Meet Our Team

Lisa Speransky

Founder & CEO

Lisa is a 3-time CEO and business leader driven by mission, people, and results. A lifelong entrepreneur, she started IVY as a student at Columbia University 21 years ago. After graduation, she joined corporate America and spent 13 years working in innovation-driven consumer products, including stints as the CEO of divisions of two baby product brands, BabyBjorn and BÉABA. She returned as CEO of Ivy Tutors Network in 2019 and continues to be passionate about imparting, what is for her, a “generations-deep” growth mindset on future generations of learners. Lisa strongly leads with the belief that "education is not one-size-fits-all" and, therefore, that a mentor relationship can replace academic anxiety and frustration with confidence and love for learning.

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.

Katya Seberson

Head of Test Prep

Katya Seberson, known for her dynamic teaching methods and exceptional results, has guided over 10,000 students to academic excellence in the past 12 years. As a perfect SAT scorer herself, Katya takes the exam twice annually to stay at the forefront of test strategies and changes. Her popular SAT membership program, based on the self-titled Seberson Method, boasts an average student score improvement of 150 points in just three months, helping students gain admission to all Ivy League schools and other top-tier institutions.

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).

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!).

Claire Long

College Admissions Counselor & School Programs Manager

With a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master's of Education, Claire has over 20 years of experience teaching writing, including at Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and a decade specializing in college counseling and application development. Claire prides herself in getting students to produce their absolute best work while also actually enjoying the process. She has been a teacher and counselor in many school districts across the US and currently works with our 9th to 11th grade students to help them develop their unique stories.

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.

Lilian Rebelo

Education Specialist

Lilian attended Fordham University, where she received a double major in Theatre and Latin American Studies. She has experience working as a substitute teacher for students of all ages, in all subjects, in both public and private schools, and as a one-on-one tutor. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, and she loves to learn just as much as she loves to teach!

Sylvie Eisips

Mock Test Coordinator

Sylvie was raised multicultural and multilingual with a passion for learning and deep curiosity. She speaks English, Spanish, and Hebrew, and has years of experience working with students ages 5-18 across many different subjects, including math, science, essay-writing, Spanish, and even teaching circus arts at Cirque San Jose. After graduating from high school as valedictorian and scoring 34 (out of 36) on the ACT. She attended Fordham University on a full scholarship, graduating summa cum laude. Sylvie believes in leaning into the intersection of subject matters, using her unique skillset to connect students’ classwork with their passions to help motivate and inspire the next generation of learners.

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.

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.

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.