Ms. Jacobson is the National Senior Director of Professional Development at Great Hearts. She served as Headmaster at North Phoenix Prep for three years. Prior to that, Ms. Jacobson served as Head of Middle School, Assistant Headmaster, and Dean of Students in the Great Hearts network for eight years. She earned her Master’s degree in Biology and a Bachelor’s degree in Developmental and Cellular Biology. Additionally, Ms. Jacobson completed her Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Business School Online in March of 2022. Ms. Jacobson is passionate about child development and volunteers as a labor doula in her free time. Ms. Jacobson has two boys, a third grader, and a kindergartener, and enjoys spending time outdoors, gardening, and cooking with her family.
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last six years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, reading specialist, mentor teacher and instructional coach, and most recently as the Headmaster of Great Hearts Forest Heights Lower School. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as rising 8th, 7th, and 4th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children’s ministry programs.
Erin Diaz has been a part of the Great Hearts organization since 2022 and currently serves as the National Professional Development Manager. Her career in education began as an elementary teacher in first, third, and fourth grades; during this time, she also earned a Master’s degree in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment from University of Mary. After a decade in the classroom, she transitioned into the role of Instructional Designer and worked on the Great Hearts Teacher Resource Portal project. Erin, her husband Bryant, and their beloved pup Rex live in Cave Creek, AZ.
Over the past fifteen years, Alison Chaney has served Great Hearts Academies in a variety of roles at Great Hearts Scottsdale Prep, first as a founding faculty member and Master Teacher. She moved into school leadership in 2013, leading the Scottsdale Prep campus as Headmaster for eight years. In her current role as a Leadership Recruiter, she guides the sourcing, tracking, and hiring of new school leaders for the network’s new and existing regions. She has supported the design and coordinated the launch of the APEX course “Hiring for Mission Fit” as well as Great Hearts Supervisor 101, a supervisory training course offered for all hiring managers across the network. A lifelong musician and educator, Alison earned a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University, after completing a Bachelor’s of Music Education degree at Baylor University. She pursued an operatic singing career for several years prior to entering the field of education and sang for 15 seasons with the Grammy award-winning Phoenix Chorale, where she now serves as Vice Chair of the Board.
Mary Chin (M.Ed., Arizona State University, M.Eng. M.I.T.) is a Professional Development Associate for Great Hearts working to support PD and instructional coaching throughout the network. Prior to this role, Mary was a Master Teacher in mathematics and an instructional coach. She also developed and ran PD and served on the Academic Leadership Team on her campus. She believes in instructional coaching because the autonomy it provides to teachers while also helping to improve learning outcomes through addressing behaviors and beliefs. Outside of education, Mary is passionate about ice hockey: playing in women’s tournaments in the Southwest and coaching her children’s youth teams in Gilbert, AZ.
Dr. Amber Dyer holds the Ph.D. in literature from the University of Dallas where she passed her dissertation defense with distinction. She is a Fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, where she has served on the graduate faculty of the Sue Rose Summer Institute for Teachers. She is the Headmaster of Great Hearts Irving Upper School; prior to joining Great Hearts, Dr. Dyer served as a Senior Consultant for the Cowan Academies and taught over 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students as a professor of literature and philosophy at LeTourneau University, Dallas Baptist University, and the University of Dallas, where she also served as the Assistant Dean of Students. She is the recipient of the James Sims Prize for Literature and speaks to audiences frequently on the transformational work of classical liberal education.
Andrew Duininck is a passionate, experienced leader in the education space with work encompassing professional development, curriculum design, data analysis, and school operations. He has worked in the field of education for eleven years.
Andrew graduated from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Elementary Education, and from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia with a Master’s degree in Elementary Education.
Headmaster Duininck has worked with Great Hearts for a number of years and has been impactful in the establishment of four Great Hearts schools over the last nine years. He was a founding faculty member of Archway Glendale in Arizona, Monte Vista South in San Antonio, supported the opening of Great Hearts Lakeside in Fort Worth, and opened Great Hearts Arlington in 2021. Andrew has been impactful in these roles through curriculum development and alignment to state standards, professional development with employees and faculty on these campuses, with coaching and developing teachers in best practices and effective pedagogical strategies, and in data analysis and implementation of intervention strategies to support growth in both students and faculty.
Andrew is extraordinarily passionate about providing a rigorous and holistic educational environment to all student populations. He is mission-driven and fervent about providing more families the opportunity to enroll their children in a Great Hearts Academy.
Ms. Jacobson is the National Senior Director of Professional Development at Great Hearts. She served as Headmaster at North Phoenix Prep for three years. Prior to that, Ms. Jacobson served as Head of Middle School, Assistant Headmaster, and Dean of Students in the Great Hearts network for eight years. She earned her Master’s degree in Biology and a Bachelor’s degree in Developmental and Cellular Biology. Additionally, Ms. Jacobson completed her Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Business School Online in March of 2022. Ms. Jacobson is passionate about child development and volunteers as a labor doula in her free time. Ms. Jacobson has two boys, a third grader, and a kindergartener, and enjoys spending time outdoors, gardening, and cooking with her family.
Debbie brings over 40 years of teaching and administration experience in K- 12 and higher education to the Ascent group. Her love of a continuous improvement mindset has become foundational with her work with her own teams and schools and with varied institutions as a consultant and speaker. Her work as a high school teacher, principal, higher education faculty member, director, and associate dean has given her rich opportunities to support continuous improvement through initiatives such as systems improvement, leading adults through change, accreditation planning, data-informed decisions, and building cultures of improvement.
Debbie’s style of work can be characterized by the term critical friend. Her relational style of coaching resonates with people and teams where her care and concern are balanced with supportive recommendations and honest feedback. Her desire is to help move teams to where they want to be and create an environment where they can and will continue to grow, improve, and see how their challenges can become opportunities.
Her involvement in education has also been marked by involvement in state and national boards and organizations, most recently serving as an ambassador and commissioner for AAQEP, Association for the Advancement of Quality in Educator Preparation, a national accreditation body. A speaker and workshop facilitator, Debbie also co-authored with Richard Sagor the book The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence: Lessons from a Transformational Leader.
Jason has spent the last ten years in various leadership roles helping new Great Hearts schools get off the ground. Starting as a third-grade teacher at Archway North Phoenix, he moved to Texas when that state opened to help start newest Great Heart’s schools. After helping start four schools in various leadership roles over 8+ years, he and his family have moved to Florida to lead the newest wave of Great Heart’s growth.
Neil Gillingham is headmaster for Archway Arete, a Great Hearts Academy in Gilbert, Arizona. He has worked with Great Hearts for fifteen years and has served as headmaster for nine. Neil also serves as a senior headmaster, a mentor program for other school leaders in Arizona. He holds both a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in elementary education. In his free time, Neil enjoys painting, running, and Brazilian jiu jitsu. He is married with two children.
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last six years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, reading specialist, mentor teacher and instructional coach, and most recently as the Headmaster of Great Hearts Forest Heights Lower School. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as rising 8th, 7th, and 4th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children’s ministry programs.
Ms. Cindy Audelo is the Founding Headmaster of Great Hearts Live Oak, and currently leads the academy’s upper school. Headmaster Audelo’s passion for the liberal arts was sparked between the covers of the books she consumed as a voracious young reader. Her desire to better understand human existence and our place in the world led her to study humanities and social ethics at the University of Iowa, earning her Bachelor of Arts from the School of Religion.
As a young mother striving to find better and affordable educational options, Ms. Audelo homeschooled her three children through their primary education, drawing from many of the curricular pieces that are features of a Great Hearts education. After moving to Phoenix, she enrolled her children in the first Great Hearts academy, Veritas Prep. First as a parent volunteer, and then as a coach, teacher, and administrator, Ms. Audelo’s passion and commitment for public, tuition-free liberal education has grown with Great Hearts.
After answering her professional call, she earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from Arizona State University. Founding Live Oak continues to be an honor and a privilege, and she looks forward to graduating the first class of seniors in 2026 and promoting liberal education in the San Antonio region.
Helen Hayes founded one of the first Great Hearts schools—Chandler Prep—where she served as headmaster for nine years. After that, most of her work has been in the area of hiring, training, and coaching headmasters. As Vice President of Academies, she supported nine headmasters in their work while also overseeing college counseling, special education, and academic data for the network. She then founded the Headmaster College program, which generated several generations of headmasters for the network, and has more recently coordinated our external recruitment program for school leadership. She is currently coordinating the APEX program, which aims to provide “just-in-time” professional development for deans, assistant headmasters, and headmasters who are interested in professional development, and the instructional coaching training program for the network. Ms. Hayes has a Master’s degree in Education and an MFA in poetry, both from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Yale University.
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last six years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, reading specialist, mentor teacher and instructional coach, and most recently as the Headmaster of Great Hearts Forest Heights Lower School. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as rising 8th, 7th, and 4th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children’s ministry programs.
Over the past fifteen years, Alison Chaney has served Great Hearts Academies in a variety of roles at Great Hearts 
Mary Chin (M.Ed., Arizona State University, M.Eng. M.I.T.) is a Professional Development Associate for Great Hearts working to support PD and instructional coaching throughout the network. Prior to this role, Mary was a Master Teacher in mathematics and an instructional coach. She also developed and ran PD and served on the Academic Leadership Team on her campus. She believes in instructional coaching because the autonomy it provides to teachers while also helping to improve learning outcomes through addressing behaviors and beliefs. Outside of education, Mary is passionate about ice hockey: playing in women’s tournaments in the Southwest and coaching her children’s youth teams in Gilbert, AZ.
Dr. Amber Dyer holds the Ph.D. in literature from the University of Dallas where she passed her dissertation defense with distinction. She is a Fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, where she has served on the graduate faculty of the Sue Rose Summer Institute for Teachers. 
Andrew Duininck is a passionate, experienced leader in the education space with work encompassing professional development, curriculum design, data analysis, and school operations. He has worked in the field of education for eleven years.
Jason has spent the last ten years in various leadership roles helping new Great Hearts schools get off the ground. Starting as a third-grade teacher at Archway North Phoenix, he moved to Texas when that state opened to help start newest Great Heart’s schools. After helping start four schools in various leadership roles over 8+ years, he and his family have moved to Florida to lead the newest wave of Great Heart’s growth.
Neil Gillingham is headmaster for 
Dr. Nicolas McAfee is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the 
Helen Hayes founded one of the first Great Hearts schools—