Meet our team
Meet Ridgeline's founding team and board
Our Founding Team
Ridgeline co-founders Aiyana Mourtos, Pat O'Donnell, Erick Roa, and Bonnie Shea share a conviction that every young person, especially those from underserved communities, should have the information, real-world experience, and network to find meaningful work. And that the education and employment systems should work together to make that possible.
We design programs that inspire and prepare young people aged 16-22 – and we build strategies and systems with partners and employers for the pathways to succeed at scale. If this work interests you, we're excited to connect.
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Aiyana Mourtos co-founded Ridgeline on a simple belief: everyone deserves the opportunity to do work that matters to them and build financial freedom doing it. As the organization’s program architect, she designs career pathways and forges connections between employers, colleges, and schools to bring that vision to life for young people in the Bay Area.
Aiyana has worked at every level of the system she’s now trying to change. Most recently, as Chief Program Officer at Making Waves Education Foundation, she led a college and career success program where underrepresented students consistently beat the odds, achieving a 70% graduation rate and 85% debt-free completion. Before that, she served as Chief of Staff to the Chancellor at DC Public Schools, where she redesigned graduation and post-secondary planning systems and led the district’s COVID-19 response–reopening all 117 schools first in the region. Earlier in her career, she held roles in Oakland Unified School District and began as an elementary teacher in Newark Public Schools, where she instilled in students a love of reading – still one of her proudest accomplishments.
She is an alumna of Teach For America and the Center for Public Research and Leadership program at Columbia Law School and holds an M.A. from New York University and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.
Email: aiyana@ridgelinepathways.org
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Pat O'Donnell co-founded Ridgeline with a belief he first learned from his students when he was a teacher: every young person has extraordinary potential and deserves the opportunity to discover who they are, pursue their purpose, and thrive. As CEO, he brings together employers, colleges, and high schools to build career pathways into high-demand, high-wage careers – connecting students to opportunity and employers to talent across the Bay Area.
A lifelong learner and unwavering optimist, Pat has spent his career asking what it would actually take to make the system work for everyone – and then taking action. As CEO of Making Waves Education Foundation, he led the organization to support historically underserved students on their journey from high school to college and into meaningful careers. Before that, he served as Executive Director of Teach For America – Indianapolis and as Vice President on the organization's National Development team, working to expand educational opportunity and build the talent pipeline schools needed to thrive. He began as a teacher in Los Angeles, where an amazing group of 7th and 8th graders showed him what young people are capable of, and inspired him to spend his career creating the conditions and systems that allow them to thrive.
Pat is a Pahara Fellow and an alumnus of Teach For America. He holds an MBA and M.A. from Georgetown University, an M.A. Loyola Marymount University, and a B.A. from Boston College.
Email: pat@ridgelinepathways.org
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Erick Roa co-founded Ridgeline with the vision that young people deserve to be treated as capable decision-makers: given full information, real exposure to what's possible, and the agency to chart their own path. As the organization's strategy and operations lead, he builds the infrastructure, systems, and long-term partnerships that turn ambitious goals into something that actually runs.
Erick has worked across nearly every function a nonprofit needs to succeed. He began as a high school English teacher in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY, where he first learned what young people are capable of when someone bets on them. He went on to lead ELA programs at Blue Engine, driving student achievement outcomes across 11 New York City partner schools. As a founding consultant at Promise54, he partnered with organizations nationwide to build high-impact talent and operations strategy. At Empatico, an initiative of the KIND Foundation, he led the partnerships that scaled the organization's reach from a handful of U.S. classrooms to a presence in over 50 countries. Most recently, as Chief Operating Officer at Making Waves Education Foundation, he built a team culture that earned consistently strong employee engagement, including consecutive eNPS above +50, while designing and streamlining the operations that allowed the organization to run more efficiently.
He holds an M.A. from Pace University and a B.A. from Stony Brook University. He is an Emerging Leader Program alumnus of New Leaders for New Schools, a Teach For America alumnus, and a Pahara Fellow.
Email: erick@ridgelinepathways.org
& Marketing | Co-Founder
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Bonnie Shea co-founded Ridgeline inspired by the power of mentorship and learning by doing – and in the unique value young people bring to workplaces. As Head of Communications & Marketing, Bonnie is building the Ridgeline brand from the ground up. She’s shaping Ridgeline’s positioning as a national model and leading the storytelling that connects students, employers, and funders to the work.
Her career spans a year of AmeriCorps service in Los Angeles, a decade in higher education, and five years at Making Waves Education Foundation in the Bay Area. As Executive Director of Communications & Marketing at UC Davis, she launched the global division's first communications plan and brand, served as chief writer for the vice provost, and produced publications and thought leadership that led to national and international awards. Before Ridgeline, as VP of Marketing & Storytelling at Making Waves, she revamped content strategy and developed an inclusive storytelling framework that resulted in 3-4x the traffic and engagement. A throughline in Bonnie’s career has been creating internship opportunities – which feels full circle given Ridgeline’s mission connecting education and industry.
Bonnie is an AmeriCorps Alum, a graduate of the Women's Leadership Program with the University of California and Coro California, and holds a B.S. and an MBA from Quinnipiac University.
Email: bonnie@ridgelinepathways.org
Our Founding Board
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Elissa Salas is Chief Strategy Officer at the SkillUp Coalition, a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding economic mobility for workers and learners. She leads SkillUp's strategic growth, operations, partnerships, and innovation initiatives, including tools that help individuals navigate education and career opportunities.
Prior to SkillUp, Elissa served as CEO of College Track, where she led a decade of growth that expanded the organization’s reach nationwide, strengthened outcomes for first-generation college students, and more than doubled its impact. Earlier in her career, she served as the founding Chief Academic Officer of the Girls Athletic Leadership School and as a Senior Policy Analyst for D.C. Public Schools. Elissa is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, and holds a B.A. from the University of La Verne and M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Elissa joins the Ridgeline board with a deep belief in the potential of every young person and a commitment to expanding pathways to opportunity.
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Paul Keys is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bay Ed Fund. As a first-generation college graduate, Paul has spent the last two decades working to ensure all students have access to an excellent education. Paul serves as managing partner of the Bay Ed Fund, where he supports three Bay Area school districts to envision bold change for their students, and then make that vision a reality.
Prior to this role, Paul served as the Executive Director of Teach for America, Bay Area (TFA-Bay), where he oversaw a 45% increase in incoming corps members, rebuilt teaching and learning, and doubled the organization’s reserve. During his tenure at TFA-Bay, Paul also co-founded Champions for Education, a political advocacy organization that recruits and supports high impact county board of education and assembly members. Before joining the TFA-Bay team, Paul was on the national executive leadership team at Teach For America, co-leading 50 regions across 32 states. He currently serves on the advisory committee for the San Francisco Parent Coalition.
Paul is honored to join the Ridgeline board, drawn by the organization's innovative and responsive approach to expanding access and opportunity for young people on pathways to college and career.
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Kai Kung is the CEO of San Joaquin A+, a non-profit based in Stockton, California, that collaborates with local families, educators, and workforce partners to set a vision for how the community can prepare students to be successful and responsible citizens who are doing what they love and earning what they need.
Kai was formerly a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading multiple portfolios on the K-12 Education Team. Prior to the Foundation, Kai worked on growth strategy at Edmodo, a technology startup building a K-12 social learning platform as an Education Pioneers Fellow. He also has experience in early-stage technology investing. Previously, he spent over seven years at Intel Corporation in Silicon Valley in a variety of finance and strategic planning roles, and was involved in the successful incubation, launch, and growth of a number of new business lines.
Kai is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Pahara Fellow, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, a graduate of the University of Michigan, and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Kai is excited to serve on the board of Ridgeline because he believes that regional intermediaries who can connect education and workforce systems are essential to the work of preparing young people for meaningful careers.
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