Next Gen

Mr. Kaleem Caire is the Interim Chair and lead founder of Next Generation. He is also the co-founder and managing director of KL Caire Companies. He is an accomplished, trail blazer and national leader in K-12 education, with more than 15 years of expertise in organizational leadership, coalition building, project management, strategic alliance partnerships, fundraising and developing and managing direct service youth programs. Prior to founding KL Caire, Kaleem served as Executive Director of Fight For Children in Washington, DC. Kaleem has also held leadership roles with the American Education Reform Council, Community Adolescent Programs, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth, and as founding president & CEO of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). In 1997-98, Kaleem served on the Madison (WI) Metropolitan School District’s committee that advised the superintendent on the District’s successful plan to improve minority

student achievement. In 2001, Kaleem commissioned the nation’s first comprehensive study of high school graduation rates, which has led to a radical shift in measuring high school quality and productivity in the U.S.; increased the country’s sense of urgency to reform secondary education; and bolstered high school reform efforts nationally. In 2003, Kaleem guided the formation of the District of Columbia Public Charter School Association and the passage of unprecedented federal legislation that has resulted in more than $200 million appropriated for public school reform and expanded school options for under-served children in the District of Columbia. In 2004, Kaleem assisted world famous music producer Quincy Jones and his Listen Up Foundation with the strategic planning of the international We Are The Future campaign and free public concert in Rome, Italy. In 2005, he oversaw one of the largest and most successful celebrity charity concerts – Rockin’ the Corps – to ever take place on a U.S. military base, honoring 45,000 U.S. Marines and their families. His writings and comments have appeared in various national newspapers and magazines, including Education Week, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

In 2001, Kaleem was the youngest recipient of the City of Madison, Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award and Urban League of Greater Madison’s Whitney Young, Jr. public service award. In 2002, he was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to serve a five-year term on the panel advising the DOE on its evaluation of Title I: No Child Left Behind. Kaleem holds a B.S. in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a nationally certified personal trainer, and was a sonar technician aboard submarines in the U.S. Navy. He is a member of the executive committee of the National Strength & Conditioning Association’s Youth SIG. Kaleem and his wife Lisa have four children: two daughters, ages 4 and 8, who love dance and two sons, ages 11 and 13, who are pursuing black belts in Kung Fu.

Ms. Lisa Peyton-Caire is an accomplished educator, writer, and entrepreneur. She is the founder and president of KL Caire Companies and publisher of SisterSpeak, an on-line lifestyles magazine for women. Lisa has more than 10 years experience providing leadership in PK-12 education, higher education and community-based organizations. She is highly regarded for her expertise in management, team building, program design and implementation, pre-college programming, and producing significant, lasting results in her work. Prior to establishing KL Caire, Lisa served as the Assistant Head of School of the 800 student K-12 Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, DC. At Hyde, Lisa oversaw the academic and administrative functions of the school, guiding school improvement planning and the turnaround in student performance, curriculum development and implementation, compliance, and staffing. Prior to Hyde, Lisa served in leadership roles with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Information Technology, Baby Steps Early Learning Center, Community Adolescent Programs, Inc., and the Nehemiah Community Development Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin.

Lisa is considered a pioneer in using pre-college programs that provide year-round, multi-year pre-college training and tuition remission as tools to boost the matriculation of underserved student populations to college campuses. The Information Technology Academy (ITA) she created and managed at UW-Madison has to date sent more than 70 students of color to the UW-Madison on tuition free scholarships. ITA has served as a model for UW-Madison’s 1,000 student PEOPLE program, a pipeline-to-college program serving students in 6th grade to college that offers an on-campus summer program, after school tutoring, a peer network, academic support systems, specialized college advising and 5-year tuition remission to students who successfully matriculate to the University. Lisa holds a B.S. degree in Sociology and a M.S. in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is presently the chair of the Board of Directors of Hope Academy Public Charter School, which will open in August 2007 in Washington, DC serving grades 5-8. Lisa is also the proud parent of four talented children.

Mr. Chike Akua is a graduate of Hampton University (1992, BA English Education) and Clark Atlanta University (2003, MA Education, School Counseling). With over 10 years of classroom teaching experience, Bro. Akua has distinguished himself as an educator, lecturer, and author. In 1995, he was selected as a Teacher of the Year for Newport News (Virginia) Public Schools. While serving as an English teacher at Hines Middle School in Newport News, Mr. Akua founded Brothers of the Same Mind, a successful literacy development program for boys in grades 6 – 8. In 1996, the Dekalb County Board of Education (Atlanta, Georgia) awarded him the Achievement Award for teaching excellence and service to youth. Akua has since conducted system-wide staff development and was described as “a master teacher.” Selected as one of Ebony magazine’s “50 Leaders of Tomorrow” (November, 1995), Akua has lectured at several of the nation’s colleges and universities and has appeared on radio and television talk shows sharing his perspectives on education, spirituality, and self-knowledge. Additionally, he has facilitated workshops on sexual abstinence, youth advocacy, and African cultural awareness for the Tavis Smiley Foundation’s annual “Youth 2 Leaders” Conference. Akua, a Christian minister and consultant with Imani Enterprises, a consultant to schools and school systems nationally, and the author of five books:

• A Treasure Within: Stories of Remembrance & Rediscovery
• A Treasure Within: Parent/Teacher Resource Guide
• A Kwanzaa Awakening: Lessons for the Children & Community
• A Million Under One: One Man’s Perspective on the Million Man March
• The Autobiography of the African American Self
• Reading Revolution (2006), Co-author

Mr. Khari Brown: Khari Brown is the Executive Director of Capital Partners for Education, a 14-year old college preparatory program for low-income high school students in Washington, DC. Since joining Capital Partners for Education in 2001, Brown has led the organization through a period of unprecedented growth and development. Over the past year Brown has overseen a major gifts campaign that has attracted more than $2,000,000 in contributions, providing a foundation of financial support for the organization for years to come. Through an expansion of CPE’s individual donor base, successful grant writing campaigns, the addition of an annual fundraising event, CPE’s operating budget has more than tripled under Brown’s direction. The number of full time staff has increased from one to six since 2001 and CPE’s student body has grown by more than 50%. Brown has also led the transformation of CPE’s mentoring program, which has doubled the size of its volunteer corps over the past four years.

Brown’s operational focus at CPE has been to improve the support services available to students to ensure that they graduate from high school and enroll in college. During Brown’s tenure, CPE has added a comprehensive collection of new enrichment and student support programs, including: case management, regular study skills workshops, college preparatory workshops, an introductory Summer Readiness Program, community service curriculum, and a career exploration summer program. As a result of these new programming initiatives, CPE has reduced its student attrition from 25% to 16% and maintained a college enrollment rate of CPE graduates above 95%. In 2005, the Washingtonian magazine named CPE as one of the top 40 youth serving organizations in the Washington Metropolitan area.

Brown received both a Bachelors degree in American Studies and a Masters degree in Education from Tufts University. Upon completing his undergraduate work, Brown a two-time captain of the Tufts basketball team, played professional basketball in Helsinki, Finland. After his playing career ended in 1995, Brown spent six years coaching high school and college basketball in the Boston area. Brown also owned and operated a fitness and sports performance business serving individual and group clients. Through this business, Brown provided instruction for youth programs and teams and ran hundreds of clinics and camps for high school and college athletes.

Brown’s involvement working with low-income youth through his various coaching experiences led him to pursue a career in secondary education. During his Masters studies, Brown taught at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School and started an after school weight training program for at-risk students. Brown moved to Washington, DC in 2001 to bring his considerable leadership and organizational experience to CPE.

Dr. Thomas Stewart: Dr. Stewart is the Vice President of Research & Evaluation with Symphonic Strategies of Washington, DC. A native of Washington, D.C., Dr. Stewart holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of the District of Columbia and a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University, where his dissertation focused on the evolution of prisons in America and their impact on inner-city communities. After graduate school, he received a postdoctoral fellowship from the prestigious Harvard Society of Fellows, where his research focused on understanding the salient social issues facing urban children and families and devising strategies to address their root causes.

Dr. Stewart’s personal experiences and professional interests led him to pioneering work in organizational development and the creation of new educational paradigms. He was the Founding Executive Director of the SEED (School for Educational Evolution and Development) Public Charter School of Washington, D.C., a college and professional preparatory residential public charter school that is now considered one of the most novel and successful charter schools in America.

Dr. Stewart was also the Founding Senior Vice President for Community and Client Development with LearnNow, Inc., which collaborated with community-based organizations to establish high performing public schools that target under-resourced communities. LearnNow was recognized as the fastest growing management company in the United States before merging with Edison Schools, the nation’s leading private manager of public schools. After the merger, Dr. Stewart assumed the role of Senior Vice President for Development.

Dr. Stewart is currently an independent consultant, providing educational research, evaluation and program design services. He works extensively with parent, education and community based organizations and has been involved in numerous civic and volunteer activities, which include senior executive and/or board memberships with the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Edison Schools, LearnNow, National Black Graduate Student Association, Parents International, and the World Organization of Resilient Kids. He has one son.

Mr. Gerard Robinson: Gerard is a senior research associate for the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) at the University of Arkansas, and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Robinson provides general advice to the SCDP on various subjects including research protocols, survey preparation, outreach to the economically disadvantaged community, family sessions, data analysis and interpretation, and report preparation. In addition to his SCDP duties, Mr. Robinson is a principal investigator for a Charles Stewart Mott Foundation funded study about Black parents’ perceptions regarding public afterschool programs in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

Mr. Robinson was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University from 2004 to 2006. He assisted in reform efforts related to Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee charter school program, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, charter schools, and the McBAEO-College Summit Partnership to prepare high school students of color for college.

Mr. Robinson served as executive director of a not-for-profit organization in New York City that opened a charter school in New Jersey, a fellow in the California State Senate, staff positions in the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives, and as legislative liaison for the superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools. He was an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles and a teacher in the Pre-College Academic Program at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Mr. Robinson’s expertise and research is concentrated on state and mayoral takeover of school districts, civil rights, school choice and federal and state policy making and implementation. He has authored or co-authored several education journal articles and book chapters and has presented at colleges and universities, think tanks, state legislatures, public radio, and internationally on urban school reform and educational choice.

Mr. Robinson received an Associate of Arts from El Camino Community College, a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University, a Masters degree in education from Harvard University, and is presently completing a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in Educational Policy. As for international travel, Mr. Robinson has been to the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Gambia, Germany, Haiti, Israel, and Senegal.

Mr. Eugene Wade: Mr. Wade is the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Platform Learning, a leading provider of supplemental educational services to low-income students attending public schools that have been identified as being “in need of improvement” under the Federal No Child Left Behind statute. Platform provides after-school and weekend tutorial programs, individual learning plans and small group instruction to students. Since 2003, Platform has grown to the point where it provides tutoring services to nearly 50,000 students in over a dozen school districts.

Prior to founding Platform Learning, Mr. Wade was the Executive Vice President for Development at Edison Schools. While at Edison, he oversaw Edison’s efforts in connection with securing its contract to manage 20 schools with over 13,000 students in the Philadelphia School District.

Before joining Edison, Mr. Wade was Chairman and CEO of LearnNow, Inc., an education management company that managed charter schools and struggling public schools throughout the U.S. Prior to joining Edison, Mr. Wade was a corporate and bankruptcy attorney in Detroit and New York City. While practicing law, Mr. Wade spent several years writing curriculum and conducting workshops for the Efficacy Institute, a non-profit educational consulting firm focused on improving the academic performance of low-income students in the U.S. He holds a BA from Morehouse College, a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Robert Weil: Mr. Weil is an attorney with Howe, Anderson and Steyer law firm in Washington, DC. Mr. Weil has served as defense counsel to a number of professional liability insurance carriers during his 18 years of private practice in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Connecticut. As carrier-appointed defense counsel he has litigated errors and omissions claims made against insurance agents and brokers, real estate agents, architects, engineers and attorneys in both state and federal courts.

In addition to insurance defense litigation, Mr. Weil works closely with a number of non-profit organizations located in Washington, D.C. and across the country. He has advised and counseled non-profit organizations on a wide variety of issues relating to employment practices, contracts, tax, antitrust, insurance and corporate governance.

In addition to addressing non-profit organizations on employment-related issues, insurance and various risk management topics, Mr. Weil has conducted a number of seminars directed to insurance professionals on the subjects of loss control, claim prevention and employment practices and discrimination liability.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Weil served as a legislative aide on the staffs of several members of the Florida delegation to the House of Representatives. He is a member of bar in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Florida.

Mr. Weil holds a bachelors degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia (1976) and law degree from Catholic University (1979) in Washington, DC.

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