Advisors
Inés Kudó
I am an education specialist and psychologist. I have a degree in psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and a master's degree in International Education Policy from Harvard University. For 10 years I led the World Bank's education portfolio in Peru, working on improving the quality of public education and learning, social-emotional education, school violence prevention, and decentralized educational management and financing with a focus on results. I am a Council Member at the National Education Council, from where I hope to continue contributing to the improvement of educational policies for the 21st century in our country.
Lea Sulmont
I am an educator. I have a degree in Teaching and a PhD in Educational Sciences from the University of Science and Technology of Lille (France). My passion is the integration of technologies in education, pedagogical innovation and teacher training. I have experience in managing virtual education projects, developing digital materials and teacher development. I was Council Member at the National Council of Education from 2016 to 2020.
I have been mainly focused on the training of trainers in pedagogy and use of technologies in education. In addition, I work as a consultant in Learning Systems Design.
External Advisors
Jeff Sandefer
Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a teacher. As an entrepreneur, he founded several successful companies -- his first at age 16.
As a Socratic Teacher at the University of Texas, Jeff was voted five times as the school’s Outstanding Teacher by his students, and Businessweek named him one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in America.
In 2010 Jeff and his wife Laura started Acton Academy, a cutting edge K12 school that blends a one room schoolhouse, the Socratic Method and 21st century technology to equip each student to change the world.
Jeff is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he served for over twenty years on the school’s governing committees. He was a longtime director of National Review magazine and Philanthropy Roundtable and is one of the youngest members ever elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
Laura Sandefer
Raised by a science teacher and minister, Laura lived on both coasts and in between as a child, then landed at Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Science.
After working in London and New York City in the aviation insurance business, Laura yearned to follow her heart into the world of teaching. She went back to Vanderbilt’s renowned Peabody College and received her Master of Education. This led her to work in arts education at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. Laura later married Jeff Sandefer and has two sons and a step-daughter. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to co-found Acton Academy.
Her greatest hero is her beloved late mother who was a Master Teacher as none other. Her wisest mentor is her father who sent her off to college with two words of advice: “Be curious.”