A Chicago native, Father Foley entered the Society of Jesus in 1954. He earned a BA in Latin from Xavier University in Cincinnati and holds an MA in Sociology and M.Ed. from Loyola University in Chicago . From 1961 to 1995 he served the Jesuit missions in Peru , working primarily in education. He served as President of two of Peru 's Jesuit K-12 schools.

He returned to Chicago in 1995 to collaborate in establishing Cristo Rey Jesuit High School . He was named President of the school in 1996 and served for eight years. During his tenure, he oversaw the effort to establish the school, hiring of all personnel, student recruitment, and the construction of 150,000 square feet of classroom and recreation space. Father Foley raised more than $26 million during this eight year term and left Cristo Rey Jesuit High School with a $2 million endowment. More importantly, he established the tradition and spirit of a school that has become a national model. In January of 2005, he assumed the presidency of the Cristo Rey Network and is responsible for managing its day-to-day programs and activities.

The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) awarded Father Foley the Seton Award in 2007.  The award is given to individuals whose service has had a positive impact on Catholic education.  He has also received an honorary Doctorate in Education from Georgetown University.

Fr. Foley was featured in Fast Company in April 2006 and named in Newsweek 's "Who's Next for 2007.

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President

Biography>> 

Mr. Birdsell joined the Cristo Rey Network on October 1, 2007. Prior to joining the Cristo Rey Network, Mr. Birdsell was a Managing Vice President with Eduventures, an industry leader in educational research and consulting. Before Eduventures, Mr. Birdsell was a Managing Director at Clark Consulting, a human capital consulting firm. Mr. Birdsell also taught English Literature for seven years at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee , Wisconsin and at Loyola High School in Los Angeles .

Mr. Birdsell has been involved in the Cristo Rey movement for many years. He worked on the feasibility study to start Chicago 's second Cristo Rey High School , has been a member of the Leadership Advisory Council at the original Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago , and was involved with the start of Cleveland 's Cristo Rey high school, St. Martin de Porres.

Mr. Birdsell will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Cristo Rey Network central office, including oversight of all programs, conferences and trainings for the 19 member schools.

Jeff Thielman
Vice President for Development & New Initiatives,
Biography>>

Since 2001, Mr. Thielman has overseen 28 feasibility studies and the start-up of 19 schools that have sought to replicate Cristo Rey Jesuit High School of Chicago.  In addition he has directed the Network’s national fundraising effort, which has netted $33 million for new school start-ups and Network programs.

He served as Director of Development for Cristo Rey Jesuit High School of Chicago from 1998-2000, overseeing the school’s first capital campaign, a successful $18 million effort.  In 2000, Mr. Thielman became the Executive Director of the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation (CEIF), which funds Cristo Rey and NativityMiguel middle schools in low-income communities across the country.  In 2002, he worked with the leaders of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and the Chicago Province of Jesuits to establish the Cristo Rey Network, which is responsible for guiding the growth of the Cristo Rey movement. 

Mr. Thielman is a 1985 graduate of Boston College and a 1992 graduate of Boston College Law School. He worked as a trial attorney and in sales with Northwestern Mutual Life prior to joining Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.  From 1985 to 1989 he served as a Jesuit International Volunteer in Tacna, Peru, where he founded the Cristo Rey Center for the Working Child, which provides outreach services to 300 working street children and their families. He is the co-author of Volunteer: With the Poor in Peru, a chronicle of the founding of the Center for the Working Child.  Mr. Thielman is a member of the Board of Trustees of Cristo Rey New York High School and Notre Dame High School of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Christine, and their son, Aidan, live in Arlington, Massachusetts, where he serves on the Town’s School Committee.

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Judy Coates , Ph. D.,
Vice President for Academics
Biography>>

Judith M. Coates, Ph.D . received her B.A. in Social Science, M.Ed. in Multicultural Curriculum and Instruction, and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago. She was honored with distinction for her dissertation, "The Art of Creating a School: The Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy." To date, it is the only known research study detailing the definitive steps necessary to create a new high school.

Most recently, Dr. Coates was the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction in Flagstaff, Arizona (eleven thousand students, twelve K-6 schools, three middle schools, three high schools), and served as principal of two alternative schools for at-risk youth (95% Navajo). Her responsibilities included the management and renovation of district wide programs including Special Education, Indian Education, Curriculum Assessment and Development, Academic Assessment, Vocational Training, Music & Art, Summer Enrichment Programs.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Coates studied for two years at the Loyola University Rome Center in Italy . After university, she spent time with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) as a Coordinator of their Cooperative Education Program, P.M. Haeger and Associates, and Aon Corporation as Assistant Vice President of Management Training and Development. Within education, she returned has served as the Assistant Principal of Cathedral High School, (a private school educating economically disadvantaged, first generation pre-university students;) and later became the Assistant Principal of Lincoln Junior High School in District 69, Skokie/Morton Grove, Illinois. She was promoted to District Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, to assess and redesign the K-8 curriculum to respond to the increasingly multicultural student population.

Dr. Coates has designed curriculum and staff development programs for the Chicago Public Schools; the Golden Apple Foundation; the American Indian Business Association; Junior Achievement, Northeastern Illinois University; University of Illinois at Chicago; the Kayenta School District on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

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Frank Brightwell
Director of Post-Secondary Education
Biography>>

Frank Brightwell has been a high school college counselor and an educational consultant to schools, colleges and families for nearly twenty years. Frank was involved with Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago in its founding year, while he was on sabbatical from Georgetown Preparatory School . Ten years later he returned to the Cristo Rey Network as Director of Postsecondary Education. In that capacity, Frank works with the Network schools and Cristo Rey students not only on access issues, but also on retention and tracking Cristo Rey graduates' success in college.

In addition to his sixteen years at Georgetown Prep, most of which was spent as the school's Director of College Counseling, Frank also worked for five years in the same position at Sacred Heart Preparatory in California . He is active in professional associations and has presented and written extensively on all aspects of the high school to college transition process.

Frank is a graduate of Georgetown University , with a degree in Economics, and he holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Loyola College in Maryland . In addition to his work with Cristo Rey, Frank is also the founder and Director of Somos Amigos Medical Missions, a non-profit organization that brings medical and dental care to an underserved area in the mountains of the Dominican Republic.

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Kristy Blackmore became the Cristo Rey Network Director of Communications and Events in September of 2002. She is responsible for coordinating all visits to Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, compiling data and information on Network schools, disseminating information to Network members and those interested in starting schools, publication of Network marketing materials, website upkeep, and coordination of all Network meetings. She is available to answer questions about the work-study program, budgeting, job descriptions, scheduling and other maters.

Ms. Blackmore spent part of her time working as a member of the Corporate Internship Program team in Chicago, enabling her to learn the intricacies of the work-study program. In addition to her Network responsibilities, Ms. Blackmore helps coordinate the Ambassador Program at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, through which students host visitors, give school tours, meet with and answer questions from prospective students, and provide other needed services at school. Kristy also helps the schools with the work study summer trainings.

Ms. Blackmore is a 1993 Graduate of Marquette University, where she majored in Elementary Education. She worked for two years as a pre-school and kindergarten teacher in Chicago before taking a position at a recruiting firm. She spent two years working in training and sales at an educational media firm before joining the Cristo Rey team.

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