Nicolas Combemale, CEO

A co-founder of Access America Prep, Nick’s entrepreneurial background includes over 12 years of educational and senior corporate management experience. Most recently he was COO of the Ross Institute for Advanced Study and Innovation in Education. He focused on managing the growth of Ross Institute member schools establishing Ross Institute as an international educational accrediting body, and fostering Ross Institute Academy as a provider of teacher professional development. He led the design and implementation of the unique Ross summer camp program. As CEO of Alper Holdings, Nick led the successful turnaround of a $1B group of companies, after a successful career as an investment banker at Nomura Securites and PaineWebber International. Nick holds a BA from Hamilton College.

 

Jay Lipman, Director of Testing and Curriculum

In 2003 Jay founded the Test Your Best brand of individualized test prep instruction for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, ISEE, and SSAT for private school and college applicants and the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT for graduate school applicants that continues as the one-to-one brand of tutoring for Access America Prep. Jay developed a highly successful curriculum and recruited and trained high-caliber tutors to work with the company’s clientele. Prior to this, Jay developed curriculum and training programs for Kaplan Test Prep. He actively participated in conceptualizing and implementing ongoing curriculum changes for various standardized test preparation courses and was one of a select few at the company asked to consult on the redevelopment of the company’s national teacher training program. Jay graduated from the New York University School of Law and maintains his membership in the Connecticut Bar Association.

 

Donna Zilkha, Director of College Strategy

Donna graduated from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and Columbia Law School. After a 10- year career as a lawyer, she became involved in school policy in France. In 2001, as head of PEEP, a public interest group representing parents of students in public education, she lead the fight for mandatory dyslexia screening for first grade students and specialized teaching assistance for dyslexic students. She served as head of the parents’ association of the public school system (10 schools/5,000 students) and sat on the Board of Education in Neuilly, France. She was treasurer of the board of the American Library in Paris and an official in the French National Swim Association. Donna sits on several school boards in New York City and has been counseling parents on college choices since 2005.

 

Stephen Carter, Director of International Marketing and Student Recruitment

Prior to joining AAP, Mr. Carter was the Director of Admissions, Asia for the Leysin American School “LAS”. Since 2004 he was responsible for recruiting international high school students and summer program students in Asia for LAS. He established offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Almaty (Kazakhstan) and created the brand image for LAS in Asia. Every year he was in this position Mr. Carter exceeded his quotas for recruitment.

Prior to 2004 he spent several years as the coordinator of Business Development for the Anglo-Continental Education Group. In this position Mr. Carter was responsible for international marketing and student recruitment with a particular focus on Europe, CIS and Middle East.

 

 

Elizabeth A. Hochman

Elizabeth Hochman has lived in Paris for over 20 years, advising companies and individuals on investment, regulatory and relocation issues. She is active in the American community in Paris and is on the board of several non-profit arts and communications organizations. She has an active and long-standing interest in studying educational systems and helping prepare students for university study in the US.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the Spence School and Harvard College and has a Masters degree from the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as well as a JD from Columbia Law School.

 

Timothy James Kelley
Director, International School of Stuttgart

Timothy Kelley, the Director of the International School of Stuttgart, an International Baccalaureate World School, has been an educator for over 20 years. Formerly the Head of School at Ross School in East Hampton, NY, Tim has also served as the Headmaster for the Leysin American School in Switzerland. He began his career at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA, where he was an award-winning teacher and served as Department Chair for both the History and Performing Arts departments. He subsequently became an international educator, visiting schools all over the world as both an advocate for 21st century education, an accreditation officer for the Commission on American and International Schools Abroad, and as an Admissions officer, prior to his becoming Headmaster in Leysin.

In Switzerland, as a member of the Executive Committee for the Swiss Group of International Schools, Tim directed conferences and was responsible for in-depth studies of technology integration in the classroom and mother tongue proficiency. Tim has recently been elected to the Board of the Association of German International Schools and is a member of the Academy for International School Heads.

 

Dr. Vladimir D. Kuskovski
Headmaster, International School Hamburg

Dr. Kuskovski has been involved internationally as an educator for most of his career and now serves as the Headmaster of the International School in Hamburg. Vladimir has broad experience recruiting international students both for his current school and in previous positions. He has also worked in a supervisory capacity overseeing the international student enrollment of summer programs. In addition, he is a master linguist with fluency in three languages and a working knowledge of several more.

Vladimir serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Council of International Schools, one of the largest international school accrediting bodies, the Association of German International Schools and the Partnership for Education for Children of Afghanistan. He is also an accomplished athlete having won the Gold Medal in Team Rowing at the Goodwill Games in Moscow.

 

Michael Preston
Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Business

Professor Michael Preston has over 35 years of management consulting experience and teaches at the Entrepreneurship Program of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. His professional and academic expertise encompasses leadership, strategy and organization, management development, succession planning and change management. He co-authored The Road to Success, How to Manage Growth (John Wiley & Sons, 1998) and speaks to various audiences on topics related to management and organizational growth.

Michael advises corporate executives on growth management, consults to family businesses on transition and organization issues, acts as an executive coach and performs high-level special projects for corporate officers and directors. He sits on the boards of several companies and also works with entrepreneurs on the establishment and management of new ventures. Professor Preston is active on the Board of FEGS Health and Human Services System. He is the Co-Founder and Director of the Cherkin Preston Foundation whose mission is to help educate children in Kenya.

 

Lixing (Frank) Tang
Clinical Professor of Foreign Language Education
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Professor Tang has been teaching English as a second/foreign language in both secondary schools and colleges in China and the United States for over 30 years. He has also been a teacher trainer and professor at Shanghai Teachers University, Baruch College–The City University of New York and New York University.

Frank is currently Director of Multilingual Multicultural Studies, which is comprised of Programs of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL), Bilingual Education and Foreign Language Education. His research interest includes second/foreign language teaching methodology, second language reading strategy, learning strategies and cross-cultural studies.

 

Daniel Zenkel
Partner, The Camp Professionals, and President, DZ Camp Enterprises

Daniel Zenkel is a partner in The Camp Professionals, which provides consulting and investment banking services to summer camp owners and professionals, and is President of DZ Camp Enterprises, which owns an overnight summer camp in Otis, MA. Daniel was one of the founders of CampGroup, which owns and operates thirteen summer camps for children in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Michigan and is the country’s largest, for-profit owner/operator of summer camps. He served as CampGroup’s President at inception in April 1998 and as its CEO from 2000 until February 2009. Daniel personally oversaw the acquisition, integration and start-up of the company’s thirteen camps and of several related businesses. Currently Daniel sits on the Board of the New York Section of the American Camping Association and is President of SCOPE, a leading camp charity that provides camp scholarships to underprivileged children. He has presented at numerous camp industry conferences and authored several articles for industry publications.

Prior to joining CampGroup, Daniel practiced law and was active in real estate development and management. He served as a law clerk to a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York and as a legislative assistant to two members of the United States House of Representatives. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Columbia Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Columbia Law Review.