Senior Network Leadership

Tresha Ward is the Chief Executive Officer of Prospect Schools.

Tresha comes to Prospect Schools with nearly two decades of experience in education and a career underscored by an unwavering commitment to educational equity. A native of the Bronx, Tresha began her career as a Teach For America corps member in the Houston Independent School District. In 2010, she opened KIPP Legacy Preparatory School — an elementary school with an International Baccalaureate focus — and grew the school to serve 900 children. Tresha then served as the School Leader Development Director for the KIPP Foundation. In this role, she provided support to more than 200 of KIPP’s school leaders across the country, through the creation of leadership development programming, as an instructor for instructional leadership, and direct coaching. 

After her time with the KIPP Foundation, Tresha returned to schools as Managing Director of Schools for KIPP NYC, where she focused on principal management and school turnaround. Most recently, Tresha served as Partner at Bellwether Education Partners, where she led the academic and program strategy team. In this role, Tresha’s work centered around building the capacity of school and executive-level network leaders through advising and executive coaching. She has a particular passion for supporting leaders of color to sustain in their roles.

Education:
Vanderbilt University, B.A.
Stanford University, M.A. in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership

Yoni Samuel-Siegel is the Chief Operating Officer of Prospect Schools.

Yoni Samuel-Siegel has two decades of diverse experience in the field of education as a classroom teacher, non-profit leader, and charter school operational leader. Yoni began his career spending 10 years in the classroom as a Middle School Language Arts Teacher. During that time he took every opportunity to become more involved in his school community, including coaching basketball and track and founding a student peer leadership organization, and leading professional development sessions for fellow teachers in the region.

After leaving the classroom, Yoni transitioned to working in the education non-profit sector spending 5 years as Campus Director and Managing Director of Program with Citizen Schools in Houston, Texas. During his time as Managing Director, Citizen Schools launched two new sites of expanded learning-time programs at Houston ISD middle schools, bringing hundreds of volunteer professionals into classrooms to share their experience and helping to narrow the opportunity gap for nearly double the students in the city.  

Yoni then transitioned to leading charter school operations as the founding Associate Chief Operating Officer at Camden Prep, Uncommon Schools’ newest region, where he led all school and regional operations. During his time as ACOO, Camden Prep doubled its number of enrolled students and launched two new schools while opening a new building and substantially renovating another to ensure students in the City of Camden had the beautiful school facilities they deserve.  Most recently, Yoni served as Chief Operating Officer for BRICK Education Network, a Newark, NJ based charter management organization.

Yoni holds a BS from Rutgers University in Administration of Justice and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from William Paterson University.

When he’s not working or spending time with his family, Yoni enjoys cooking, playing games, and crossfit. 

Paul is the Chief of Staff & Strategy at Prospect Schools.

Paul is honored to serve as Prospect Schools’ Chief of Staff & Strategy. His career has focused on a simple – yet challenging – pursuit: creating the conditions for individuals to come together as part of a team and achieve more than they thought possible.

Paul began his career as a teacher, both in Germany (as part of a Fulbright Scholarship) and in New Orleans, where Paul was a Teach for America Corps Member. After teaching, Paul began working for the management consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting to hone his analytical and technical skills. After L.E.K., Paul joined the leadership team of Achievement First Crown Heights Middle School as a Director of School Operations. It was at this school where Paul’s passion for teams truly took root. As Director of School Operations, and later as Dean of Students, Paul led the team’s efforts to build a welcoming, inclusive, and inspiring team culture that allowed the team to achieve remarkable improvements in student outcomes. Seeking to expand this skillset, Paul transitioned to working at Bellwether Education Partners, a national non-profit that supports education organizations across the country. Most recently, Paul served as the Talent Chief of Staff at Achievement First where Paul has applied his passion for teamwork across a network of 41 schools. At Achievement First, Paul helped a network of 2,000+ teammates align around shared core values, define its vision for the future, and successfully navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paul and his wife (Eve) live in Prospect Heights with their daughter (Lilia) and dog (Harvey).

With over 20 years in public education, Kecia Clark has relentlessly worked to help ensure that all young people have access to quality education and opportunities.

Before joining Prospect Schools, Kecia served as a Managing Director for Uplift Education in Dallas-Forth, TX, a network that serves 20,000 scholars across 45 schools. Kecia supervised seven schools in her role, managing instruction and teacher and leader development. Prior to that role, Kecia was a principal for five years in the South of Dallas neighborhood. Under her leadership, her school experienced over 45% growth in student achievement and received two academic distinctions from the Texas Education Agency. Prior to her principalship, Kecia was an assistant principal in Chicago, IL. Before she took on school leadership, Kecia taught elementary school special education and middle school and high school Math in Miami, FL, Chicago, IL, Houston, TX, and the District of Columbia.

Kecia graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and completed her graduate coursework at the University of Illinois Chicago. Kecia is a 2023 Pahara Fellow and holds certificates from the Harvard University School of Education and the Deloitte Courageous Principals Program. Kecia is an active member of her community, including the Alumni Council Board for the Principal Impact Collaborative and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., among others.