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Alicia Puente Cackley (she, her / White Mexican- American)Board Chair
A 29-year resident of Arlington, Alicia Puente Cackley serves as Chair of the Challenging Racism Board of Directors. She is a 2015 alumna of Challenging Racism: Learning How and in 2015 was a founding member of the Steering Committee that eventually established Challenging Racism as an educational non-profit organization in 2017. Alicia has served as PTA President at Key Elementary and on several APS-wide committees. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Educational Theatre Company, a non-profit dedicated to unlocking the potential of children and adults through immersion in theatre arts. Her four children all graduated from Arlington Public Schools, including Key Elementary Immersion Program and Wakefield, Washington-Lee and H.B. Woodlawn High Schools. Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from University of Michigan. Alicia was born in the United States and identifies as Mexican-American. |
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Frank Smith (he, him / White)Treasurer
Financial Reporting Manager with 20 years of diversified leadership experience in the financial service industry (Prudential and Fiserv) and project consulting experience with Raritan Building Services, St.Peter's College, ITC, Scholastic, Siemens, and Dow Jones. |
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Tish Jenkins (she, her / White European-American)Secretary
Following her participation in Challenging Racism: Learning How in 2013-14, Tish Jenkins joined the Challenging Racism Steering Committee as Secretary and then moved on to the Board of Directors. Tish chairs the Governance Committee. She volunteers teaching ESL classes to adult English language learners and has served two terms as President of the Washington-Liberty PTA and one term as President of the Swanson PTA. She is the parent of three children who attended Arlington Public Schools. Tish is Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales Director for Cyber Security firm Bandura Cyber and previously worked for Level 3 Communications and Verizon. She received a BS in Business Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She has lived in Arlington her entire adult life after college. Tish identifies as white of primarily Irish descent. |
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Tasha Harris (she, her / African-American)Tasha Harris joined the Challenging Racism board in January 2023. Harris served in the community development field for over 20 years, with a focus on affordable housing, community development, and mortgage and financial services industries. Harris joined the National Immigration Law Center as the Executive Vice President for Operations in January 2023, where she oversees Human Resources, Finance, and IT.
Prior to the National Immigration Law Center, Harris served as the vice president for program operations at NeighborWorks America and helped to establish the National Community Stabilization Trust, a national affordable housing nonprofit organization working with financial institutions and local housing providers across the U.S. to reclaim neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosure and abandonment. Harris holds a bachelor's degree from Howard University, a master's in public affairs from Princeton University, and completed the Executive Nonprofit Leadership Program at Harvard University. She also served in the Peace Corps in Botswana. In her free time, she is a volunteer with the American Diabetes Association and an avid cyclist. |
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Valerie Jean-Charles (she, her / Black Haitian-American)Valerie Jean-Charles is a communications strategist and consultant specializing in some of the most critical issues of our time, including racial justice, progress economics, gun safety, and political advocacy. Valerie is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and currently resides in Washington, D.C. She identifies as Haitian-American.
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