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. 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. She taught English at Mansfield High School for five years. Since joining WEX in 2003, Christine 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. She currently writes WEX curriculum, develops WEX partnerships, and leads trainings in the area.
Maura Donnelly,Senior Program Manager/Teacher Trainer, NYC
Maura first became interested in literacy, specifically the aspects of social justice and pedagogy, when she was tutoring beginning adult readers and writers while in graduate school in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research. Since 1997, she has taught adult literacy in community-based organizations and community colleges throughout New York City, written curricula and books for the field, and worked as a staff developer. Maura holds an M.A. in Adult Education with an emphasis on literacy from Fordham University and is an adjunct professor at New York University.
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.
Sarah Green,Curriculum Writer
Sarah is a poet, professor, and community arts organizer. She has taught creative and academic writing, ESL and literature to a wide range of young people and adults in both informal and formal education settings. An artist with a political and ethnographic interest in “voice”, Sarah both expects and fosters authentic presence in new writers. She received her MFA from Purdue University and her BA from Oberlin College.
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 WEX.
Elena Joyce,Curriculum Writer
Elena received her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Lesley University and her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For several years, Elena worked in oncology and emergency and critical care veterinary medicine. She enjoyed teaching and training veterinary students so much, she decided to become a teacher. Elena is a certified Elementary and ESL teacher and taught in Lawrence, Boston, and Waltham, Massachusetts. She is currently a WEX curriculum writer.
Susan Kano, Director, Publishing
Susan holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Wesleyan University. She has written several books, run and owned a small publishing company, and served as Vice President of Publishing and Operations at Lexia Learning Systems, Inc. More recently, she invented and patented a method of simulating a treasure hunt within a book. She currently manages WEX curriculum development.
David Meyers, President
Dave's work with The Writers' Express (WEX) began in 1996 when he took a job as a counselor in the WEX summer writing camp. After eleven years of teaching writing to elementary and middle school students and seven years with the summer camp, Dave became a full-time member of the WEX team. For the past six years, Dave has helped craft a way for teachers to use instruction and feedback to help every student become a powerful writer. 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 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 taught eleven years in San Francisco Unified School District. During that time, Catherine was a master teacher as well as a mentor teacher. She worked with the Union and Adminstration to help redesign teaching practices and present professional development to her peers. Her passion for writing in the classroom has created many communities of writers over the years. She is currently a WEX trainer and a curriculum writer.
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.
Deb Sabin, Director of Training
Deb received a combined B.A. in English and World Religions from Harvard University and an M.T.S (Masters in Theological Studies) from the Harvard Divinity School. She taught high school English and World Religions in such diverse settings as the Boston Public Schools, Milton Academy, Lexington High School and a bilingual school in Colombia, South America. Her experiences teaching writing pointed her to the truth of WEX's core philosophy – kids are motivated to learn to write when they believe they have something to say. Deb has worked as a trainer and curriculum developer for The Writers' Express. She is currently developing WEX Teacher Trainings.
Patricia scully, Senior Program Manager/Teacher trainer
Patricia received an 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.
Carissa Violante, InDesign Specialist & Graphic Designer
Carissa received her B.F.A from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, where she studied Graphic Design and Letterform. There, she was president of the Senior Design Class, president of Communicatus Graphic Arts Club, and was an active member of the AIGA Student Chapter. Carissa also tutored a wide variety of students in English and grammar at her university’s Writing and Reading Center. More recently, she worked for Yale School of Medicine developing Web templates, designing promotional materials for investor recruiting, crafting user guides, and overseeing product development.
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.
Margaret Wickham, Curriculum Writer & Editor
Margaret received her B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire, where a large portion of her undergraduate career was spent working one-on-one with her peers to help them develop better study, time management, and writing skills. As an Outreach Coordinator for her university's writing center, she was an active advocate for the center's services, presenting in classrooms and at the Northeast Writing Centers Association Conference, and leading a semester-long personal statement workshop for pre-med students.
