LEADERSHIP & BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Joel Zarrow, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Joel Zarrow, Ph.D.
Dr. Joel Zarrow was appointed in 2014 as CLI’s Chief Executive Officer. Joel has dedicated his nearly 20-year career to improving the quality of education in public urban schools. He earned his doctorate at Stanford University and has presented at national and international conferences with multiple publications to his credit.

Reina Prowler
Deputy Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer
Reina Prowler
As Chief Financial Officer, Reina Prowler is responsible for developing and implementing CLI’s long-term financial strategy. She leads all financial administration, planning and budgeting. Reina earned her B.A. in Business Economics and American Civilizations from Brown University and her M.B.A., with concentrations in Accounting and Strategic and Operations Management from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Naimah BIlal
Chief Development Officer
Naimah Bilal
As Chief Development Officer, Naimah Bilal provides leadership, strategic vision, and direction to engage and expand philanthropic support to advance CLI’s mission. Naimah earned her bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington and Case Western/CIM, respectively, and is an MBA/Economics candidate at the UC Lindner College of Business.

Caryn Henning
Managing Director of Program Design & Professional Development
Caryn Henning
Caryn is a 17 year veteran of CLI. In that time, Caryn has also been a Regional Manager and a Professional Developer. As the Director of Program Design & Content Development, Caryn is responsible for ensuring CLI has the right program “scope and sequence” in place, as well as the professional development to build the necessary expertise to build teacher capacity and accelerate student early literacy learning.

Jill Valunas
Senior Regional Executive Director
Jill Valunas
Jill oversees the implementation of projects in the Eastern Region, leads & guides Regional Managers/Associate Regional Managers, provides support to district leaders, and strives to expand our work to reach more children. She ensures that both the learning objectives and outcomes stipulated in all client and donor contract expectations are met. Over the past 20 years, Jill has served as an educator and educational leader in urban education. Jill provides her expertise in school improvement and strives to transform education by tending to the needs of each individual represented in the school culture.

Mary List
Regional Executive Director
Mary List
Mary has dedicated her career to improving quality teaching and learning in public elementary schools. In her role as the Regional Executive Director for CLI’s central region, Mary oversees the quality implementation of projects including Chicago, Denver, and Houston area schools. In this position she manages district and school relationships, provides support to school and district leaders, designs projects with clients, and supervises the locally based CLI regional managers and professional developers while ensuring that both the learning objectives stipulated in client contracts and all donor expectations are met.

Todd Gehling
Director of Technology Strategy
Todd Gehling
Todd joined CLI in 2019 with a passion for delivering innovative technology solutions that empower organizational and employee growth. He directs all aspects of the technology strategy including identification of opportunities, product and partner selection, solution delivery, ongoing service support, and planning future capabilities to align to the organizational vision. Todd has 20 years of experience working as a technology expert and leader across several industries and approaches technology transformation as a continuous, collaborative effort that promotes new ideas and the courage to test them out.

Brian L. Johnson
Director of Diversity & Inclusion
Brian L. Johnson
Brian L. Johnson joined CLI in June of 2020. He leads our efforts to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into everything we do at CLI. Serving as a teacher and school administrator the last 29 years in public, charter and independent schools, has allowed him to see and experience education from various perspectives. Brian earned his BA in Psychology and his MA Ed. at Wake Forest University.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Name
POSITION
ORGANIZATION
bOARD TITLE
Senior Vice President
Merrill Lynch
Chair
Vice-Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
c
Managing Director & CEO
Co-Founder & President
Crockett Foundation
Assistant Professor
Frank Gettridge
Executive Director
National Public Education Support Fund
Sandra LaFleur
Director, Social Change Initiatives
Miami Dade College
Director, School Leadership Program
University of Pennsylvania
Lori Taylor
Foley & Lardner LLP
Jacqueline Woolley
Attorney & Counselor at Law
The Ezold Law Firm, P.C.
REGIONAL MANAGERS
Philadelphia, PA
Nicole Bethea
Northern New Jersey
Sharon Weldon
As a Regional Manager, Sharon guides the implementation of CLI’s mission in a variety of Northeastern school districts. Her prior 17 years of experience as a CLI Professional Developer lends direction and depth to her current role, as she cultivates partnerships with school districts, oversees professional developers, and supports project implementation of effective literacy practices. Sharon coordinates with a network of colleagues to ensure that the delivery of trainings, coaching and materials provide educators with instructional practices and resources to empower students as they become powerful readers, writers and thinkers.
With a commitment to impact and sustainability, Sharon contributes to CLI’s vision of transformational instruction, combining efforts of all involved to ensure children become successful, life-long members of the literacy community.
Broward County, FL
Michelle LaCoursiere
Philadelphia, PA
Erica Plummer
Erica is a Regional Manager for CLI’s SDP Project, supporting District Leaders, Supervisors, Coaches, and Teachers in the Philadelphia school district. She believes that literacy is a HUMAN RIGHT, and that our role as literacy educators is to make sure that RIGHT is made equitably available to every child. It is this belief that drives her passion for supporting urban educators to grow in their literacy expertise. Furthermore, she believes that literacy education and social justice are inextricably linked, and therefore literacy educators must approach literacy with an antiracist lens.
Erica received a B.S. in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2008 and later received a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Research and Evaluation Methods from the University of MO - St. Louis. Before accepting a Literacy Specialist role at CLI, Erica taught various elementary grades in Baltimore and Saint Louis City Schools. One thing she’s learned after working in various districts is that a major key to student growth is building a teacher’s knowledge around content and pedagogy; to equip them with the tools needed to appropriately respond to students’ needs.
Philadelphia, PA
Michelle Allen
Michelle leads the implementation of CLI’s mission and vision in the Philadelphia Metro region. She supports district and charter school administrators, coaches and teachers with successful implementation of effective Pk-5 literacy practices to ensure increased student achievement outcomes.