Prior to joining Edison Learning, Deborah served as the first female General Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools. Crain’s Detroit Business named her Newsmaker of the Year for 1992. Before that, she was the first female Assistant Superintendent in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the first female Deputy Superintendent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was a teacher and administrator in the New York City Public Schools for more than a decade. Deborah is the former President of the Education Industry Association. In addition to serving on the boards of several high-performing charter management organizations, she is the Chair of the board of Beyond 12. She serves on the executive committee of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Policy Innovators in Education Network, and is a founder and national board member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. She also serves on the advisory board of the Games and Learning Publishing Council, Hechinger Report, Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is a member of the Review Board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education. Deborah holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Norfolk State University, a master’s degree in education with a specialization in reading pedagogy from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a doctorate in Administration, Policy and Urban Education from Fordham University.

‍

Ethan Beard is the co-founder of Yoz Labs. A longtime tech executive and entrepreneur, Ethan has focused on the intersection of technology companies and their partners including leading Ripple’s blockchain developer program, the Facebook Developer Network and New Business Development at Google. He is also an active investor in and advisor to early stage technology startups and was an EIR at Greylock Partners. Ethan lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children and is an active philanthropist supporting organizations in contemporary art, education, and democracy reform.

A leader in higher education, student success and civil rights advocacy, Jamie is President Emerita of the WASC Senior College & University Commission. She was President of Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY and Public Advocates Inc. and Associate Dean, Yale Law School. Jamie served in the US Department of Education as deputy undersecretary, deputy and acting general counsel, and chair of NACIQI (National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality & Integrity), and with HEW/HHS as special assistant to the Secretary.

Jamie has been adjunct faculty at Mills College and Stanford and UC Berkeley Law Schools; visiting scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and national policy advisor to Beyond12.

A graduate of Barnard College and Harvard Law School, Jamie is on the boards of the Association of Independent California Colleges & Universities, SebArts, and Build Forward Ukraine. She chaired the San Francisco Ethics Commission, California Civil Rights Coalition, and Connecticut Women's Education & Legal Fund, and served among others on the KQED, AAC&U, and American Craft Council boards.

Jamie currently serves as a VP and Executive Advisor at Google, after having held various leadership roles at the company for more than a decade. He also serves as a board member for Learn Fresh, Inc., a non-profit focused on the intersection of sports and STEM education, and an Advisor to Afero, Inc., a technology startup focused on IoT and the Smart Home.

‍

Jamie’s prior tenure at Google focused on the company’s efforts in mobile through Android and Google Play, with leadership roles in the product, business, and strategy domains. Prior to joining Google, Jamie led premium services for Danger, Inc., an early innovator in smart phones which was acquired by Microsoft. Jamie has also worked in venture capital for Redpoint Ventures and in interactive media for the NBA, where he was responsible for launching NBA.com. He also served stints at Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Disney Online. Jamie has a bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and an MBA from Stanford University.

‍

Jamie lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children. When not advising leaders and organizations, he can be found hiking, playing all manner of sports he’s too old to play, reading, researching travel destinations, and attending his kids’ sports or theater events.

‍

Natalie Walrond brings to her work twenty-five years of experience in K- 12 education, finance, and strategy, for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Walrond serves as senior managing director at WestEd. In this role she leads the vision, strategic direction, and external engagement of the center. Walrond leads a team of 17 people who work nationally to build state and local capacity to integrate evidence-based approaches to social and emotional development and school safety with academic teaching and learning, school climate and culture, and all of the ways that children and youth experience school. Walrond speaks and writes for the Center on social and emotional well- being, excellence, alignment and coherence, and equity.

Walrond began her career in investment management and investment banking. After ten years, she served as a nonprofit chief financial officer, before becoming an associate partner at NewSchools Venture Fund. Prior to joining WestEd, she was an independent consultant for several years serving mission-driven education organizations, providing strategic planning, financial strategy, and board effectiveness consulting. She earned a B.A. in international studies and international business from Trinity University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, with concentrations in analytic finance and policy studies. She earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1999. Walrond has served on several boards and is currently a member of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC).

‍

Scott is an entrepreneur and builder who is passionate about empowering purpose-driven leaders, organizations, and communities to reach their full potential for impact. Scott founded Education Pioneers in 2003 to build a diverse network of leaders dedicated to transforming education so that all students receive a quality education. He served as CEO for 15 years while raising $40M+ from national funders and leading the organization's recruitment and training of 4,000+ leaders to drive impact at 750+ education organizations serving millions of students. Scott currently serves as the head of employer partnerships at Springboard, a mission-driven company that is bridging the world's skills gap by offering transformative online education experiences in tech-related fields such as data science, UI/UX design, machine learning, and software engineering. Scott has also served in a variety of roles at pioneering education organizations during his career, including teacher at St. Jude High School, in-house counsel at Aspire Public Schools, and founding talent leader at Wonderschool. Scott graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in government from the University of Notre Dame, received his Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Portland, and earned his law degree from Stanford Law School. He is a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur, a board member of Beyond 12, an advisor at BookNook, a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, Class of 2010, and the recipient of the 2017 Notre Dame Award for Outstanding Contributions to Catholic Education.

‍

Shonda is an award-winning writer, director, and producer who created the hit ABC series Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. Shonda also created the Grey's Anatomy spinoff series, Private Practice, which ran on ABC for six seasons. Now in its eleventh season, Grey's Anatomy continues to be hailed by audiences and critics. For her work on the series, Shonda received the 2007 Television Producer of the Year award from the Producers Guild of America, the 2007 Golden Globe for Outstanding Television Drama, the 2007 Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film, consecutive wins from 2007-2011 for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series as well as five wins for Outstanding Drama Series, the 2006 Writers Guild Award for Best New Series, in addition to Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and Writing for a Drama Series. For Scandal, Shonda was the 2013 winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Drama Series as well as nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Shonda was the recipient of the 2012 GLAAD Golden Gate Award, 2010 RAINN Hope Award and a 2009 GLSEN Respect Awards Honoree. Shonda has twice been included in TIME Magazine's 100 list of the most influential people. Shonda holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College in English Literature with Creative Writing and an M.F.A. from the USC School of Cinema-Television, where she was awarded the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship. The child of educators, Rhimes blames her parents for her rampant addiction to books. The youngest of six, she was born and raised outside of Chicago, IL, and now resides in Los Angeles with her three daughters.

Tulaine Montgomery is an entrepreneur, educator, writer and organizer. She has played leadership roles in the launch and expansion of social enterprises across the U.S., the Caribbean, East Africa, Indonesia and South Africa.

Tulaine currently serves as CEO of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs visionary leaders who are scaling innovations and transforming our nation’s most important and often inequitable systems. During her time at New Profit, Tulaine has led initiatives focused on strengthening education-to-employment pathways for underserved youth, driving resources and support to entrepreneurs who have been directly impacted by the American legal system, and building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization and philanthropic sector. Tulaine has also served as the lead architect of New Profit’s Inclusive Impact strategy and Proximate Capital fund, which seeks to bridge the resource gap faced by Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, rural and other underinvested social entrepreneurs.

Outside of New Profit, Tulaine is a trusted advisor to nonprofit organizations and socially responsible companies, and serves as the Board Chair for GirlTrek, the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the nation. Her other board positions include Beyond 12, YouthBuild, College for Social Innovation, and Jitegemee (a youth-serving organization in Kenya). She is also the Host and Executive Producer of "Say More: Live conversations with Tulaine,” an Instagram Live virtual ‘salon’ that explores what it would take to build a world that works for everyone.

Tulaine’s writing has been featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Root, Worth Media, and more. She has a master’s in public policy from Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College.

Tulaine is an experienced cellist and writer; she has written and produced five original plays.

‍

Aleida Robles is a first-year undergraduate student and a recipient of the Ford Family Foundation Scholarship at the University of Oregon. She is double-majoring in sociology and communications disorders & sciences. In hopes of becoming a bilingual speech-language pathologist in her community, Aleida is also minoring in Spanish. Born and raised in Woodburn, Oregon, Aleida is a first-generation student, and is a proud daughter of working-class farmworker parents. Over the past years, Aleida has grown a deep sense of passion for her community, which has led to her involvement in social justice and grassroots organizing with organizations like Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS) and the Capaces Leadership Institute. Aleida works diligently to empower future generations through her community involvement, and is dedicated to bringing meaningful change through her advocacy work.

Alicia Kemo is a student at the University of North Texas, where she is majoring in biomedical engineering. Her interest in healthcare grew after completing a summer volunteering program at Texas Health Resource Hospital, where she enjoyed connecting with patients and supporting the care team. She is also a certified Patient Care Technician, which has strengthened her understanding of both the technical and human sides of medicine.

Outside the classroom, Alicia founded a suicide awareness project to promote open conversations about mental health and connect students to helpful resources. She’s passionate about encouraging others to seek support and fostering a sense of community wherever she is.

Alicia is active in the women’s ministry at her school and volunteers at her local church. She hopes to one day combine her love for science, service, and innovation to create medical technologies that make a difference in people’s lives.

‍

Andy Taing is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) with a minor in public health. Born and raised in Alhambra, California, Andy is a first-generation college student passionate about healthcare, research, and community service.

He is a certified nationally registered emergency medical technician (NREMT) and a licensed certified nursing assistant (CNA), with hands-on experience in patient care and emergency response. At UCLA, Andy conducts research examining how classroom sound environments influence children’s learning and cognitive performance. Beyond academics, he volunteers as a youth advisor with the American Red Cross, where he mentors students, leads preparedness training, and coordinates youth engagement across the Los Angeles Region.

Driven by a strong commitment to service, education, and health equity, Andy aspires to become an emergency medicine physician and continue using his experience to support underrepresented students in pursuing higher education and careers in healthcare.

Caitlin Basas is a fourth year undergraduate student at UC Irvine, and is serving as a member of Beyond 12’s Student Advisory Board. In school, she is pursuing a major in psychology and a minor in film and media studies. On campus, she is an active member of UCI’s Kababayan Filipino Cultural Organization, Pilipinx-American Cultural Night, and Film and Drama Alliance. In the past few years, she has developed a passion for education and health while working as a teacher for Rainbow Rising Child Development Centers and volunteering at hospitals and therapy clinics in her community. As one of the first people in her family to go to college in the United States, Caitlin hopes that in her role with Beyond 12 she can help provide effective resources to first generation students who yearn to receive a higher education. Using the skills learned in college and Beyond 12, she yearns to pursue a career in pediatric occupational therapy or film production.

David Okeh is a senior at Lehigh University studying computer engineering and minoring in marketing. Enthusiastic about developing accessible technology, he possesses expertise in product management and programming. David seeks to create innovative, cost-effective technological solutions that simplify life for individuals around the globe.

Destiny (Desi) Hudson is a student at the University of Michigan studying animation with a focus in illustration and concept art. Throughout their academic and professional career, Destiny has served as a student voice for career success readiness, as well as an advocate for youth civic engagements.

In 2022, Destiny joined the Youth Advisory Council with TCG Impact, where, alongside other passionate students, they worked to develop strategies and host workshops fostering year-round civic engagement for students in the Metro-Atlanta area. Later, in 2025 Destiny returned to TCG Impact as a member of their creative team and as a mentor for their new student cohort. Destiny is serving a second term in Beyond 12’s Student Advisory Board.

On campus, Destiny is currently the President of Stamps in Color (SiC), a community of creatives dedicated to enhancing creative, social, and professional opportunities for all members, particularly focusing on uplifting the unique experiences and contributions of peers, faculty, and staff from underrepresented backgrounds.Destiny believes that the arts belong in activism and strives for their work to leave a lasting legacy.

‍

Garen is a first year student at Merritt College, where he is pursuing studies in nursing with the goal of becoming a registered nurse. Outside of academics and service, he has also earned a black belt in mixed martial arts, reflecting his dedication, discipline, and resilience both inside and outside the classroom.

Jasmin Callejas is a first-year college student at Merritt College majoring in radiology science aspiring to become a radiology technologist. As someone who is intrigued by medical careers, Jasmin is passionate about patients’ rights and receiving equitable care. Her interest in healthcare has led her to intern for Highland Hospital and Cognixion as a community lead. Her advocacy for accessible education has also led her to intern for an educational organization known as Families in Action (FIA).

Mia Keitt is a junior studying political science at Howard University in Washington, DC. As an active member of multiple campus organizations, including the Howard University NAACP, she engages in community service initiatives that support the surrounding DC area, demonstrating her commitment to social justice and civic responsibility. Mia aspires to become a successful lawyer, driven by her passion for advocacy and public service. With an interest in Civil Rights law, Mia plans to be at the forefront of protecting individual liberties, promoting equality, and contributing to systemic change through public service.

‍

Zhariah Mitchell is a third-year student at Tuskegee University from Atlanta, Georgia pursuing a degree in sociology. She is passionate about helping others reach their goals and giving back to her community. By serving in her second term in Beyond 12’s Student Advisor Board, she is excited to grow as a leader, build new connections, and make a positive impact on students’ journeys to college success.