Staff

Sara Watson

Director, ReadyNation
Executive Vice President, America's Promise Alliance

saraw@americaspromise.org

Sara Watson is Project Director for ReadyNation, and an Executive Vice President for America's Promise Alliance. Most recently Sara was a senior officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she founded the Partnership for America’s Economic Success and advised three other children’s advocacy campaigns. From 2001-2008 she directed Pew’s national campaign for quality pre-kindergarten for all. She has worked at The Finance Project in Washington, D.C., the Family Policy Council in Olympia, Washington, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C. Sara has a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and master of public policy and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

William Carpluk

Manager, Business Partnerships

williamc@americaspromise.org

William Carpluk is Manager, Business Partnerships for ReadyNation. Most recently he was a Pew Leadership Year Fellow for the Pew Center on the States, a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Prior to coming to Pew, William was the research team lead and pilot test coordinator for an outcome evaluation project with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas, Inc. William also worked as a Career Coach at the University of Texas, Austin and served two terms with AmeriCorps NCCC. William has a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, Austin.

Josh MacFarland

Director, Business Partnerships

joshm@americaspromise.org

Josh MacFarland is Director of Business Partnerships for ReadyNation. Josh has more than 17 years of experience in the corporate sector and most recently served as a director of business development for the Advisory Board Company, a leading provider of research and best practices for the healthcare sector. Prior to that he spent nearly 6 years with the Corporate Executive Board, a leading business consulting firm, where he worked with senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies and led membership recruitment efforts for several of their initiatives. Josh has held similar business development and marketing positions at a variety of different organizations including Steelcase, MCI WorldCom, and a number of other firms in the technology and telecom sectors. Josh began his career with a public relations firm which focused on issue advocacy and political consulting where he managed the media buying operation as well as a national speakers’ bureau. Josh is a graduate of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA where he majored in history and has a MBA from George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Paul Thallner

FuseCorps Fellow

pault@americaspromise.org

Paul Thallner is a FuseCorps fellow and civic entrepreneur at America's Promise Alliance/ReadyNation where he focuses on creating innovative solutions to intractable problems. Currently, he is building and mobilizing a national network of business and education leaders to more effectively drive positive change. He also maintains an organizational development and executive coaching firm, is an Associate Consultant at Teleos Leadership Institute, and is on the faculty of the Alpha Chi Rho national leadership/scholarship institute. He was President of School Performance, a non-profit organization providing strategy, start-up, and data services as part of an ambitious effort to create and ensure quality schools in Albany, NY. His leadership led to innovative solutions to provide student achievement data to teachers quickly, efficiently, and at low cost. He started his career in Washington, DC researching best practices in education and later was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson to lead the development of California's Math and Science standards. He also served in the private sector as a Managing Principal Consultant for BroadVision, Inc's Worldwide Professional Services group, and as a Senior Consultant at K12 Inc where he opened new markets and generated $25 Million in revenue. He received a M.S. in Positive Organizational Development and Change from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. He also holds a M.A. from the College of New Jersey and a B.A. from Gettysburg College.

Jeffrey Woolston

Manager, Operations

jeffreyw@americaspromise.org

Jeffrey Woolston serves as Operations Manager for ReadyNation. Most recently he was employed as an administrative associate to the Pew Center on the States, a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Prior to Pew he worked as a data entry assistant for the HSC Foundation. Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in business economics from Grand Valley State University.