Our team is already expanding our reach and impact!
With new team members on both the In-Prison and Post-Release side of our work, we have accomplished so much, from rebranding, with the help of Prophet, and launching Pilot 3 and the beta phase of the Resilient Professional Community. Additionally, we are on the cusp of announcing our third partner school, with two more school partnerships in the works.
Meet the Team!
Robert W. Lloyd
Chief Growth Advisor
Bob Lloyd connects strategy and operations to advance the expansion, funding, organizational scale-up, and long-term success of Resilience Education. Prior to joining Resilience, Mr. Lloyd spent nine years as co-founder and CEO of BrightSpec, Inc., a start-up company spun-out from the University of Virginia and Harvard University to serve chemical research and pharmaceutical drug development markets. MBA/MA and BA degrees from the University of Virginia; lives in Charlottesville with his wife and two sons.
Bianca Bellino
National Program Director
Bianca leads the operations, strategy and expansion of the in-prison educational curriculum for current and future university and business partners. Bianca is particularly passionate about harnessing the power of businesses for good and the intersectionality between business, racial equity, social impact and climate change. Prior to working at Resilience, Bianca worked at the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School where she helped develop the ReEntry Acceleration Program (REAP), Columbia Business School’s prison education certificate program in partnership with Resilience Education. She was a co-founder of the Directly Impacted Group at Columbia University, a group that provides support and advocacy for formerly incarcerated students, faculty, and staff and directly impacted family members on campus. She received her MPA with a focus on Advance Management and Financial and Sustainability Management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA from Goucher College in Public Policy with a minor in Latin American Studies and Women Studies.
Arica Brown
Post-Release Programs Manager
Arica is an Educator and Content Specialist. She devoted nearly a decade to teaching special education and advocating for equitable outcomes for all students. She specializes in instructional strategies for neurodiverse learners and development of curriculum and technical assistance for parents, caregivers, and educational stakeholders. Arica’s diverse content portfolio ranges from award-winning advertisements and social media campaigns, to training and reference materials for nonprofit organizations. Arica believes that everyone deserves a chance and a choice. To that end, she dedicates her skills and talents to demolishing systemic strongholds that create barriers to justice and equity. Arica holds an M.Ed. from George Mason University and a B.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Isa Bittencourt
Operations Associate
Isa is in charge of leading the project management workflow, coordinating donor relations and communications, and ensuring a smooth and streamlined process for RE’s overall operations. Isa interned with Resilience Education in the Summer of 2021 and re-joined after graduating from the University of Virginia in May of 2022 with a BA double major in Foreign Affairs and Sociology. Originally from Brazil, she has grown up surrounded by the consequences of mass incarceration and wishes to make a difference and an impact on the lives of people affected by it.
Sophia Bender Koning
Product and Technology Consultant
Sophia has focused her career on building Ed Tech apps that are both impactful and beloved. She joined Quizlet as the 5th employee and helped grow it to 50 people (and eventually ~ 850 people) and millions of happy teachers and students. She is passionate about applying the tools of the tech industry to understand users and their needs to areas and populations that are often overlooked or undervalued. She joined Resilience Education to add a technology layer to the amazing programs already happening to help this community thrive. She lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband and 2 adorable kids.
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