Consultants

Alesha is the Founder and CEO of Unleashed, a coaching and consulting firm dedicated to implementing strengths-based practices through a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens for breakthrough results with individuals, teams, and organizations. Alesha recently led her team to conduct a Racial Equity Qualitative Analysis with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to help the St. Louis Fed better understand the daily workplace lived experiences of their Black employees.

Prior to founding Unleashed, Alesha was the former Chief Talent Officer and Head of Talent for an 11-school charter management organization and a social venture capital firm. She also helped facilitate growth from five to seventy-six charter schools as the Senior Director of Strategy and Performance Improvement for Charter Schools USA. 

John began his education career in Colorado as a science teacher for Eagle County Schools. Throughout his career, he has served as a Principal, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, and Headmaster of a charter school. He has extensive experience in developing and implementing education reform initiatives involving teacher training and evaluation systems to improve instructional effectiveness and student achievement. Additionally, he has led systemic efforts to restructure education compensation systems based on performance and results.

His path into charter schools has been transformational as he found himself in the company of like-minded educators and parents dedicated to changing the way public schools educate students. He now serves as an independent leadership consultant who works with charter schools and nonprofit organizations. His current work is focused on improving the leadership capacity of nonprofit and charter school boards and school leaders in effective governance practices, strategic planning, and problem solving.

Michelle Fisher is an avid supporter of charter schools and innovative educational initiatives. Charter school leaders tend to be nimble and visionary thinkers. My work with charter schools is a catalyst for creative problem-solving, innovative initiatives, and an opportunity for meaningful work, doing good in the world. Michelle draws on 28 years of successful capital project experience. 

Most recently, Michelle championed the 5-year expansion of a bond initiative for Colorado Early Colleges, including the delivery of 8 new schools, 5 renovation projects, and optimization of revenue streams for 150,000 sf of tenant space. A licensed architect, Michelle founded M Fisher Collaborative Works in 2017 to provide professional services as an Owner Advocate, guiding clients in making effective, value-based decisions for Strategic Development Planning and the implementation of Capital Projects. 

Specializing in Instructional Coaching, MTSS, SPED, Diagnostic Review and Improvement Planning, and Data Driven Instruction/Data Teams. Sabrina is a Colorado native with over 17 years of experience working in Colorado schools as a special education teacher, school social worker, administrator, instructional coach, and consultant. As the Director of Student Services, Sabrina developed and implemented special education and MTSS programming for a high-performing charter school network, managed six schools, and coached and evaluated over 20 special education teachers and 6 mental health providers. These practices resulted in some of the best academic growth in Colorado and the highest special education MGPs in Denver Public Schools.

Lisa received a bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Colorado State University and a master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Colorado. Recently, she received a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

Lisa's career began in public PK-12 classrooms, and the journey that followed included master teaching/training, charter school start-up, and staff recruitment. In all, she has worked to create 17 new public charter schools across the nation, serving all grade levels. This work mirrors that of a small business and franchise entrepreneur and includes the recruitment and development of governing boards, foundations, and building corporations, as well as related advocacy efforts, financial planning, operations, and facility acquisition/renovation. In addition, Lisa has ten years of administrative and leadership experience, including consultant work managing local and state grant and evaluation programs. 

Dr. Jessica LeNeave brings nearly 20 years of charter school expertise, including roles as a teacher, administrator, founding principal of Nevada’s Pinecrest Academy Cadence Campus, and founding board chair of CIVICA Academy Nevada. She currently directs Academica Mountain West, supporting six charter schools in Colorado and Wyoming, and leads Epicenter Education, consulting with schools and organizations globally to improve educational practices and governance. Dr. LeNeave is also the author of Charter School Blueprint: A Complete Guide to Developing and Opening a Charter School.

Kim McClelland is a native of Colorado Springs and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, including an emphasis in Elementary Education. Kim holds a Master's in Education, Leadership, and Administration from Jones International University. She has worked as a teacher, principal, and executive director in all levels of education, from Pre-K through High School, throughout her career in education, with over 25 years of experience. Kim McClelland served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Digital BOCES in Colorado and founded the organization in 2013. 

Formerly, she served for four years as the Zone Superintendent of the iConnect Zone in Falcon District 49 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While serving as the iConnect Zone’s superintendent in District 49, Kim McClelland earned a national award for innovation and transformation in education and has been a speaker for the District Administration Leadership Institute, EdWeek, Colorado Blended, and Online Learning Conference, and other districts throughout the country. She has served on a statewide committee to support creating best practices for charter authorizers for the Colorado League of Charter Schools and NACSA, and served on state-level legislative commissions for online and blended learning.

Kim’s passion for education in school and parent choice has led her to return to a school role as the Executive Director of two charter schools in the Colorado Springs area, at New Summit Charter Academy and Monument Academy. 

Keri Melmed is an experienced, innovative, and passionate educational leader with a strong track record of empowering leaders and their organizations to create environments where all students thrive. Keri is driven by what is possible, and she challenges the status quo to intentionally design equitable communities that elevate all members of the organization to support student success. As a school leader, she instituted deliberate, monumental changes in both the culture and the curriculum of the schools she led, creating more equitable and engaging places of learning. These changes improved the educational experience of both students and staff.

As an educational leader, DEIA work is Keri’s biggest priority, and by working to dismantle barriers, the schools she supports can become truly equity-driven and focused. This comes from Keri’s belief that every student deserves opportunities to learn and grow, and it is our responsibility to create the environment for them to do so. She has been working in education for over 28 years, both as a classroom teacher and in school leadership, in various organizations in California, New York, and Colorado. 

Keith Ouweneel is currently the Director of Crown Pointe Academy of Westminster, a role he has held since 2012. He is responsible for the academic program, facility needs, budget, and day-to-day operations of the school, which include the challenging issues of 50 employees, 300 parents, and 500 students. While at Crown Pointe, Keith has developed and implemented many changes to the curriculum, schedules, and programming that have positively affected student engagement and performance. Prior to coming to CPA, Keith worked as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and school administrator for 15 years in Weld County, Colorado. He began his career in education as a third-grade teacher, a job his wife described as working with his “peers”.

In addition to his work in schools, Keith has presented to numerous state and national conferences on education best practices, leadership, technology, and board governance. He has also consulted with governmental agencies on the topics of leadership, conflict resolution, and personal motivation. Mr. Ouweneel holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Indiana University. He has also graduated twice from the University of Northern Colorado with a Master of Arts and an education specialist degree in educational leadership and policy study.  He believes learning is a lifelong pursuit that requires constant growth and development, which happens best in environments of mutual trust and support.

Consulting in leadership development, and creating and managing curriculum, instruction, culture systems, and college access programs/departments, Elisha Roberts has over 15 years of experience in public education. Prior to consulting for schools and organizations around the country, Elisha’s career in education began as an 8th-grade U.S. History teacher. She then taught high school Civics and AP Government. Later, Elisha served as an AP of Culture who focused on Restorative Justice, became the Founding Principal of STRIVE Prep RISE, then worked as a Managing Director supervising principals until she earned the position of Chief Academic Officer. In that role, Elisha executed the vision for student services, college access, and academics. 

Her time leading STRIVE Prep RISE, a social justice-based charter in FNE Denver, proved invaluable as the school would be ranked one of the highest performing high schools in Denver, per the DPS schools framework, under her tenure. Elisha has managed culture, academic, and family engagement structures including professional development for 50 - 500 staff. She has studied education systems in the U.S., Botswana, Japan, and Papua New Guinea. Elisha has also consulted for the Colorado Department of Education. Born and raised in Colorado, Elisha was a Daniels Scholar and holds a B.A. from Occidental College and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College’s Donovan Urban Scholars program. 

Julianna specializes in engaging math strategies, instructional coaching for secondary mathematics teachers, mathematics leadership coaching, and math in intervention and SPED.
She is also an experienced classroom teacher, mentor, PLC facilitator, professional developer, and instructional coach. 

With urban classroom experience across multiple states and district-level leadership, she is dedicated to improving educational opportunities for all students and teachers. Juliana’s work focuses on collaborating with special education and general education math teachers to increase their confidence in the teaching of mathematics and to learn how to engage struggling learners at every level. 

Jessica started her education career in the classroom as an elementary school teacher, teaching a variety of grade levels and coaching her peers. While working in both traditional district and charter schools, she held leadership roles, including Dean of Math, Curriculum Developer, and Principal. One of her greatest accomplishments in education was leading a K-5 turnaround charter school that earned the highest math growth in the state and the highest reading growth in the district, and received a “distinguished” rating on the DPS School Performance Framework during its first year of turnaround.

After serving as a principal, she oversaw academics across a network of elementary schools as the Director of Academics for a Denver charter network. In 2019, she launched her own consulting business to support more schools and integrate best practices into different school models. She has worked with district schools, independent charters, and private schools, as well as dual-language, Montessori, and classical models from ECE through 8th grade. She geeks out on all academic content and enjoys supporting schools with curriculum implementation, data analysis, instructional coaching, student and adult culture, and teacher and leadership development.