Our Board
Kayleigh Colombero
Vice Chairperson
Kayleigh Colombero is the Superintendent of Étoile Academy Charter School. She was part of the 2016 Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, a rigorous, yearlong, comprehensive training program in urban charter school creation and leadership.
Growing up in a financially unstable home, Kayleigh experienced many personal challenges on her path to college. Luckily, Kayleigh had a few mentors that pushed her to succeed in the face of much adversity. She set her sights on Smith College, an elite private college, which she eventually attended on a scholarship.
Kayleigh has eight years of experience in education as a middle school and high school teacher, an instructional coach, a department chair, a team leader, and as the executive director of a youth-development nonprofit.
Desi Martinez
Board Member
Desi I. Martinez is a highly respected attorney in Texas who is for “the folks.” Desi comes from a diverse background, having lived in South, Central, and West Texas, as well as starting school in West Germany. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and also studied abroad at the Queen’s College of Oxford University in England. He is also an active member of both the San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association and Texas Trial Lawyers Association, organizations that are dedicated to advocating for the rights of citizens to fair and impartial trials. Desi is also a proud founding Compass Rose Legacy parent and is heavily involved in the True North Council.
Claudia Hernandez
Board Member
Claudia Hernandez is an attorney at De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Armendariz, LLP practicing immigration and civil law. Claudia is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Baylor Law School. She was a fellow at the Latino Center for Leadership Development Academy (LCLD) and is an alumna of the Latina Leadership Institute (LLI).
Being a first-generation American and the first in her family to graduate high school, Claudia knows firsthand how education can transform one’s life. Because of that, she has involved herself in advocating for education access. She has provided testimony to the Texas Senate Education Committee and is currently a part of the leadership committee for the GED Endowment and Scholarship Program which seeks scholarships to cover GED courses and exams for low income students.
Arturo Herrera Jr.
Chairperson
Arturo Herrera, Jr., is the Manager of Strategic Planning at VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority where he oversees the department responsible for long-range and capital planning. His professional work experience is concentrated in multimodal transportation planning and capital project development & management. While in college, he worked for various educational programs such as the Pre-Freshman Engineering Program (PREP) and federally-funded TRIO Programs, where he saw first hand the benefits educational enrichment can have on at-risk and first generation college students.
Mr. Herrera may bring to the Board an expertise in facility planning, strategic planning, and transportation planning, but with it comes his passion for providing opportunities through education.
Mitchell Walker
Board Member
Mitchell Walker received a B.S. in accounting and finance from Trinity University, where he was also a member of the men’s basketball team. Mitchell currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Jefferson Bank in San Antonio, where he has worked to provide facilities and working capital financing to charter schools in San Antonio.
He previously dedicated time as a board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas and KIPP San Antonio’s finance committee, and currently serves as the Vice Chair for the Grand Canyon Conservancy.
Tino Morenz
Secretary
Tino Morenz, Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, has worked in software engineering for over a decade, both in Ireland and in the US, where he has helped localize Office programs into over 100 languages, built tools to protect customer privacy, and currently works on detecting and mitigating cyberattacks as part of Microsoft’s Cloud Security team.
As a German native who earned his undergraduate degree in Process Informatics from the Berufsakademie Glauchau in Germany and his MSc in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing from the University of Dublin, Trinity College in Ireland, Tino brings a unique perspective forged by experience in two distinct educational systems and in two different languages. He is currently navigating the waters of raising a bilingual child in the American school system, providing another layer to his engagement with diverse educational establishments.
Shawn McCormack
Treasurer
As the School Success Principal at Equitable Facilities Fund, Shawn supports charter leaders and local stakeholders in navigating the complex charter facilities landscape. As a former charter school leader, Shawn is passionate about being an advocate for schools and creating equitable financing solutions that put more money back into classrooms. Before joining the EFF team, Shawn was the Vice President of Building Hope, a non-profit charter school support organization, where he developed 12 charter school projects totaling over $150 million in Texas and Nevada. Prior to Building Hope, Shawn was the Director of Finance and then CFO of KIPP San Antonio, where he helped the organization grow from three to six schools and earn an investment grade rating. A graduate of the Broad Residency and Education Pioneers Fellowship, Shawn transitioned to the charter school sector after spending the first seven years of his career as a CPA with PwC and a private wealth firm. Shawn holds a BS and MA from Tulane University and a MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a MA in education leadership from the Broad Center.
Andrew Clarence
Board Member
Andrew Clarence has dedicated his entire professional career to education. He has served as a math teacher, a basketball coach, a math team lead, a curriculum developer, and a campus accountant. He now works in school district budgeting.
Andrew believes in the transformative power of excellent public education and its ability to change lives, families, and enhance communities. He is committed to the idea that every student deserves an exceptional education.
Meeting Records
Find information about our meetings here.