For more than 20 years, Eric has worked to dismantle the unjust power structures that inhibit the success of students of color and other marginalized groups. As someone who was raised in a historic but embattled New York City community in the 1980’s and had the good fortune to attend some of the best public and private schools, he knows the importance of educational opportunity. Without it, his life would be fundamentally different. He believes every child deserves an equal chance at success, and has made it his life’s work to create such opportunities for young people through education.

Eric brings deep experience in school leadership, program management, strategic growth, team building, and coaching to the Founding Board of the Georgia Accelerated Career Academy. Most recently, Eric held two roles at Unity Preparatory Charter School of Brooklyn (Unity), a school he Co-Founded in 2013: Founding Director of Operations (2013-2016), and Senior Director of College and Career Readiness (2016-2023). As Founding Director of Operations, Eric helped guide Unity’s growth from inception stage to full scale operation with a $12.5M+ budget serving 600+ students annually. He supported the implementation and evaluation of Restorative Justice practices and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), producing family satisfaction rates of 90%+ and created and implemented all human resources systems and policy stances for a 47-person staff, achieving a teacher retention rate of 90% (vs. 65% across NYC charter schools).

During his tenure at Unity, he also created and led the Academic Counseling, College and Career Readiness, and Alumni Success departments, which produced a cumulative 94% graduation rate between the school’s first three cohorts, tripled the New York City average AP course enrollment rate, and achieved a 95%+ admission rate to best-match post-secondary options for Unity seniors. Alumni matriculation, persistence, and retention rates also beat city and national averages.

Prior to starting Unity Prep, Eric served as the Education Policy Advocate for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). As the organization’s lead Washington, D.C.-based federal lobbyist, Eric’s work focused on advocating for equitable educational opportunities for all children through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and implementing strategies with sister organizations to promote legislative and regulatory redress for issues affecting students of color, students with disabilities, and other underserved communities. Eric’s work provided funding and protections for more than 25,000,000 students and families nationwide.

Prior to joining LDF, Mr. González served for five years as the Program Director at Directions for Our Youth (DFOY). There, he managed the organization’s academic and social support programs and worked with students and families to reform education funding policies at the city and state level. Between 2005 and 2009, Eric was awarded the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Fellowship, and the Korea Foundation Korean Studies Fellowship for American Educators.

Eric earned an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a recipient of the Urban Scholar Fellowship in 2010. His research focused on education policy and the managerial techniques used in urban public schools that closed or reversed the achievement and opportunity gaps. As a researcher with the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, he performed mixed methods research regarding the managerial practices of successful urban public schools. He also earned a master's degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his research centered on education strategies that may be used as fulcrums for community development. While at MIT, Eric was awarded a William Emerson Travel Fund grant and the Lloyd & Nadine Rodwin International Travel Fellowship to study social aid programs in Venezuela. Mr. González completed his undergraduate work at the State University of New York at Purchase College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

Jon Safran

Eric Gonzalez

Jon Safran is a business executive with a demonstrated history of success in the diversified industrial, consumer products, technology, and retail / recommerce industries. He focuses on driving profitable growth through innovation, market segmentation, new product development, and operational excellence – all backed by an intense focus on building an aligned and accountable team that delivers great service and value to the customer.

Jon has held leadership roles across several functions including general management, business development, marketing, finance, investor relations, strategic procurement, and finance. He currently is the Chief Operating Officer of Alotech, Ltd. which is a company that developed and owns the Ablation processes and technologies, which combine the high strength properties of forging with the geometric flexibility of casting – this enables Alotech’s customers to reduce the weight while also improving the strength of their metal parts. Prior to that, Jon was recognized as one of the Most Admired CEOs of Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2023 for his work leading KEH Camera.

Jon has always been passionate about education and the need to increase the breadth of educational opportunities available to students. He received an MBA from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College, where he earned the Ivy Award as the outstanding man of the graduating class. He is a member of both the Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma academic honors societies.

Jon is happily married to Nicole Safran and they have two sons, Joshua and Isaac.

Dr. Yolanda McKee believes that all students should be afforded a rich educational experience where they are engaged in authentic learning experiences that cultivate critical thinking/problem solving skills, a thirst for knowledge and life-long learning. She also believes in creating a culture of learning where every minute counts – a learning environment that is focused on student learning.  As a school leader and reflective practitioner, Dr. McKee is driven by her need to develop and cultivate relationships that provide a supportive teaching and learning environment, where students and teachers alike, have access to equitable opportunities to learn and grow academically, socially/emotionally, and professionally. She embraces the power of stakeholder collaboration and a shared decision-making process to achieve the school’s vision. With presentation experience on a continuum from the local to national level, Dr. McKee has served as a resource for curriculum design, implementation, facilitation, and assessment for K-12 and post-secondary education. She has written and published a host of Problem-Based Learning cases, and is dedicated to providing educators with quality professional development experiences and students with authentic learning that enhance achievement.

With over twenty years of service in the field of education, Dr. McKee has served as a classroom teacher, SST and Gifted Coordinator, Instructional Coach, and Assistant Principal.  As a teacher, she provided students with authentic learning experiences using problem-based learning which is rooted in the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills with real life applications.  In her role as the SST/Gifted Coordinator she developed a system for tracking student progress toward meeting goals that involved creating a database of research based instructional strategies to address learning gaps and an individualized progress monitoring tool to assist teachers with measuring student growth.  The work that she did with SST propelled her towards her next position as an Instructional Coach, which she held for one year prior to becoming an Assistant Principal. In her current role as an Assistant Principal, she is the instructional leader for the Science, CTAE, and Math Departments, the administrator for the STEM Signature Program, Lead Testing Coordinator, and the College Access, Gifted, and Senior Administrator. 

 Dr. McKee holds a Doctoral degree in School Improvement from the University of West Georgia, a Master of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of North Georgia, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Spelman College.