Meet the Team
Dana M. Wheeler
Program Director, Educator Career Pathways
Dana M. Wheeler is the Program Director of Educator Career Pathways at ExpandED Schools, Inc. In that role, she provides support to aspiring teachers and leads a working group dedicated forging connections between ExpandED’s career development initiatives and NYC's teacher pipeline services and organizations. Prior to this, she was the Director of Education and Program Development for 25+ afterschool and summer day camp programs in NYC at the Police Athletic League, Inc. Furthermore, she holds the position of Representative-At-Large for Bank Street College of Education’s Alumni Association Board. Ms. Wheeler recently earned a Master of Education Policy and Leadership from American University, complementing her existing qualifications in Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education and Business Administration/Marketing from Drexel University.
Melanie Ojefua
Vice President of High-Impact Tutoring
Before working at ExpandED Schools, Melanie worked at Achievement First as the Director of 5-8 Math Innovation, where she spent the last three years developing, implementing, and scaling a culturally responsive middle school math program across a network of schools. Prior to Achievement First, Melanie spent ten years at the NYCDOE, where she worked as a special education teacher; a central office leader who helped lead citywide implementation of the common core standards and engaged schools in collaborative action research and learning; and as a middle school assistant principal. Melanie holds a Master of Social Work degree from Boston University, a Master of Special Education from Brooklyn College, and a Master in Educational Leadership from Baruch College.