Laura Fiemann
Vice President, CDFI Operations
Charter Schools Development Corporation

Ms. Fiemann’s professional expertise lies in project and structured real estate and facilities finance for various municipal and quasi-municipal customers, including school districts and 501(c)3s, with a special emphasis on Public Charter Schools. She currently is the director of operations for Charter Schools Development Corporation’s direct lending, credit enhancement and landlord guaranty programs.

Laura has a strong background in financial analysis and marketing with an emphasis in public finance. She demonstrates a consistent ability to connect, evaluate, and monitor finance projects across the country. She is skilled in developing and implementing standards of policies and procedures to ensure organizational capacity and efficiency. She received a double Bachelor degree in Finance and Management from the University of Colorado.

Barbara Atkeson
Accountability
Bennett Partners

Barbara is a community activist in the Denver Metro area, where she works primarily in the area of education reform. Barbara has served as a board member of Summer Scholars, an after school and summer literacy partner for Denver Public Schools, as well as the Tough Schools Partnership, an organization supporting public schools which are beating the odds in outcomes for low income students. She and her husband are sponsors of Teach For America. Barbara joined the AXL Academy board because of her passion for schools with strong leadership and her interest in charter schools as a point of leverage for broader improvement throughout public schools. She graduated from Yale University with a BA in English and from Stanford University with an MBA. Barbara is the mother of two wonderful sons, one in third grade and one in fourth.

Audra M. Philippon,
Ex-officio
AXL Academy

Audra consulted with urban, public and independent schools in Philadelphia and Trenton, where she became interested in single-gender instruction and curriculum development.  Previously, she taught early childhood, HeadStart, second and fourth grades.  She began her career in education reform with Teach For America in 1990, developing and implementing pre-service and ongoing professional development for new teachers nationwide.  Audra has a masters degree in Early Childhood Education and a doctorate in Educational Leadership.

Pete Piccolo
Finance
Denver Public Schools

Peter Piccolo is director of strategy in the Office of School Reform and Innovation at Denver Public Schools. Prior to joining The Broad Residency, Piccolo served as chief financial officer of AXL Academy, a start-up charter school in Aurora, CO. Piccolo's experience encompasses both the private and public sector where he established a non-profit organization that served disadvantaged youth and helped launch and manage a business services outsourcing company where he served as vice president of marketing, business development and planning. Piccolo began his career at CitiCapital, holding a variety of positions over an eleven-year period including vice president of marketing, strategy, business development and e-business. Piccolo holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Fredonia University and a master's degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University. Piccolo is a participant in The Broad Residency in Urban Education (Class of 2009-2011), serving his two-year Residency at Denver Public Schools.

Fran Sterling
Facing History and Ourselves

Fran Sterling joined the international education non-profit Facing History and Ourselves in July 2001 and is currently the Director of the Denver and Rocky Mountain States Office. Prior to her work with Facing History, Fran taught middle and high school Social Studies for six years at Jefferson County Open School near Denver, Colorado as well as teaching Modern Jewish History, ESL to international students and was an adjunct history professor. Fran received her BA in Politics from Mount Holyoke College in MA, her MA in Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder, completed her doctoral course work in History and Cultural Studies with a focus on Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Claremont Graduate School, and a diploma in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from Oxford University. Fran lives in Denver with her husband and three children.

Imelda Unibe
Teach For America

Imelda Unibe currently serves as the Managing Director, State and District Partnerships for Teach For America – Colorado. In this role she works to ensure that the organization’s growth strategy, relationships with partner schools and districts, and corps member placement maximizes the opportunity for student achievement in the region and best positions Teach For America as a force for change. Previously, she worked for Mile High United Way, where she built partnerships and developed a strategic plan to lead the Youth Mentoring Collaborative in its efforts to improve the quality of mentoring opportunities for youth and increase the access for youth who can benefit from these services. She has prior experience teaching at a school serving low-income youth in East Palo Alto, CA in subjects ranging from Kindergarten to eighth grade algebra, supervising parental involvement, and managing out of school time opportunities to supplement student’s classroom learning. Imelda holds a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and a M.Ed. in School Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.