Rocketship Washington DC Board of Trustees

Kamuzu Saunders is an Executive Director at JPMorgan Private Bank and served 16 years as the U.S Equity Client Portfolio Manager. In his role as Executive Director, he takes a holistic approach to providing individuals and their families guidance across their full financial picture – including wealth planning, investments, banking and credit. Kamuzu is a native Washingtonian with a strong interest in supporting the advancement of educational opportunities in underserved communities. He earned a BS in Finance and an MBA from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

Rena is the former principal of DC Scholars Stanton Elementary, Washington’s first elementary school turnaround charter and district partnership school. She joined the school’s leadership team in 2011 as the Chief of Staff, managing the school family engagement strategy, school culture team, and operations. Ms. Johnson left a legacy of successfully working with families of students and rallying teams around aligned initiatives. Through her leadership and training, teachers conducted more than 450 visits to homes of students and their families in one school year. In 2015, after working closely with her staff, Ms. Johnson wrote a grant to create The Boys Institute at Stanton to foster the talent and genius of her black and brown boys. The Boys Institute received one of the highest financial awards and continues to receive praise across the DC region. DC Scholars Stanton experienced steady academic growth on the DC CAS and PARCC Assessments during her tenure, including 10% point gains in math in the second year of PARCC—outpacing most charters and district elementary schools in the city’s ‘forgotten’ ward, Ward 8. Ms. Johnson is currently the Senior Director for School Launch and Incubation at CityBridge Education, committed to incubating, launching, and transforming schools to deliver on talent and the potential inherent in our children, specifically the most disinherited by poverty and race. Ms. Johnson began her education career as an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, GA as a Teacher For America (TFA) corps member before joining the TFA DC Regional Team, where she managed placement strategy and new corps member transition. From TFA, Ms. Johnson became a resident principal with New Leaders for New Schools where she led the implementation of the Achievement Network data driven instructional model and founded a New Teacher program for all 1st year teachers. Ms. Johnson holds a BA from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in Education, Policy, and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jolene brings a wealth of experience in policy and philanthropic leadership to the Rocketship board. After receiving her MBA, she worked for Corning Glass Works in strategic planning and later transitioned to the Federal Government where she gained valuable policy experience working for an independent commission charged with making recommendations to Congress about Medicare.

Jolene and her husband established the Stanley and Jolene Sloter Family Foundation to focus their philanthropy on education, specifically the need for better education opportunities in underserved communities. She is applying her policy experience to analyzing this issue and identifying concepts and organizations that improve the quality of education in low-income communities in DC so they can invest their philanthropic contributions in organizations that produce measurable results.

Jolene served on the Teach For America DC Board for ten years and was honored for her work in education at the annual gala in May of 2024. She is also a member of the Trustee Council for Communities in Schools of Northern Virginia, as well as the Investment Committee for Education Forward DC. A longtime supporter of Rocketship Public Schools, she coordinated the groundbreaking for Rocketship’s first school in DC, which opened in August 2016, and has been instrumental in building the RocketshipDC board of directors and finding new sources of support.

Jolene supports Rocketship’s work because she believes traditional public schools have not adequately served low-income students of color for generations. Rocketship's three pillars--Personalized Learning, Talent Development, and Parent Power--provide the foundation for building schools that will provide a quality education for these communities.

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology/Medical Technology from Lycoming College and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Jennifer L. McManus is a proud Rocketship parent with a strong background in operations management. Based in Washington, DC, she has extensive experience in enhancing organizational efficiency and supporting growth. At Community Tech, LLC, she served as an Operations Specialist, where she played a key role in streamlining processes and ensuring critical deadlines were met. Jennifer also worked as Office Manager at the National Association for Government Employees, managing office logistics and fostering effective team communication. In addition to her professional experience, Jennifer is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Business Management at the University of the District of Columbia.

Bio to come!

Bio to come!

Rachel has been serving students, families, and educators in New York City, Washington, DC, and beyond over the past two decades as a teacher, coach, administrator, and consultant. In Rachel's current role as Director of Program at SchoolKit, she supports state, district, and school leaders throughout the country with strategic planning related to the implementation of high-quality instructional materials. Prior to this role, Rachel was the principal of the Center City PCS Brightwood campus in Washington, DC. During her tenure, the school was consistently rated as a Tier 1 school by the DC Public Charter School Board, maintained the highest in-person DC public charter school attendance rates in the city, and received various accolades, including the National Title 1 Distinguished School Award, “All Star School” designation from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and was most recently highlighted by TNTP in their "The Opportunity Makers" national report as a "trajectory-changing school." Rachel, a nationally recognized educator and leader who was awarded the 2018 Milken Educator award, began her career in education as a New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching elementary and middle school students in the Bronx, NY. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University, a master's degree in Elementary Education from Mercy College, and a doctorate degree in Education Policy and Leadership from American University.

Lauren M. Marcus is a senior associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Tiber Hudson LLC, where her practice is focused on public finance for affordable housing transactions. She represents institutional lenders, bond underwriters, developers, and municipal issuers in a wide range of tax-exempt and taxable housing financings around the country, including public offerings of bonds credit-enhanced by FHA, USDA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lauren advises her clients on the structuring and federal income tax aspects of tax-exempt debt transactions, regularly engages with national credit rating agencies, and prepares cashflow projections and a variety of calculations required under the tax-exempt bond rules. Lauren is frequently a featured speaker at industry conferences and roundtables including, NH&RA, the American Bar Association and the Eastern Lenders Association.

Prior to joining the firm, Lauren was a Legal Fellow and Attorney Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel at the District of Columbia Housing Authority. While at the Housing Authority, Lauren focused on policy and transactional matters, including the drafting and implementation of the Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program.

Lauren graduated from the University of Maryland in 2013, where she received a B.A. in Communications. She earned her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School in 2016, where she was a student law clerk for the Honorable Laura Cordero of the D.C. Superior Court and a student attorney and advocate in the GW Law Domestic Violence Clinic. Lauren is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association, the National Bar Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Nana Apenem Hanson-Hall is an applied researcher with more than a decade of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating development and public health interventions around the world. She is a Senior Specialist for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at International Justice Mission and is passionate about health equity, holistic well-being, and amplifying the voices and actions of the most vulnerable.

She also volunteers with the Sasha Bruce Youth Network and serves during various events with Grace Meridian Hill Church. She's previously volunteered in youth tutoring and mentoring programs in DC, New York, Maryland, and Louisiana.

As a firm believer in equity as a key ingredient for well-being, she seeks to support the partnerships between educational institutions and families that edify children of all backgrounds. She has seen the positive impacts of the Rocketship model on her children over the last five years and chose to serve on the board to help strengthen both Rocketship's impact and the broader educational system in DC.

Nana holds a Bachelors's in Psychology from Georgetown University, a Master's in Public Health and International Development from Tulane University, and a Doctorate in Public Health Education from Loma Linda University.

Melissa currently works at School Leader Lab (SLL), an organization that support schools and their networks in sustaining and growing high-quality schools through one of their most important assets: leaders.  At SLL, Ms. Martin leads the coaching model and provides support on program design. Ms. Martin came to SLL from Lynch Leadership Academy at Boston College where she coached aspiring principals and current principals from the district, charter and independent school sectors.  Prior to Lynch, Ms. Martin served as the Director of School Partnerships at Flamboyan Foundation in DC. She is an experienced principal, having led both Scott Montgomery Elementary and Walker Jones Education Campus in DCPS as a New Leader for New Schools. She is a DC native and graduate of DCPS’s Wilson High School, Bowdoin College, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (EdM), and Trinity College, where she earned an MSA in Educational Administration.

Matt is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of Aaron Financial in partnership with Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. Matt provides comprehensive financial planning to a diverse set of clients including a number of services not limited to cash flow and debt management and insurance, investment, and tax planning. Matt began his financial practice during his junior year of college and was quickly identified as a leader within the Northwestern Mutual network. He now serves as the Growth and Development Director for the Washington, DC office. In this capacity, his role is to identify, develop, and nurture the next generation of financial planners. In addition to balancing his practice and his leadership role at Northwestern Mutual, Matt commits a great deal of time to delivering motivational talks to inner city youth. Hailing from a similar background in Irvington, New Jersey, Matt has a vested interest in helping children with limited resources understand how to create opportunities for themselves through entrepreneurship.

Matt holds a BBA from Howard University and has earned both a certificate in financial planning from Georgetown University and the prestigious CFP ® designation.