What is the General Advisory Board?
The Stride Career Prep General Advisory Board helps connect education, business, and industry so we can meet the needs of students and serve the local community in our rapidly changing global economy. Board members provide market-based expertise and guidance in the development, implementation, and evaluation of our career pathways programs.
They also:
- Offer advice on current industry trends, technological developments, and training needs
- Provide collaborative opportunities for students, including summer camps, job shadowing, and internships
- Advocate for quality education and training
- Recommend guest speakers
- Review the scope and sequence of course offerings to ensure they match industry standards and needs
Meet Our General Advisory Board Members
Business Management & Administration Career Field Advisor
Jennifer Tosto Brawley
Jennifer Tosto Brawley
Criminal Justice & Community Services Career Field Advisor
Samantha Sonnett
Samantha Sonnett
Samantha Sonnett has more than 18 years of experience with the NYPD as a police officer and in the domestic violence unit. Prior to joining the NYPD, she served in the United States Air Force as an airman first class. Samantha served as director of training for the Arnold Air Society and squadron commander for the USAF ROTC. She received a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from CUNY–John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Engineering & Manufacturing Career Field Advisors
Alex Marquardt
Alex Marquardt
Alex Marquardt designs and oversees new construction and system improvement projects for Cleco Power, an electric power utility in southeast Louisiana. In addition to his work on electric distribution systems, he assists in power restoration after major storms. During his tenure at Cleco, he has worked on 150+ home power delivery systems, new circuit design for improved system reliability, and power restoration efforts after two of the strongest hurricanes in Louisiana's history.
Born and raised in South Louisiana, Alex attended Louisiana Tech University and graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering. He has more than nine years of engineering experience through manufacturing, sales, and utilities. He will qualify to obtain his Louisiana Professional Engineering License in May 2023, having passed his PE Exam in 2021. When he's not working, Alex enjoys educating students about careers and STEM through organizations such as STEM NOLA and Nepris. His philosophy is that anyone can have a rewarding career in STEM if they are willing to put in the time and effort.
Mandy Weaver
Mandy Weaver
Health Sciences Career Field Advisors
Jonah Pregulman
Jonah Pregulman
Jonah Pregulman is a registered nurse specializing in emergency, pre-hospital, and critical care. Jonah has worked in several top trauma and academic facilities. He holds board certifications in emergency, trauma, and flight nursing, as well as national registration as a paramedic. Jonah obtained his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Case Western Reserve University and his Master of Science in Nursing at Capella University. Currently, Jonah works as a travel nurse and disaster responder. He also enjoys presenting to high school students about careers in healthcare, especially paramedicine and nursing. He looks forward to new adventures and continuing to help students find their dream roles in healthcare.
Sherri Wilson, DNP, MPA, RN
Sherri Wilson, DNP, MPA, RN
Dr. Sherri Wilson develops national partnerships that lead to employment opportunities for students and graduates. She also provides guidance on healthcare content and curricula supporting Stride's Health Science career pathways. Before coming to Stride, Dr. Wilson served as a public health nursing administrator with Fairfax County Health Department in Virginia. She was responsible for the operations of multiple public health clinics. She has served in a variety of roles in healthcare over the past two decades and is committed to advancing our future healthcare workforce.
Dr. Wilson is president-elect of the Virginia Nurses Association, Inc., and an Education Policy Fellow with the Institute for Educational Leadership. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hampton University, a Master of Public Administration from Seton Hall University, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Johns Hopkins University. She is a 2016 recipient of The Washingtonian's Excellence in Nursing Award for Community Nursing.
Hospitality & Tourism Career Field Advisor
Shannon Mistretta-Colo
Shannon Mistretta-Colo
Shannon Mistretta-Colo is a passionate hospitality industry leader with 30 years of progressive and broad range experience, including customer engagement centers, strategic planning, large fund governance, contractual compliance, hotel on-property accounting, auditing, and consolidated financial reporting. Shannon is a graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
Information Technology Career Field Advisors
Hassan Rezk Habib
Hassan Rezk Habib
Hassan Rezk Habib is a seasoned software engineer with more than twenty years of experience in the software industry. He is the founder and owner of PiorSoft, LLC, and the organizer of the OtripleS project, which seeks to create an open-source free schooling system for the economically disadvantaged children of the world.
Hassan is the author of The Standard, an interpretation of SOLID principles for large-scale enterprise applications. He graduated from Modern Academy in Maadi, Egypt, with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering.
George Bailey, MS, CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, HCISPP, CHP
George Bailey, MS, CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, HCISPP, CHP
George Bailey is an information technology security professional with more than 25 years of experience in systems administration, network security, remote access, wireless security, and incident response. He oversees and implements information security solutions for small to medium-sized businesses.
In his current role, George leads a team of information security analysts that supplements clients' internal IT security programs with the latest assessments (security risk analyses; gap assessments; vulnerability management) and validation tools (phishing testing; penetration testing; password audits), as well as staff education.
A three-time graduate of Purdue University, George regularly teaches cybersecurity topics to aspiring information security professionals in the cyberTAP classroom alongside cyberTAP's technical instructors. He has also presented at many security-related conferences and has been published in academic journals.
George holds an advisory role on the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity and is an active member of InfraGard. When not improving the cyber posture of Indiana businesses, George enjoys watching his sons play soccer and pitching in with leadership responsibilities for a local cub scout den.
Satya Priya Sharma
Satya Priya Sharma
Satya Priya Sharma has been an engineering and services leader at Cisco for 22 years. Her career with Cisco began as a development engineer and she then moved on to launching a new service for customers (which grew from 10 million to 400 million in three years) to now leading the global escalations team for web security. Today, she is an expert in security engineering, network management, operational excellence, managing global teams, and working with customers.
Satya is passionate about getting more kids into STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) and keeping kids safe online. She has given in-person and online seminars on cybersecurity for kids at schools, conferences, and Girl Scouts, and participated in a webinar on the subject with the state representative of Connecticut. Satya also mentors students and has delivered seminars to school kids about her experience in the STEM/Security space.
Other activities include, serving as chapter lead for Cisco New England WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), pillar lead for leadership and innovation for WISE, and co-pillar lead of Women in Cyber Security. Satya is also a board member of Lea's Foundation for Leukemia Research, Inc., and is currently revamping their website.
Marketing Career Field Advisor
Kattya Mendieta
Kattya Mendieta
Kattya Mendieta has more than eight years of experience in trade and consumer marketing. Her expertise is in managing food and beverage brands, developing communication and promotional strategies, creating yearly marketing and media plans, managing innovation funnels, and securing growing sales vs category profitability.
As the cross-functional team leader for the baby food category in Nestlé Peru and Bolivia, Kattya is passionate about infant nutrition and launching the best alternatives for the nutritional needs in these markets.
Kattya believes every product has a story, from development to launch to driving category growth. When used correctly, communication and promotional activities are the tools for writing a best seller.
