Meet Our Director & Board
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Sarah Kirby Tepera is co-Founder of Montessori For All and Executive Director of Magnolia Montessori For All. She has played many roles in the organization including stepping in as principal during the COVID-19 pandemic and securing a $14 million New Market Tax Credit to build our award-winning facility. She is a mom of three children, all of whom attended Magnolia Montessori For All. Prior to Montessori For All, Sarah built experience with foundations, schools, teacher management, and with large, effective non-profit organizations in the ed reform space. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.S/B.A.) and the University of Texas in Austin (M.P.Aff), she began her career as a bilingual 5th grade teacher in Houston, TX, as part of Teach For America.
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Dr. Reddick is an assistant professor in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin, and is also the coordinator of the M.Ed. program in College and University Student Personnel Administration, where he was honored with an Eyes of Texas Excellence Award. Dr. Reddick’s teaching and research focus on diversity in higher education, the sociocultural adaptation of Black families, and qualitative research methods. Dr. Reddick’s research on mentoring relationships between faculty and Black students includes factors influencing faculty mentorship, the role of formative experiences in professors’ lives in their approach to mentoring, and the advising and counseling approaches utilized by faculty in mentoring Black students. He is a proud graduate of an East Austin public high school.
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Anirban Bhattacharyya is a Managing Partner at Transcend, a nonprofit that enables communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Anirban (uh-NEAR-bahn) has been a teacher and Teach For America corps member at Saint Louis Public Schools and also a teacher and instructional technology director at KIPP Chicago. He continued working with ed tech, blended learning, and personalized learning nationally at KIPP Foundation and as a consultant at CA Group, Relay Graduate School of Education, LEAP Innovations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Leading Educators. Anirban has a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MA in Learning Technologies from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Zayra moved here from Mexico when she was 5 years old. She spent her entire childhood here in East Austin, graduating from LBJ High School in 2009. Both her parents were self-employed - her mother as a housekeeper and her father in the construction industry. Her father went on to launch his own sheetrock business and was kept very busy by her uncle who became a home builder. From the time she was very young, she watched houses being built from the ground up. It is no surprise that she grew up to become a real estate agent, after being around real estate for all of her young life!
Zayra has a strong business background, handling sales, accounts, and payroll for a local owner of 15 Conoco and Texaco stores in Central Texas. She then went on to start her career in real estate, working for AMLI Residential in 2015. This gave her great insight into the transactional side of the business and gave her knowledge of how the commercial side of real estate works.
From there she went on to earn her real estate license and began working for a small broker in the Dripping Springs area. She learned the importance of doing quality work and delivering on promises. She began working with custom builders, helping them find lots to build on, then helping them select the right plan and finish out depending on area and demand. She has created a successful business by listing and selling these custom homes and working with the buyers who come her way. Making the move to Realty Austin has given her access to more and better tools to market her listings, and allows her to better service her custom builders.
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Christina Thurmond is a mental health psychotherapist and social worker in private practice in Austin. She grew up in Houston and attended a Montessori school through the 8th grade. Christina received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, majoring in Global Development Studies and minoring in Social Entrepreneurship, and Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Spanish-speaker and her education, research, and field practice has included a focus in Latino populations. After receiving her LMSW degree, she worked with Hospice Austin and Ascension Seton Shoal Creek psychiatric hospital treating end-of-life and mental health challenges. In her current practice, Christina works with adolescents (12+) and adults struggling with mental health, relationships, grief and loss, identity formation, and faith and spirituality.
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Nicole is currently a consultant with Boston Consulting Group. She works in BCG’s education practice, focused on strategy for birth to three and PK-12 organizations and school systems in Texas and across the country. During her time at BCG, she has worked with state education agencies, school districts, collective impact organizations, think tanks, and other nonprofits. She previously served as Director of Operations for Dallas ISD Early Learning, managing the budget, data analysis and reporting, strategy, and operations for PreK through 2nd grade for the district. She also spent time working directly for the Austin based education leadership development nonprofit, The Holdsworth Center, during her time with BCG. She has volunteered with Lumin Education, a public Montessori charter school in Dallas, for over three years. Nicole is a graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Economics.
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Will Robison is Director of the Southern Region and of New Markets Tax Credits for Capital Impact Partners, a national non-profit organization and Community Development Financial Institution. Will leads a team that provides innovative financing for organizations that are active in improving their communities, including charter schools, health clinics, and affordable housing developments. Prior to joining Capital Impact Partners, he worked in banking for J.P. Morgan in the energy group in Texas. Will holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA with a concentration in non-profit management from the Yale School of Management. Will serves as a Deacon at Mosaic Church Austin and previously served as Board Treasurer for Community Learning Center Schools, a charter school network in Alameda, CA. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Adrienne, and three children, and he can be found most weekends playing, watching, or coaching soccer.
Board Meeting Information
Summer Board Meetings
July 13th
Time: 12:00 - 3:00 pm
Location: 5100 Pecan Brook Dr Austin, TX 78724