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Our Staff
Our dedicated staff includes 9 Literacy Specialists, 23 Teen Tutors, our Director of Operations (Andee Dunick), our Grant Writer, Brian Dineen, and our Executive Director (Rayna Dineen). Eight of our Literacy Specialists are shown here with our Executive Director. From the left, on the top row: Eli Feliciano, Hugo Castenada Serrano, and Aram Brown. Second row: Avery Armstrong, Heather Cohen and Faridah Ndiaye. Front row: Joanne Cohen, Mia Ritter Whittle and Rayna Dineen. Missing but soon to be added: Elaine Merola |
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Our Volunteer Tutors
Reading Quest also includes five adult volunteer tutors who have received extensive training in our approach to literacy and tutor young readers in Santa Fe Public Schools and our Reading Quest Center. They make a vital contribution to our work on a weekly basis.
Reading Quest also includes five adult volunteer tutors who have received extensive training in our approach to literacy and tutor young readers in Santa Fe Public Schools and our Reading Quest Center. They make a vital contribution to our work on a weekly basis.
Our Board of Directors
Connor Browne (Chair) ~ Connor is an investor. He moved to Santa Fe in 2001 and worked at Thornburg Investment Management until early 2019. He was a portfolio manager on a number of equity funds and strategies while at Thornburg. Connor has supported many non-profit organizations in town, especially Big Brothers Big Sisters Mountain Region, where he volunteered as a big brother and served on the board, most recently as Board President. Connor and his wife, Christina, are particularly focused on helping to create better opportunities for at-risk youth in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas.
Rosie Bustillos ~ Reading is Magic made all the difference for my son, when he was a 3rd grader struggling to reach a 1st grade reading level. My first language was Spanish and I struggled to provide him with the help he needed. He is now a 6th grader. He reads at grade level-- and he loves to read. Professionally, I am a registered nurse. I graduated with an Associate's degree in Nursing from Santa Fe Community College in 2009 and obtained my Bachelors of Science in Nursing at the University of New Mexico in 2013. I worked in Family Medicine at La Familia Medical Center here in Santa Fe and in intensive trauma/surgical/burn care as well as on the Wound and Ostomy Care Team at UNM Hospital. For the last two years I have been working for Christus St. Vincent Hospital as a wound care and ostomy nurse. I was fortunate to be selected to volunteer as a Wound and Burn care nurse in Nicaragua in 2015. I have been a volunteer with Reading is Magic and Reading Quest since 2014. I serve as a Spanish interpreter and translator for our Spanish-speaking families. It is my honor to give back to the program which has given so much to my son.
Jean Hinlicky, M.D. ~ Jean received her M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, then completed residency training in pediatrics and a two-year fellowship in child psychiatry/behavioral pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. During that time, she worked extensively at Kennedy Krieger Institute, a Hopkins-affiliated clinic/hospital devoted to children with multiple developmental challenges including trouble with reading. Jean’s 30 year solo private practice in Baltimore focused on multi-modality treatment of children with various types of school-learning challenges, and she worked intimately with schools in that capacity. Jean worked for ten years at the Kennedy Institute School and in the Baltimore County public schools as psychiatric consultant, and served on Kennedy’s multidisciplinary assessment team which focused on evaluation and treatment of children with diverse types of problems in school. Jean feels that her childhood love of reading paved the wave for her future work, but more importantly also provided an outlet and a special solace in childhood. Her hope is to impart that love and skill set to as many children as possible. After additional training in reading education, Jean signed on as a volunteer tutor with Reading Quest early in 2018, and is loving working with the children who attend Reading Quest and the Reading is Magic summer program.
Hal Malchow ~ Hal recently moved to Santa Fe from Washington, DC where he was a political consultant and fundraiser for 30 years. He was active in reading issues as President of the International Dyslexia Association and President of the Coalition for Reading Excellence, an alliance of forty literacy groups working to expand and improve the use of phonics-based reading instruction.
Elise Packard, Ph.D. ~ Elise is an independent consultant who has worked with Image theory for over 30 years in the development of programs both internationally as well as in the United States. These programs have been focused on the development of teachers, as well as facilitators and consultants. She has done extensive facilitation, consultation and training with not-for- profit, for profit and government agencies. Elise has led a team to develop cultural revitalization and family literacy programs in indigenous communities in New Mexico and Canada, working also with Head Start and Early Head Start grantees in Illinois, California, New Mexico and Colorado. Most recently she has worked with Save the Children in Rwanda. She is a founding member of the Interfaith Coalition for Public Education in Santa Fe, working to engage voters and taxpayers in projects that strengthen public education from birth to career. Her doctoral degree is in Cognitive Psychology, with a focus on adult learning and infant development.
Alicia Vadillo-Romero ~ Alicia is a bilingual educational diagnostician in Santa Fe. She arrived in to New Mexico 11 years ago. Since then, she has earned a masters degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in TESOL from New Mexico Highlands University. Alicia was recently licensed as an educational diagnostician by the University of the Southwest. She has extensive experience in early childhood, bilingual, and special education for more than 15 years in both Mexico and the US. When she has free time, Alicia enjoys walking with friends, talking about her daughter, and studying astrology. Alicia currently works for SFPS and is a board member for Reading Quest.
Nick Venditti (Treasurer) ~ Nick is a Portfolio Manager and Managing Director at Thornburg Investment Management. Nick works in municipal finance and spends a great deal of time analyzing schools, both public and private, at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Nick’s interests lie in measuring and determining educational outcomes versus the cost to attain those outcomes. Nick and his wife Carlie are strong believers in education as the panacea for most social ills and are particularly focused on improving educational outcomes for children in and around Santa Fe.
Rayna Dineen (Executive Director) ~ Rayna has worked in education for 40 years. She received two master’s degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, in addition to doctoral work at Colorado State University. Rayna has taught students from preschool to grade 12 and is passionate about literacy, joyful project based learning, inclusive practices, positive classroom management and service learning.
She co-directed the Cariño Community Children’s program for Santa Fe Public Schools and taught children with special needs at New Vistas. She founded an EL Education prek-8 school in Santa Fe, NM (Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences) where she served as teacher and principal for 13 years.
Rayna has also worked as an EL Education School Consultant serving Santa Fe Public Schools and schools in Australia, India, New Mexico, Arizona, West Virginia, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. She facilitates national education institutes and works with experiential education organizations both here and overseas. She also consulted for Discover Learning, a Gates Foundation collaboration between Save the Children and UC Berkeley which supports a project based learning program for children ages 10-11 in Tanzania. She has consulted for Harlem Village Academies and two schools in India, Polymath School and Heritage Xperiential Learning School. She founded Hooked on Books and Reading is Magic in 2012 and began Reading Quest in 2015. She believes in the power of young people to change our world and loves supporting children as they discover the joy of reading.
Connor Browne (Chair) ~ Connor is an investor. He moved to Santa Fe in 2001 and worked at Thornburg Investment Management until early 2019. He was a portfolio manager on a number of equity funds and strategies while at Thornburg. Connor has supported many non-profit organizations in town, especially Big Brothers Big Sisters Mountain Region, where he volunteered as a big brother and served on the board, most recently as Board President. Connor and his wife, Christina, are particularly focused on helping to create better opportunities for at-risk youth in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas.
Rosie Bustillos ~ Reading is Magic made all the difference for my son, when he was a 3rd grader struggling to reach a 1st grade reading level. My first language was Spanish and I struggled to provide him with the help he needed. He is now a 6th grader. He reads at grade level-- and he loves to read. Professionally, I am a registered nurse. I graduated with an Associate's degree in Nursing from Santa Fe Community College in 2009 and obtained my Bachelors of Science in Nursing at the University of New Mexico in 2013. I worked in Family Medicine at La Familia Medical Center here in Santa Fe and in intensive trauma/surgical/burn care as well as on the Wound and Ostomy Care Team at UNM Hospital. For the last two years I have been working for Christus St. Vincent Hospital as a wound care and ostomy nurse. I was fortunate to be selected to volunteer as a Wound and Burn care nurse in Nicaragua in 2015. I have been a volunteer with Reading is Magic and Reading Quest since 2014. I serve as a Spanish interpreter and translator for our Spanish-speaking families. It is my honor to give back to the program which has given so much to my son.
Jean Hinlicky, M.D. ~ Jean received her M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, then completed residency training in pediatrics and a two-year fellowship in child psychiatry/behavioral pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. During that time, she worked extensively at Kennedy Krieger Institute, a Hopkins-affiliated clinic/hospital devoted to children with multiple developmental challenges including trouble with reading. Jean’s 30 year solo private practice in Baltimore focused on multi-modality treatment of children with various types of school-learning challenges, and she worked intimately with schools in that capacity. Jean worked for ten years at the Kennedy Institute School and in the Baltimore County public schools as psychiatric consultant, and served on Kennedy’s multidisciplinary assessment team which focused on evaluation and treatment of children with diverse types of problems in school. Jean feels that her childhood love of reading paved the wave for her future work, but more importantly also provided an outlet and a special solace in childhood. Her hope is to impart that love and skill set to as many children as possible. After additional training in reading education, Jean signed on as a volunteer tutor with Reading Quest early in 2018, and is loving working with the children who attend Reading Quest and the Reading is Magic summer program.
Hal Malchow ~ Hal recently moved to Santa Fe from Washington, DC where he was a political consultant and fundraiser for 30 years. He was active in reading issues as President of the International Dyslexia Association and President of the Coalition for Reading Excellence, an alliance of forty literacy groups working to expand and improve the use of phonics-based reading instruction.
Elise Packard, Ph.D. ~ Elise is an independent consultant who has worked with Image theory for over 30 years in the development of programs both internationally as well as in the United States. These programs have been focused on the development of teachers, as well as facilitators and consultants. She has done extensive facilitation, consultation and training with not-for- profit, for profit and government agencies. Elise has led a team to develop cultural revitalization and family literacy programs in indigenous communities in New Mexico and Canada, working also with Head Start and Early Head Start grantees in Illinois, California, New Mexico and Colorado. Most recently she has worked with Save the Children in Rwanda. She is a founding member of the Interfaith Coalition for Public Education in Santa Fe, working to engage voters and taxpayers in projects that strengthen public education from birth to career. Her doctoral degree is in Cognitive Psychology, with a focus on adult learning and infant development.
Alicia Vadillo-Romero ~ Alicia is a bilingual educational diagnostician in Santa Fe. She arrived in to New Mexico 11 years ago. Since then, she has earned a masters degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in TESOL from New Mexico Highlands University. Alicia was recently licensed as an educational diagnostician by the University of the Southwest. She has extensive experience in early childhood, bilingual, and special education for more than 15 years in both Mexico and the US. When she has free time, Alicia enjoys walking with friends, talking about her daughter, and studying astrology. Alicia currently works for SFPS and is a board member for Reading Quest.
Nick Venditti (Treasurer) ~ Nick is a Portfolio Manager and Managing Director at Thornburg Investment Management. Nick works in municipal finance and spends a great deal of time analyzing schools, both public and private, at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Nick’s interests lie in measuring and determining educational outcomes versus the cost to attain those outcomes. Nick and his wife Carlie are strong believers in education as the panacea for most social ills and are particularly focused on improving educational outcomes for children in and around Santa Fe.
Rayna Dineen (Executive Director) ~ Rayna has worked in education for 40 years. She received two master’s degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, in addition to doctoral work at Colorado State University. Rayna has taught students from preschool to grade 12 and is passionate about literacy, joyful project based learning, inclusive practices, positive classroom management and service learning.
She co-directed the Cariño Community Children’s program for Santa Fe Public Schools and taught children with special needs at New Vistas. She founded an EL Education prek-8 school in Santa Fe, NM (Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences) where she served as teacher and principal for 13 years.
Rayna has also worked as an EL Education School Consultant serving Santa Fe Public Schools and schools in Australia, India, New Mexico, Arizona, West Virginia, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. She facilitates national education institutes and works with experiential education organizations both here and overseas. She also consulted for Discover Learning, a Gates Foundation collaboration between Save the Children and UC Berkeley which supports a project based learning program for children ages 10-11 in Tanzania. She has consulted for Harlem Village Academies and two schools in India, Polymath School and Heritage Xperiential Learning School. She founded Hooked on Books and Reading is Magic in 2012 and began Reading Quest in 2015. She believes in the power of young people to change our world and loves supporting children as they discover the joy of reading.