Staff

Michele Ashley

Michele Ashley is the Assistant Superintendent for Beginning with Children Foundation schools. She was a teacher at The Bilingual Center at P.S. 189 in Brooklyn for nine years before becoming Director of Education at the nonprofit organization, Project Reach Youth. After spending six years developing literacy based enrichment programs for schools throughout Brooklyn, she entered the New York City Leadership Academy to pursue her dream of becoming a principal. In 2005, she accepted leadership of The Jesse Owens School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where she oversaw dramatic improvements in teaching and learning, earning the school various community accolades for student progress. Mrs. Ashley received her bachelor's degree at Barnard College, Columbia University and her master's degree at New York University.

Beth Ellestad

Beth Ellestad is the Administrative/Communications Assistant for Beginning with Children Foundation. She supports development and communications activities at BwCF.

George W. Flowers

George W. Flowers is the Executive Director of Beginning with Children Foundation. A graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and Harvard Law School, George was most recently a Senior Counsel at Merck & Co., Inc. where he chaired the Global Law Department Diversity Committee. His legal career started at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he was a Corporate Associate. George previously served his country as an artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps. George is a resident of Brooklyn, where his family has extensive roots. He has been active in the community as a student mentor through BwCF and other organizations including Legal Outreach.

Cindy Goldberg

Cindy Goldberg is Director of Development at the Beginning with Children Foundation. Prior to joining BwCF, she served as the National Director of the Annual Giving for Hadassah. She was the Director of Development for the Anti-Defamation League for the Southeast Region and has worked at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and as Program Director for Hillels of Broward and Palm Beach. Cindy received a Bachelors degree from University of Florida. Cindy was on the Board of Whole World Theater and currently serves as a Board member of A More Perfect Union, an organization that serves women-at-risk who are recovering from domestic violence, homelessness and drug and alcohol addiction.

Cassandre Henriquez

Cassandre Henriquez is the Program Manager for the Beginning with Children Foundation Alumni Program. Before joining BwCF, Cassandre served as the Associate Director of Admission at Poly Preparatory Country Day School in Brooklyn. Her dedication to youth development can be seen throughout her extensive work at various non-profit organizations such as The Oliver Program and Syracuse University's CSTEP Program. These positions allowed her the opportunity to offer underserved students access to excellent educational resources. She received her BA from Binghamton University in 2001 and her MA from Columbia University in 2004.

Geraldeen Licurse

Geraldeen Licurse is the Chief Financial Officer for Beginning with Children Foundation. She oversees the financial operations and technology of Beginning with Children Foundation, Beginning with Children Charter School and Community Partnership Charter School. She is involved in all aspects of financial accounting and reporting for the three organizations. Previously, Ms. Licurse was a manager with Goldstein Golub Kessler, LLP certified public accountants and consultants. During this time she oversaw audits, and performed compliance and consulting services for not-for-profit organizations nationwide. Geraldeen received her BA in Accounting and Information Systems from City University of New York, Queens College in 1995.

Renato Muguercia

Renato Muguercia is the Technology Support Specialist for Beginning with Children Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Renato was a Systems Administrator and a Technical Trainer for six years at Etek Training in New Jersey. He is a Microsoft certified trainer and holds the following certifications: MCSE, MCITP, CRM 4.0, Great Plains, Sharepoint 2010 and Microsoft server virtualization. Renato has an AAS. from Borough of Manhattan Community College and is currently pursuing his bachelor's degree from Monroe College.

Sinem Okur

Sinem Okur is the Grant Writer/Administrator for Beginning with Children Foundation. Sinem prepares private and public grants proposals and reports for BwCF and the schools. Prior to joining BwCF in October 2006, she was a Development Associate at Wildcat Service Corporation. Sinem holds a BA in Sociology and a BA in Political Science and International Relations from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey and an MA in Media Ecology and Film Production from New York University.

Sonia Ortiz-Gulardo

Sonia Ortiz-Gulardo is the Director of Special Projects for Beginning with Children Foundation and is the founder of the BwCF Alumni Program. Prior to joining BwCF, she was the Founding Principal of Beginning with Children Charter School. With many years of experience in the field of education, she has worked under Mayor Koch's Administration as the Assistant Director for Early Childhood Education, and has served as a classroom teacher, staff developer, and Assistant Director and Director of Bilingual Programs in East Harlem. She serves on the boards of the READ Foundation and Literacy, Inc. Ms. Gulardo received a BS degree in Sociology and a master's degree in Education from Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Annette Perez

Annette Perez is the Manager of Recruitment and Retention for the Beginning with Children Foundation (BwCF). She brings over twenty years of teaching experience to her new role. Prior to joining BwCF, Annette taught various levels of mathematics including Algebra, Algebra 2 & Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus at The Horace Mann School where she also served as the Director of their Academic Summer School. Annette has also taught Regents Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Sequential Math III and College Algebra at All Hallows High School where she also served as the Director of Student Activities and the Coordinator of the Business Mentoring Program. Annette taught mathematics at Prep for Prep and at various elementary schools. She received her BA from New York University and her MS. Ed from the College of New Rochelle.

Dr. Carol Reich

Dr. Carol Reich is an honorary Emeritus Board Member after co-founding and serving on the Beginning with Children Foundation board for more than two decades. She has extensive experience in early childhood education and in the education of the deaf. The former president of the Lexington Center (formerly, the Lexington School for the Deaf), she has served as a consultant to and a trustee of the Bank Street College of Education. Dr. Reich and her husband co-sponsored an “I Have A Dream” Foundation class of 62 Brooklyn children and co-founded the New York City Center for Charter Schools in 2004. Dr. Reich has provided leadership to organizations such as the Hunt Institute, CUNY Foundation and the New York City Outward Bound Center. Dr. Reich is currently a trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Joseph Reich

Joseph Reich is an honorary Emeritus Board Member after co-founding and serving on the Beginning with Children Foundation board for more than two decades. He founded Reich & Tang, Inc. in 1970, a leading investment management firm, and served as its president until 1987 and chairman of the Board of Directors until 1989. He was formerly the managing general partner of Centennial Associates and Centennial Energy Partners, L.P.  Together with his wife, he co-sponsored an “I Have A Dream” Foundation class of 62 Brooklyn children and co-founded the New York City Center for Charter Schools in 2004.  Mr. Reich played an active role in the public sector for more than 40 years, providing leadership to organizations such as the Hunt Institute, Broad Jump Inc., Continuum Health Partners, Partnership for New York City and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Mr. Reich continues his role as founding investor and director at the New York City Investment Fund.

Denniston M. Reid, Jr.

Denniston M. Reid, Jr. is the Chief Academic Officer for Beginning with Children Foundation. He most recently served as the principal of one of the highest performing elementary schools in New York City. He was previously a founding teacher at Bronx Preparatory Charter School and also worked as a coach and mentor for educators and administrators at New Visions for Public Schools. Denniston was a Teach for America corps member after graduating from Colgate University with a BA in Education and Political Science. He has a MA in Politics and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Brian Stemmer

Brian Stemmer is the Controller for Beginning with Children Foundation. He is involved with the financial accounting and reporting for the Foundation and its partner schools. Additionally, his responsibilities include all aspects of Business Management for BwCF and its schools. Prior to joining BwCF, Brian was the Controller for a privately held precious metal jewelry manufacturer. He received his Bachelor of Accountancy from George Washington University in 1987 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Tomomi Uetani

Tomomi Uetani is the Program Manager for the Beginning with Children Foundation Alumni Program. She joined BwCF in August 2009 as the Program Guidance Counselor, after interning at the High School of Art & Design as a school counselor and at Baruch College as a career counselor. She earned her MSEd in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University and BA in Psychology from Vassar College.

Jose Vallejo

Jose Vallejo is the Senior Accountant for Beginning with Children Foundation. Prior to joining BwCF, Jose was the Accountant for National Minority Supplier Development Council, a national non-profit organization with 37 regional councils that provide minority certified vendors to Fortune 500 companies, local businesses, and government agencies. Previously, Jose was Supervisor of Accounts Payable at Planned Parenthood of New York City. Jose also worked as an accountant at the Cultural Council Foundation, an organization providing accounting and grant writing services for small non-profit galleries, art and theater groups.

Jennella Young

Jennella Young is the Chief Program Officer and Director of the Alumni Program for the Beginning with Children Foundation. She has previously served as a Program and Knowledge Management Officer at New Visions for Public Schools where she facilitated professional trainings for the staff and administrators at more than one hundred new public schools and collaborated with the Annenberg Institute to support curricular collaboration between schools in the United Kingdom and New York City. Prior to New Visions she served as the Interim Director for the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, an Education Consultant for the New York State Board of Education, an Admissions Officer for the Stern School of Business and as a Coordinator for an International Scholars Program at New York University. Jennella has a BA in Psychology from Lehigh University, an MA in Counseling Psychology from New York University, and is currently completing additional graduate work in Art History and Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute.

Nicole Zehr

Nicole Zehr is Vice-President of Data and Accountability for Beginning with Children Foundation. She has eight years of database development and administration experience and has taught at the secondary and post-secondary levels. At BwCF she is responsible for developing and maintaining systems to track student academic performance, providing school operations and technology support, and producing original quantitative analysis for fundraising, annual reports, and other accountability reporting. Current projects include implementation of the web-based PowerSchool Studio suite, which integrates a student information system with advanced assessment and reporting capabilities. She received a BFA in Art History from Ohio University and an MFA in Painting from Syracuse University.

Jonathan Zuk

Jonathan Zuk is the Assessment Support Coordinator for Beginning with Children Foundation. Prior to joining BwCF, he completed a one-year AmeriCorps position with EducationWorks, a Philadelphia-based non-profit. He supported the database and capacity needs of the college preparedness center at a large public high school in Southwest Philadelphia. He previously worked as a Web Producer with Affinity Labs, a division of Monster.com which manages several occupation-specific social networking websites. He holds a BA in Political Science and Urban Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.