Teresa is the Deputy Director of STEM Next Opportunity Fund. In this role, Teresa oversees and manages complex multi-stakeholder projects that build systems of support for STEM learning opportunities in all 50 states. She also manages STEM Next’s grantmaking portfolio.
Teresa is currently directing the Million Girls Moonshot, a transformative nationwide initiative from STEM Next that will re-imagine who can engineer, who can build and who can invent. This project, which applies her expertise in and personal passion for gender equity and prosperity, aims to close the gender gap in STEM over the next five years by providing opportunities for 1 million girls to become innovators and inventors.
Prior to joining STEM Next, Teresa was the co-founder of San Diego United Parents for Education, where she was active in education reform efforts – from local to federal, advocating and empowering the most under-engaged stakeholders in the education system. Teresa holds a California multiple-subject teaching credential and was the co-creator of a long-running early-childhood education program in San Diego. Teresa is a graduate of the University of San Diego’s Master of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership and Management program.