Jim Griffin is the founding President of Momentum. Mr. Griffin has been involved in advocacy for charter schools, equitable charter school facilities and funding, and charter school designated as alternative education campuses (AECs) since the early 1990’s. Mr. Griffin was the founding president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, where he was involved in the writing of numerous policies that designated AECs as schools needing special consideration under the state accountability system, as well as gaining Colorado charter schools access to local bond funds and other. Jim developed the first ever comprehensive survey of charter school facilities for Colorado, which later saw national application through the Building Charter School Quality Project. Continuing to promote quality data and analyses as the keys to shaping effective policy, Mr. Griffin co-founded Momentum, where both alternative school accountability and charter school facilities and facility funding remain the focal points of his work.

Dr. Jody Ernst is the founding Vice President of Research and Policy Analytics for Momentum. Jody works with Momentum’s data team to provide research and evaluation work for schools, networks, districts, charter school authorizers, and state departments of education, generates original research reports, and oversees the data collection and maintenance of Momentum’s databases. Jody also works with these same organizations to select measures and metrics that are appropriate for accountability, particularly for AECs and other schools that are not well measured by traditional accountability system metrics. Prior to Momentum, Jody was the Senior Director of Research and Performance Management for the Colorado League of Charter Schools Jody received her B.A. from Mills College and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Brooke Quisenberry is the Senior Research Associate for Momentum Strategy & Research. Ms. Quisenberry joined the Momentum team in 2019 after years of providing consulting services while working toward her graduate degree in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from the College of Education at Michigan State University. Ms. Quisenberry’s research and evaluation work supports all of Momentum’s strategic initiatives and client engagements—from collecting publicly available data on school performance and public policy to providing student level data analysis to inform schools’ continuous improvement efforts. Ms. Quisenberry also prepares analysis and reports for Momentum’s grant-supported projects.

Troy is a former social studies teacher turned principal from Red Canyon High School (an AEC in Eagle County, CO) where he spent 20 of his nearly 30-year career in public education. Troy leads and manages Momentum’s Colorado AEC related grant activities, Diagnostic Reviews, and other AEC engagement activities. Troy received his B.A. in secondary education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his M.A. in educational leadership from Adams State University.