Who We Are Staff

Louise has successfully led growth organizations that make and deliver engaging educational technology. Most recently, she was the Managing Director of Digital Learning at WGBH. At WGBH, Louise helped launch PBS LearningMedia, a platform reaching over 1.5 million educators. Previously, Louise served as President of Pangea Tools, an educational software start-up successfully acquired by Houghton Mifflin. As President of Soliloquy Learning, Louise structured the sale of the company to Scientific Learning where she served as Vice President and General Manager of Speech Products.

Louise began her career as an attorney in Montreal, Canada, and holds a law degree from McGill University, as well as an MBA from Yale University. Louise has been recognized as a Draper, Richards, Kaplan Social Entrepreneur. During her tenure, iCivics won the MacArthur Foundation’s Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

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Healy chaired the Illinois Task Force on Civic Education in 2014 and later led separate, successful legislative campaigns for a required civics course in Illinois in middle and high school, respectively. He also led the Illinois Social Science Standards Task Force. Its recommendations were adopted by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2015.

Healy makes regular appearances as a guest speaker and panelist at academic and professional development conferences across the country, is a frequent contributor to local and national media, and produces original scholarship in the area of political participation and civic education. Healy also serves as an adjunct professor in Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a Serve Illinois Commissioner.

Before joining iCivics, Healy worked for fifteen years at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation in various capacities, most recently serving as Democracy Program Director. He began his career as a social studies teacher at West Chicago Community High School (IL) and Sheboygan North High School (WI). A 2001 James Madison Fellow from the State of Wisconsin, he holds a MA and PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in political science and earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction in Political Science, History and Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His dissertation is titled “Essential School Supports for Civic Learning.”

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Abbie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Psychology with a minor in Women’s Studies from George Washington University. A proud native Bostonian, Abbie currently resides in the District where she enjoys playing tourist, cheering on her New England sports teams, taking part in her synagogue’s young professionals network, and petting every dog she sees.

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Prior to this role, Ace held a number of policy, research, and school-based positions including as Director of Innovation at the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Director of Deeper Learning at the National Association of State Boards of Education, and Director of Policy at the National Service-Learning Partnership.  Other organizational stops on that journey included equity-focused work at the Alliance for Excellent Education, Policy Analysis for California Education, and Fair Oaks Community School in Redwood City, California.

Ace’s civics journey began when he and his family immigrated to the US from Iran when he was eight. His own experience as an English language learner and free and reduced price lunch student led him towards a passion for utilizing education as a driver for greater equity and inclusion.   He holds a Masters in Public Policy Degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is a proud resident of Morgantown, West Virginia where he resides with his wife, Clare, and daughter, Ella.

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Lisa has 20 years of experience in policy making. She has held staff positions in the offices of two United States Senators and at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Lisa spent 8 years at a national nonprofit organization as the Director of Advocacy and Strategic Messaging. While there, she supported four successful reauthorizations of a federal program, and worked on 15 different state coalitions to secure an estimated $800M in state funding to scale and grow maternal-infant health programs.

Lisa currently serves as an advisory council member for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) and is a national law fellow in the the Culture of Health Leaders Institute for Racial Healing. In past years, Lisa served as a steering committee member of Missouri Child Advocacy Day, hosted by the Alliance for Children and Families. Lisa got her start in policy as a lived-experience advocate for foster care policy issues at the state and federal level.

Ms. Boudreau holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy Administration and is a resident of St. Louis, Missouri.

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Through the Educating for American Democracy initiative and CivXNow Coalition, these efforts reimagine, promote, expand, and deliver relevant, inclusive, and engaging civic learning to ensure all students have access to quality civic education and are prepared with the knowledge and skills necessary to assume their rights and responsibilities to participate in civic life in our increasingly dynamic, polarized, and digital society. Prior to joining iCivics, Patricia studied Political Science, with a concentration in American Government, and Public Administration, with a concentration in State and Municipal Government Management, at American University in Washington, DC. Following grad school, she returned to her native Massachusetts and served as Field Director, Campaign Manager, then Chief of Staff to State Representative Michael S. Day. Outside of the office, she spends her time crafting, volunteering with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC), and binge watching bad reality tv.

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Julie has nearly a decade of experience in growth projects for non-profit organizations, cultivating partnerships, fundraising, coalition-building, and business development and management. She holds a J.D. from the William & Mary Law School, where she received the National Association of Women Lawyers Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award and served as a Senior Articles Editor on the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. She graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Science. Upon graduation, she was awarded the GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar Award, the highest academic award given to a student in the arts and sciences college. Julie lives in Bethesda, MD, with her husband Adam.

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Prior to transitioning to her role as K-12 Director of History and Social Studies, Natacha worked with the History Department in several different capacities including curriculum writer, elementary coach, and assistant director in order to develop curriculum resources and professional development to support teachers with designing engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students.

Beyond the classroom, Natacha had served as a review panel member supporting the revision of the Massachusetts History and Social Science 2018 Curriculum Framework. She also contributed to the design and development of the Civics Project Guidebook used to frame the expectations of the Action Civics Projects aligned with the 2018 Massachusetts law on civic education. Natacha also serves as a Steering Committee member and Educator Workshop Lead for the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap project. She is also a part-time lecturer at Northeastern University, facilitating a course on history and social studies pedagogy. Additionally, Natacha also presents at both local and national history and social studies conferences to share best practices in the field.

When Natacha is not diligently working on supporting teachers, curating resources, and developing curriculum, she enjoys spending time baking delicious treats and chauffeuring her 8 year old boy – girl twins to sports practice. Follow Natacha on Twitter @natacha_scott.

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