Senior Leadership Team
Judy Ivie Burton, President and CEO
As the President and CEO, Judy Burton brings expertise to the Alliance in successfully leading and operating public schools. She launched the Alliance College-Public Schools, a non-profit charter management organization whose mission is to open and operate a network of high performing middle and high schools in California that prepare all students for success in college. The Alliance has grown from its first charter high school in 2004 to a network 14 high schools and 6 middle schools. 100% of Alliance schools significantly outperform neighboring schools. Four Alliance high schools are CA Distinguished Schools and three are among the top 10 high schools in LAUSD. In June 2011 97% of Alliance high school seniors, graduated in 4 years and 86% were accepted into 4-year universities. (full bio)
David Hyun, Chief Financial Officer
David Hyun is responsible for overseeing the accounting and finance department for the Alliance. Prior to joining Alliance, Mr. Hyun worked for the real estate industry for over twelve years. Mr. Hyun has worked for companies such as Westfield, TrammelCrow Company, and Playa Capital Company. His accounting and finance background and industry experience include real estate investments, property management, construction and development. He earned his B.A. in Business Administration/Finance at the California State University, Northridge. Mr. Hyun is also a graduate of the Graziadio School of Business and Management, where he earned his M.B.A. He currently holds an active CPA license from the Washington State Board of Accountancy and is also a licensed real estate broker in the State of California.
Marcee Seegan, Chief Academic Officer
Marcee Seegan joined the Alliance as VP of Schools in 2010 and assumed the role of Chief Academic Office in 2011. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all academic programs. Her career in education began as a special Education teacher for LAUSD, and she went on to serve in various district schools and capacities for almost 40 years. She was a dedicated teacher, special education consultant, and resource and program specialist in area schools, and a successful assistant principal and principal for seventeen years. In 2000, she began working directly for the district office, serving as a director of elementary school services, director of special education related services and director of middle school services for local districts for ten years before joining the Alliance in 2010. Since 2001, she has also been a part-time professor for California State University, Northridge, where she teaches LAUSD District Administrative Cohort Classes that focus on contemporary administration and leadership, curriculum development, supervision, human relations, and assessment, among other important focus areas. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master of Education Degree from California State University, Los Angeles.
Catherine Suitor, Chief Development Officer
Catherine Suitor oversees development and communications for the Alliance and its family of schools. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was the Vice President of Development for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles where she was responsible for raising $55 million annually for community change initiatives in Los Angeles County. Previously, Ms. Suitor created an endowment and a ten-fold growth in annual income as the Director of Development for the Liberty Hill Foundation, and raised unprecedented funds and awareness as the Director of Development for the Central American Resource Center prior to that. She began her career in advocacy, having organized human rights awareness campaigns for the people of El Salvador. Ms. Suitor currently serves on the Board of Southern California Leadership Network. She has also served as a board and committee member for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics and New Roads School. She is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Steve Synott, Chief Operating Officer
Steve Synott joined the Alliance team in December 2009. He is responsible for overseeing technology, facility development, facility operations, infrastructure development, human resources, and strategic partnerships for the Alliance. Mr. Synott brings over 20 years in General Management, Financial and Operational expertise—most recently as the President of the Small Business Group at United Healthcare. Mr. Synott has demonstrated success in providing strategic vision and turnaround management through instituting and embedding a performance culture along with organization, operational, and fiscal reform. He has a proven track record of high ambition/breakthrough strategic planning, building strong teams for executional excellence, and innovative product development and go-to-market methods, including especially noteworthy website efforts. Mr. Synott received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University, and is also a CPA.
Liam Mennis, Chief Information Officer
Liam Mennis joined the Alliance team in January 2012. He has more than 40 years of diversified business and information systems experience in management, consulting and technical support. Prior to joining Alliance, he spent 10 years as a senior executive in the Entertainment Industry with Universal Studios / NBC Universal, Screen Actors Guild and Cast & Crew, a payroll services firm; and in the Security Industry with Inter-Con. He also worked as Director of Consulting Services for a small professional services firm, First Vice President of Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Countrywide Financial Services Corp., and as a management consultant with Deloitte & Touche / Touche Ross. During this time he specialized in information technology management, strategic planning; operations and automated systems assessment, selection and implementation; market research of automated solutions for financial services such as credit cards, financial planning and securities brokerage; and computer and general business litigation. His technical background also includes 12 years in hardware and software development and support with Hewlett-Packard, CACI, Sperry Univac, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering and Management Science from Duke University and an MBA in Finance and Production & Operations Management from The Graduate School of Management, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He also holds a Green Belt and Executive Certification in Six Sigma from General Electric.
Derrick Chau, Vice President - Instruction and TCRP Leadership
Dr. Derrick Chau is responsible for strategic management of the Alliance's instructional team, and for implementation of The College Ready Promise initiative. He has more than 14 years of experience in education. He began his career as a Teach for America corp member, teaching high school science in the Long Beach Unified School District. Dr. Chau spent five years conducting education research, earning his Ph.D. in education from the University of Southern California and earning a RAND/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation. He joined Alliance College-Ready Public Schools in 2004 as a founding teacher and science department chair for Gertz-Ressler High School, the first Alliance College-Ready Academy. In 2006, he became the founding principal of Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science School, an early college high school collaboration with California State University, Los Angeles. As the principal, Dr. Chau led the school to recognition as a California Distinguished School in 2009 and a ranking of #39 out of all California high schools on the 2011 Washington Post High School Challenge. He has a master's degree in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University and a doctorate of philosophy in education from the University of Southern California.
Ena LaVan, Vice President – School Family
Ena LaVan is responsible for supervising and evaluating principals and overseeing the instructional programs at all Alliance schools located in the south and west portions of Los Angeles County. She has over fourteen years of teaching and administrative experience. Prior to assuming her current role, she was the founding principal of Alliance William and Carol Ouchi High School. During her five years of leadership at Ouchi HS, it received exemplary scores and was recognized as a California Distinguished School and an EPIC Silver Gain recipient in 2009. In 2011, she became a leadership coach for the Alliance as part of The College-Ready Promise initiative. She first came to the Alliance in 2004 as the assistant principal at Gertz-Ressler High School, the organization’s first high school. She began her career in education as a teacher and later an intervention coordinator and coordinator of the Neighborhood Academic Initiative-6th Grade PreAcademy at Foshay Learning Center. Ms. LaVan received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and is a graduate of Pepperdine University, where she earned a M.S. in Educational Leadership with an Administrative Credential.
Javier Fuentes, Vice President – School Family
Javier Fuentes is responsible for supervising and evaluating principals and overseeing the instructional programs at all Alliance schools located in the north and east portions of Los Angeles County. He began his career in education twenty years ago as a middle and high school teacher and athletic director. He has more than a decade of experience as a successful assistant principal and principal at elementary, middle and high schools, and also spent six years as adjunct faculty for Northern Arizona University, National University, San Diego State University and Southwestern College, where he focused on bilingual education. He holds a bachelor's in education from Northern Arizona University and a master's degree in education and multicultural bilingual education from Northern Arizona University. He also completed the Education Leadership Program at the University of Phoenix.
Robert Pambello, Vice President – Blended Learning School Family
Robert Pambello is responsible for supervising and evaluating principals and overseeing the instructional programs at all Alliance Blended Learning Schools. He has more than 20 years of administrative and teaching experience. In 2008, he became principal of Alliance Heritage College-Ready Academy High School and was instrumental in the school's successful participation in the Alliance's Blended Learning Pilot, which focused on modeling how technology supports learning inside and outside of the classroom. Prior to joining the Alliance, he was a Regional Director for Intervention and Support for KIPP, a leading national charter organization. He has a bachelor's in biology education and a master's in school administration from the University of Arizona.
