Yvonne is an advocate for quality youth education. She is a passionate supporter of charter schools and has served in an executive capacity within the field for over fifteen years. She believes in helping organizations develop and implement their strategic growth plan to strengthen educational opportunities for more students and families living in underserved neighborhoods. Her experience over the last fifteen years includes providing services to nonprofit boards, management organization and sponsors/authorizers in the areas of development and coordination of new school application processes, standard operating procedures for authorizers, operators and boards, project management; strategic planning, developing support and advocacy within new territories; new school development services, nonprofit board development; facilitation of board meetings; and the implementation of assessment and board training tools.

Yvonne served as the Executive Director of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships for I CAN SCHOOLS charter management organization, and in 2015 she earned significant recognition for the organization. She coordinated the first ever multiple charter contract award from the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office to an out of state charter management organization. Her efforts were so successful that the Mayor’s Office acknowledged that I CAN SCHOOLS had set the precedence for future applicants. She also coordinated applications wherein the founders of I CAN SCHOOLS achieved approval of two additional Ohio schools and a new charter contract with Central Michigan University.

Throughout her extensive experience, Yvonne has worked to ensure the highest possible quality and accountability for all of her employers and clients. As the Vice President of Sponsorship Operations for St. Aloysius, an Ohio sponsor/authorizer overseeing charter contracts for more than 45 schools throughout the state, she developed a superior charter school application and renewal process which set a high standard and has been duplicated by other sponsors throughout the state. She also implemented standard operating procedures for the organization and a revised compliance assessment and monitoring process for all sponsored schools.

Yvonne’s belief in the value of charter schools and the importance of strong governance drove her to partner with Ashland University to create the only university certified charter school board training program in the state. She has worked with over 120 boards on governance development, contract, compliance and accountability monitoring. She was also an Evaluation Development Project Advisory Committee Member for the Buckeye Charter School Boards, Inc. Yvonne is a Nonprofit Advocacy Council Member for the Kentucky Nonprofit Network and has been a BoardSource member since 2001.

Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Yvonne attended the University of Akron and graduated from American InterContinental University with a bachelor degree in Business Administration. She has also obtained a Non-Profit Consultant Certification from BoardSource; a Board Governance & Leadership Certificate from the National Charter School Institute; and an Ohio Auditor of State Fiscal Training Certificate. Yvonne is also a Palladium Kaplan-Norton Balanced Scorecard Strategic Planning Certified Graduate.

Yvonne lives in Louisville with her husband of 30 years. She loves to spend time with her family and three dogs, and has always been drawn to support educational minded organizations. Keeping true to this interest, she has served as the Board President for the Kentucky & Southern Indiana Stroke Association for the last four years increasing the reach of stroke education across these two states. Additionally, Yvonne is the Vice President of Louisville Grows, which is a nonprofit organization also focused on community education in low-income and underserved neighborhoods to increase knowledge and awareness of the importance and benefit of urban agriculture and forestry.