Meet the Inspire Success Organization
Inspire Success provides initiatives that transform schools and inspire those who help students succeed. Learn about our history and meet our staff and board.
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Inspire Success is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit whose vision is that ALL students are empowered for success. We strive to reach this vision by working with teachers, school counselors, administrators, organizations, and communities to advance what works in removing barriers to student learning, enhancing student well-being, and elevating student readiness for success in postsecondary education and a career.
A copy of our 990 tax form is available upon request by contacting us at info@inspiresuccess.org.
Our History
Our story begins in 1991 with an idea: We could raise student achievement for all kids by involving all school personnel in academic and career guidance.
As we’ve grown, we’ve created new initiatives and services, but we’ve never strayed from our mission to work with teachers, school counselors, administrators, organizations, and communities to advance what works to remove barriers to student learning, enhance student well-being, and elevate student readiness for success in postsecondary education and careers.
Our Staff
Aimee Portteus - Interim Executive Director
Aimee Portteus, Interim Executive Director and Director of School Counseling Initiatives, brings extensive experience in supporting educators and student success through her work at Inspire Success.
Debbie Howell - School Improvement
Debbie Howell directs SPARK School Improvement. She has worked in outcome-based initiatives and training for more than a decade.
Ben Carter - Career Readiness Initiatives
Ben is the Director of Career Readiness Initiatives. Prior to joining the team Ben served as the Executive Director of Career Coaching and Employer Connections at Ivy Tech Community College.
Shannon Mount - Career Coaching Initiatives
Shannon Mount serves as the Director of Career Coaching Initiatives. Her commitment to student support spans more than 20 years in public education, where she held roles as a school social worker and Director of Student Services.
Matt Fleck - Growth and Development
Matt brings over 20 years of education, career, and counseling experience to multiple projects around the country. Matt has served as a high school counselor, a state school counseling specialist, and Indiana’s state director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
Amy Seigle - Online Tools
Amy was the first School Support Specialist hired by the American Student Achievement Institute (now Inspire Success). In that role, she saw the need for online tools to better facilitate school improvement planning.
Our Board
Catisha Coates-Toney
Catisha Toney is the Founder and Executive Director of Coates, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to educational equity for young adults. Catisha is a first generation college graduate who worked at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education before forming Coates, Inc. She has more than 15 years of experience working in education and education consulting.
Cheryl Orr Dixon
Cheryl Orr Dixon, President Orr Dixon Consulting, LLC., brings more than 30 years of experience in education reform, public policy and leading initiatives to improve college preparation, access and success. Cheryl was a co-founder of Complete College America, Inc. and served as CCA’s Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. She brings years of non-profit leadership experience, as well as, lessons learned from leading statewide efforts to improve student achievement for four Indiana governors.
Jon Snyder
Jon Snyder recently retired as the Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE). He began his career as a primary grades school teacher in Vancouver, Washington before moving to curriculum and staff development.
Jon has worked as a researcher and a teacher/educator at Teachers College; the National Center for the Restructuring of Education, Schools, and Teaching; the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future; the University of California, Santa Barbara, and immediately prior to his tenure at SCOPE, Jon served as Chief Academic Officer/Dean of the College at Bank Street College of Education. He remains engaged in researching teacher learning, conditions that support teacher learning, and the relationships between teacher and student learning.
Domy Raymond
Dominique (Domy) Raymond is strategy director for partnerships at Lumina Foundation, Indianapolis. She has over 20 years of policy experience in higher education, state policy, and workforce development. Domy has held positions in state government, on college campuses and advocacy organizations in Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. In addition to Inspire Success, she serves on the board of Grantmakers for Immigrants and Refugees. A native of Chicago, she resides in Indianapolis.
Carol Lincoln
Carol Lincoln is Senior Vice President for Achieving the Dream, Inc. and brings to this role more than 50 years of experience working on issues of educational access, workforce development, and rural community development. In addition to being a founding staff member for Achieving the Dream, Inc, she was Senior Program Director at MDC where she directed MDC’s Rural Community College Initiative’s (RCCI) national demonstration program to increase educational access and economic opportunity in distressed rural communities. From 1998-2004, she co-led MDC’s international work in Namibia and South Africa, where lessons from RCCI were used to help four-year institutions become catalysts for development in impoverished rural regions. project to raise public awareness of the large numbers of youth leaving school unprepared for postsecondary education or careers.