EMILY AYSCUE HASSEL is Co-Director of Public Impact. She provides thought leadership and oversight to Public Impact’s work on teacher and leader policy, organizational change, parental choice of schools, and emerging opportunities for dramatic improvement in pre-K to grade 12 education. Ms. Hassel is leading Public Impact's effort to develop and refine school and staffing models for reaching more students with excellent teachers. Her work has appeared in Education Week, Education Next, and other publications. Ms. Hassel was named to the inaugural class of the Aspen Teacher Leader Fellows program, designed to cultivate and support teacher leaders who are working to improve the teaching profession and student outcomes. She was previously a consultant and manager for the Hay Group, a leading human resources consulting firm. Ms. Hassel received her law and master in business administration degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served on the North Carolina Law Review.

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JOE ABLEIDINGER is a consultant with Public Impact. His work focuses on a variety of education policy issues, including redesigning school models and teachers' roles to extend the reach of excellent teachers, online and blended learning and emerging technologies in education, teacher and leader policy, school turnarounds, and charter schools. Before joining Public Impact, Mr. Ableidinger taught high school English with the Fulbright Program in Korea and started a family resource center at an underperforming elementary school as an Americorps VISTA member. Mr. Ableidinger received his B.A. with highest honors from Duke University, his master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and his law degree with honors from Harvard Law School.

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SHARON KEBSCHULL BARRETT is a research consultant with Public Impact. She copyedits Public Impact's reports, and provides research and writing for the firm. Her recent work focuses on charter schools, state policy, and extending the reach of excellent teachers. A former newspaper reporter and copy editor, Ms. Barrett is the author of two cookbooks, Desserts from an Herb Garden and Morning Glories (St. Martin's Press). She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as editor of The Daily Tar Heel.

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LYRIA BOAST is a research consultant with Public Impact. She specializes in survey design and data management and analysis, and has worked with Public Impact on charter school authorizing, school outcomes, and school turnaround evaluation. Ms. Boast has been a research assistant in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a research analyst at Abt Associates, where she conducted large survey research projects under contract for the federal government. She holds a B.A. in English and economics from Wellesley College.

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DANA BRINSON is a senior consultant with Public Impact. She has conducted research and analysis on a wide variety of education issues, including educational philanthropy, school improvement and turnarounds, disconnected youth, talent assessment and selection, and charter schools. Ms. Brinson conducts critical fact-finding through interviews, literature reviews, site visits, and other qualitative methods. Ms. Brinson previously worked as a special educator at a Boston-area public school for teens with behavioral and emotional challenges and learning disabilities. Ms. Brinson is a summa cum laude graduate of West Virginia University and holds a master's degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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DANIELA DOYLE is a consultant with Public Impact. Her work addresses a wide range of education issues, including teacher quality, school finance, charter schools, turnarounds, and redesigning school models and teachers' roles to extend the reach of excellent teachers. A former elementary school teacher, Ms. Doyle is an alumna of Teach For America and Education Pioneers, a non-profit bringing innovative leaders to education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Princeton University, a master’s of science for teachers from Pace University, and a master's degree in public policy from Duke University.

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JIYE GRACE HAN is a policy fellow with Public Impact. Her work addresses a variety of topics, including retaining and extending the reach of high-performing teachers, teacher and leader quality, finance reform, and technology in education.  Before joining Public Impact, Ms. Han served as a Teach For America corps member working in a high-poverty school.  In 2011, she was named a national finalist for the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award, given annually to second-year Teach For America corps members who embody and demonstrate the leadership needed to have an exemplary level of transformational impact with students.  Ms. Han produced multiple grade levels of progress with her fifth-graders across subjects each year, as well as developing their critical thinking skills and level of learning engagement. She has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s in teaching from Dominican University.

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TOM KOESTER is a research analyst with Public Impact. His work centers on examining school outcome data, developing quantitative models, analyzing state policy, and devising innovative and compelling methods for presenting education data. Before joining Public Impact, Mr. Koester worked as a site supervisor in New Orleans with Americorps, overseeing the rebuilding of homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Koester graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wih a B.A. in economics and a minor in Arabic.

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JULIE KOWAL is a senior consultant with Public Impact. She consults and leads teams to offer research-based guidance on several challenging policy and management issues in education, including school turnarounds; educator effectiveness, evaluation, retention and compensation; and charter schools and charter school authorizing. Ms. Kowal is leading Public Impact’s efforts to recruit sites from across the country to redesign school models and teachers’ roles to extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students. She also led Public Impact’s involvement in several states’ applications for the federal Race to the Top competition. An alumna of AmeriCorps NCCC and Public Allies DC, Ms. Kowal earned her law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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JEN LIEBE is the operations assistant at Public Impact. She contributes to Public Impact’s internal operations, and coordinates several functions, including hiring and induction, and travel and event planning. She also contributes her skills to client projects.  Ms. Liebe previously worked in healthcare as an oncology social worker.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Muhlenberg College and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University.

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LUCY STEINER is a senior consultant with Public Impact. She researches and consults on a variety of critical education issues, including teacher and leader policy, school restructuring, charter school policy, and teacher professional development. Ms. Steiner both conducts her own work and leads project teams to deliver research, training, and consulting. Her work often provides a bridge between district leadership, school leadership, and instruction. A former high school English teacher, Ms. Steiner holds a master's degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University and a B.A. with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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BEVERLEY TYNDALL is the special projects associate at Public Impact. She helps Public Impact’s co-directors improve operations, and she coordinates several functions, including publications production, our website, and social media. She also contributes her skills to client projects. Ms. Tyndall previously worked in advertising and as production coordinator for J. Crew Catalog in New York City. Since earning a certificate in film from New York University, she has worked as a video editor and producer. Her credits include numerous educational and nonprofit videos, including a series on the Rural Community College Initiative, produced for the Ford Foundation. Ms. Tyndall is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in English.

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CAROL WILLIAMS is the office manager for Public Impact. She coordinates Public Impact’s financial, technology, and office operations. Before joining Public Impact, Ms. Williams worked as a medical technologist and as a laboratory information systems analyst, where she was responsible for maintaining laboratory databases and laboratory-to-hospital interfaces. Her work in education includes serving as a preschool teaching assistant and an academic advisor for the athletics department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.