Advisory Board
Dr. Lisa Gleason
Dr. Lisa Gleason is a passionate educational leader who is committed to the highest levels of academic excellence and radically innovative engagement in New Jersey’s public schools. Her work in the field of education includes the development of the Monmouth County Curriculum Consortium, a network of more than 60 New Jersey districts that collaborate in the development and execution of high quality curricular initiatives. Her teaching career spans all grade bands from kindergarten through high school - serving as principal and director of curriculum.
Before serving in her current position as the Superintendent of both Lavallette and Seaside Park School Districts, where she has led the implementation of New Jersey’s first Montessori public preschool, Dr. Gleason worked at the New Jersey Department of Education as the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Academics and Performance. There, she continued her commitment to a leadership vision that empowers educators to be innovative stewards of high quality, culturally-responsive, and personalized instruction that motivates students to be self-directed, collaborative, and emotionally resilient thinkers and leaders who are well-prepared to contribute to society in meaningful ways. Dr. Gleason continues to serve on the NJASA Governmental Relations committee and is the Ocean County liaison to NJASA Women in Leadership, and recently testified before the Assembly Education Committee for flexibilities for teacher certifications during the post-COVID teacher shortage.
David Hallman
Former Superintendent/Principal of the Belmar School District
David spent more than a decade as the Superintendent/Principal of the Belmar School District. His thirty years in public education, as both a teacher and administrator, have woven together experiences in the application of different education methods, leading to his advocacy of the Montessori pedagogy. In his first Principalship, he initiated and facilitated a New Jersey Department of Education award winning educational model that prioritized student and parental choice. The Mahala F. Atchison Elementary School in Tinton Falls, New Jersey was recognized with the 2004 Governor's School of Excellence Award for the “School of Choice” model. Parents were able to choose from a variety of learning environments, which included Montessori, Looping, Multi-Age and Traditional classrooms. Choice for students spread from the Montessori and Multi-Age classrooms throughout the building into the Looping and traditional classrooms. When David isn’t meeting with administrators and helping to expand access to Montessori, you’re likely to find him catching waves at the NJ shore.
Sep Kamvar, Ph.D.
Founder of Wildflower Schools
Sep has been a professor at MIT and Stanford, a startup CEO, and the head of personalization at Google. He is the founder of Wildflower Schools, a decentralized network of teacher-led shopfront Montessori schools, and Kaltix, a personalized search engine acquired by Google in 2003. He is the author of three books, and more than fifty technical publications and patents. His artwork has been exhibited in museums worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens. Sep received his PhD in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics from Stanford University and a BA in Chemistry from Princeton University.
Vijay Onteddu
Bio coming soon
Sara Suchman, Ed.D., MBA, MAT
Executive Director, National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector
Sara is a founding member and Executive Director of the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS). She previously supported NCMPS’s school start-up, implementation review and teacher training initiatives. Prior to NCMPS, Sara was a teacher and administrator at both district and independent schools in the US and overseas. As a child, Sara moved between traditional public, progressive and Montessori schools, and her doctoral research examined the intersection of alternative education methods (including Montessori) and government-mandated standards and testing. Sara received a B.A. in Psychology from Williams College, an MAT in ESL from the School for International Training, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Megan Trezise, M.Ed.
AMI Montessori Primary Trainer
Megan Trezise is an AMI Trainer at the Primary level with 15 years of experience in Montessori. She holds a Primary Diploma from the Montessori Education Center-trained by Nimal Vaz, a state of Arizona teaching certificate, and a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Currently, she is the Director of Training at the Montessori Training Center Poznan, Poland and also trains internationally with the Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies, the Montessori Training Center Northeast. Megan has spent many years teaching in both private and public Montessori schools. While in the public sector, Megan moved into Montessori Instructional Coaching for teachers as well as serving as the data specialist for the school’s Response to Intervention Team working with special needs children who were struggling behaviorally and academically. She now specializes in serving children with ADHD and those who have endured childhood trauma within the context of the Montessori Prepared Environment.
Dr. Semaj Vanzant, Sr.
Cultural Architect
Dr. Semaj Vanzant, Sr. has over a decade of experience as an organizational culture architect. He provides transformational coaching and consultation services designed to positively shift the cultures of businesses, non-profit organizations, family foundations, churches and their governing bodies. Semaj specializes in designing, implementing, and directing innovative programs that meet critical community needs.
In 2016, Semaj co-founded Inspire Life, a nonprofit organization that lives into its mission to empower youth and families to purpose, professions, and positive choices. Inspire Life is most known for providing high quality cultural, camp, and educational experiences to youth in the Central Jersey Shore. In addition to camps, Inspire Life provides resources and support to women and families to empower and strengthen individuals and communities.