Board of Directors

Melissa has more than 15 years of K-12 experience as a teacher, curriculum designer, higher education instructor, consultant, and non-profit leader. At Teach for America Colorado, she provided executive leadership in strategy, finance, and operations. Prior to Teach for America, she designed and launched Relay’s Early Childhood Master’s program. Before that, Melissa served as the Vice President of Lifelong Learning at the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, Delaware. In addition, as the Director of School Solutions at Innovative Schools, Melissa successfully led three founding school boards through the charter approval process in the state of Delaware. Melissa graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a dual degree in Sociology and African American Studies, has a Masters's degree in Urban Education and Policy Studies from Temple University, and completed all doctoral coursework in Reading, Writing, and Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Commissioner of Education in Colorado from 2016- 2023, Dr. Katy Anthes is widely respected for her commitment to listen to diverse perspectives and develop solutions that are founded on productive middle ground. Keeping students’ best interests as her top priority, she focuses on providing high quality expertise and support to policymakers, districts and educators working to enhance student achievement. As Commissioner, Anthes worked with the Colorado State Board of Education, the Legislature and the Governor to craft and implement a vision of education for Colorado. She led the Colorado Department of Education, an $8 billion dollar agency, dedicated to helping districts achieve great things for students. During her time as Commissioner, she served on the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Board of Directors and the Education Commission of the States (ECS), Steering Committee.

Dr. Anthes was with CDE since 2011, serving as chief of staff, interim associate commissioner for achievement and strategy and executive director of educator effectiveness. As the executive director of educator effectiveness, she led CDE’s efforts to support and retain highly effective educators in Colorado. In her previous position as a partner with the Third Mile Group, Anthes led and researched major education initiatives for state, district, and national organizations on a variety of education issues and projects including the Colorado School Leadership Academy Board, the Expanded Learning Opportunities Commission and as an evaluator for district education programs across the state.

Anthes worked with numerous national education organizations at The Third Mile Group, such as the Council for Chief State School Officers, the National Governor’s Association, The National Commission for Teaching and America’s Future, American Institutes for Research, and many more. Prior to founding the Third Mile Group, she had seven years of research, policy work and leadership experience at the Education Commission of the States focusing on school and district leader effectiveness. Anthes holds a Ph.D. in public policy and a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Colorado Denver. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Oregon.
Anthes lives in Denver, Colorado.

Floyd Cobb is an accomplished educator with 25 years of leadership across the P-20 educational continuum. He has served as a teacher, school leader, district curriculum leader, and statewide policy implementer. As the Associate Commissioner of Student Learning at the Colorado Department of Education, Floyd managed the implementation of complex statewide education initiatives, including K-3 literacy, standards revision, special education, student discipline universal preschool and English language development.

He earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver, where he has been an adjunct faculty member since 2011. Floyd teaches courses on educational policy and social inequality. In 2017, he received the Ruth Murray Underhill Teaching Award for excellence, awarded to one adjunct faculty member at the university.

Terrence Cummings is the Senior Vice President of Member Services at Guild Education, a company on a mission to unlock opportunities for America’s workforce through education and upskilling. Guild works with leading Fortune 1000 employers such as The Walt Disney Company, Target, Discover, Chipotle, Walmart, and Lowe's to transform their education and upskilling programs through Guild's technology platform, payments system, and learning marketplace.

Before Guild, Terrence led Product, Marketing, Partnerships, Engineering, and Analytics teams across a range of startup companies, and was previously a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a BS in Finance, and after stints in Boston and San Francisco, now lives in Denver with his wife and 9-year-old son.

Pat joined RootED in February 2019 and is the Managing Partner. He leads the autonomous school investments and operations of RootED. His favorite part of working with RootED is the team chemistry and deep focus on equity and quality. Most recently, he was part of the executive leadership team at Revolution Foods where he managed the national school/community partnerships within existing and expansion markets across the United States. Pat is a graduate of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, from which he also received a graduate degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology. He and his wife have three children ─ Kaitlyn, Max and Sean ─ all of whom graduated from DPS schools (DCIS-Baker and East).

Khadija Katherine Haynes is a native of Denver and a fourth-generation Coloradoan. In addition to years of engagement in cultural arts, she has been an activator, community leader, and strategist in the Denver community. Ms. Haynes has carved a national niche as an astute and sought-after political advisor and governmental manager. She is well-known for her breadth of experience, her strong management capabilities, and her excellent leadership skills.

Jackie Hawkey was Managing Director, Ares Real Estate Exchange (AREX), an investment solution of Ares Management Inc (Ares). She was responsible for managing the AREX program, which included structuring and distributing private placement offerings to accredited investors through a network of distribution partners. Since Ms. Hawkey joined AREX (and predecessor Black Creek Exchange) in 2006, the exchange business has raised over $2 billion in equity capital for its real estate investment funds.

Prior to Ares, Ms. Hawkey served as a Principal in CapEx, LP, a private equity fund that invested in small to mid-sized companies. Before joining CapEx, Ms. Hawkey spent four years as a principal with Corporate Properties of the Americas (CPA), an industrial real estate developer and owner operating throughout Mexico, which was eventually sold to a large state pension fund. Additionally, Mrs. Hawkey spent five years as an investment banker with William Blair & Company in Chicago and several years in commercial banking.

Ms. Hawkey holds a Bachelor of Science from Dartmouth College and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

John served as a member of KIPP Colorado’s Associate Advisory Board before joining the Board. He is a Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s FDA and Health Care group. His practice focuses primarily on internal and government-facing investigations and associated litigation (particularly in the life sciences, healthcare, and technology industries). He has particular experience working on matters involving international anti-corruption laws, domestic anti-fraud and anti-kickback statutes, securities fraud, response to whistleblower allegations, and complex commercial litigation. John received his J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School in 2007. While there, he served as an Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 2002 with a B.A. in History and Psychology. Before joining Gibson Dunn, John clerked for the Honorable David M. Ebel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2007 to 2008.

Cheryl Precious is the co-founder and managing partner of RevUp Growth Partners, a fractional fundraising and marketing firm that helps small and scaling companies and nonprofit organizations strategically and sustainably grow. Cheryl has spent 20 years building thriving development functions for nonprofit organizations, including 14 years in leadership roles. She launched her nonprofit career during her college years, serving as an executive director and later board member for a global health organization. From there, she has worked in broad range of settings, from small community organizations to at-scale national enterprises, supporting strategy, operations, marketing/communications, and frontline fundraising.

Cheryl earned her B.A. from Northwestern University in American Studies/Spanish and her M.S. in Public Policy from Oregon State University. She currently serves on the Board of KIPP Colorado Public Schools and lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, two boys, and senior goldendoodle.

Russell Ramsey joined KIPP Colorado in 2025 as a Board Director. Russ brings significant experience as a classroom teacher, teacher coach, and school leader in both urban and rural elementary, middle, and high schools in four southern states. He has also worked as an education researcher in various labs studying school turnaround, Algebra instruction, and educational neuroscience, and as a consultant to evaluate and improve school discipline policies and practices.

Prior to relocating to Denver in 2023, Russ led the $20 million annual education grantmaking program at the Houston Endowment and also later served as the organization’s Director of Learning and Evaluation, strengthening organizational impact by managing strategy development and evaluating evidence of progress toward goals. Most recently Russ has been serving as Executive Director of Enrollment and Campus Planning for Denver Public Schools, leading the teams responsible for school choice, planning and analysis, real estate, and facility allocation.

Russ has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas A&M University and a master’s in public policy with a concentration in K-12 education policy from Vanderbilt University. On the weekends you can find him in the mountains with his wife Carrie, their 3 young daughters, and a poorly-trained poodle.

Jennifer Rocks is a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting and is the Consulting Managing Partner for the Denver, Colorado office where she is responsible for more than 1000 consulting practitioners who report into Denver, Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, WY, and Santa Fe, NM. As a Human Capital leader in the Government and Public Services (GPS) practice, Jennifer is an organization transformation advisor for several strategic accounts in state and local government, higher education, and global not-for-profit organizations. Jennifer brings more than 22 years of public sector experience in developing and delivering Organizational Change Management (OCM) programs for complex government technology and business transformations. In addition to being on the board of KIPP Colorado, Jennifer is the Advisory Board Chairperson for College Track, Colorado - a nonprofit working to increase high school graduation, college eligibility and enrollment, and college graduation rates among underrepresented communities. Prior to consulting, Jennifer was a member of the Teach for America program teaching 6th grade students. She holds a Master’s degree in Government Administration and a Master’s of Science degree specializing in education policy.

Steven K. Talley was a member of the Corporate Transactions Practice Group. He works primarily in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Talley has represented a number of public and private companies and private equity clients in connection with acquisitions and dispositions in numerous industries including telecommunications, high tech, manufacturing, and energy. Mr. Talley received his law degree in 1991 from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and an Articles Editor on the High Technology Law Journal. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1984. In addition, he has taken a significant number of graduate-level economics courses at the Claremont Graduate School.

Beth has over 20 years’ experience helping companies align people strategies to their business strategy. She has deep experience creating organizational programs to recruit, onboard, and develop employees, and coaching individuals through layoffs and career transitions. She has worked with all sizes of companies from startups such as Guild Education to global organizations such as Deloitte Consulting. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis and her MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Beth lives in Denver with her husband, son, and daughter and enjoys skiing, running and practicing yoga.

Rebecca is a Managing Partner at The Environmental Financial Consulting Group (EFCG), advising leadership teams of architecture and consulting-engineering firms on core strategic challenges and opportunities. Prior to joining EFCG, Rebecca was a Senior Manager at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, working in the New York, Boston and Melbourne offices.

Rebecca has also worked across several education reform organizations, including an externship with the KIPP Foundation to support Strategy & Development, a fellowship with Teach for America as Director of Strategy, and an internship with Lawrence Public Schools (via Education Pioneers) working to decentralize the district and empower local school leaders.

Rebecca received her MBA from Harvard Business School, and graduated with Honors from Harvard University. Rebecca lives in Denver with her husband Sean and their dogs, Sassy and Abby.