Meet Our Team

Lisa Speransky

Founder & CEO

Lisa grew up in New York City, attending specialized public schools P.S. 87, Delta (MS 54) and Bronx Science, and Columbia University. Through years of her own experience as a well-known tutor and mentor in NYC, she came to understand how a tutoring relationship can be life-changing for a student and began expanding her company in 2003. Lisa also enjoyed a 13-year corporate career in consumer products, spending 3 of those years in a C-level role before returning to IVY to pursue her mission to help students find joy in learning.

John Morganelli, Jr.

Director of College Admissions

John, a former Director of Admissions at Cornell University, helps students get into the most competitive US colleges using proprietary methods and an ethos and independent study-driven approach. Our coaches utilize John's methods to achieve fantastic and stress-free results for our clients. John is passionate about higher education and has held senior admissions leadership positions at: Cornell University, Lehigh University, and Moravian University. John is also the author of “Growing Ivy: How to Crack the Code on Elite College Admissions” (2021).

Viktorija Spencer

Managing Director

Like Lisa, Viktorija also grew up in New York City, attending top-tier public schools including P.S. 199, Delta (M.S. 54), The Beacon School, and SUNY Binghamton. After graduating, Viktorija taught elementary education in a variety of settings, ranging from public to private schools, traditional to Montessori classrooms, and everything in between. Viktorija also has international education experience, having served as an English Teacher for Italian students and later as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction in Florence, Italy. Viktorija’s global teaching and leadership experience enables her to connect students with the best suited tutors and mentors that closely fit their educational and holistic needs. The learning process should be fun, and Viktorija strives to create gratifying learning experiences for all students.

Claire Mack

School Relations Manager

Hailing from the chilly city of Chicago, Claire has always been passionate about education and helping others succeed. Her mother, an English teacher, instilled in her a love of reading, writing, and teaching at a young age. For over four years, Claire has been committed to helping students in the public school system improve their study skills and prepare for exams. Her favorite part of teaching is seeing kids have breakthroughs in their testing abilities, when they figure out how to play the game. She knows how to make learning fun and values the time she gets to connect with students, teachers, and administrators. When she's not in class or tutoring, Claire can be found performing on stage and screen or exploring the city with friends. She's an avid reader, a lover of pets, and a killer opera singer.

Luke Sisselman

Education Specialist

Raised in Portland, Maine and educated in Boston, Luke earned degrees in English and Theater at Northeastern University. After graduating, he journeyed West to follow his passion for entertainment. There he worked for The Blank Theatre, The Laugh Factory, and The Oscars. The search for something more meaningful led Luke to the world of tutoring—where he could blend his expertise in education with his penchant for performance. In 2023, Luke joined the IVY team. His aspiration is to continue providing the invaluable service of tutoring to as many students as possible.

Rick Sanford

Operations

Rick has extensive and diverse experience in education organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit. He's co-founded, developed and/or supported programs at the intersections of education, personal growth and the arts for over 15 years. Rick is passionate about creating inclusive, safe, and brave spaces that nurture and empower learners to show up authentically, take risks and collaborate. He's not only our operations guru, but also trained in coaching and consulting through an M.S. in Organizational Change Management, with continuing education in financial and management skills, adult education, improvisational theatre and communication skills.

Justin Taylor

College Essay Director

Originally from San Francisco, Justin has a Masters in dramatic literature from the Sorbonne (Paris) and an MFA in playwriting from Yale. For more than ten years, he has helped hundreds of students boost their scores as a test prep tutor (SAT/ACT, SAT/AP French) and boost their admissions prospects as a college application consultant and currently leads our popular College Essay Bootcamp. Yale, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Boston College, and NYU are some recent admits for happy students. He has taught writing at Yale University, Wesleyan University, the Sorbonne, in high schools and privately throughout New York City with all ages. He is also a professional meditation teacher and loves sharing meditation hacks (ask him about being the meditation teacher for Facebook). When Justin is not helping people with their educational dreams, he is working on his plays in NYC (he has written more than 20!).

Teresa Fraguada

Senior SHSAT Advisor

Teresa is a born and bred New Yorker who is familiar with going to school in the city, having attended Stuyvesant. After graduating from Brown University, she moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands to work in education for the next 14 years. Teresa just earned her Masters in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College Columbia, where she is focusing on the social and neurocognitive processes of learning. She has helped countless students find success in everything from learning how to read, passing a challenging course, or scoring their best on a standardized test. Her years of experience teaching multiple subjects and working with different styles of learners, including those with learning differences, make her adept at tailoring her tutoring sessions to the specific needs of each student. She believes all students can succeed if their learning is supported by a knowledgeable and caring educator who encourages hard work, but also encourages curiosity and fun. In her free time she loves all things water, especially snorkeling, and all things dance, from ballet to hip-hop to salsa.

Katie Miller

Public High School Admissions Advisor

Education and Admissions Consultant, Katie Miller, has been advocating for parents and children in public school education for the last 12 years, when her now 12th grader began kindergarten at P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side. Katie is an expert on navigating the complex NYC public school admissions process and works closely with families to ensure they feel confident, informed and supported. Katie also works extensively with students on essays, personal statements, and supporting documents for public school, independent school, and college admissions. She has also served in a number of volunteer positions at her children’s public schools, and is currently serving as the Vice President of Middle School on the WESS Parents Association Board. Before her career as an education consultant, Katie was the Director of Civil Justice at Common Good, and a Litigation Associate at Cleary Gottlieb. Katie graduated from Amherst College and received a joint J.D./ M.A. from Cornell Law School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Katie lives in Morningside Heights with her husband, three children and a golden retriever named Tess.