Joanna Alcala is a seasoned marketing, creative, and communications professional with over 20 years of experience. She has a proven track record in conceiving, managing, and producing multi-channel integrated branding, marketing, technology, and social media programs across diverse industries. Joanna’s strategic initiatives are designed to create brand value, foster enduring customer relationships, and deliver measurable results.

Prior to joining Graduation Alliance, Joanna had spent a majority of her professional career marketing higher education degree programs at both EmbanetCompass (Pearson Embanet) and the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business. In addition to marketing, Joanna has managed full service creative departments to include technology, UX, design, and content teams. She has a passion for seeing students thrive and connecting customers to solutions.

Joanna earned her degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Central Florida.

Charity Carney has more than 20 years of experience in leadership across multiple industries, with a specialty in technology management over the last 15 years. Charity has a Bachelors in Business Administration and a Masters of Management, and additionally has earned multiple credentials including Project Management Professional, Certified Information Systems Security Professional, and Certified Security Awareness Practitioner.

Andy Cusimano has primary responsibility for Graduation Alliance’s program delivery and operations. Prior to joining Graduation Alliance in 2010, he spent two decades understanding, delivering and consistently improving customer experiences in a variety of sectors. As a marketer, project manager and systems creator, Andy’s expertise has been an integral part of the success of companies that have appeared on Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing company rankings and have been honored with PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence award for best managed companies.

Prior to joining Graduation Alliance, Andy was chief operations officer of Jack Johnson Company, a multidisciplinary professional services firm in Park City, Utah. Additionally, Andy was the founder and president of Mountain Eye Creative, a marketing and graphic design firm catering to the professional services industry. Andy received his M.B.A. from the University of Utah and a Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Todd Keruskin currently serves as the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Graduation Alliance. Prior to this role, he was the Vice President of Customer Experience at McGraw Hill, where he also held the position of Vice President of Professional Learning Services. Dr. Keruskin’s career is marked by a significant five-year period as the superintendent and nine-years as the assistant superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District in Elizabeth, PA. Under his leadership, the district earned recognition as a member of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, an AASA Lighthouse School District, and all schools in the district were honored by Apple, Inc. as Apple Distinguished Schools.

His influence extends beyond local achievements, as he has worked with the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools and the White House to scale the maker movement and K-12 computer science in schools across the nation and contributed to the U.S. Department of Education’s 10-year STEM plan for schools nationwide. Dr. Keruskin’s dedication to advancing education has made a lasting impact at both the local and national levels.

Ron joined Graduation Alliance having held a series of executive positions within the education market and following three decades of leadership experience inside the business solutions sector. He served as CEO of Graduation Alliance from 2015–25 and is now the board executive chairman.

Between 2013-15 Ron served as Interim COO at Academic Partnerships following an active, five-year history as a member of the board. Earlier he led Cambium Learning Group, a K-12 curriculum and services company, as Chief Executive Officer following the firm’s acquisition of Voyager Expanded Learning (where he had been President since 2005). Prior to Voyager, Ron served as President of ProQuest Information and Learning Company.

Ron came to the education market following a successful 27-year career with Dun & Bradstreet, a global business information and technology solutions provider, where he served as Senior Vice President, U.S. Sales and led a segment with more than $900 million in annual revenues. Even earlier at D&B, Ron led Global Data, Operations, and Customer Service in approximately 200 countries and had been CFO and President of Asia Pacific/Latin America.

Ron earned his Master in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from New York University. He is the recipient of numerous industry awards, including the President’s Award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators and the Southwest Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young.

Joanie Krein has been in workforce development for more than 20 years. Working at Graduation Alliance combines two passions — people and education. Prior to Graduation Alliance, she was the vice president-market manager for Manpower. She also has 13 years of experience in operations as a regional vice president for Delta Career Education Corporation.

Joanie holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Dayton. She also holds the SHRM Senior Certified Professional certification from the Society of Human Resource Management.

Deborah O’Brien is the Chief Academic Officer at Graduation Alliance, where she has served in various leadership roles since 2011. A veteran educator and systems-level leader, Deborah brings deep experience as a principal across brick-and-mortar, online, and blended learning environments. Her administrative career has spanned elementary, middle, and high school settings, with a particular focus on serving students historically marginalized by traditional systems.

In her role at Graduation Alliance, Deborah leads instructional and support teams that serve students who are disengaged, displaced, or unable to thrive in conventional school contexts. A critical scholar, she interrogates intervention systems for deficit-based assumptions and works to reimagine dropout recovery through equity-centered, student-responsive design. Her scholarship and leadership alike are grounded in a commitment to dismantling systemic barriers and expanding pathways to educational attainment.

Deborah holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Central Washington University, a master’s in educational administration from Eastern Washington University, and a doctor of education degree in Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University. Her work in higher education includes assistant professor at Gonzaga University, where she teaches graduate students in the School of Education. She is certified by the state of Washington and Ohio as a K–12 school principal.

With more than 15 years of experience in the education industry, Will Poulson’s responsibilities at Graduation Alliance include the direct management and oversight of many of the student-facing operations including enrollment, retention and curriculum.

Prior to joining Graduation Alliance in 2015, Will oversaw one of the largest third party health care enrollment service providers at Academic Partnerships in the United States. Will’s expertise includes building high-performing teams, developing a structured approach to recruiting, identifying and consulting on key operational areas, and using respect and integrity to develop a winning culture.

Will received his M.B.A. from Louisiana State University, Shreveport.

For Rebekah Richards, the mission to ensure every individual has the opportunity to complete high school is deeply personal. As a former high school dropout, she possesses a unique understanding of the challenges that lead students to leave school and, more importantly, how personalized, supportive educational models can profoundly change the trajectory of a person's life.

As a co-founder of Graduation Alliance and now its Chief Innovation Officer, Rebekah channels that personal experience into building for the future of Graduation Alliance. She leads the organization's charge to innovate at scale, focusing on technologies like AI and data analytics to create truly personalized learning pathways. Her vision is to ensure every student has access to the precise support they need to overcome barriers and succeed.

This forward-thinking approach is grounded in a history of creating transformative solutions. Rebekah has architected Graduation Alliance’s core programs, including the Dropout Recovery and Workforce Diploma programs. Most recently, in 2020, Rebekah pioneered the Attendance Recovery program, a groundbreaking initiative to combat chronic absenteeism, a program that provided critical coaching and support to more than 175,000 students nationwide in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rebekah is a nationally recognized expert on dropout recovery and prevention and the effective use of online learning for at-risk students. Her expertise has been instrumental in shaping public policy to give school districts greater flexibility to serve opportunity youth. She sees Graduation Alliance as a modern “Archimedes’ screw”—a powerful lever capable of creating meaningful, scalable impact for individuals and communities.

Rebekah received a B.A. in Classics from Brigham Young University, an M.S. in Instructional Design and Technology from Utah State University, an M.A. in Classical Philology from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and a certificate in School Administration from Drexel University.

Gregg Rosann is a co-founder of Graduation Alliance. He has more than 25 years of experience in software and systems integration across a variety of industries, with expertise in developing customer self-service applications in the U.S. public sector. At Graduation Alliance as president and CTO, Gregg is responsible for the technology platforms that deliver education to our students.

Previous to Graduation Alliance, Gregg served as Vice President of Software Engineering at Tomax Corporation, where he led the development of the company’s flagship product. Gregg also spent 15 years at American Management Systems, where he successfully delivered a series of large and innovative technology projects to state and local government agencies across the country. He specialized in systems that delivered significant cost savings and operational efficiencies, and managed customer-facing projects in the company’s state, local and federal defense business units.

Gregg received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut, and his M.S. in science instrumentation from the University of Utah. He was an entrepreneurship associate at the Lassonde New Venture Development Center at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, and maintains advisory board roles at the university’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, the Professional Master of Science and Technology program, and the Technology and Venture Commercialization Office. Gregg also serves as Board President at the Salt Lake City Jewish Community Center.

Described as an “education futurist,” Dr. Shawn K. Smith is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, and rare book collector. Before joining Graduation Alliance, Shawn served as the Chief Innovation Officer for McGraw Hill and a national leader on issues surrounding digital education and pedagogy. Shawn has authored four books on education and was a teacher, principal, and Chief of Schools for 15 years in school districts in Illinois and California. He also served as CEO and co-founder of Modern Teacher for 9 years.

Shawn has made appearances on both the Discovery and Learning channels as well as various radio, web, and podcast programs. Shawn has degrees from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin (bachelor’s degree, elementary education), the California State University, San Bernardino (master’s degree, middle school education), and the University of Southern California (doctorate degree, urban education policy and leadership).

JC Tenney has been an integral part of Graduation Alliance since joining the team full time in 2008. He currently manages the IT department in support of the millions of students and school administrators that use our systems. JC oversees development of the company Student Information System that is used to ensure students are able to be successful in the program. JC also has direct management and oversight of Graduation Alliance’s exploration and planning platforms, its customized learning management system, and student data warehouse.

Prior to joining the team, JC was a freelance developer working on several small projects in the medical education and search engine optimization spaces. He is passionate about exploring new, cutting-edge technologies and applying those technologies to help change student lives. JC graduated with Honors from the University of Utah with a degree in Computer Science.