JILL DIXON
President, Founder, & Chief Firestarter
Jill is the mother of two curious and hilarious children and President of Taly. In 2015, after Jill & her husband Phil began researching preschool options for their children, Jill couldn’t shake the fact that tens of thousands of children – in Massachusetts alone – could not afford to attend preschool. So Jill combined the relationship-building skills she has honed throughout her 20+ year career as a successful multimillion dollar tech sales professional with her desire to find solutions for accessibility, affordability, and quality in the early education space.
Jill is a firestarter and change agent with a passion for innovation and disrupting a system, whether it be in tech or in a preschool classroom. To feed Jill’s philanthropic soul, she is thrilled to lead Taly, a nonprofit created to tackle the toughest challenges plaguing the early education field and infuse the system with innovation. Taly’s vision is bold: All children will have access to high quality preschool education. Jill is committed to helping children experience excellence in early childhood education, express themselves, and develop a deep love of learning.
PHIL DIXON
Chairman, Founder & Chief Investigator
Phil is the father of two funny and very active kids and the Chairman of Taly. He enjoys applying his business expertise, analytical spirit, and boundless optimism to position Taly as a collaborative disruptor in the early childhood education space. As Chairman, he is focused on keeping Taly true to our mission, building awareness of the early childhood crisis, and searching for others who are passionate about our cause to jump in and help. As Co-Founder of Taly, he is intent on establishing a model that can be replicated nationwide.
Phil earned his Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a 25+ year veteran in technology and most recently held the position of Chief Information Officer for SilverRail Technologies. Making good use of his knack for bringing order to chaos, he has spent his career helping technology startups mature business and technical operations. Phil brings this experience to Taly to focus on accelerating growth, building effective strategy, and creating systemic change within the early childhood education space.
LISA KUH
Director
Lisa Kuh has been in the field of early childhood education for over 30 years as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, district administrator, and researcher. She is committed to providing quality places for teachers, children, and families to learn, play, and grow. Lisa earned her doctorate from University of Washington's College of Education, and has a masters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
She is currently the Director of Early Education for the city of Somerville, Massachusetts where she works to align early education and care practices across the city and cultivate high quality programming. Prior to working in Somerville she held positions as an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, and a classroom teacher, lecturer, and researcher at Eliot-Pearson Children's School at Tufts University.
Lisa has also published and presented in the areas of outdoor playspaces and environments for young children, teacher professional development, documentation, Montessori education, and anti-bias education, as well as literacy and math content. Lisa lives in Cambridge with her husband Ed and has two grown sons.
ARCHIE JONES
Director
Archie Jones is a product of high quality preschool education. He attended preschool for several years and his mother began her career in education as a preschool teacher. This drives his involvement with Taly and its mission to provide access to high quality preschool education.
Archie spent his early career in private equity with firms in New York City and Boston. He has served on several corporate and non-profit boards. He currently serves on the following boards: AIT Worldwide Logistics, Year Up- Atlanta and Taly.
Archie is currently the Chief Financial Officer of NOWaccount Network Corporation. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University and is a magna cum laude graduate of Morehouse College with a major in Accounting. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Archie resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and three sons.
JD CHESLOFF
Director
JD comes to Taly with extensive experience in early childhood education. From 2002 to 2004, JD served as Legislative/Issues Director for the Early Education for All (EEA) Campaign, where he was responsible for developing and driving legislative support for EEA’s legislation and agenda. His work helped pave the way for the creation of the Massachusetts Board and Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) in 2005. JD served on the Board of the EEC for 10 years.
JD currently serves as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) where he is responsible for developing and implementing the strategic framework and direction for MBR in partnership with the Chair, Executive Committee, and Board of Directors. He works with MBR Task Forces and MBR leadership to develop its agenda on public policy matters and convey those ideas to opinion leaders and policy makers to help inform their deliberations.
JD serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and is a member of the boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and Science from Scientists. He also serves on the Advisory Board of ReadyNation.
JD holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Public Policy and Telecommunications Writing from Syracuse University.
Peter Waisgerber
Director
Peter comes to Taly with 30 years of professional Financial Development experience and has raised more than $75 Million over the course of his career. Currently the Chief Development Officer for the MetroWest YMCA, Peter has served as Chair of the YMCA Northeast Financial Development Network, a trainer and facilitator at local, regional, and national conferences, worked as a consultant with boards and staff of non-profit organizations throughout New England, and has experience running successful capital campaigns, events, and annual campaigns. Peter received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire and his Masters in Human Service Administration from Springfield College. He lives in Ashland with his wife Kathy, a Nurse Practitioner, and daughter Anna, who is currently in her senior year at Boston College. Peter is a passionate believer in the value of early education and the importance of diversity – in particular economic diversity – in the classroom.
Koren Iskra
Director
Koren is passionate about ensuring equal access to basic human rights, like quality early education, especially to those within vulnerable populations. She personally attributes her love for life-long learning to her preschool teacher (and still fondly remembers her name and her birthday).
Koren has spent over 20 years in the healthcare industry, primarily serving those on government programs (Medicare and Medicaid), and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan in Massachusetts. She is focused on analytics, relationship building, and innovations in social determinants of health. She has a Masters in Public Health from Yale University and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut. She is active as a mentor to new graduates at both of her alma maters.
Outside of work, Koren enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, reading, and attempting to keep up with her two very active elementary-age children.
Erica Kotin
Organizational Spark Plug
Erica's role at Taly encompasses day-to-day operations, organizing fundraisers, donor outreach and communication, as well as working closely with Jill, Phil, and the rest of the Board as they continually ensure that the vision for Taly is being executed.
Erica spent a year living in Israel where, among other activities, she taught English to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. She's been an assistant youth director as well as a building and facilities operations manager. She's worked for a financial advisor, a pharmaceutical company, and was the owner of a cafe! The common thread of all these positions was organization, execution, and results.
Erica and her husband, a public school teacher, have two young sons. With plenty of first-hand experience, she's extremely passionate about trying to provide the best in educational experiences for all children.
Erica enjoys spending time with her husband and their boys, cooking, baking, reading, traveling, creating family adventures, and having kitchen dance parties!
