
Rachel Kaganoff Stern
Chief Executive Officer
She spent five years as a board member and member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance for College Ready Schools, and served for eleven years on the Women in Leadership Steering Committee at Princeton University. She is the former Co-Chair of the Women’s Political Committee, a Los Angeles-based political action committee that raises money for Democratic women candidates for office. She was a long-time member of the Board of Planned Parenthood’s Advocacy Project.
Rachel spent 15 years as an Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. She worked across a number of research areas including health care, civil justice, and national security policy. Her primary responsibilities were to design and implement case studies. Her final project at RAND was a two-year study evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the programs used to compensate losses resulting from the September 11 Terrorist Attacks (*Compensation for Losses from the 9/11 Attacks, *RAND 2004). Prior to working at RAND Rachel spent two years working as a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Washington, D.C. Rachel graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University and has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University.
She is married to Eric. H. Stern (Berkeley ’87) and the mother of Henri and Jonah Stern (20 & 18). Rachel was a member of JSA from 1978 to 1982, serving on State Cabinet in a number of positions, and as Chapter President at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. She attended Summer School at U.C. Davis in 1980, and attended the first Washington D.C. Summer School in 1981. She worked as a Resident Advisor for the Junior State at UC Davis, Stanford and Georgetown, and in 2014 she served as Interim Program Director for the Southern California region.
Both of her children have been avid participants in the Junior State. Her eldest son Henri Stern, served as the Angeles Region Mayor and the Director of Debate for Southern California Junior State. Henri attended JSA Summer School at Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, and JSA’s Diplomat Program in Beijing, China. Henri is now a junior at Stanford University. Jonah Stern is very active in JSA as well, and has spent the last three years serving on the Southern California JSA Cabinet. He is President of the Buckley School JSA Chapter.
Programs

TaKeisha Walker
Chief Program Officer
TaKeisha S. Walker is an organizational and programmatic leader who lends her expertise to improving and sustaining nonprofits and other social impact organizations. Her diverse career has included leading strategic planning, selecting and implementing new technologies, and developing performance assessment procedures. Under her programmatic leadership, nonprofits have executed a variety of initiatives including an internship program that provided youth with disabilities their first meaningful work experience in Washington DC and professional development opportunities for healthcare providers aimed at systemizing the guidelines based care of pediatric asthma.
TaKeisha holds a Master of Science in Management and Marketing from the University of Maryland University College, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of Missouri Kansas City, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communications from the University of Tulsa. She is also a certified professional development facilitator.

Bradley Hill
Director of Growth & Strategic Partnership
his interest in equity and education. He remains a passionate, creative, ambitious
visionary with over a decade of experience engaging and collaborating with
communities through delivering high-impact programming and evaluation in the
nonprofit and educational arena. Bradley approaches the work with his love of
relationships, people, and the collective well-being at the center.
He received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Georgia and a Master’s
Degree in Social Policy from Georgia State University.
Currently, he resides in the Bay Area, now living in Richmond, CA. He served as the
Director of School and Community Engagement and as a mentor over the last eight
years of his career at Summer Search, a national nonprofit supporting youth in
socio-emotional learning, positive identity development, and college/career access.
He joins JSA in February 2020 as the Director of Growth and Strategic Partnership.
JSA’s mission of deepening civic engagement and leadership among youth motivates
and energizes him. He looks forward to collaborating with partners across the
country as well as supporting student voices in the democratic process, especially
for those underrepresented in politics.
During his off time, Bradley enjoys spending time hiking and exploring the world
with his wonderful partner, expanding his passion/collection of horticultural life,
watching Atlanta sports lose, and playing dominos with friends around the Bay
Area.

Ed Banayat
Senior Program Director: Territories, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest, Texas, Northern California, and Arizona
Originally from Elk Grove, California, he was the President of the Elk Grove High School JSA Chapter. He has worn many hats in his professional career, from matching funds auditing for presidential campaigns, working as a Marketing Director for Kaplan, Inc. to small business consulting. Prior to returning to JSA, he was the President/CEO of the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce.
Ed received his B.A. in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from Notre Dame de Namur University. He likes to spend his spare time boxing, biking, surfing, snowboarding, playing rugby and the stereo. You may find him outdoors hiking with his dog Elko. Ed currently resides in Palo Alto, CA.

Andee Steinman
Senior Program Director: Southern California. Midwest, Ohio River Valley, North East, South East
In addition to her work with JSA, Andee is the Founder and President of the College Admissions Partnership, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality college admissions guidance to underserved students in the Coachella Valley.
Andee started her own educational experience at College of the Desert where she served as the Vice President of the Associated Students, and was honored at the annual Women’s History Month celebration for her work in transforming the campus’s aging library into a Student Center. She later transferred to and earned her BA from UCLA in Political Science with an emphasis in American Government. In 2019, Andee completed her Doctorate in Education and Administration at UCLA.
Born in Los Angeles, Andee grew up in the great state of Alaska. She and her husband James later returned to Southern California where they have lived with their son for more than 20 years. If you follow her on Instagram, you will see that beyond her passion for JSA and student activism, she is an avid knitter and cook.

Colette Ankenman
Program Manager
Colette’s personal early experience with community engagement in middle and high school was extremely transformative and shaped her education and career path. These community engagement opportunities lead her to found a non-profit, Baragwanath Blessings Inc., while in high school which she continues to run today. Colette is excited to join the JSA team and support youth in making a positive impact on local and global communities.
Colette was born and raised in the Bay Area. She has a Master’s of Science Degree in Child Development from UC Davis and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Human Development & Family Studies and Consumer & Community Studies from the University of Utah. Colette is also continuing her studies pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Saint Mary’s College of California. Her main areas of study and research are youth service-learning and community engagement, which align strongly with JSA’s work.
Operations

Derek Dettorre
Chief Operating Officer
Prior to JSA, Derek worked as an Assistant Baseball Coach for his alma mater, Wesleyan University (CT), where he was also a four-year infielder, Captain, and was chosen for the conference All-Sportsmanship Team in his senior season. Derek received his BA in Economics from Wesleyan and was nominated to join The International Economics Honor Society – Omicron Delta Epsilon. He also spent a semester abroad in the UK at the University of Kent, where he studied Comparative Political and Economic Theory.
Originally from the great state of Massachusetts, Derek attributes much of his desire and inspiration for furthering the JSA mission to his parents, who have dedicated their lives, as educators and coaches, to preparing and cultivating our youth for a better future.

Gabrielle McNamara
Student Services Coordinator (CA Office)
Finance

Adrienne Torf
Chief Finance Officer
Adrienne worked as a studio and touring musician for a number of years before earning her MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Smith College and Stanford University, from which she graduated with a B.A in Political Science.

Simon Muturi
Director of Finance
In his spare time, Simon enjoys crafting, biking, reading, word games, and volunteering in organizations that serve the community.
Development

Susan Freundlich
Interim Chief Development Officer
Partnering with colleagues Susan has raised millions of dollars to advance educational opportunity, racial equity, disability and human rights. She is also a certified leadership coach and loves working with individuals and teams to achieve their goals and tell stories that bring together fundraising, communications and practicality with their desire to create change.
Susan pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees at Denver University in working with Deaf people as well as others with language and hearing disabilities and went on to become one of the primary innovators of the bridge building work of making concerts and theater accessible to Deaf people through sign language interpretation. She worked extensively with the New York Shakespeare Festival and was a member of the Broadway company of Children of a Lesser God.

Elliot Bell-Krasner
Development Manager
Prior to joining the JSA team, Elliot spent six years working with the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), a nonpartisan nonprofit that conducts international political exchange programs around the country and the world. He also worked on President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns and with Summer Discovery UPenn, a pre-college program for high school students.
Elliot received his bachelor’s degree in political science from The George Washington University, where he was active in student government and Model UN. He also studied abroad at the Royal Holloway University of London. He has his master’s degree in public policy from American University, where he served as the President of the graduate student body.
A native of Massachusetts, Elliot is a diehard fan of the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. He currently lives in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife and teammate, Emily, and their giant mini-Schnauzer, Merlin. Outside of JSA, Elliot is a Sunday school teacher with Temple Rodef Shalom Religious School, a member of the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission, and serves on the American University Alumni Association Board.
Elliot has been passionate about government and politics from a young age and is excited to support JSA’s mission to provide opportunities for high school students to learn critical leadership skills and engage in debates on current events, while encouraging them to make a positive difference in their communities and the country

Saryn Francis
Communications Manager
Saryn has a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University and an MPS (Master’s in Professional Studies) from Georgetown University in Public Relations and Corporate Communications. She was born in Plano, Texas, but raised in the United States Virgin Islands.