Who We Are

Sandra Diaz is the Operations & Family Support Coordinator at Oakland Enrolls. Having lived in Mexico and attended school in Mexico for 5 years, she brings with her an in depth knowledge of the culture of the Hispanic community that we serve in Oakland as well as language skills and over 13 years of experience in direct marketing and Medical Interpreting, to provide families with over the phone support and outreach to create awareness of choice in Oakland’s public school system.

Prior to that, she worked as an International QA Specialist for several HI-Tech companies in the Silicon Valley. She has a BA degree in Business Information Systems from the University of Phoenix and is a California native.

Lisa Gibes de Gac is the Executive Director of Oakland Enrolls and also serves on its Governance Board. She is an education strategist with 15 years’ experience working to provide better and more equal educational opportunities to all kids. She most recently managed the education grantmaking portfolio at Emerson Collective, a social change organization.

Prior to this, she served in several roles throughout her tenure at 50CAN, a national education advocacy and policy nonprofit. As 50CAN’s Vice President of Strategy and External Relations, she managed organizational strategy, fundraising, and communications. Prior to working at 50CAN, she was a third grade teacher in The School District of Philadelphia through Teach For America.

Lisa earned her Masters of Science in Education at the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in Journalism and English at Michigan State University.

Lucas Jackson is the Operations and School Support Director at Oakland Enrolls. He has over 15 years of experience in public education and has worked as a teacher, administrator, and district manager. His most recent work was in data and operations at KIPP Northern California Schools.

Lucas has been a teacher in elementary, middle, and high school grades and has taught in Albuquerque, NM, Milwaukee, WI, and throughout the East Bay. He also served as an education and youth services volunteer in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.

Lucas earned his MS in Statistics and Evaluation from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and his BS in Education from the University of New Mexico.

David lives in, works in, and is dedicated to his East Oakland Community. He’s a parent and former teacher who is deeply passionate about bringing high quality public education to all students. David is the current Principal at Leadership Public Schools in Oakland, CA. Leadership Public Schools is a public charter high school network that transforms educational outcomes for students that have been historically under-represented in college, empowering them for a range of college, career and community leadership options.

David is the former Executive Director at Oakland Charters, an advocacy organization for the city’s dynamic public charter school sector. Prior to that role, David was Head of School at Urban Montessori Charter School (UMCS), a nationally-recognized breakthrough model, based in Oakland. Before UMCS, David was with the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) as the Oakland Regional Director for two years. There, David spearheaded citywide advocacy for Oakland’s growing and controversial charter sector. From 2002-2012 David served as founding teacher then Principal at Oakland Unity High School, a high-performing charter school transforming lives for first-generation college students. His work in the public education landscape also includes several years as a team leader with the Charter Schools Development Center’s annual charter leader intensive boot camp program.

David’s served on multiple charter school and community boards, including Unity Schools, Community School for Creative Education, Oakland Families for Quality Schools, Enroll Oakland Charters, and GO Public Schools. David also co-chaired the Oakland Public Schools Equity Pledge enrollment working group. Prior to his career in public education, David worked in the private tech sector. A first generation college student, he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at San Diego, then a single subject teaching credential in social science from San Francisco State University. He obtained a Master’s in Educational Leadership from California State University East Bay in 2009.

Bio coming soon.

Luis Rodriguez is the Founder of Oakland Enrolls. After more than a decade of experience in management and technology consulting, Luis transitioned from the private to the public sector through the Broad Residency in Urban Education program. Prior to joining Oakland Enrolls, Luis was a partner at The Learning Accelerator, a non-profit focused on accelerating the implementation of high-quality blended learning in public schools. 

Luis also served as the Director of the Office of Digital Learning for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where he was responsible for improving digital literacy and capacity across the state. While at the state department, he also helped implement an educator effectiveness framework and served as a technology advisor on several Race to the Top initiatives. As a result of his efforts in Massachusetts, Luis was awarded the Manuel Carballo Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service. 

Luis has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, a Master of Science in Strategy from the University of Texas Dallas Jindal School of Management, and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from The Broad Center.

Hae-Sin Kim Thomas is an experienced nonprofit leader with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. She is currently a Managing Partner at Acacia Partners, a consulting firm that focuses on supporting mission-driven organizations.

Prior to Acacia, Hae-Sin was the President of the Propel Pathways Program at Ed Farm, a nonprofit organization based in Birmingham, Alabama, focused on increasing the number of Black leaders in high wage tech careers.

She has 30 years of experience working in the Oakland education space. She was the CEO of Education for Change Public Schools, a charter management organization in Oakland, California; she co-founded two nonprofit community advocacy organizations (Families in Action, GO Public Schools), an education fund (Oakland Ed Fund), and a political action committee (Power2Families); and she worked for the Oakland Unified School District as a Special Education teacher, principal, new school developer, and network executive officer for over 15 years.

Arlette De La Cruz is the project manager for enrollment, operations and facilities at Aspire Public Schools, supporting the Bay Area with its student enrollment and recruitment, operations, and facilities projects. Arlette is currently in her second year of The Broad Residency.

Prior to Aspire, Arlette was a strategic fellow with Oakland Unified School District, where she supported the district’s enrollment and projections processes and school portfolio management. Before her transition to the education sector, Arlette worked for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, as director of program and business development, where she oversaw strategic growth and expansion through mergers, acquisitions, and program development.

Arlette earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and Spanish from Amherst College and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. She is currently a candidate for a master’s in education leadership at the Broad Center for Urban Education.

Jonathan Perry is the Associate Director of Operations, Recruitment and Enrollment, for KIPP: Bay Area Schools, where he drives recruitment and enrollment efforts to provide students across the region with access to a high-quality education. Jonathan transitioned from a 12 year career in international development and education policy to K-12 public education via the Broad Residency for Urban Education.

Previously he worked with the World Bank, where he consulted national governments on safety net policies, cash transfer programs, and early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. Before then, he worked with the National Ministry of Education in Bogotá, Colombia, as an author on the 10-year education policy framework and as a consultant in the department for early childhood education.

Jonathan earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Latin American studies from Tufts University and a master’s degree in law & diplomacy focused on international development from the Fletcher School at Tufts University together with the Harvard Kennedy School. He is currently a candidate for a Masters in Education Leadership at The Broad Center for Urban Education.

Maya Woods-Cadiz is CEO/Superintendent of American Indian Model Schools, the top performing CMO in Oakland, CA. An educator with 20+ years of experience in public, independent, and charter schools, Maya understands the importance of giving parents a choice when it comes to educating their children. She is a fifth generation “Oaklander”, and the product of both independent and public schools.

Her educational pedigree consists of a Masters of Education from UC Berkeley, a Superintendent Certificate from the Association of California Schools Administrators, an Administrator Credential, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, and a Bachelor of Arts from California State University at Hayward (East Bay). She is currently a Doctoral Candidate in the field of Transformational Leadership. Maya and her husband feel blessed to have been able to have options when educating their own children.