Staff

Robert Paponetti, Executive Director

Bob joined the Literacy Cooperative from Cuyahoga Community College where he worked most recently as Executive Director II of Workforce Solutions, and previously as Vice President for Workforce and Economic Development. In these positions, Bob provided strategic direction and daily oversight to the operation of the Workforce Solutions unit of the Workforce and Economic Development division. Bob initiated the integration of contextualized literacy into technical and vocational training programs through the Breaking Through Demonstration Project.

Prior to Bob’s work at Tri-C, he served as Director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Workforce Development, where he developed and implemented the vision for workforce services in Cuyahoga County through oversight and leadership of all Cuyahoga County Workforce Development operations. Bob has also worked for CGI Information Systems & Management Consultants, Inc., as a Director of Workforce Development, and at IMR Global (formerly ORION Consulting) in several capacities, including that of Director of Workforce Development and Senior Manager. Bob has extensive experience in the development, implementation, and evaluation of workforce-based training programs..

Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cleveland State University.  He is a member of the City of Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board, the Learning and Earning Vision Council, the United Way Employment Cluster Committee, the National Council for Workforce Development, and Chair of the 2100 Men’s Homeless Shelter Board.

email: Robert Paponetti

1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1510
Cleveland, OH 44115-200

Omobola Lana, Program Director

Prior to joining The Literacy Cooperative, Omobola worked with Battelle's NASA Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative, where she helped small businesses evaluate technologies and develop business solutions using NASA resources.  She also spent four years as a program officer with Development Alternatives and Resource Center, an organizational capacity building nonprofit in Nigeria, where she managed grant programs for The Ford Foundation and provided consulting services on nonprofit board & program development.  Omobola has extensive experience providing capacity building assistance to social and business enterprises. 

Omobola has participated and volunteered with national and international learning organizations such as the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit, Cleveland Council on World Affairs, School-to-School International, BoardSource and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She holds an MBA and a certificate in nonprofit management from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  She also earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Obafemi Awolowo University in Osun State, Nigeria.

email: Omobola Lana
1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1510
Cleveland, OH 44115-2001

 

Robin Sullivan, Program Director

Robin joined The Literacy Cooperative in January 2010 as Program Director for Early and School-age Literacy.  Prior to joining The Literacy Cooperative, Robin worked as a Program Manager with Cleveland Reads where she developed and implemented early childhood and family literacy programs in the Greater Cleveland area.

Robin came to Cleveland in 2007 from western Massachusetts where she was a first grade teacher at a small independent school. She has a strong interest in language acquisition and the development of reading skills. 

Robin is a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.

 

Sarah Upperman, Program Assistant

A recent graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, Sarah joins the Literacy Cooperative from Berea Children’s Home and Family Services where she first served as an intern in the Advancement Department and more recently as a Communications Assistant. In these roles, she conducted market research on foster care, monitored company stakeholder lists and worked with internal and external communications. Her research skills were further strengthened during her role as the Research Coordinator of Baldwin-Wallace College’s Psychology Department. Sarah has also worked as a lead school age counselor at Creative Learning Center, a student assistant in Baldwin-Wallace College’s Office of Student Affairs, and as a tutor in the Learning Center..

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

email: Sarah Upperman
1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1510
Cleveland, OH 44115-2001

 

Consultants

 

Amy McClellan: Program Development Consultant

Amy is Executive Director of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC). Prior to joining NACC as its first executive director, Amy was Manager of School and Community Partnerships for The Cleveland Orchestra.  She has more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector in both program and resource development.  She has co-facilitated strategic planning and strategic alliance processes for nonprofit organizations and has been a program consultant for The Cleveland Foundation.

Amy holds a BA from The Colorado College and a Masters degree in Nonprofit Organizations from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.  She has co-authored Nonprofit Strategic Alliances Case Studies: Lessons from the Trenches, a publication of the Mandel Center, The Nonprofit Board’s Role in Planning and Evaluation a publication of BoardSource’s Governance Series, and an article “Arts Organizations and the Pursuit of Persistent Presence” in the journal Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

 

Margaret Doughty: Curriculum & Instructional Techniques Consultant

Margaret has over 20 years of experience in developing, and managing literacy programs.   Margaret has participated in the management of several literacy projects that include the following:

• Baptist Community Ministries Foundation: designed a process evaluation for urban literacy coalitions. Reports, produced for BCM, include a coalition needs assessment, strategic plan, history of coalition growth and a ‘how to’ guide for literacy coalition development.

• Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy: designed the Data Sharing Project for a coalition to track and record progress toward goals using a shared software and evaluation standards. Consulted as the facilitator for the development of the New Orleans literacy coalition.

• Literacy AmeriCorps: founding partner and national director – coordinated program activities and managed sites in Seattle, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, West Palm Beach and Houston – reviewed service data, coordinated budgets, analyzed costs, and measured program impact.

• America Reads: coordinated the first metropolitan collaborative for AmericaReads working directly with USDOE.

• National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions (Now Literacy USA: founder and first board chair – created the network to coordinate America’s urban coalitions into a collaborative national network.

Margaret is a literacy and social justice advocate and is internationally renowned for her expertise in literacy programming and coalition building.

 

Ray Hart: Evaluation Consultant

Ray is Director of RS Hart and Partners.  Prior to establishing RS Hart and Partners he served as the Director of the Bureau of Research Training and Services at Kent State University for five years. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis in Educational Research from Cleveland State University. He has a Ph.D in Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics from Kent State University.  Ray has over 15 years of experience conduction program and grant evaluations. He has provided guidance on over 150 research and evaluation projects regarding research methodology, design, data analysis and interpretation, reporting procedures, and presentation of results.

 

Christine Lee: Training & Communications Consultant

Christine has ten years of experience in adult education. She has worked as an ESOL instructor at the Jewish Community Center, Parma ABLE, as well as the Davidson County Adult Education Program in Nashville, Tennessee. Her prior work as refugee resettlement case worker at Catholic Charities and her experience as an exchange student to Brazil strongly shaped her interest and commitment to serving non-English speakers. In addition to ESOL, Christine has worked over six years as an instructor, coordinator and trainer at Seeds of Literacy, a community based adult education program that utilizes volunteer tutors. She has assisted hundreds of students in their efforts towards their GED and participated in the training and development of countless tutors.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Latin American Studies from Kent State University. She is a certified Proliteracy trainer, a certified conflict resolution mediator, and an alumni of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps