Staff

Violet Cole is Associate Director of CPICS, where she oversees programming and membership. She received her BA from Vassar College with a Sociology major and Education minor. Violet is committed to advocating for schools that empower youth.

Edward Rivera is the Communications Director. A graduate of Baruch College with a BBA in Marketing and a minor in Graphic Design, Edward brings his skill sets together in creating the CPICS brand through artful web design, marketing materials and newsletters. Edward maintains the CPICS website and strategizes our social media presence. His previous work includes eCommerce web design and Walt Disney World’s Disney College Program in Orlando, FL. Edward is an avid fan of the Food Network and home design shows, and has a slight obsession with Britney Spears and Beyonce.

Steven Zimmerman is the founder of CPICS. Steve has founded two charter schools in Queens—Our World Neighborhood Charter School, where he served as board chairman for five years and, most recently, Academy of the City Charter School. He was an elementary school teacher in the inner-city of Chicago during the Model Cities Program years and later worked for 15 years in educational publishing, first as a science editor and later as principal of BookLinks, a company that provides ESL, bilingual and design services for US school publishers. Steve is also the founder an educational technology startup and has spent the last several years working on a digital collaborative tool for authentic assessment.