Leadership

Need in Deed, Executive Director - Wendy Johnson is the Executive Director of Need in Deed in Philadelphia working to improve the education of students grades 3–8 in Philadelphia’s traditional public and charter schools. Prior to this leadership role, Wendy-Anne served as the executive director  for the Workforce Institute, an affiliate of Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC). With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Temple University and experiences that include roles at the Out of School Time Project, the Parenting Collaborative, the Emergency Fund, and Philadelphia Safe and Sound, Wendy-Anne brings more than 15 years of involvement in student engagement, curriculum development, program design, and fund-raising.

I-LEAD, CEO David Castro is a Latino Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Haverford College, which he attended through a minority (Reid) scholarship. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1986, Castro worked as a civil litigation attorney at the law firm of Pepper, Hamilton, & Scheetz, where he specialized in complex litigation and civil racketeering cases. In 1991, he joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where he assisted District Attorney Lynne Abraham in creating the Public Nuisance Task Force, the first inter-agency enforcement program of its kind targeting crack houses and nuisance liquor establishments. Castro served as the first Chief of the Task Force under District Attorney Abraham. During this time frame, Castro also served as President of the 5,000-member Young Lawyer’s Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he coordinated the implementation of more than fifty volunteer programs serving the public and the bar. In 1995, he joined the Ridge Administration as the Director of the State’s Weed and Seed Program helping challenged communities combat crime and poverty by combining law enforcement and community development strategies in targeted, high crime communities. Castro has special expertise in the field of leadership education and program development and evaluation. In 1993, he was awarded a Fellowship in the Kellogg National Leadership Program; a three-year leadership program awarded each year to a group of young leaders working across the country to make a difference in their respective communities. Castro devoted his Fellowship to the study of community leadership development and its relation to improving community quality of life. Based upon his work in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and through the Kellogg Fellowship, Castro and District Attorney Abraham founded I-LEAD, Inc. in 1995. In January 1999, Castro left the Weed and Seed Program to develop the I-LEAD organization on a full-time basis while serving as the General Counsel and National Litigation Director for the Center for Community Interest (CCI). Castro is the architect of I-LEAD’s leadership development curriculum synthesizing leadership skills and theories on the interpersonal and system levels with instruction regarding the public (government) and private (marketplace) sectors to equip community members as savvy and effective change agents. In 2002, in recognition of his work on behalf Pennsylvania communities, he was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship. In 2005, at the behest of trainees and in partnership with Harcum College, Castro translated the leadership development curriculum into a full Associate’s Degree program accredited by Middle States and initiated the community-based delivery of higher education for working adults through what is now the ACE (Achieving College Education) Program. Beginning with an initial cohort of twenty students at one community based organization, now 350 working adults are earning Associate’s Degrees at twelve community partner locations across southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2009, Castro was named an Ashoka Fellow by the Ashoka Global Funds for Social Change, a global association of the world’s leading and effective social entrepreneurs, for the development, successful implementation, and scalability of the ACE College program’s sustainable business model to address the educational and leadership deficit in challenged communities. A teacher at heart, Castro is frequently consulted as a speaker, serving on several panel discussions and contributing regularly to blogs via the Ashoka network and the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal.

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Temple University School of Medicine - Dr. Dione Cash is Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Temple University School of Medicine where she is also a practicing physician. She also currently holds the position of Associate Pediatric Clerkship Director. Dr. Cash received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1998, and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2003, a Bachelor of Biology from Spelman College in 1993. During her tenure as Attending Physician at Georgetown University Children’s Medical Center, she worked with the KIDS Mobile Medical Clinic and the Community of Hope Medical Clinic where she developed her passion for grass roots community based care. Dr. Cash is the recipient of numerous awards throughout her career, including the Intramural Research Training Award from the National Institute for Health’s National Eye Institute, Temple University Children's Medical Center Blueprint Award, and the Teaching Excellence Award from Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Cash joined the Board of Directors of Education Plus Health in 2017, after serving as collaborating physician to the School Based Health Centers for nearly five years.

Dr. Sunny Hallowell is Assistant Professor at M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Villanova University, and board-certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Since receiving her Master of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, she also earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Dr. Hallowell is the author of numerous publications in her field. She is passionate about Advance Practice Nursing leadership and was honored when selected to serve a two-year term as a Jonas Health Policy Scholar with the American Academy of Nursing (’14) on the Expert Panel on Breastfeeding. She also recently completed her term as the President of the Pennsylvania Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) (’15). Dr. Hallowell welcomes the opportunity to solve health care issues using an interdisciplinary team-based approach and invites students into a classroom environment that encourages critical thinking, creativity and active participation.

Senior Auditor at EisnerAmper - Eli Silverman, LLP is a Senior Auditor at EisnerAmper since 2014 where he works with his team to audit financial statements for public and private company clients using generally accepting auditing standards. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He also serves on the Harbonim Dror Camp Galil board of directors and finance committee in Ottsville, Pennsylvania and previously served on the Make to Include board of directors in Philadelphia as well as a number of social action committees in his community. Silverman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 2014 from the College of New Jersey, School of Business.

Education Consultant - Barbara Mattleman has held a number of executive leadership roles in the secondary and post-secondary field. She most recently served as the Executive Director of Graduate! Philadelphia from 2014-2018 convening ten regional colleges and universities to help over 1,000 new adults per year who had some college credit go back to school to complete their degree. Prior to that she was the Director of the PhillyGoes2College Initiative for the Mayor’s Office of Education for the City of Philadelphia, and the Executive Director of Operation Understanding. She has served on numerous boards of directors including the Metropolitan Ballet Company since 2001 where she now serves as Vice President of the Board. Currently Barbara is a consultant to various non-profit organizations on program development, operations management and fundraising, assisting with senior staff recruitment and executive coaching for new hires and existing staff. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College.

Executive Director, Education Plus Health

Julie Cousler Emig is the Executive Director of Education Plus Health and also the Pennsylvania School-Based Health Alliance. Both non-profit organizations are working to advance health equity in Pennsylvania.

Ms. Cousler has spent her professional career working in Philadelphia to improve the health and social outcomes for the city’s most vulnerable citizens. As the Executive Director of Education Plus Health, she is working to bring the non-profit’s successful school-based health center model to scale, with sustainable revenue models for growth and expansion. She grew the organization from one school-based health center in 2013 to more than a dozen in 2022. She has led Pennsylvania’s collaborative vision for the growth of school-based health centers across the state establishing Education Plus Health as the Pennsylvania Affiliate to the national School-Based Health Alliance. In 2020 she took the necessary steps to found and incorporate a new non-profit organization to serve independently as the Pennsylvania School-Based Health Alliance.

Ms. Cousler has served on numerous boards of directors in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania; she presently serves on the board of directors for the national Battered Women’s Justice Project (BWJP). Most recently she also served as trustee for the Seybert Foundation, and held a number of leadership roles including chair of the Pan American Academy Charter School from 2011 to 2016. She has served on the Women’s Medical Fund Board of Directors and Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Ms. Cousler has earned a variety of prestigious awards for her work including the 2020 Social Innovations award for health care innovation, the 2006 Purple Ribbon Award from Lutheran Settlement House for her domestic violence work, and the 2004 Forum Award from the Forum of Executive Women. Beginning in 2009, she served as Senior Policy Fellow for the Stoneleigh Foundation addressing truancy and chronic absenteeism through cross-systems work with the City, and she served as Deputy Director for Concilio 2011 to 2014, the city and state’s oldest Latino non-profit organization, where she provided strategic vision and oversight to health and social services with responsibility for fundraising and development, and strategic communications and community engagement. Prior to this work she served as Vice President for Health at Pennsylvania’s largest Latino non-profit organization, Congreso for ten years where she led a $5 million division of critical health services. Ms. Cousler holds a Master’s degree in Social Work.

julie@educationplushealth.com

Deputy Director

Ashley McGrath currently serves as the Deputy Director at Education Plus Health.  Prior to joining the Education Plus Team Ashley served as the Founding Chief Operating Officer at Deep Roots Charter School, the first new Charter School approved in Philadelphia after a nearly 10 year hiatus on approving new charter providers to serve Philadelphia students, and an Education Plus Health partner organization.  In this role Ashley was charged with creating and implementing LEA and school level organization systems aimed at maximizing supports and services provided to Deep Roots staff, students, and families.

Before joining the Deep Roots Charter School team Ashley spent five years working in the Camden City School District Superintendent’s Office. In that role, Ashley supported the execution of efforts that introduced high quality Renaissance school options to Camden families, while also providing project management leadership on central office and school level initiatives aimed at improving outcomes within traditional District Schools.

Ashley entered education through Teach for America as a middle school science and math teacher in Southwest Philadelphia.  Ashley holds degrees from Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.

ashley.mcgrath@educationplushealth.com

Finance Director, Education Plus Health

Paula Navas serves as the Finance Director for Education Plus Health. In this capacity she works with executive leadership and the board of directors to develop, implement and monitor financial management systems, procedures and policies to meet the organization’s goals and maintain accountability. Paula holds a professional degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance, Accounting, Marketing, and Human Resources. She also has a MSIS degree and over 20 year of experience in Finance. She has worked in financial leadership roles in the Non-Profit and For Profit industry for over twenty. In addition, Paula holds a degree as Holistic Nutritionist – DHN and continues her education and professional growth in the health field.

paula@educationplushealth.com

Director of Health Promotion

Crystal Ayala joined Education Plus Health in 2019 to lead all health promotion activities for the organization as Director of Health Promotion. She has responsibility for both school-based and asthma home visiting teams of community health workers and health educators. Prior to joining Education Plus Health she served as Program Manager for teen parenting and children’s services at Jewish Family and Children’s Services. A native Spanish speaker, she is a Philadelphia area native and holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychological and Social Sciences from Pennsylvania State University.

Director of Administration for School-Based Health Centers Keanna Ryals is the Director of Administration with four years of experience working alongside the executive leadership team of Education Plus Health. She knows how important accurate healthcare data and streamlined processes are critical components when it comes to patient care. She has invested her career in electronic health records’ system building, revenue cycle management and working behind the scenes to make large scale organization-wide decisions. Keanna was driven to pursue healthcare administration from her passion of data systems and healthcare regulatory framework and patient care. She's been working in healthcare administration for over 15 years and in that time has assisted teaching hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, federally qualified health centers, and rehabilitation hospitals improve their policies, procedures, and processes. She was educated at Temple University with a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management. She continued by receiving her graduate degree from Strayer University with a Master of Health Services Administration. Keanna was born and raised in Philadelphia, currently residing in New Jersey with her family of three. She enjoys traveling to different countries, collecting plants, and is known to her family and friends as a bibliophile. keanna@educationplushealth.com