Dr. Cristina De Jesus (she/her) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Dot Public Schools California (@greendotschools), a non-profit network of public charter schools. Cristina joined Green Dot in 2002 as the founding principal of Ánimo Inglewood Charter High School, one of the highest performing public schools in the state. Since then, she has helped build the foundation of Green Dot’s success with a role in nearly every initiative and undertaking to boost student achievement across the network.
As CEO, she oversees and supports 19 middle and high schools serving over 11,000 students across Los Angeles. Under her leadership, Green Dot California has undertaken two turnaround school efforts in Los Angeles, making Green Dot one of the few charter organizations nationwide working to turn around outcomes for students in schools formerly run by districts.
Additionally, Cristina partners with two collective bargaining units representing Green Dot California’s teachers, counselors and classified staff, setting an example for how districts and charter organizations can work collaboratively with labor. Cristina also was the co-founder and co-chair of the Los Angeles Advocacy Council, a group of charter leaders working with the California Charter Schools Association to ensure school districts in L.A. implement policies in the best interest of charter schools and students.
Dr. Kimberly Johnson (she/her) is an Administrator in the Office of Equity, Access College and Career Readiness Office in the Long Beach Unified School District. She began her career in education 21 years ago as a School Counselor.
Dr. Johnson coordinates supplemental programs for underrepresented families and students, including Female Leadership Academy, Long Beach College Preparatory Academy, University Advisors and the Coalition of Involved African American Parent programs. Kimberly’s mission is to break down the barriers that prevent underrepresented groups’ specifically young girls from access to higher education and non-traditional career opportunities.
Dr. Kristen DiCerbo (di-SAIR-bo) (she/her) is the Chief Learning Officer at Khan Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to providing a free world class education to anyone, anywhere. In this role, she is responsible for developing and implementing a research-based teaching and learning strategy for Khan Academy’s offerings in order to improve student and teacher engagement and outcomes.
Dr. DiCerbo’s work has consistently been focused on embedding what we know from education research about how people learn into digital learning experiences, including games and simulations. Prior to her role at Khan Academy, she was Vice-President of Learning Research and Design at Pearson, served as a research scientist supporting teaching and learning in the Cisco Networking Academies, and worked as a school psychologist in an Arizona school district.
She publishes and speaks to a variety of audiences about educational technology, learning, and learning science research. Kristen received her Bachelor’s Degree from Hamilton College and Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at Arizona State University.
