Irina Ly
Director
Maturing as a young adult Irina questioned many things about the ways she was taught. She devoted her professional career to improving education through the experiential approach. She earned a master’s degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Humanities from Herzen State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has more than twenty years of experience working as a teacher, tutor, camp counselor, program coordinator, director, and a consultant in a number of schools and programs in the USA and Russia.
Mary Hackenberg
Treasurer/Secretary
Mary Hackenberg believes that many kids are not receiving the education they deserve in the traditional public school system, and wants to be part of the solution by supporting teachers, administrators, and innovators.
Mary has been serving Community Education Project since 2009. Mary is CPA specializing in non-profits, including schools, hospitals, and local government. She has served Charlotte area schools as Accountant or Treasurer.
Mary is a mother of three, and hopes that her work at Community Education Project will help affect change in the education system to benefit more students in our community.
Ahmadou Ly
Business Advisor
Ahmadou’s belief in education is molded in his DNA. Born in Africa and growing up in three continents, Ahmadou believes that the best education is that which has been experimented.
Ahmadou has been a member of the Community Education Project since its inception. Prior to coming to CEP, Ahmadou co-founded a non for profit organization with his brother geared toward free cardiovascular surgery for young patients in West Africa. Ahmadou comes with experience in investment banking with leadership and team building skills along with project management and process improvement skills. Ahmadou is fluent in French, English, Russian, and Arabic. Ahmadou currently lives in Charlotte working for a major Financial institution.
Nicholas Triplett
Board Member-at-Large
Nick was born in upstate South Carolina and grew up in rural eastern North Carolina (Tarboro, Edgecombe County). He attended UNC Chapel Hill on a Teaching Fellows scholarship where he earned a BA in History and an MA in Teaching. Nick has been engaged across various levels of the education system for 20+ years, as a home-school parent, a high school social studies teacher, a pre-K facilitator at independent schools, a member/teacher in a nature-based educational cooperative, and through service in charter and independent school governance. He later earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction (Urban Education) from UNC Charlotte, and is currently Assistant Clinical Professor Education in the Cato College of Education at UNC Charlotte. Nick lives in Charlotte, NC with my wife and three children and enjoys doing anything outside, but especially hiking, climbing, fishing, carpentry, and spending time in the garden.