Doug McCurry
Co-CEO and Superintendent
In his role as co-CEO and superintendent, Mr. McCurry oversees student achievement across the Achievement First network through the training and coaching of principals, the development and implementation of principal best practices, and the evaluation of principals and schools. Prior to co-founding Achievement First in 2003, Mr. McCurry was one of the founders of Amistad Academy, serving as the school's instructional leader for three years. In his teaching roles at Amistad Academy, Mr. McCurry achieved outstanding results. His math students achieved 100 percent proficiency on the Connecticut Mastery Test, and his reading and writing students consistently showed over two years of growth in a single school year. Mr. McCurry led the development of Achievement First's standards-based curriculum, including Athena, Achievement First's online interim assessment and data analysis system. Mr. McCurry also leads professional development efforts at Achievement First, and he is a sought-after presenter and coach of teachers. Before coming to Amistad Academy and Achievement First, Mr. McCurry was a management and technology consultant in Atlanta, GA, and taught history and writing and coached basketball and tennis at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. A Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, Mr. McCurry earned a B.A. in history and journalism there, and was recently awarded the university’s distinguished young alumnus award. Through the Klingenstein Private School Leadership program, he earned an M.A. in educational administration from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Harris Ferrell
Chief Information Officer
Mr. Ferrell leads the interim assessment team at Achievement First, dedicated to developing, managing and supporting Achievement First’s proprietary technology for assessments, data analysis and knowledge management. Formerly, Mr. Ferrell was a co-founder and senior vice president of AdvancePath Academics, a company that sets up and operates drop-out recovery academies on behalf of school districts. Mr. Ferrell attended Yale University as an undergraduate and earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has worked in education in many different facets: a classroom teacher through Teach For America in Houston, a designer of education software as director of product management at SchoolNet and an investor in education as an associate partner at NewSchools Venture Fund.

Maia Heyck-Merlin
Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Heyck-Merlin currently oversees recruitment, development and evaluation of school leaders, teachers and operational team members. In addition, she manages school-based operations across all Achievement First academies. She began at Achievement First in 2007 as the chief talent officer. Prior to joining Achievement First, Ms. Heyck-Merlin worked at Teach For America in a variety of capacities. She began as a corps member in South Louisiana where she taught fourth grade for two years. Following her commitment in the corps, she went on to teach fifth grade at Children’s Charter School and also directed Teach Baton Rouge’s first summer training institute. In 2002, Ms. Heyck-Merlin returned to Teach For America as the executive director in South Louisiana, overseeing development and programmatic efforts for a corps that had recently doubled in size. She then served for three years as the director of the Houston Institute, leading the training and development efforts for the incoming corps. In her last role at Teach For America, Ms. Heyck-Merlin founded and led the National Institute Operations team, which managed the national operations for all five summer training institutes. Ms. Heyck-Merlin holds a B.A. in child development from Tufts University, where she served as president of the Leonard Carmichael Society, the largest student body organization. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, three cats and soon-to-be baby girl.

Elana Karopkin
Assistant Superintendent
Overseeing a portfolio of schools, Ms. Karopkin is responsible for training and coaching principals in the development and maintenance of academic programs and a school culture that fosters high student achievement and positive character development. Prior to joining Achievement First, Ms. Karopkin was the founding principal of the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ) which served Title I students from all five boroughs of New York City. At SLJ, Ms. Karopkin (and her students) achieved extraordinary results: 93 percent of the founding class graduated on time, 100 percent applied to and were accepted to college, and nearly 85 percent of those students are currently enrolled in colleges including Bates, Amherst, Colby, Hamilton, Skidmore and the CUNY Macaulay Honors Program. Ms. Karopkin’s significant experience as a leader in urban education also includes roles as a regional literacy specialist, assistant principal, English department head and English teacher. Ms. Karopkin graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and holds an M.A. in English education from New York University, where she received the prestigious Jonathon Levin fellowship.

Marc Michaelson
Assistant Superintendent
Mr. Michaelson oversees a portfolio of schools and is responsible for coaching Achievement First principals in the development and implementation of academic programs and school culture initiatives.  Prior to transitioning to the role of assistant superintendent, Mr. Michaelson served as principal of Elm City College Preparatory Middle School. He began his Achievement First career at Amistad Academy Middle School, where he taught reading and history as well as directed the school's MicroSociety and Encore! programs. While at Amistad Academy, Mr. Michaelson's students consistently showed two to three years of reading growth in one year on state and national assessments. Prior to joining Achievement First, Mr. Michaelson worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, a program manager with Save the Children and a fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs. Mr. Michaelson holds a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame. He has completed the KIPP Summer Institute in school leadership at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Management.

Max Polaner
Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Staff
As leader of the finance team, Mr. Polaner oversees the execution of basic financial functions, performance and budget analysis, preparation and coordination of financial reports, audits and legal needs, acquisition and improvement of facilities, and human resources. Before joining Achievement First, Mr. Polaner was the chief financial officer of Inductis, an analytical consulting firm, and assisted that company in its growth from 100 to 250 employees and in a doubling of its revenues until it was acquired by EXL Services in July 2006. Prior to Inductis, he founded and ran Impromptu Gourmet, an online gourmet food company, and before that was a consultant at McKinsey and Company in New York. Before graduate school, Mr. Polaner led the quality control department at Polaner Preserves, the company started by his great-grandfather, until its acquisition by American Home Products in 1993. He also spent the first four year of his career as a middle school math, social studies and music teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Polaner received a Masters of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, his teacher's certificate from San Francisco State University and his B.A. from Yale University.

Lesley Esters Redwine
Vice President of External Relations (NY)
Ms. Redwine leads Achievement First's community relationship-building efforts in New York, working primarily on the acquisition and renewal of charters, student recruitment, parent engagement, fundraising, and board relations. Previously, Ms. Redwine served as president/CEO of the New York Chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), a school choice advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Prior to BAEO, Ms. Redwine served as a project director for Children Tomorrow's Bridgebuilders, a community-collaborative project in the South Bronx, and as a policy analyst for a New York City-based nonprofit called The After-School Corporation. In 2000, Ms. Redwine was selected for participation in the National Urban Fellows program and served as special assistant to Terri Thomson, then a member of the New York City Board of Education, focusing on parent involvement and charter schools. Currently, Ms. Redwine serves as an adjunct professor at City College, where she teaches nonprofit management and leadership courses. Ms. Redwine earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy and an M.P.A. from Baruch College's School of Public Affairs. She is also a member of the New York State Bar.

Jon Schwartz
Vice President of School Operations
Mr. Schwartz currently oversees Achievement First’s school-based operations, ensuring that every Achievement First academy has the operational support necessary for principals to focus on their core role as instructional leaders. Before joining Achievement First, Mr. Schwartz served as vice president of operations and finance at Envision Schools, a San Francisco-based charter management organization. As a member of Envision’s senior management team, Mr. Schwartz worked closely with the CEO and Board of Directors to define the organization’s overall strategic direction, problem solve institutional issues and execute key initiatives. Previously, he worked as director of services and products at the California Charter Schools Association, where he was responsible for devising earned-income revenue streams to diversify the Association's financial base. Mr. Schwartz began his career at Gap Inc. as an early member of the team that launched OldNavy.com, and his work experience also includes time with New Profit Inc., a venture philanthropy fund associated with the Monitor Group, and at Scholastic as a consultant in its corporate strategy and business development division. Mr. Schwartz holds a M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University, where he was a member of the lightweight crew team.

Michael Thomas
Vice President of External Relations (CT)
Mr. Thomas manages the critical tasks of fundraising, lobbying, public relations, board management, community engagement and new site development in Connecticut. Prior to joining Achievement First, Mr. Thomas co-founded several successful companies, worked as a wealth manager for Morgan Stanley, was a senior staffer on a presidential campaign and worked in studio finance for The Walt Disney Company. He has 14 years of service as an officer in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy Reserve, where he was recently selected to the rank of commander. Mr. Thomas is a native of New Haven and currently resides in Milford. He holds a B.A. in government, history, economics and philosophy from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Chi Tschang
Assistant Superintendent
Mr. Tschang is responsible for driving high student achievement by overseeing a portfolio of schools and supporting Achievement First principals in developing and implementing rigorous academic programs and positive school cultures. Previously, Mr. Tschang founded KIPP Academy Fresno, a 2008 Title I Distinguished School in California. In addition to serving as principal for five years, he also taught fifth-grade history, sixth-grade math and seventh-grade English. Prior to that experience, Mr. Tschang taught history for four years at Boston’s Academy of the Pacific Rim charter school. After college, he participated in City Year, where he lived in a housing project and tutored fourth graders in south Providence. For his work in Boston and in Providence, he was profiled on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in the New York Times #1 best-seller, What Should I Do With My Life? Mr. Tschang holds a B.A. in history from Yale University, and is the recipient of several distinctions including the Comcast National Leadership Award.