Team Bios

  • Founder and CEO

    Donald Kamentz is a skilled facilitator and education consultant utilizing his diverse experiences in both non-profit management and K-12 education to help organizations best serve all student populations. As the Founder and CEO of Contigo Ed, Donald Kamentz brings his over 30+ years of diverse experiences and passion of working in the postsecondary access and success arenas.

    Prior to starting Contigo Ed, he served as Executive Director of Character Lab, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the science and practice of character development. Comprising a team of researchers, educators, and designers, Character Lab believes character skills are malleable and measurable, character development can enhance academic performance, and finally, character strengths are as important to long-term life outcomes as are IQ and socioeconomic status.

    Before Character Lab, Donald spent 16 years, lastly as Managing Director of College and Career Initiatives, at YES Prep Public Schools, a public charter school system in Houston, Texas. Under his leadership, he created a college access program recognized nationally as a model for supporting first-generation, low-income students to and through college. Prior to joining YES Prep, Donald spent five years with Teach For America in a variety of roles, most recently as the Executive Director for Institute Operations.

    Donald has been a member of both the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling (TACAC) since 1999. For NACAC, Donald served on the Current Trends and Futures Issues Committee for 5 years, the last two as Committee Chair. For TACAC, he served as a Secondary School Delegate to NACAC’s National Assembly, as well as lead faculty chair for seven years of the College Counseling track of TACAC/College Board’s Admissions and College Counseling Summer Institute — a training program designed to assist and fully train new college counselors with all aspects of the college admissions process. Donald was also elected to serve for a three-year term of state President for TACAC, the first charter school representative to do so in the history of the organization.

    Due to his work and success, Donald is a frequent speaker on local, statewide, and national panels on both social-emotional research and practice, as well as the college counseling and alumni support process, in particular for first-generation, college-bound students.

    Donald earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science, with a minor in international affairs-Latin American Studies, from The George Washington University. Donald is a Cambiar Education Fellow, a Pahara-Aspen Fellow, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC).

  • Partner, Analytics  

    Marco Heredia is a postsecondary access leader based in San Francisco, California, but is a native Houstonian/Texan. Marco brings experience in data analytics and management consulting to the Contigo Ed team including experience in analyzing and distilling insights from data, developing data-driven strategies and corresponding initiatives, and leading implementation of these initiatives.

    Prior to Contigo Ed, Marco served as a Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a management consulting firm. In this role his work in data analytics, strategy development, and implementation spanned 12+ projects across many industries including education, energy/utilities, industrial goods, and healthcare. In one of his recent projects, Marco supported a large, well-known philanthropic organization in developing its college access and pathways strategy, speaking with 30+ college access/pathways leaders in the field to assess overall trends and understand emerging areas of opportunity/potential investment.

    In his time with BCG, Marco also served a 6-month secondment as the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at Good Reason Houston. In this role he supported the launch of Harris County Promise, a program that covers tuition and provides coaching support for students enrolling at their local community college. He also supported 3 Houston area school districts in analyzing and understanding their postsecondary outcomes data, and guiding them in thinking about what solutions/interventions could help improve their outcomes.

    Marco has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas-Austin.

  • Partner, Professional Development and Product 

    Recruited to be the key architect of Contigo Ed’s career and college counseling professional development offerings, Rhiannon Carabajal Killian brings nearly 20 years of recognized success inside and outside of the classroom. Most recently, Rhiannon served as the Program Manager for Postsecondary Access and Success for Aspire Public Schools in California working to ensure that school counselors had the knowledge, skills, tools, and resources to empower and support students and families in developing both the career and college-going identities.

    Prior to joining Aspire, Rhiannon worked for 10 years at YES Prep Public Schools in both the college counseling and traditional classroom setting. Rhiannon began her educational career with Teach For America – first as a corps member teaching history at Davis (Northside) High School in Houston ISD and then joining the Houston staff as the Recruitment Director responsible for helping build future teacher corps. 

    Rhiannon earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and political science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She enjoys reading, playing board games with her children, and volunteering at the local farmers markets on the weekends.

  • Partner, Client Services

    Chad Spurgeon is a postsecondary access and non-profit management leader based in Houston, Texas. Chad brings 15+ years of experience to the Contigo Ed team and specializes in leading teams, developing and driving strategic initiatives, and increasing student access to postsecondary opportunities.

    Most recently, he served as Senior Director of Programmatic Partnerships at National Math and Science Initiative, a STEM-focused non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring all students, especially those furthest from opportunity, thrive and reach their highest potentials as problem-solvers and lifelong learners. Before his role with the National Math and Science Initiative, he served as Director of Education for Character Lab, a non-profit committed to advancing the science and practice of character development. In this role, he led the organization’s work to translate promising character development research into high-quality, open-source classroom resources available to all educators and families.

    Prior to his work in the education non-profit sector, Chad spent 10 years as a member of the College Initiatives team at YES Prep Public Schools in Houston, Texas. During his career at YES Prep, he held several leadership roles, including Managing Director of College Initiatives, where he led the district’s efforts to ensure all students were eligible and prepared to enroll, persist, and graduate from a postsecondary institution.

    Chad earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The College of Wooster and a Master of Public Affairs from The University of Texas-Austin.

  • Director, Professional Learning

    Jesse is passionate about creating opportunities for underrepresented communities and has worked tirelessly to elevate the voices at the heart of the organizations he's served. “My story is shaped by my upbringing and that includes the hardships I experienced alongside my family growing up. I knew that I needed to educate myself to do things differently and that evolved into educating others.”

    Before joining Contigo Ed, Jesse served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships at EMERGE in Houston, Texas. While there, he expanded on and formalized the partnership program, working with admissions professionals from across the country. Prior to EMERGE, Jesse worked at YES Prep Public Schools as a teacher, college counselor, and Director of Alumni Transitions.  Jesse also serves as a financial advisor, primarily supporting educators.

    A first-generation college graduate from El Paso, Texas, Jesse earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Education from Harvard University. Now based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he is enjoying exploring the mountains, finding new ways to slow down, and spending more time with family. 

  • Director, Client Services

    Native New Mexican, advocate, and educator Sasha Pellerin is passionate about changing outcomes for children who have been historically underserved. A granddaughter of immigrants and the first in her family to attend college, she has dedicated her life to improving education outcomes for children. For over a decade, Sasha has worked to improve systems of juvenile justice, education, and resource access/accountability.

    Prior to Contigo Ed, Sasha served as the Senior Policy Advisor on Education for the City of Albuquerque where she built bi-partisan support through her leadership of the One Albuquerque Kid’s Cabinet - a committee of 60 youth-serving agencies from across the city and state.

    From 2012-2019, Sasha served as Project Director at Southwest Creations Collaborative (SCC), a women-driven contract manufacturing company and social enterprise in Albuquerque, New Mexico. SCC’s mission is to alleviate poverty and build economic and educational opportunities across generations. Sasha’s team successfully supported families navigating the pipeline to college. Sasha’s students achieved a 98% high school graduation rate and a 95% college acceptance rate for seven years.

    Sasha holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of New Mexico and a Master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University.

  • Senior Manager, Analytics

    Based in Washington, DC, Noa brings experience leveraging data-driven approaches to increase students' postsecondary access and success.

    Prior to joining Contigo Ed, she worked for the College and Career Programs division in the Office of Secondary Schools at DC Public Schools (DCPS). Most recently, she served on the Data and Strategy team within College and Career Programs. In this role, she helped teams, within College and Career Programs, understand their current and historical data, as well as she worked with universities to create articulation agreements and dual enrollment programs for DCPS' Career and Technical Education programs.

    Before this role she worked on the College Prep team, within College and Career Programs, where she oversaw DCPS’ use of Naviance, scholarship and financial aid work, and analyzed college application and FAFSA data to provide data-driven resources to staff to help ensure students applied to and enrolled at colleges where they were more likely to be successful.

    Noa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Management and Business minor from Skidmore College in upstate New York and a Master's of Education in Higher Education from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

  • Based in Chicago, Illinois, but originally from the greater Seattle area, Ethan is keen on using data to tell compelling stories. He brings experience in research, education, and economic consulting, along with a strong interest in tackling critical issues and policies in the education space.

    Before joining Contigo Ed, he worked as a Research Analyst at The Brattle Group, where he conducted quantitative analyses and qualitative research to support expert testimony across various sectors, including securities, mergers and acquisitions, and consumer protections. Prior to that, his journey in education flourished during his Fulbright fellowship in Hualien, Taiwan, where he fostered cross-cultural exchange through community events organizing and teaching English at a public elementary school.

    Now at Contigo Ed, Ethan is eager to combine his previous experiences to tackle high-impact projects that aim to create lasting change beyond the classroom. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Pomona College and is an Impact Fellow with Education Pioneers. Raised in a multicultural Chinese-Vietnamese household, Ethan enjoys learning languages, exploring Chicago’s rich food scene, and traveling.

  • Ashley is a mission-driven nonprofit professional based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With more than 8 years of diverse experience in the nonprofit sector, Ashley brings her passion for operational excellence to the Contigo Ed team. As a certified Project Management Professional, she specializes in process optimization, strategic communication, and stakeholder engagement.

    Prior to joining Contigo Ed, Ashley spent the majority of her career supporting program operations and fund development at education-focused organizations including CollegeSpring, the National Math and Science Initiative, and Mi Escuelita Preschool. In her most recent role as Partner Success Manager at CollegeSpring, she led implementation planning and program monitoring for 45 schools nationwide, ensuring high stakeholder satisfaction and retention. 

    Ashley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Houston and a Graduate Academic Certificate in Data Analytics from the University of North Texas.