Alex Gruenenfelder
agruenenfelder@calcreative.org
Alex Gruenenfelder is a native Angeleno, charter school alumnus, and Executive Director of the Valley Education Alliance. His work focuses on expanding educational opportunities for charter school students through public policy and advocacy. As Board Chair, he is committed to strengthening CalCreative’s partnerships with the community while advancing our school’s mission of arts integration in education.
Alex began his career as a student activist, helping organize the National School Walkout protests against gun violence, working with the Black Future Project on police reform and racial equity, and co-founding Survivor’s Power, a nonprofit organization supporting survivors of sexual violence. He has also served multiple terms on the Echo Park Neighborhood Council, including as District 1 Representative, At-Large Representative, and Chief Information Officer.
In 2022, Alex earned national media attention when he became the youngest person ever to run for Mayor of Los Angeles. He has since worked on numerous political campaigns, including for Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Nick Melvoin. He gained further national visibility through an appearance on Dr. Phil, where he discussed reparations and public policy.
Alex earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, San Diego in 2021. He is the author of the nonfiction book In Defense of Joe Manchin.
Eugene Ebron
eebron@calcreative.org
Eugene Ebron serves as a CalCreative board member joining in 2023. He has over two decades of work in the educational equity and social justice spaces. His career focuses on operationalizing organizational strategy and leading project management teams for program implementation specific to addressing racial disparities in law enforcement outcomes. Through the use of data, his team uses project management to help communities achieve safer policing outcomes. Prior to his work in the racial justice space, Eugene primarily focused his work with charter school networks that served Black and Brown students from low income, high poverty neighborhoods. He has led strategic planning, process improvement, advocacy, and operations for a six school network. His work helped transform educational outcomes, and significantly closed the historic racial and socio-economic achievement gaps for Black and Brown students. Prior to his work in education reform, Eugene spent time in D.C. with an advisory and advocacy communications firm conducting qualitative and quantitative research focused on corporate reputation and stakeholder engagement. Eugene earned his BA in business from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a MEd in policy studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Michelle Levitt
mlevitt@calcreative.org
Michelle Levitt is an experienced strategy manager at HopSkipDrive, where she monitors business operations to ensure students get to school safely. Michelle has a keen eye for data analysis, data visualization and operational improvement, which she also utilizes to provide independent consulting for small businesses across Southern California. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Occidental College and is an 8 year resident of Los Angeles, with prior teaching assistant experience within LAUSD. Outside of work, Michelle teaches contemporary dance to a variety of ages.
Carrie Fuller
cfuller@calcreative.org
Carrie Fuller
Carrie currently serves as the Managing Director of School Networks (Dual Language, STEM, Microschools, Early College) for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Her love for networking principals, teachers and school communities comes from her own experiences serving as a teacher in a school in Capinota, Bolivia, a teacher coach for Cristo Rey Boston, a principal intern at Boston Arts Academy, and a principal and coach in the Two-Way Immersion Network-Catholic Schools (TWIN-CS). A career highlight was serving eight years as principal of All Souls World Language Catholic School, the only two strand (Mandarin-English, Spanish-English) Catholic dual language school in the nation and the flagship school of what is now a ten school Dual Language Network. Dr. Fuller came to All Souls from Boston College where she served as an Instructional Coach and worked on a variety of research projects with the Roche Center for Catholic Education.
In addition to addressing the needs of multilingual learners, Dr. Fuller is a fierce advocate of inclusive schooling, parent engagement, as well as arts education. She has taught all levels of education—from first grade to graduate school courses. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, and her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Education Leadership from Boston College.
A Florida native, Dr. Fuller is proud of her Nicaraguan/Cuban heritage, has lived and traveled in Latin America, and is always looking to improve her Spanish. She and her husband are ambassadors for Extraordinary Families, a non-profit serving children in foster care, and are the parents of a very energetic toddler.
Heather Rios
hrios@calcreative.org
Heather Rios
Maadhevi Comar
mcomar@calcreative.org
Maadhevi Comar
As an entrepreneurial-minded social justice champion, I’m reminded of Margaret Mead’s powerful words when thinking of CalCreative’s origin story : “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
As a convener and connector of mission-driven dreamers set on creating change, I bring a unique perspective as a first-generation Angeleno with parents who immigrated from two corners of the world. My mother, Bertha, immigrated from Mexico, while my father, Dave, from India. He often said that the pen would always be mightier than the sword, instilling in me from a young age the impact of words and the power of dreams.
Change must begin in our backyards, and proximity is the catalyst needed to achieve it. As we consider the next generation of leaders, do we want individuals forced to dim their light in the name of conformity? Or do we need those who were nurtured to feel safe enough to dream? Throughout my career, I’ve always aspired to identify gaps and improve situations. During my time on the national marketing team at a Fortune 500 company, I made an impact by connecting
elements and finding synergies across business lines and siloed efforts. At the height of the pandemic, seeing parents struggle to maintain a sustainable baseline, I became a founding member of a Business Resource Group for parents and caregivers across the global platform..
In my current role as Director of Marketing and Communications for the nonprofit organization LeadersUp, I’ve created a team environment based on the framework of safety, opportunity, and power. Small pivots have significantly improved conditions for teammates navigating a
company-wide reorganization.
As the Director of Marketing for the Los Angeles Better Business Challenge, I built an awards program from scratch, marketed it, and drove its demand generation campaign. This initiative was so successful that The Metropolitan Water District contracted us to replicate it, increasing our small start-up’s revenue by six figures in one year. 
Suzan Olson Davis
solsondavis@calcreative.org
Suzan Olson Davis
Suzan is a marriage and family therapist currently working in private practice at Yoffe Therapy. She earned her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University in 2021, and has been an active member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists since 2019.
While in graduate school, Suzan trained at Family Service Agency of Burbank working with children and adolescents as well as serving as one of the on-site therapists in the Care Centers at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools. Prior to her therapy career, Suzan worked in the entertainment industry as a writer/producer in both scripted and non-fiction television for over a decade. Although not actively writing at this time, Suzan remains a member of the Writers Guild of America and served as a Co-Chair of the WGA’s Committee of Women Writers for several years. During her tenure, she facilitated an ongoing collaboration with other WGA committees to promote the work of diverse writers and organized educational events, including annual celebrations for Women’s History Month.
Suzan has been a Glassell Park resident for over a decade and is proud of her community activism. In 2017, she formed Friends of Walnut Canyon (FOWC) with the Glassell Park Improvement Association’s President when they recognized the dire need to protect Walnut Canyon from a large tract housing development. As Co-Chair, Suzan helped form relationships with The Trust for Public Land, Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and other organizations, as well as local politicians and community leaders to help secure support for preserving Walnut Canyon as a wildlife corridor and community greenspace. Additionally, she led canvassing efforts and organized community meetings to increase awareness. During her time as Co-Chair, she received three appreciation awards for improving the quality of life in Northeast Los Angeles. When Suzan stepped down in 2020 due to the demands of graduate school and clinical training, she was confident that she had grown FOWC into a formidable force. Indeed, FOWC has stopped the massive development and guided the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority’s purchase of the development rights for the majority of the lots, with the goal of eventually purchasing all the development rights. 