Home Office Team

Kathryn Anstaett
President & Chief Schools Officer

In her role as President and Chief Schools Officer, Kathryn leads and coaches the school directors at United’s four campuses. Kathryn leads finance and governance strategic and long-term plans toward a strong present and future for our school. She also sets and leads the instructional vision of the schools and connects each campus to the development, operational, enrollment, and talent support provided by the Home Office. As a former school director herself, Kathryn led United’s west-side middle school campus to outstanding academic results including earning a Momentum Award and OFCC grant in 2016 in recognition of outstanding student growth and achievement. Kathryn earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Miami University. In 2020, Kathryn was selected as a Leverage Leadership Fellow for the Relay Graduate School of Education, where she is now a successful alumni, coaching leaders from across the US and internationally.

Andrew E. Boy
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

As CEO, Andrew leads United’s strategy, philanthropy, and advocacy to advance its mission and vision.

Boy began his career as a teacher at one of the first highly-rated charter schools in the state, where he was twice awarded Ohio’s charter school Teacher of the Year. In 2006, Andrew began the competitive Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, where he received extensive training on charter school foundership, leadership, and urban education best practices. Upon completing the fellowship, he founded United’s flagship middle school campus. Since its inception, the founding campus has received local, state-wide, and national accolades for extraordinary student achievement gains. The school’s academic results and Columbus’ need for more high-quality educational options for urban students prompted Boy to replicate this model and form a non-profit charter management organization, United Schools. United now operates four school campuses across Columbus, serving 1,000+ students in grades K-8.

In addition to two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati, Boy holds a master’s in educational administration from Xavier University.

John A. Dues
Chief Learning Officer & Interim Chief Operating Officer

John A. Dues is an accomplished systems leader and improvement science scholar-practitioner and has recently published his first book entitled Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools. Throughout his career, he has served on the founding teams of seven school and nonprofit organizations. John has a BA from Miami University, an M.Ed. from the University of Cincinnati, and recently completed the Improvement Advisor program through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Ben Pacht
Executive Director of Teaching & Learning

Ben Pacht is the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning at the United Schools. Previously, he served as a founding school director, Dean of Students, and teacher at United Schools. Under Ben's leadership, United’s west-side elementary campus’s academic results consistently placed it in the top 5% of urban schools in Ohio, as well as among the top urban schools in the nation. Prior to joining United, Ben taught middle school in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ben is a graduate of Carleton College (MN), holds a Master of Special Education degree from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and is an alumnus of Teach For America.

Diana Wakim, CFRE
Chief Advancement Officer

As Chief Advancement Officer, Diana leads philanthropy, partnerships, communications, and alumni services. She takes pride in connecting the generosity of donors to the needs of staff, students, and alumni to deliver outstanding educational opportunities in Columbus. Before joining the home office team, Diana served as a teacher at United’s west-side middle school campus from 2014-2016 and as a Teach for America corps member in North Carolina from 2012-2014. She holds her bachelor’s degree in education from Ohio University and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive.

Caroline Durbin
Director of Alumni Services
cdurbin@unitedschools.org

Jillian Finkel
Stewardship Associate
jfinkel@unitedschools.org

Dr. Barbara Galantowicz
Network Medical Coordinator
bgalantowicz@unitedschools.org

Maureen Madden
Intervention Specialist
mmadden@unitedschools.org

Mikhala Manocchio
Operations Manager
mmanocchio@unitedschools.org

Trisha Meier
Operations Director
tmeier@unitedschools.org

Susan Merson
Director of Enrollment
smerson@unitedschools.org

Molly Murage
Alumni Services Communications Intern
asintern@unitedschools.org

Jennifer Olivieri
Development Director
jolivieri@unitedschools.org

Sam Roehrs
Intervention Specialist
sroehrs@unitedschools.org

Sarah Sanchez
Development Associate
ssanchez@unitedschools.org

Ciana Smith
Alumni Services Associate
csmith@unitedschools.org

Nicole Tschopp
Director of Student Support Services
ntschopp@unitedschools.org