Westland School competitors

Adriana Abich is a Member at Chief and Chief Executive Officer at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy and is based in Los Angeles, California. She has worked as Teacher at Garvey School District, Regional Superintendent at PUC Schools, and Teacher and Instructional Coach at Los Angeles Unified School District. Adriana works or has worked as Deputy Superintendent at PUC Schools and Principal at PUC Schools. She studied at OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP /DE/ between 1998 and 2001; California State University, Northridge between 2007 and 2009; and OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP /DE/ between 1994 and 1998.

Ben has been in and around schools his whole life. First as a student, then as an English teacher and Department Chair in the US and Asia before transitioning into leadership as Educational Director at the Soundview School just outside of Seattle. After that, he served as Upper School Director at The Northwest School for 7 years, and comes to VVS following 7 years as High School Principal on the Pudong Campus of Shanghai American School. Ben lives with his wife, Lixue, and their dog and 3 cats on the glorious Verde Valley School campus.

Susan Schaeffler is the founder and chief executive officer of KIPP DC. She oversees all school leadership and academic programming, and plays a direct role in supervising the performance of students, staff, and the KIPP Through College & Career program. As an inaugural Fisher Fellow, Susan founded KIPP DC KEY Academy in 2001 and has since guided KIPP DC’s growth into the highest performing PreK3-12 school system in Washington, D.C. with eighteen schools educating 6,800 students. Prior to founding KIPP DC, Susan spent nine years in the classroom, first as a Teach For America corps member in Baltimore, Maryland, where she earned Teacher of the Year honors. In addition, Susan spent a year in rural Ethiopia working with the International Foundation of Education and Self-Help to train 180 new teachers at the Teacher Training Institute. Susan earned her bachelor’s in human development and family studies from Colorado State University and master’s in instructional systems design from the University of Maryland. Under her leadership, KIPP DC was a Race to the Top District grant recipient, and have won national distinctions such as the Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon School Award and the National Title One Distinguished School Award.