Board of Directors

Linda Brown

Linda Brown is the Executive Director of Building Excellent Schools. A leading charter school supporter, Linda views charter schools as the engine that drives all schools to higher standards. She works with education entrepreneurs as they break new ground in education reform. Her work has been critical and instrumental to the initial success of charter schools in Massachusetts, and has contributed to the creation of effective charter school programs across the country. The organization’s flagship program, the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, has been successful in the launch of 7 of the 10 charters issued in Massachusetts over the past two years. The organization, begun in 1993, has been replicated in almost every state that has strong charter school legislation. Linda held the position of Associate Head of School at an independent school prior to her tenure with Building Excellent Schools.

Matt Candler

Mr. Candler is currently the CEO of New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO). NSNO was created in aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to provide public schools, with an emphasis on charter schools, with the support they need in order to succeed in the new world of New Orleans public education. Matt has taught and coached at the elementary, middle and high school levels. In 1994, he returned to his home town of Atlanta to help build the Main Operations Center for the 1996 Olympics. Mr. Candler founded a consulting practice specializing in start-up support for new charter founders and served as co-founder of a charter school in North Carolina. He joined the KIPP Foundation in 2001 as the Vice President of School Development, where his team established 37 new schools. Prior to that, Matt served as founding COO of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence. Matt holds a B.A. in mathematics and Spanish Language from Duke University, and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management

Anita Landecker

Anita Landecker is Executive Director of ExED, a nonprofit organization that develops and manages public charter schools in inner-city neighborhoods in Southern California. Prior to joining ExED in 1999, Anita was Regional Vice President for the western operations of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the largest community development organization in the nation. During her 12 years at LISC, Ms. Landecker was also the Managing Director of the California Equity Fund (CEF), a LISC subsidiary, which syndicated the benefits of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. While at LISC and CEF, Ms. Landecker raised over $500 million for investment in affordable housing in inner-city neighborhoods. She has taught at UCLA and USC, served on the Los Angeles Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation Land Trust, CD Tech, and Menorah Housing Foundation. Ms. Landecker earned an M.S. in urban planning from M.I.T., and a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mandy Lee Berman

As Executive Vice President of Operations at Children First, Inc., Mandy is responsible for the operations of 34 backup childcare centers in the U.S. and Canada with over 200 employees. Prior to joining Children First, Mandy was the COO of Project Achieve, Inc., providers of a web based information tool to K-12 schools for curriculum planning and administrative management. She was a member of the founding team of one of the nation's most successful charter schools, Boston's Academy of the Pacific Rim. Mandy worked at the Parthenon Group and before her tenure there was a senior associate consultant at Bain and Company. Her BA from Princeton was followed by an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Josh Solomon

Josh is a practicing lawyer with Sullivan & Worcester LLP, in the firm's litigation department, and holds a JD from Harvard Law School. He clerked with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit under Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld in 2003-2004. Prior to law school, Josh was the Vice President of Business Development with Advantage Schools, Inc., where he worked from 1996-2000. During that time, he worked with its founding team to launch and build an education management company with a focus on the creation and management of charter schools in inner cities across the country. Previously, as the Director of Business Development and Director of Research, he oversaw the company’s research into target markets and charter school statutes and co-wrote and edited corporate documents, including the original business plan.

Steven Wilson

Steven F. Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Education Sector, Washington, DC. He is a former Executive Vice President for Product Development at Edison Schools and Senior Fellow at the Center for Business and Government of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. His book, Learning on the Job: When Business Takes on Public Schools, examines the first decade of private management of public schools and was awarded the Virginia and Warren Stone Prize. Wilson founded and served as CEO of Advantage Schools, an urban charter school management company. Prior to founding Advantage, he was special assistant for strategic planning for Massachusetts Governor William Weld. He advised the governor on education policy during the passage and implementation of the state’s 1993 comprehensive education reform act. He also oversaw the administration’s privatization programs and drafted the governor’s plan to reorganize state government. His earlier book, Reinventing the Schools: A Radical Plan for Boston, led to the establishment of Massachusetts charter school law, which Wilson drafted.