Our Team

Tess Posner is a social entrepreneur focused on increasing equity and inclusion in the tech economy. As CEO of AI4ALL, she is working to make artificial intelligence more diverse and inclusive and to ensure that AI is developed responsibly. Before joining AI4ALL, she was Managing Director of TechHire at Opportunity@Work, a national initiative launched out of the White House to increase diversity in the tech economy, where she oversaw the network of 72 cities, states and rural areas and 1,300+ companies creating more inclusive education and hiring pathways. Earlier in her career, Tess built and ran Samaschool, a nonprofit that equips low-income people to find work in the digital economy through an online platform training 50,000+ students worldwide and a dozen diverse locations from New York City to rural Arkansas and East Africa.

Tess’s work has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, Entrepreneur, Fortune, USA Today, the Atlantic, Business Insider, TechCrunch, and Fast Company and funded by top national foundations and influencers including Melinda Gates, Jensen Huang, Google.org, Microsoft, Capital One Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Autodesk, and the Robin Hood Foundation. She is the co-author of “The People Centered Economy: The New Ecosystem For Work” and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University School in Social Enterprise Administration and a bachelor’s in liberal arts from St. John’s College.

Candice Chung is the Chief Financial Officer at AI4ALL, where she leads the finance and administrative functions.

Prior to joining AI4ALL, Candice served as Senior Director, Grants Management at the KIPP Foundation. There, she managed federal and private grants funding the development of new schools and supporting training programs for school leaders in educationally underserved communities. 

Candice is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a B.S. in Commerce, with a concentration in Accounting, from the University of Virginia.

Emily Reid is a computer scientist, educator, and entrepreneur. Emily is the VP of the Open Learning Program at AI4ALL and the owner of E. E. Reid Consulting, LLC, where she advises and creates curriculum for schools and businesses to help them build inclusive computing education programs.

Previously, Emily was the founding Director of Education at Girls Who Code, where she was responsible for ensuring that GWC programs were unrivaled in delivering quality computer science education. During her time at GWC, Emily’s team taught over 30,000 girls to code and trained over 2,000 computer science educators. Before Girls Who Code, Emily was a Senior Cyber Security Engineer at the MITRE Corporation and has published research in computational linguistics and cybersecurity. She speaks and writes on diversity, education, and technology.

Emily holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University and a B.S. in Mathematics from Tufts University. She believes strongly that we can change the world for the better through a diverse and inclusive tech industry, using computer science as a tool to solve pressing social problems.

Roshni Kasad is a trained scientist and educator with over a decade of experience building equitable STEM education initiatives at the K-12 and higher ed levels. As Senior Director of the College Pathways program, Roshni leads AI4ALL’s entry into the higher ed space. With experience building local, national, and international education collaborations, Roshni believes strongly in the value of partnerships to create sustainable and scalable change.  

Previously, Roshni served as founding Director of Academic Initiatives at AnitaB.org where she partnered with universities across the country and led programs for 10,000+ female students and faculty in computing in an effort to bring more women into tech and to ensure they persist. While at Techbridge, Roshni led a number of local and national K-12 STEM education initiatives, including design and implementation of a professional development model to support 300+ educators to deliver informal STEM education to more than 4,500 youth across the Bay Area. 

Roshni earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley where her thesis was characterizing molecular mechanisms involved in egg and sperm development.

Valerie Allen is the Director of Changemakers in AI at AI4ALL, where she leads the alumni network, Changemakers in AI. She has served as a youth leader and advisor for over a decade and is excited to equip our future leaders in AI.

Valerie brings experience in youth development, program design, and event management to the team. She previously served as the founding Regional Manager at Black Girls CODE. Leading six chapters across the country, she addressed the underrepresentation of women of color in technology and provided girls of color early access and exposure to coding and careers in technology. Prior to BGC, she managed student programming at The Robert Toigo Foundation, an organization committed to increasing diverse talent in business.

Valerie holds an M.P.A. from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in Nonprofit Administration and B.S. in Business Administration from Seton Hall University. A Bay Area native, Valerie enjoys spending time with her family and supporting high school football in Oakland, CA.

Rockelle Morris is the Director of Corporate Partnerships where she works to expand AI4ALL’s corporate partner program. Before joining AI4ALL, she served as the Deputy Sales Director of Corporate Engagement at Year Up’s National Capital Region. At Year Up, Rockelle was responsible for securing over 350 corporate internships per year for young adults, ages 18-24. She was also instrumental in growing annual revenues to $10M. Before Year Up, she held a variety of roles including Client Services Manager at Dimension Data, Regional Sales Manager at Tripwire and Senior Sales Executive at Teneo. Rockelle has received numerous accolades including the President’s Club Award, Top Sales Performer, and Outstanding Sales Achievement. In addition, she loves technology and spent 10+ years in Network Operations and Support at leading technology companies in the Bay Area. For this reason, she has a personal desire to introduce advanced technology to underrepresented groups. In May 2017, Rockelle received her MBA from Trinity Washington University.

Nicole Halmi is the Senior Communications Manager at AI4ALL, where she works to make artificial intelligence more diverse and inclusive and to ensure that AI is developed responsibly. Before AI4ALL, she was an early team member at Neon Labs. At Neon, Nicole led communications and marketing and additionally managed the development of AI-powered, patented video publishing products. Before Neon, Nicole worked with underresourced young adults with developmental disabilities, supporting them to find meaningful work. Nicole received an A.B. from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media, where she focused on language and translation in the broader context of modern cultural and social formations. She has spoken about the need for diverse perspectives in AI at venues including Teen Vogue Summit, AWS ImagineEDU, and the IBM Executive Forum for Senior Education Leadership.

Sasha is the Operations Manager for AI4ALL, where she supports the vision and mission of increased diversity and inclusion for underrepresented students in the field of AI, by directing, planning, and coordinating the operations of the organization. Before joining AI4ALL, Sasha was an Executive Assistant and Office Manager for a social justice non-profit organization based in Southern California. Growing up in split regions, Sasha is both a Bay Area and Los Angeles native. Sasha has a Bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University. She has over 10 years of professional experience as a C-level/SVP Project Manager, Co-Producer, Executive Assistant, HR Assistant, Legal Assistant, Event Coordinator and Office Manager in corporate, non-profit, and entrepreneurial environments in the fields of entertainment, e-commerce, medicine, law, behavioral/mental health, life coaching, and faith-based youth mentorship programs. She thrives in philanthropic, civic, social, inclusive, and diversified mission-driven environments that allow her to supportively inspire others and function at her potential. In her spare time, Sasha enjoys volunteering for various nonprofits, singing, dancing, freelance writing, running cross country, image consulting, and spending time with family and friends.

Eric Gunther is the Program Operations Manager for AI4ALL Open Learning. He has spent his career working in the education sector. At Girls Who Code, Eric managed the training and support of club facilitators and summer immersion program teachers. He worked as an academic coach for K-2 teachers at a charter school after leading his own classrooms for four years in Brooklyn and South Korea. Eric was part of the 2010 NYC Teach for America corps. He received a bachelors in advertising from the University of Florida (go Gators!) in 2009 and a masters of education from CUNY Hunter in 2012.

Shavonna is a problem-solver and a passionate advocate for educational equity in our classrooms and communities.

As the Campus Chapters Manager at AI4ALL, Shavonna manages the strategy and operations for the Campus Chapters program. This program is designed to foster the development of, and persistence in, AI education and career paths for underrepresented populations in STEM.

Prior to joining AI4ALL, Shavonna worked at Girls Who Code, supporting the development of partnerships with school districts, and community-based organizations across New York in an effort to close the gender gap in technology. She also worked for several years as an Admissions Officer at Cornell University’s College of Engineering as well as Binghamton University, SUNY. In these roles, she led the recruitment strategy for historically marginalized populations of students in STEM fields.

Through these experiences, the realities many students face in their educational paths were made transparent. The unequal distribution of opportunities, the disparities in achievement, and the lack of access to information. All of these things contribute to the gaps we see in critical and emerging fields like AI.

Shavonna received a B.S. in Management from Binghamton University and is currently working towards an M.A. in Education Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Motivated with a mission to create access, drive education reform, and support community development through collective action, Shavonna is ready to make a meaningful impact on the lives of students across the country.

Sarah Judd is the Curriculum Manager for Open Learning at AI4ALL. Sarah brings a track record of creating inclusive and culturally responsive CS curriculum in her roles as a Computer Science teacher in classrooms ranging from 2nd-10th grade, as a curriculum developer at Google CS First and Girls Who Code, and in after-school programs including Bootstrap and FIRST robotics. Sarah has also worked as a web engineer, and holds a BS in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Beth McBride is an engineer, researcher, and educator. She is the AI Education and Instruction Manager for University Programs, where she will work with the team to create inclusive learning experiences in AI for our high school students.

Prior to joining AI4ALL, Beth worked as an education researcher and curriculum developer at SRI International and UC Berkeley, developing integrated STEM curriculum units, conducting evaluations of curricular efficacy, and researching the use of AI in online education. Beth also previously worked with USAID in Liberia to develop curriculum and lead summer programs for high school students interested in engineering. Beth earned a BSE in Earth Systems Science and Engineering and a Masters of Engineering in Applied Climate Science, both from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and a Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics Education from the University of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley, she also had the opportunity to study Finnish and won a grant to do immersive language training in Finland. Beth is a Michigan native but now lives in Oakland, CA. Outside of her work at AI4ALL, you can find her dreaming of backpacking in the Sierra, decorating cupcakes, or at a public library.

Sean Peters is an engineer, educator, and entrepreneur with 6+ years of experience designing and implementing student-centered curriculum in K-12 schools across New York City, Yonkers, and New Haven. As the Curriculum & Instruction Manager for College Pathways, Sean creates inclusive learning experiences to attract new college-level students to AI and to support them as they continue their academic path in AI.

Prior to joining AI4ALL, Sean worked as a Professional Development Associate at the Center for Technology and School Change (CTSC) at Teachers College, Columbia University. There he trained and engaged teachers and administrators as designers of authentic, rigorous, standards-aligned transdisciplinary STEM learning experiences with meaningful technology integration.

Sean earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.  Sean’s contribution to the field through his doctoral research focused on mitigating the impact of cyber attacks by defining a metric of privacy using Information Theory and designing an anonymously distributed communication protocol for cloud-based entities.

Sean is also the founder of My Body, My Kitchen, an online community devoted to empowering its members with the tools to take control of their wellness and fitness.

Thalea Torres is the Career Development Manager of Changemakers in AI at AI4ALL, where she is building and supporting the alumni network, Changemakers in AI, with career trajectories and continued engagement in AI. She is passionate about working towards equity and justice for marginalized groups, and believes that AI and tech are areas for incredible social impact.

Thalea received her Master’s of Science in Social Work from Columbia University with a focus and minor in public policy. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She has a background in youth development, direct practice, program management and development, research, and policy analysis. She has worked with a variety of populations including high school health education and workforce, foster youth and families, adults and children with disabilities, and English language learners abroad. Most recently she served as a Research Fellow for SAFElab, Columbia Population Research Center at Columbia University, where she collaborated with MIT and youth at the Brownsville Community Justice Center to create an immersive simulation training intervention for social media surveillance practices.

Thalea also loves fitness, superhero movies, and identifying every bakery within a 10-mile radius.

Camryn Burkins is the Communications Associate at AI4ALL, where she crafts stories that bolster the AI4ALL brand and further the mission of creating a diverse and equitable AI future. 

Before AI4ALL, Camryn was an engineering analyst at Kimley-Horn and Associates. On the Development Services team, she worked with local officials, architects, and engineers to design infrastructure that transformed the Dallas, TX landscape. As the only Black woman on her team, she also perceived a need for increased discussions surrounding equity in the workplace, founding the Dallas Diversity Initiative, Kimley-Horn’s first affinity group with the goal of increasing, retaining, and supporting ethnically diverse talent. 

Camryn holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. A Houston, TX native currently based in Oakland, she can be found blogging at her site oneblackexperience, which seeks to contextualize the nuance of the Black American experience by offering one perspective, and working with friends on the first edition of the Earth in Color zine, a movement that aims to rekindle the relationship between people of color and the natural world.

Irena Trifunovic is the Education Partnerships Associate for AI4ALL Open Learning. In this role, she works to support partners in implementing Open Learning in their local communities. Originally from the Bay Area (now based in NYC), Irena worked in the technology sector before pursuing an interest in community engagement and education. She has taught in a variety of settings including in early intervention, in a therapeutic classroom for students with neurodevelopmental differences, and in an Alternative Learning Center in Brooklyn. Most recently, Irena was a Research Fellow at Columbia University’s SAFELab. Here she worked on participatory research-based projects focused on how technology can support well being/cause harm to marginalized communities. She received her B.A. in Linguistics and Psychology (UC Santa Barbara) and M.S. in Social Work (Columbia University).