The WEX Team
Krista Daly, Communications, Marketing & Summer Programming Coordinator
Krista holds a B.F.A. in Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College, where her focus was in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. She's held various positions in the travel industry, where she spent 5 years, and most recently worked in account management at a local start-up. At The Writers’ Express, Krista has a hand in many things, from grant writing to marketing & communications to coordinating the WEX Summer Program.
Christine DiBuono, Director, Program Development
Christine holds an M.Ed. in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has over 15 years of experience in education and administration. Her experiences include teaching English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, Western Africa and teaching ESL overseas and at University of Massachusetts, Boston and University of Bridgeport. Most recently, she taught English at Mansfield High School for five years. Since joining WEX in 2003, Christine has directed the WEX summer program on the campus of Tufts University for four years and has trained and coached teachers in greater Boston and San Francisco, as well as developed WEX partnerships with schools and other non-profits.
Michael Faigen, Director, Finance
Michael holds a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Michael was a member of the organization’s Board of Directors prior to taking on this position. He is also President & CEO of Stainless Steel Coatings, Inc. Previously, Michael worked as an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe.
Joseph Grotto, IT Manager
Joe received his B.A. in Philosophy from University of Massachusetts, Amherst and his M.A. in Media Arts from Emerson College. He is an avid musician and has worked in professional recording studios in Boston and Los Angeles. Currently, Joe manages the information technology systems at The Writers' Express.
David Meyers, President
Dave received his B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and an M.A.T. and C.A.G.S. (Educational Leadership) from Simmons College. He taught elementary and middle school in the Brookline, MA public schools for eleven years and served as a site director for The WEX summer program for five years. He currently oversees all professional development, training, and curriculum development. Dave also coordinates and teaches the WEX Teacher Institutes and Simmons graduate courses. He is licensed as both a teacher and principal.
Catherine Moreno, Senior Trainer - San Francisco
Catherine Moreno received her B.A. and teaching credential from San Francisco State University. She has taught eleven years in San Francisco Unified School District. During that timeCatherine has been a master teacher as well as mentor teacher. She has worked with the Union and Adminstration to help redesign teaching practices and present professional development for teacher peers. Her passion for writing in the classroom has created communities of writers. She is the Program Director for WEX San Francisco Summer School.
Deborah Reck, CEO and Co-Founder
Deborah holds a B.A. degree in History from Yale University and an M.Ed. in Social Studies Teaching from Brown University. She taught middle school social studies in the Baltimore City Public Schools and high school history (U.S. and Medieval) at Lincoln Sudbury High School in Sudbury Massachusetts.
In 1994, she founded The Writers’ Express with Arthur Unobskey, another history teacher. While teaching history, Debbie and Arthur had seen that when students wrote, they developed their ideas and learned to read and think more carefully. Over the past twelve years, Debbie has worked with The Writers’ Express staff as a writing instructor, program manager, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer. Debbie continues to spend time working with teachers, analyzing student work and refining the curriculum while focusing on building the organizational capacity during this period of rapid growth.
Liz Rosenberg, NYC Director of Programs and Professional Development
After college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Liz taught English in Madrid, Spain where she realized that teaching was her path. She later received her Masters in the Teaching of English from Columbia Teachers College. Most of Liz's twelve years in education were spent in high school English classrooms in New York City. In recent years, she has focused on professional and new school development working as a literacy coach and a program officer. Her work at WEX allows her to draw upon these experiences as she develops new programs and relationships with schools and teachers in New York City.
Patricia scully, Senior Program Manager/Teacher trainer
Patricia received a M.Ed. from Harvard's School of Education. She has taught English/Language Arts for over 30 years in grades 6-12. While teaching at the Wayland Middle School for the past 22 years, Pat chaired the English Department and held numerous leadership positions within the school. Pat has been a leader in Wayland's professional development work with Empowering Multicultural Initiatives (EMI).
Julie Sharpe-Hollis, Operations Manager
Julie received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has honed her administrative skills in a variety of organizations over the last fifteen years, in positions of increasing responsibility. In addition to her office management, bookkeeping and human resources functions, Julie’s operational duties have her involved with many of WEX’s programs.
Patrick Sheridan, Senior Program Manager/Teacher Trainer
Patrick received his B.A. in Spanish from UMass Boston and his M.Ed. from Boston College. His experience in education includes tutoring college students in Spanish and teaching English to adults in El Salvador. In addition, he coordinated Somerville Head Start’s Family Literacy Program for 4 years. Most recently, he taught fifth and first grades in the Boston Public School system for 5 years. At The Writers' Express, he currently works as a teacher trainer and is assisting in developing WEX’s primary curriculum.
Paula Sinclair, Director, Strategy & Communications
Paula has a B.A. in History from Emory University, and an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University. Paula was a banker in New York for several years after graduate school, and realized that she enjoyed writing about her portfolio of companies more than she liked financing them. She became a business journalist, writing about Latin America, business, and technology over the course of five years for the Economist Intelligence Unit (part of the Economist group.) Paula re-located to San Francisco in the late 1990s, just in time to write about technology and consult to companies during the boom years. Upon moving back East, Paula continued consulting to companies to help them improve their communications. Paula has found a home with The Writers Express, bringing her expertise in both writing and strategic communications to the organization.
Erika Wentworth, Senior Program Manager, Curriculum Development
Erika received her B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in English from Georgetown University. While at Georgetown, she tutored basketball players, taught writing to immigrants learning English as a second language, and worked one-on-one with inner city high school students to prepare them to write college entrance essays. She has been a professional writer and editor for over 10 years, specializing in education and literacy, English Language Arts curriculum and assessment, performance measurement of schools, and cross-cultural adaptation. At The Writers’ Express, Erika edits teaching modules and helps to develop publishing initiatives.
Elena Dworkin Wright, Director, Curriculum Development & Publications
Elena holds a B.F.A. from Boston University and an M.Ed. from Antioch. After teaching reading and writing for several years, Elena worked in educational publishing where she held positions as director of acquisitions, marketing, and editorial operations. Most recently she returned to school to study the new connections between cognitive psychology and neurology, helped a local charter school publish its writing and math curriculum, and conducted cognitive research on the executive function of preschoolers.
