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Code the Dream

Real Talent. Real Experience. Real Impact.

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About

As America changes, the tech industry has been slow to keep up. Over half of children born today are people of color, and 1 in 4 have an immigrant parent. Yet Silicon Valley and the U.S. tech economy do not look like our diverse population.  That results in a lot of missed opportunities for all of us.

Code the Dream recognizes that people from immigrant backgrounds and communities of color have great ideas and will play a huge part in our 21st century economy. Already immigrants are more than twice as likely to start their own business, and those businesses create over 25% of new jobs.

Can you imagine if more people with that drive knew how to code? Together we can make it happen.

Meet the Team

Ramiro Rodriguez

Co-Founder, CTO

Ramiro Rodriguez

Co-Founder, CTO
Ramiro knows about the American Dream and he knows about coding. Originally from Mexico, Ramiro moved to the United States as a child and excelled in school. He majored in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Cornell and later returned for a Masters in Computer Science. Together with an amazing team of top-notch volunteer instructors and mentors, he leads Code the Dream's teaching and project-based learning.
Daisy Magnus-Aryitey

Daisy Magnus-Aryitey

Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director

Daisy Magnus-Aryitey

Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director
Daisy moved to the U.S. from Ghana at the age of 4. She lived in New Mexico, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York before settling in North Carolina in 2009. She wrote her first line of code in a Code the Dream class, and within a year was working as a full-time software developer at Duke University. Daisy has played many roles at CTD, from a student in the initial CTD pilot to CTD Director to Board Vice-Chair. She has a Master’s in Education Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dan Rearick

Dan Rearick

Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director

Dan Rearick

Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director
Dan took his own coding baby steps alongside the first Code the Dream participants. Having worked alongside low-income and immigrant communities since 2008, he was honored by the White House in 2013 as a Champion of Change. Dan co-founded Code the Dream together with Ramiro Rodriguez and Daisy Magnus-Aryitey, and is honored to work with an incredible team towards a shared vision of a more just and innovative world. Dan attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Law School.

Lori Fernald Khamala

Director of Programs

Lori Fernald Khamala

Director of Programs
Lori Fernald Khamala has been involved with immigrant and farmworker organizing and advocacy in North Carolina for 20 years. She is passionate about building community rooted in social justice, equity, and collaboration. Lori joined the Code the Dream team in 2019 to strengthen new and existing relationships with nonprofit, education, business, and government partners.  She loves working with CTD's professional and student developers to identify innovative ways using tech to build a more just and inclusive world.

Pam Bash

Director of Development

Pam Bash

Director of Development
Pam has worked in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors and brings over 20 years of experience to her role in corporate, foundation and individual fundraising for Code The Dream. A native New Yorker and avid traveller, she jumped at the opportunity to live and work abroad teaching English in Turkey, Russia and Morocco. After 10 years, she finally returned to the US and eventually moved to North Carolina, where she brought with her a passion for education, diversity and community. She joined Code The Dream in 2020 and looks forward to building solid funder partnerships to help create and inspire future generations of coders.
Lucy Martinez

Lucy Martinez

Chief Operating Officer

Lucy Martinez

Chief Operating Officer
Lucy Martinez has a passion for social justice and equity and over 15 years of experience at non-profit organizations and government agencies in the areas of anti-poverty, anti-hunger, and housing programs. At Code the Dream, Lucy uses her operations and human resources experience to help us accomplish our goals. Lucy is an AmeriCorps VISTA alumna and is a graduate of The Ohio State University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Tom Rau

Director of Code the Dream Labs

Tom Rau

Director of Code the Dream Labs
Tom Rau has worked for startups and established organizations working in a variety of roles, ranging from product lead/manager to front-end development. At Code the Dream Tom helps develop the front-end curriculum as well as serves as a lead developer and mentor to Code the Dream Labs interns.  Additionally, Tom is pursuing a Masters of Science in Foresight Studies and occasionally still hits the road with a band as a bass or keyboard player.

Alex Rodriguez

Operations Manager, Web Developer

Alex Rodriguez

Operations Manager, Web Developer
Of all the folks at Code the Dream, Alex perhaps wears the most hats.  Alex started as a student in the React course and used those programming skills to pivot into WordPress.  In addition to being a lead WordPress developer, Alex also oversees many administrative responsibilities, and mentors new interns.  Alex is originally from Mexico and she resides in Cary.

Cruz Núñez

Senior Developer, Mentor

Cruz Núñez

Senior Developer, Mentor
Cruz got his start in the very first Code the Dream cohort. He's a fast learner, a creative problem-solver and just wicked smart -- all things that make him an excellent software developer. He's also the sort of helpful guy who hears that a friend is struggling with some tedious task, and then decides to code them an app over the weekend. He's a good guy to know. Cruz is also a gifted and patient mentor, and we're very glad to have him helping new Code the Dreamers get their start.

Andrea Hernandez Guzman

Senior Developer, Mentor

Andrea Hernandez Guzman

Senior Developer, Mentor
Andrea moved to the U.S from Mexico when she was a year old. She started taking Code the Dream classes in 2017 right after finishing up High School.  She focuses on building fast and beautiful web and mobile applications. Ultimately, she enjoys building cool things that can help people.

Justin Laidlaw

Engagement Manager

Justin Laidlaw

Engagement Manager
Justin is a life-long learner and native of Durham, North Carolina. He has an A.A. from Durham Technical Community College, and a B.A. in Journalism from North Carolina Central University. For six years, he worked as second-in-command at Durham-based clothing and lifestyle brand RUNAWAY before venturing into freelance multimedia production. In 2020, Justin started his own creative storytelling business called Buddy Ruski. He is passionate about the power of stories and how they connect us as humans.

Mary Alice Moore

Class Coordinator

Mary Alice Moore

Class Coordinator
Mary Alice was fortunate to find Code the Dream while working on her Associate's Degree in Web Design. After participating in their classes, she joined the intern team in August 2019. The following winter she became a proud first-time mommy.  Her beautiful family grew, she recently completed her degree, and her wonderful work family stuck by her, so she is back in a new role with Code the Dream as our Class Coordinator.  She feels very honored to be helping students and future interns join the Code the Dream family, build their skills, and brighten their futures just like she did.

Chuck Anderson

Senior Developer, Mentor

Chuck Anderson

Senior Developer, Mentor
Chuck was born in NY and graduated from Adelphi University with a BS in Physics and a BA in philosophy.  He joined Code the Dream in the 2018 cohort for Ruby on Rails.  Since then he has tackled a wide range of topics from marketplaces to cryptocurrencies and enjoys learning new and varied solutions.  He has filled many roles from intern to lead developer and looks forward to the growth and challenges ahead

Elsabeth Kidane

Project Manager

Elsabeth Kidane

Project Manager
Elsabeth was born in Ethiopia and raised in Eritrea. She earned her BA in Computer Science in 2011 and mainly focused on Cisco networking and computer maintenance. But she always dreamed of being a developer so in 2017 she came to the US to continue her education. Unfortunately, she was not able to obtain her master’s because it was very expensive to go to the university. Luckily, she got the chance to learn at Code the Dream for free. She started her course at Code the Dream in September 2019 and began her apprenticeship in December 2019 where she was able to work on real projects and learn to build both web apps and mobile apps. At the end of 2020, she become a proud first-time mom. She enjoys learning new things, in her spare time, she is studying UX design and tries to learn new tools that will help her to strengthen her knowledge.

Narayan Rai

Junior Developer

Narayan Rai

Junior Developer
Narayan grew up in Nepal and studied in India before coming to the States in 2008. He received a B.S. from the University of North Bengal, India, in Physics and Mathematics. He also received his two years degree in database management from a local community college. Narayan learned about Code the Dream from one of his teachers in school and he took advantage of the free coding classes offered. He has worked on various projects mainly focused on social changes such as improving the life of migrant farmworkers. In his free time, Narayan enjoys listening to music, helping his wife with gardening, and going on a bike ride with his two young daughters.

Rachel Frenkel

Senior Developer, Mentor

Rachel Frenkel

Senior Developer, Mentor
Rachel majored in Computer Science at Tufts University in Boston before vowing to only live in warmer places. With that in mind, she moved to California where she worked with various tech companies as a web developer, and in 2019 moved to southern Mexico. She believes strongly in the power of programming and was looking to find a way to use that to make a positive impact. She was lucky enough to find Code the Dream and be able to join this incredible organization and works from Mexico as a developer and mentor for CTD.

Reid Russom

Volunteer and Data Coordinator

Reid Russom

Volunteer and Data Coordinator
Reid first came to Code the Dream in 2019 as an intern with Johnson Service Corps, an intentional community in Durham, NC. While working as a middle school English teacher, Reid remained a part of the CTD community and returned in 2022 as Programs Associate. His past experience in higher ed admissions and teaching made him passionate about community building and leadership in change-making organizations. When he’s not at work, Reid loves being outdoors, cooking, and settling down with a good book.

Omer Yariv

Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow

Omer Yariv

Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow
Omer has worked in tech since the days of GeoCities, when <blink> was considered an appropriate HTML tag. He has since worked and freelanced at multiple startup companies as a Software Engineer, Team Leader, and Product Manager. Omer is also the father of two amazing girls, an avid traveler, and will go to great lengths (literally and figuratively) to discover new food.

Ricky Leung

Strategic Initiatives Lead

Ricky Leung

Strategic Initiatives Lead
Ricky Leung (he, him) has a background in visual communications, design, and website development with a multimedia journalism degree from UNC Chapel Hill. For the past decade, he has worked with grassroots immigrant and Asian communities in North Carolina to advocate for immigrant and voter rights through socially just policy changes. Ricky looks forward to working with the CTD team on tools that will help empower community-based advocacy.

Alton Michaux

Junior Developer

Alton Michaux

Junior Developer
Alton got his start at Code the Dream with zero coding experience in the fall of 2020. A father of 4 who had spent a lot of time as an industrial chemical worker, Alton was ready to make a transition into a bright and sustainable career as a web developer and never looked back. As a junior backend developer, he works as a mentor and student and is just one of many critical parts that help bring Code the Dream ideas into reality.

Nicole Villalpando

Junior Developer

Nicole Villalpando

Junior Developer
Nicole grew up in a small town nicknamed the "BBQ Capital of Texas". She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'Em) with a B.S. in Communication Studies and a B.A. in Psychology and began her career at a large healthcare nonprofit. In December 2020 she finally took the leap to learn to code and to say it's been life-changing is an understatement. She loves Code the Dream's mission and the opportunities it creates and is excited to grow with them. Outside of work you can find her attending random events around Austin, gardening, or hanging out with her dog and husband.

Frank Stepanski

Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow

Frank Stepanski

Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow
Frank grew up in Philadelphia and has stayed local receiving his Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science with a minor in education. His experience includes working at educational institutions, startups and large corporate as an educator, manager, and developer. His love is mentoring and helping others reach new career goals. He has taste tested every Philly cheesesteak (before he stopped eating red meat), loves to daydream about sports cars he can’t afford, enjoys traveling over big oceans, playing volleyball and buying too many toys for his cat baby.

Kate Borgen

UX/UI Design Lead

Kate Borgen

UX/UI Design Lead
Kate was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. at the age of 4. Growing up in San Diego, California, she developed a passion for technology and started coding at the young age of 11. It wasn't until 2016 that she decided to turn her passion into a career, completing bootcamps in both software development and UX design. Since then, she has been building her expertise while working with startups and nonprofits in Seattle, leveraging her design skills to help create innovative and user-friendly products. Beyond her professional work, Kate also has a deep commitment to philanthropy, which led her to join Code The Dream, where she can combine her love for design, technology, and giving back to her community.

Morgan Carnely

Director of Employer Partnerships

Morgan Carnely

Director of Employer Partnerships
Morgan is in love with people, places, and things - in that order. She is passionate about economic justice and supporting equitable and inclusive communities. Morgan blends her experience in the education world (as a teacher, coordinator, and program designer) and from the business sector (as a strategy consultant and executive) when creating partnerships and innovative strategies for the workforce. She is an avid learner committed to building organizational design, culture, and partnerships through people-first approaches and always with accessibility in mind. Morgan has multiple degrees and certifications in Education, Business, and Technology from Abilene University, Duke University, LIFT Economy, and the Center for Humane Technology.

Board of Directors

Alex Boakye | Vice President, Solutions Development, SAS.

Aris Buinevicius | Chair | Formerly Co-Founder / CTO, ChannelAdvisor.

Ana Maria Echeverri | Treasurer | Expert Labs Technical Training Program Director, IBM.

David Laboy | Diversity, Equity & Employee Relations, Volvo Group

Daisy Magnus-Aryitey | Co-Executive Director, Code the Dream.

Usha Pasi | Consultant and Lecturer, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and Derby Entrepreneurship Center, Tufts University.

Carlos Pignataro | CTO, Customer Experience, Cisco.

Manuel Ramos Gonzalez | Software Engineer, IBM.

Dan Rearick | Co-Executive Director, Code the Dream.

Susan Rohol | SVP and Chief Privacy Officer, WarnerMedia.

Jennifer Zachary | General Counsel, Merck.

Big thanks to @SASsoftware for inviting CTD apprentices to tour the campus and meet the team! pic.twitter.com/pPIORpgnZs

About 5 months ago

Vamos helps farmworker organizations plan, implement, and track outreach to workers in those hard-to-find locations. Find more info at codethedream.org/vamos

About 6 months ago

Apprentices and staff also visited #Texas to present at the Midwest Stream Forum! pic.twitter.com/pZZt6XfR3P

About 6 months ago

CTD is sharing Vamos, our outstanding farmworker outreach app, with the world! Our team presented at the NC Farmworker Institute in #Durham. pic.twitter.com/gFUrD3XED7

About 6 months ago

Thanks to the @TheOfficialACM, the Mays Center, and the Dreamer Resource Center at @TAMUSanAntonio for inviting CTD Apprentice Asaia Palacios to inspire #Dreamers and other students to pursue careers in #tech! Big shout out to CTD intern Janet Zulu for making the connection! pic.twitter.com/eWkvniWQwJ

About 6 months ago

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