Management Team
ICEF’s management team has over 50 years of education experience in urban communities.
Michael Piscal, Founder & CEO, has over 18 years experience as an educator and has managed ICEF through several critical growth phases during the last 10 years. Widely recognized for his success in serving South Los Angeles youth, Mike received an American Hero Award from Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. In 2005, Mike received an honorary Ph.D. in Humanities from his Alma Mater, Wake Forest University. Mike has also been actively involved in the charter school movement. Mike was elected and re-elected by his peers in Los Angeles to represent them on the California Charter School Association Member Council from 2003-2006. Mike was also appointed by the California State Board of Education to the State Board’s Advisory Commission on Charter Schools. In recognition of his service to his students and the movement at large, Mike was named the 2005 Charter School Leader of the Year, which was awarded by the California Charters Schools Association. Most recently, Mike was awarded the “Recycling Black Dollars” award for Educators for his leadership in directing millions of dollars a year to black-owned businesses in Los Angeles.
Michael Piscal, Founder & CEO, has over 18 years experience as an educator and has managed ICEF through several critical growth phases during the last 10 years. Widely recognized for his success in serving South Los Angeles youth, Mike received an American Hero Award from Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. In 2005, Mike received an honorary Ph.D. in Humanities from his Alma Mater, Wake Forest University. Mike has also been actively involved in the charter school movement. Mike was elected and re-elected by his peers in Los Angeles to represent them on the California Charter School Association Member Council from 2003-2006. Mike was also appointed by the California State Board of Education to the State Board’s Advisory Commission on Charter Schools. In recognition of his service to his students and the movement at large, Mike was named the 2005 Charter School Leader of the Year, which was awarded by the California Charters Schools Association. Most recently, Mike was awarded the “Recycling Black Dollars” award for Educators for his leadership in directing millions of dollars a year to black-owned businesses in Los Angeles.
Corri Tate Ravare, President, was previously a Field Deputy for Board of Education Member Genethia Hudley Hayes. Prior to working for Board Member Hayes, Corri worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District including a stint in the Office of School Reform; the division charged with granting charter petitions. At ICEF since 2003, Corri has played several different leadership roles: including the role of owner representative on ICEF’s first major construction project, a $10.2 million partnership with Pacific Charter School Development Corporation to build the View Park Prep Middle and High Schools; Corri has successfully negotiated 13 charter petitions with local districts,
four charter renewals, over 10 leases, and recruited over 3,000 students. Corri acts as ICEF’s Chief Communication Officer and advises the CEO and Board on policy issues.
Corri is the acting Executive Director of our parent advocacy organization “Families That Can,”
that has successfully lobbied the legislature in Sacramento, with over 150
charter school members and over 14,000 individual members. Corri received the prestigious John Gardner Public Service Fellowship in 1994. She graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in English and a minor in African-American Studies. She is a regarded as a leader in the
charter reform movement, having been named last year to the State Board of
Education’s Advisory Commission of Charter Schools.
Rob Schwartz, Chief Academic Officer, leads instructional practice at all ICEF Public Schools. Rob was the founding principal of View Park Prep High School from 2003 to 2007. Under Rob's leadership, View Park Prep achieved the highest ranking for educating African American students in the state of California in 2005 and the 8th highest API Score (774) in Los Angeles. Under Rob’s leadership as the lead science teacher at View Park Prep Middle School from 2001-2003, View Park Prep Middle School twice won first place in the Los Angeles Science Fair. Rob was a Teach for America Corp member for two years at Stevenson Middle School in East Los Angeles where he rose to become Chair of the Science Department for another year. He expects to receive his Ed.D from University of Southern California in 2009.
John Piscal, Chief Development Officer, served as the CFO of Extranet Inc. from 1992 to 1998, during which time Extranet expanded from $1 million in sales per annum to $27 million. John then held several senior management and sales positions at AT&T and Concert (a joint venture between AT&T and British Telecom) before joining ICEF in August 2001. John served as CFO of ICEF from 2001 to 2007 and led ICEF’s growth from 355 students to 1,800 students, and successfully oversaw ICEF’s growth from an operating budget of $1.1 million in 2001 to nearly $20 million in 2007. In 2008, John stepped into the role of Chief Development Officer tasked with the role of developing new streams of income from private and public sources; developing an annual fundraising campaign that equals no less than 5% of ICEF’s annual budget; and launching an endowment drive of $30 million. John has an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Nicole J. Scott, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and In House Counsel for ICEF Public Schools. Ms. Scott is responsible for the management and strategic planning of the Human Resources Department at ICEF Public Schools. Furthermore, she serves as In House Counsel to the foundation. Before joining ICEF’s management team, Nicole was a litigation associate with The Cochran Firm in Los Angeles. She was the last attorney to be hired and trained by the late attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Prior to practicing with The Cochran Firm, Ms. Scott worked for the Law Offices of Gary, Williams, Finney, Lewis, Watson & Sperando, P.L. in South Florida. Her practice areas at both firms included employment law, civil litigation, entertainment law, and civil rights litigation.
Nicole graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College in 2000 with a B.A. in English Literature & Language. Ms. Scott acquired her Juris Doctor from the University of California Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2003. Ms. Scott also taught English as well as law classes to high school students while she was in law school.
Nicole J. Scott, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and In House Counsel for ICEF Public Schools. Ms. Scott is responsible for the management and strategic planning of the Human Resources Department at ICEF Public Schools. Furthermore, she serves as In House Counsel to the foundation. Before joining ICEF’s management team, Nicole was a litigation associate with The Cochran Firm in Los Angeles. She was the last attorney to be hired and trained by the late attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Prior to practicing with The Cochran Firm, Ms. Scott worked for the Law Offices of Gary, Williams, Finney, Lewis, Watson & Sperando, P.L. in South Florida. Her practice areas at both firms included employment law, civil litigation, entertainment law, and civil rights litigation.
Nicole graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College in 2000 with a B.A. in English Literature & Language. Ms. Scott acquired her Juris Doctor from the University of California Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2003. Ms. Scott also taught English as well as law classes to high school students while she was in law school.
Steven
D. Tolbert, Chief Financial Officer serves ICEF’s 15 schools and home
office managing banking, finance and accounting activities that include, budget
development and management, financial reporting and policy and vendor relations
among other duties. Steve comes to ICEF after serving as the Chief
Financial Officer of Campbell Hall (Episcopal), an independent, K-12 college
preparatory school located in North Hollywood, where he managed the school’s operating
and capital budgets, as well as its endowment and reserve funds. Steve
managed all finance and accounting activities, as well as, payroll and
benefits, books and supplies, facilities, and the student store. Steve served
on Campbell Hall’s Board of Directors and on other Board Committees of the
school. Prior to his career in school operations management, Steve spent
almost 20 years in the investment industry sourcing, structuring and executing
investment transactions, and managing portfolio companies in addition to
fundraising for and managing private equity investment partnerships.
Steven received a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from
Brian D. Taylor, Senior Vice President of External & Community Affairs. Brian Taylor’s involvement in ICEF Public Schools goes back to the very beginning. In 1994, Brian became a founding board member of the Inner City Education Foundation at the request of his then colleague at the Harvard-Westlake School, Michael Piscal. In 2002, Brian stepped down from the Board to become the Principal of ICEF’s second school, the View Park Prep Middle School. In 2003, View Park Prep Middle School posted the highest test scores in the state of California for African-American students. During Brian's tenure as Principal View Park Middle rose to outperform all neighborhood middle schools and was the highest performing for African American students. In March 2005, Brian published “Closing the Gap: View Park Prep – Building a Culture of High Expectations” in the Charter Journal. In 2008, after serving six years in the principal chair (the longest tenure of any ICEF Principal to date) Brian became the Head of all three View Park Prep Schools (Elementary, Middle, and High) and joined the Senior Management team of ICEF Public Schools. Brian is also the coach of the View Park Prep Boys Basketball team which he coached to the 2008 Small School City of Los Angeles Championship.
Prior to joining ICEF, Brian served as served as Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard-Westlake School from 1991-2002 where he was responsible for student recruitment and selection. He also coached the Girls Basketball team to a state title and was named the CIF Coach of the year. Prior to Harvard-Westlake, Brian was the assistant basketball coach at Princeton University working with the legendary hall of fame coach Pete Carrrill. An alumnus of Princeton University, Brian thrived in a decade-long professional basketball career that included teaming up with “Dr. J” for two ABA championships with the New York Nets. Brian Taylor was the 1973 ABA Rookie of the Year, as well as, a 2 time All Star. When he retired from the NBA he held 13 league records. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and African-American Studies from Princeton University. Brian Taylor, and his wife Terri are the proud parents of 5 children.
Amarpal Khanna, Director of Visual Arts, has been a professional artist working in the Animation, Illustration, Comic Books, and Children's books industries for over ten years. Previous companies he has worked with include DreamWorks Animation, the Anti-Defamation League, and Original Syndicate Press. A passionate advocate for arts education, he has taught art at all grade levels including college at the Art Institute of California-Los Angeles in the Animation department. Mr. Khanna started the ICEF Visual Arts program twelve years ago and is a graduate of Otis College of Art and Design.
Fernando Pullum, Director of Performing Arts has been an educator in South Los Angeles for over 20 years. He developed the renowned music department at Washington Preparatory High School. He has been the recipient of many awards including the National Music Teacher of the Year Award. He has been a featured guest on Oprah as an Oprah’s Angel for his work with inner city youth. The Los Angeles Times wrote a two-page article on Fernando’s work. He has been celebrated by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Fernando received both his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Under his tutelage Fernando’s students have performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival, recorded CD’s, performed with Jackson Brown, Jazz great Kenny Burrell, Lionel Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Buddy Collette, James Carter, Gerald Albright, Al Jarreau and Stevie Wonder. Fernando has created partnerships with UCLA School of Music, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Creative Artists Agency, The Grammy Foundation, The Underdogs, The Harmony Project, Kawaii Piano and NAMM International Music Products.
Amarpal Khanna, Director of Visual Arts, has been a professional artist working in the Animation, Illustration, Comic Books, and Children's books industries for over ten years. Previous companies he has worked with include DreamWorks Animation, the Anti-Defamation League, and Original Syndicate Press. A passionate advocate for arts education, he has taught art at all grade levels including college at the Art Institute of California-Los Angeles in the Animation department. Mr. Khanna started the ICEF Visual Arts program twelve years ago and is a graduate of Otis College of Art and Design.
Fernando Pullum, Director of Performing Arts has been an educator in South Los Angeles for over 20 years. He developed the renowned music department at Washington Preparatory High School. He has been the recipient of many awards including the National Music Teacher of the Year Award. He has been a featured guest on Oprah as an Oprah’s Angel for his work with inner city youth. The Los Angeles Times wrote a two-page article on Fernando’s work. He has been celebrated by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Fernando received both his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Under his tutelage Fernando’s students have performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival, recorded CD’s, performed with Jackson Brown, Jazz great Kenny Burrell, Lionel Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Buddy Collette, James Carter, Gerald Albright, Al Jarreau and Stevie Wonder. Fernando has created partnerships with UCLA School of Music, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Creative Artists Agency, The Grammy Foundation, The Underdogs, The Harmony Project, Kawaii Piano and NAMM International Music Products.
