Zeke Vanderhoek, Founder & Principal

The Equity Project Charter School concept was created by Zeke Vanderhoek, who is also TEP's first Principal. Zeke was the founder  of Manhattan GMAT (www.manhattangmat.com), a national GMAT test-preparation company, which he built with no outside investment. Zeke began his educational career as a 6th and 8th grade teacher at I.S. 90, a public middle school in Washington Heights (NYC). He has a B.A. from Yale University and a Masters in Philosophy & Education from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Shelly Gupta, Director of Finance & Operations

Ms. Gupta has over 11 years of experience as an educational entrepreneur, information technology project manager, and consultant. She began her career at Thaumaturgix, a software consulting firm, where she was the architect of cutting-edge technology platforms for many e-commerce businesses. Subsequently, she worked for Standard & Poor’s as a Senior Consultant in the Risk Solutions group, leading and managing teams of engineers to build two key, highly profitable products. Shelly then co- founded TutorAndMentor.com, a supplemental educational services company that leverages technology to deliver affordable and convenient education to K-12 students in the US & UK. Shelly earned her Integrated Master of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics at the world-renowned Indian Institute of Technology, earning admission as one of the top 0.5% of students from over 200,000 nationwide applicants.

TEP Board of Trustees

David Coleman is the founder of the Grow Network, a part of McGraw-Hill Education. A Rhodes Scholar, Coleman became involved in education as an undergraduate at Yale, founding the Branch program. In England, he was a lecturer at the University of London before going to work in the pro bono education area of McKinsey & Company. The Grow Network, acquired by McGraw-Hill in 2005,  has become the nation’s leader in assessment reporting and customized instructional materials. David has recently founded Student Achievement Partners. The organization assembles leading thinkers and researchers to design actions that will substantially improve student achievement.  The group integrates rigorous policy analysis, research, and design to focus entirely on the most significant outcomes for students.  Student Achievement Partners serves foundations and school districts.

Laura Tavormina has served as Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer of the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSSH) since 1990. She brings deep financial, operational, and facilities expertise to TEP’s Board. WSFSSH, a leading supportive housing provider located in New York City, was organized in 1977 and since then has built close to 1,400 units of housing in Manhattan and the Bronx. As Deputy Director of WSFSSH, Ms. Tavormina is responsible for agency-wide financial matters including financial reporting and audits, budgeting, cash management, tax reporting and government contracts. She has primary operations oversight for the areas of property management, asset management and information technology. She is also a key member of the development team that is responsible for creating new real estate projects for the agency.

Crystal Harmon is a partner for the Policy business line at The New Teacher Project (TNTP). This group blends rigorous research with a practitioner's deep knowledge of the real tensions that schools, districts and states face every day and provides practical recommendations to maximize access to highly effective teachers for all students, as well as advises education stakeholders on a range of education policy and legislative issues. To date, Harmon has supervised projects in New York City, Washington State, Philadelphia, Newark, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Arkansas. Prior to this role, Crystal worked as a Project Director and a Site Manager at TNTP and is a 2002 Baltimore Teach For America (TFA) Corps Member.

Peter Cove is one of the nation's leading advocates for private solutions to welfare dependency, ex-offender reentry initiatives and for meeting the needs of underserved, marginalized populations. Since founding America Works in 1984, Mr. Cove has worked to link private-sector investment and employment with welfare reform. Mr. Cove is devoted to prisoner and veteran reentry initiatives, advocating for second chance legislation and the work first model. In 2005, Mr. Cove founded the Work First Foundation, devoted to sponsoring projects that offer job opportunities for the underserved. In a unique arrangement with government agencies, America Works and the Work First Foundation, are paid only if they deliver underserved populations into employment and self-sufficiency. Mr. Cove was the leading pioneer of pay-for-performance contracting for welfare-to-work programs. America Works and the Work First Foundation have helped over 250,000 people get back into the workplace. Mr. Cove holds a BA in sociology from Northeastern University. He is married to Dr. Lee Bowes, Chief Executive Officer of America Works.

Zeke Vanderhoek – see above.