OUR TEAM
Scott Campbell
Executive director
Scott is the cofounder of Persist Nashville and a former classroom teacher and administrator. In his career he has worked at 6 different urban, rural, and suburban schools. He has led and taught at traditional public, magnet, and charter schools in 4 different states and DC.
Before moving to Nashville he was a teacher and assistant principal at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, the nation’s top rated public high school. In Nashville he has helped lead and develop the early years of RePublic High School and Valor Collegiate Academies. Before starting Persist he served as Principal at RePublic High School, where he graduated their inaugural class. He serves on the TN Charter Commission Appeals Committee and Board of TN Nature Academy.
He is a husband and father of three rambunctious boys. He is a children’s book author, loves playing with his kids, BBQ, soccer, and getting rebounds on the court.
Alma Mater
University of Tennessee at Knoxville: BA
University of Tennessee at Knoxville: M.Ed
The George Washington University: EdS
kristen king
EXECUTIVE director of coaching
Kristen is the cofounder of Persist Nashville and has spent her entire career committed to improving K-16 education. Ms. King became a teacher through Teach for America, serving students in Waipahu, Hawaii. After teaching for two years and earning her MEd.
Kristen transitioned into working with college students at InsideTrack, the industry leading coaching services organization in the United States becoming certified as a Master Coach. As a Campus Director, she led the project to develop a thriving self-sustaining coaching program at Wallace State Community College. Prior to co-founding Persist Nashville, Ms. King worked as the Associate Director of College Access and Persistence at RePublic High School. She currently serves on the Board of College Ready Now.
In her free time, she loves watching Alabama football, traveling, gardening and reading.
Alma Mater
University of Alabama: BA
University of Hawaii: M.Ed
Jennifer Hill
chief of staff
Jennifer is a past president of the Junior League of Nashville and has served on the boards of McNeilly Center for Children, Nashville Children’s Theatre, CASA, Inc., and was previously the founding board chair for Persist Nashville. Her professional experience spans several sectors, including serving as director of Client Implementations at Asurion, director of Talent and Performance Management at KIPP Nashville, program director of the Ayers Institute for Teacher Learning and Innovation at Lipscomb University, and managing the United Way of Greater Nashville’s education strategy and investment portfolio. Prior to joining Persist Nashville, Jennifer led policy and programming for the Nashville Public Education Foundation.
Jennifer finds joy by spending time with her husband Steve, two children, Lev and Eliana, and her two dogs, Maggie and Stanley. She is either outside hiking or inside recharging with a cup of coffee and a good book. She dreams of living her best introverted life in a cabin with a gorgeous mountain view and a pack of dogs.
Alma Mater
University of Tennessee at Knoxville BA
National-Louis University M.Ed
GABe marrero
DIRECTOR OF DATA & TECHNOLOGY
Gabe comes to Persist Nashville by way of KIPP Nashville where he serves as a High School AP US History teacher. He has four years working with teaching social studies to high school students in both in Alabama and Tennessee. He also spent two years opening and running Chubbies Shorts retail shops in Florida and brings rich brand, sales, and marketing experiencing.
Since 2021 he has overseen the development of Persist Salesforce integration and is now a certified Salesforce Admin.
He is an avid weightlifter, lover of Little Debbies and professional wrestling, and all things fun.
Alma Mater
Calhoun Community College: A.A.S
University of Alabama: BA
melissa watkins
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION & CAREER
Melissa joins Persist by way of Tennessee State University where she coached first-generation college students. She originally grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, but fell in love with TSU on college visit. Since graduating TSU she has remained in Nashville serving students and the community through Nashville Community Education, Job Corp, Oasis Center, and Staff360.
In addition to her 16 years in working with students she also is a style and lifestyle blogger, social media specialist, and while in college she used to style her friends and classmates.
She is the best dressed in the office every day, loves Frothy Monkey, chips, and eating her brother’s cooking.
Alma Mater
Tennessee State University: BA
University of Phoenix: MBA
megan mcneese
associate DIRECTOR OF COACHING
Megan joins Persist by way of Belmont University where she served as the Student Support Specialist for the Bridges to Belmont program working with MNPS students throughout all four years of their college journey. Before Belmont she was a Graduate Residence Hall Director at Baylor University while she earned her Masters in High Education and Student Affairs Administration. She began her career working with students at McGavock High School through Rocketown’s after-school and summer camp programs. She brings over 8 years of experience working with MNPS and college students, as well as experience in student support, program development, and student engagement.
Megan is a wife and mom to one son. In her spare time she loves to spend time with her family, practice handlettering, work out at barre3, and find new dessert or coffee spots around town.
Alma Mater
Belmont University: BA
Baylor University: M.S.Ed
briana ramsey-tyler
persist coach
Briana joins Persist from LEAD Academy High School where she served as a College Prep 11 and Theatre Arts teacher. Previous to LEAD she was a TFA Corp Member and teacher at Jean Ribault Senior High School in Jacksonville, FL where she taught English and Language Arts. She spent two years after college in theatre in the Atlanta area where she grew up. She has been a stage manager, writer, producer, director, and performer in theatre arts. She wont the Teacher Mentor Award in Duval County Public Schools and was a Posse Scholar at Bard College. She is pursuing her Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health and Behavior Counseling.
In her spare time you can find her at the farmer’s market, studying for school, and solving the world’s education problems.
Alma Mater
Bard College: BA
Trevecca Nazarene: MA Candidate (2025)
gretchen moore
persist coach
Gretchen joins us from being a mom and a content creator for her own blog The Shea Mom. She is also the board executive for Postpartum Support International. Previous to these roles she spent 9 years working in higher education student affairs at the University of Alabama. She served in various roles including the Assistant Director for the Center for Service and Leadership, the Area Coordinator for Traditional Style Communities, and an Instructor for Freshman Learning Communities. She is passionate about serving college students and has significant experience in leading teams. When she is not serving her community she is spending time with her family, blogging, and exploring.
Alma Mater
Western Kentucky: BA
Mississippi State: MS
University of Alabama: PhD (coursework)
george gutierrez
persist coach
George is a Nashville native and proud graduate of Stratford High School. For the past 5 years he has been the Lead Post Secondary Coach at the Martha O’Bryan Center doing college persistence coaching for graduates of three Nashville high schools. George came back to lead the same college persistence program that he benefitted from as a high school student.
Previous to working at the Martha O’Bryan Center he was a first grade teacher at East End Prep. He had previously served as an Americorp member, a college readiness coach, and an intern with the Children’s Defense Fund.
George is weightlifting certified, a former wellness coach, a good husband and community member.
Alma Mater
Middle Tennessee State University: BS
Tennessee State University: MS
OUR BOARD
prentice ashford
board chair
Dr. Prentice Ashford is the Dean of Community Life at Lipscomb University. His work focuses on empowering students to discover who they are, what makes them unique, and how to use that uniqueness to be active and productive leaders on campus, in Nashville and beyond.
He has spent his entire career in higher education primarily in the area of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Prentice has a passion for making college simple and accessible for all students. A Texan born and bred, Prentice is happily married with 3 children.
Alma Mater
Abilene Christian University: BA
Abilene Christian University: M.Ed
Lipscomb University: EdD
STEFAN HUBBARD
Treasurer & finance chair
Stefan is a Senior Portfolio Analyst at Nephila. He is an accounting graduate of UT Haslam College of Business and earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler School of Business. He worked for 7 years in accounting and consultancy for multiple companies including Deloitte before becoming the Director of Finance for Medaxion Inc., a medical software start-up based out of Nashville. He is a Quickbooks wiz and systems thinker. He is the father of 4 children, an avid soccer player, and home repair guru.
Alma Mater
University of Tennessee: BA
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: MBA
laurie brown
board member
Laurie is the Senior Vice President for Advocacy at the Tennessee Charter Center. She has spent the last decade making good trouble to ensure that students and their families across the South had access to support, opportunities and resources.
As a chief of staff she led the charge to register over 480 families to vote in Nashville, Tenn. and Jackson, Miss. She is committed to advocate with those who are marginalized and uses compassion and partnership in working across lines of difference in order to achieve the best results for all. She has a deep background and experience in college access and persistence. As KIPP Through College Director, she negotiated new college partnership contracts that provided $1.8M for her graduates and wrote a grant to bring college advising to local public schools to ensure equitable access to college.
While working as a Teach for America corps member, Laurie authored a federal grant to bring AP courses to her campus for the first time in the school’s history.
She enjoys reading, cats, and strategic thinking.
Alma Mater
Florida State University: BA
University of Central Arkansas: MS
mario mcclunie
BOARD MEMBER
Mario is a life-longe public school educator and artist who currently teaches at Pearl-Cohn Magnet School and runs his own education consulting group, Bond-McClunie Consulting and work. He serves the North Nashville community through Gideon’s Army. Previously he was a Head Advisor and Student Supports Teacher at RePublic High School, teacher at LEAD Academy, and Director of Programs at the YMCA.
He is a proud father of two children. He is a community advocate and artist who is passionate about serving Nashville students and helping them thrive.
Alma Mater
Lees McRae College: BA
Belmont University: MS
Brett michaels
business partnership chair
Brett has served as the Vice President of Sales, Americas for Snow Software. Previously he was the Head of Sales, US South and Federal for Google Cloud and a sales director and founder of 5 different start-up tech companies across the United States. He has years of board experience with various tech start-ups and has created a strong network of individuals within Nashville business community.
Over the past three years has helped Persist Nashville us develop our new Persist Career volunteer engagement program and created and chairs our Business Advisory Council of Nashville business leaders to help us improve our work. He is a father, husband, and avid fisherman.
Alma Mater
University of Buffalo: BA
Dr. shawn boyd
board member
Shawn serves as SCORE’s Director of Postsecondary Program Engagement. Shawn draws on experience in higher education recruitment, retention, advising, and student success to improve student outcomes and close equity gaps at postsecondary institutions across the state. Before joining SCORE in 2021, Shawn was the associate director of K-12 and community partnerships at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis.
Shawn lives in Memphis, but spends his time traveling across the state of TN to support college and universities leaders and those impacting post-secondary work in our state. He is a father, husband, Grizz fan, and author.
Alma Mater
Middle Tennessee State University: BA
Trevecca University: E.D.
ryan flury
board member
Ryan Flury is the Executive Director and Team Lead of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He is responsible for helping clients develop investment strategies and build diversified portfolios utilizing public equity, fixed income, alternative investments, derivatives, hard assets and currencies. Previous to 2008, Ryan spent six years at Silvercrest Asset Management, a boutique investment management firm.
Ryan is also the Board Member of College Possible, a nationwide college persistence organization and a public education enthusiast. Ryan is a husband and father to one son and two daughters.
Alma Mater
College of William and Mary: BA
University of Virginia: MBA
MIRiAM MICHEL
student board member
Miram Michel is currently a student at Vanderbilt University studying neuroscience. In 2022-2023, she served as the Vanderbilt Persist campus lead and has been actively involved with Persist since her senior year at Lead Academy high school.
Currently, she serves as a team lead on several research projects within the Vanderbilt research department. The research focuses on studying the effects of music various demographics of healthy and healing patients. Miram aspires to attend medical school after graduating from Vanderbilt to pursue a career as a physician.
Alma Mater
Lead Academy, High School
Vanderbilt University - BA (Spring 2025)
joshua ireland
board member
Joshua is the co-founder and CEO of Jefferson Bridge Capital an investment advisory firm strategically positioned to serve as a direct channel connecting the institutional investment realm with underserved communities. Their team works closely with non-profits and endowments, helping these vital organizations craft and execute mission-aligned investment strategies.
Prior to launching Jefferson Bridge Capital, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Woodmont Investment Counsel, one of Nashville’s largest independent investment advisors. Over the course of his career, Joshua has benefitted from a diverse range of vantage points within the financial industry, including hedge funds, equity research, wealth management and even leading multiple tech startups.
Josh serves is a regular volunteer within his community and serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations here in Nashville, TN. He is a husband and father of 4 children. You can find him on the sports field each weekend cheering on his kids.
Alma Mater
Georgia Tech: BS
KATIE AGNEW
BOARD MEMBER
Katie has served as corporate counsel for several start-up and publicly-traded payments companies after beginning her legal career at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.
She has a finance degree from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and she earned a J.D. from the University of Alabama. Katie has served on the boards of several non-profits focused on childhood and youth education.
She is a wife and mother of 3 girls, and enjoys being in the great outdoors in her spare time.
ALMA MATER
University of Virginia - BS
University of Alabama - JD
Hunter Mobley
Board Member
Hunter Mobley is Chief Culture Officer and Trust & Estate Advisor at Equitable Trust Company in Nashville. Additionally, Hunter teaches as a professor of estate planning at the Nashville School of Law. Hunter is a nationally recognized teacher and author of the Enneagram personality tool. Hunter and his partner live in Nashville with their corgi, Henry.
Alma Mater
Davidson College, BA
University of Kentucky, JD
New York University, LL.M.
Ryan Parker
Board Member
Ryan Parker is the Director of Donor Relations and Programs at Nashville State Community College Foundation. He serves as our Young Leaders Council board intern. Ryan brings more than 13 years of non-profit experience working in program development and fundraising.
As Director of Donor Relations and Programs, Ryan’s work focuses on programs that eliminate financial barriers to ensure Nashville State students successfully complete a degree, enter the workforce, or transfer to a 4-year institution. He is also responsible for donor stewardship and fundraising events.
Ryan enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.
Education
Pellissppi State Community College – Associate of Applied Science Degree in Marketing
King University – BA
University of Tennessee at Knoxville – Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness Certificate
RENEE KELLY
BOARD MEMBER
Renee Kelly is currently the Director of Boundless at Clayton Homes where she leads the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging strategy. She is formerly the Chief of Staff for Knox County Schools, previously served as the School Director of Emerald Academy and is the former principal of West Valley Middle School.
Renee is a Knoxville native. She graduated from Fulton High School and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in elementary education, both from the University of Tennessee. She has an educational specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University.
Before serving as principal of West Valley and Emerald Academy, she worked at Bearden Middle School, Spring Hill Elementary School and Project GRAD Knoxville in an administrative capacity.
She serves on the board of directors for the YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, University Health Systems (UHS), Persist Nashville, Freedom Village of Hope, and the TKJ Foundation. She is also a member of the Executive Women’s Association of Knoxville (EWA), the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Greater Knoxville Chapter, the Downtown Knoxville Rotary Club, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the Leadership Knoxville Class of 2016, and Cohort X of Leadership Tennessee.
ALMA MATER
University of Tennessee: MBA & BS
Dr. Katie Rhenberg
YLC Board Intern
Dr. Katie Rehnberg is the Director of Talent Management at Schwab Charitable where she also serves as Chief of Staff. Through her work, she cultivates effective workplace culture, leads talent development programs, and translates senior leader vision into execution. Prior to Schwab Charitable, Katie earned a PhD in Communication from the University of Colorado Boulder. While there, she taught undergrad classes in communication and researched organizational and cultural communication.
Katie also serves on the board of directors for the Nashville Junior Chamber and Please Live. She and her husband moved to Nashville in 2022 and have enjoyed exploring their new community.
Alma Mater
Juniata College: BA
University of Colorado Boulder: MA & PhD
HANNAH SEARS
Board Member
Hannah is a Wealth Advisor at AllianceBernstein, Bernstein Private Wealth Management. She is responsible for developing an investment plan to help her clients achieve their financial goals, and she focuses her practice primarily on business owners, nonprofits and families.
She has been at AB for 6 years, holding a variety of roles. Originally from Boston, she moved to Tennessee in 2021 to help launch the Nashville branch of private wealth as a manager, and then moved into the Advisory role. Hannah graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English. She is an avid traveler and reader, having most recently been on the adventure of a lifetime to Antarctica.
ALMA MATER
Harvard University: BA
Wayne Powers
Board Member
Wayne Powers is a C-suite executive with more than 25 years of experience in publicly-traded, privately held and private equity-backed companies across a range of industries. The roles he has held include CEO, President and
Wayne was CEO at Catalina Marketing, President at Valassis Communications, Parade Media, Yahoo and Time Inc. (Publishing division of Time Warner). Board of Director experience in privately held, private equity and nonprofit entities; Catalina Marketing. Interactive Audit Bureau (Digital business organization that develops media industry standards), Gravity4 Inc., New York Ad Council and California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports.
Wayne is married with two sons. His hobbies include running, hiking, biking and travel.
education
The Ohio State University - BS
Previous Board Members
Anne Hancock Toomey - CEO, Jarrad Inc.
Lynise Harris - Chief People Officer, 4.0 Schools
Alyssa Aloyo - Program Manager, The Steve Fund
Ommay Khyr - Student Board Member
Dulce Castro - Student Member, Rose Immigration Law firm
Aaron McGee - Chief Executive Director, Educate ME
Jennifer Hill - Nashville Public Education Foundation
Joshua Mullen - Partner Womble Bond Dickinson