Staff
Michael Henderson
Vera Acuna
Vera joined the Global Village Academy Collaborative in March 2021. She is passionate about being a public servant and extremely happy to do her best for the GVA community.
Vera has twenty-plus years of accounting experience, in which over seven years were in the public sector/non-profit finance world. She has a Master's in Professional Accountancy from CSU Denver. She is also an active member of AGA (Association of Government Accountants) and ANAFP (Association of Nonprofit Accountants and Finance Professionals).
Vera was born and raised in Russia. She still speaks Russian fluently and knows a bit of German and Spanish. Her dream is to learn French and revisit Paris.
Vera and her family just moved back to Colorado from Texas, where they spent nine years. She is delighted to resume hiking and camping in the Rocky Mountains. Vera has two beautiful daughters and four dogs.
Teri Baker
Lin Fang
Director of World Languages
Lin has worked as an educator for over ten years in the U.S., China, and Thailand. When Lin worked at GVA schools for the past seven years, she participated in curriculum development, modeled best practices to teachers, mentored and coached interns and new teachers, and served as a lead teacher. Lin has experience in dual language education at the elementary level in the U.S and China. She taught Mandarin Chinese as a second language to middle school students in Thailand. Lin has enjoyed working with children, parents, and staff from various cultural backgrounds. Lin is passionate about dual immersion language education as she believes language helps people communicate and understand each other. She is committed to promoting inclusion and diversity in schools for students and staff.
Lin’s academic credentials include a MA degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages at Hunan Normal University in China and a MA degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Denver.
Outside work, Lin enjoys dancing, traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Ben Foster
Angela KraussHer family is one of the founding families at Global Village Academy Aurora. Her oldest son began Mandarin Chinese in 1st grade. All 4 of her children have been GVA students. She is passionate about language learning and the rich culture at the heart of GVA.
Michael Martinez
Alicia MacicaDirector of Teaching and Learning
Alicia has worked as an educator for over twenty years in Colorado and Arizona. For the past nine years, Alicia has worked in the Poudre School District as an English Language Development Instructional Coach at Eyestone Elementary, a district MTSS Coordinator, and most recently, the Elementary Literacy Facilitator in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Department. Alicia has experience in teaching at the elementary level in Kyrene School District. She has experience as a middle school language arts teacher and ELD teacher in Chandler Unified School District.
Alicia earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Ottawa University, holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University, and is currently finishing up another Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Administration certification at the University of Wyoming. In 2006, Alicia achieved her National Board Certification in Early Adolescence-English Language Arts from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and successfully renewed the certification in 2016. Her expertise includes early childhood and K-12 literacy, curriculum and instruction, English Language Development, systems change efforts, MTSS, READ Act implementation, design and evaluation of professional development, Cognitive Coaching, and building teacher leadership and capacity.
Alicia’s deep passion for education is grounded in the belief that all students have the right to an exceptional education. As a lifelong learner, Alicia strives to keep up with best practices in instruction and supports educators while applying these strategies in their classrooms. Alicia is passionate about fostering teacher efficacy and building capacity among educators.
Alicia and her family moved to Colorado in 2009. She and her husband have two children, ages 12 and 13. Outside work, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, scuba diving, listening to music, reading, and camping.
Christine ToulouseChristine has an extensive 30-year career in marketing and advertising. She began her career at a daily newspaper in the San Diego area. After her move to Colorado, she expanded into co-op and solo direct mail advertising. She successfully helped launch one of the Denver area’s first daily deal platforms in 2010. She continued to develop her digital marketing skills, including email marketing, social media, and web content development. Christine began working with the GVAC office in July 2013. Her career at GVAC allows her to share her love of language immersion education with the community and prospective and current GVA families.
Christine discovered Global Village Academy Aurora in 2009 and quickly enrolled her daughter in Mandarin Chinese. Her daughter was one of the first “legacy” students to graduate from GVA Aurora at the end of 8th grade. During high school, her daughter continued her language learning by taking Spanish and French classes and continued to study Mandarin class. She is now a Freshman in college.
Christine enjoys yoga, hiking, live theater, cooking, and time with her family in her free time.
Joe TreyDirector of Technology Innovation
Joe brings 25 years of eclectic experience to the GVAC Technology Team. He lives by the motto, Don't Do Anything, Do Something!
Joe held several leadership positions ranging from COO, CTO, and Vice President of Operations for various organizations.
His passion for music, motorcycles, and photography has brought him to all 50 United States and worldwide. Along the way, he developed creative ways to combine technology and the arts with an eye toward teamwork, efficiency, and mutual success.
He looks forward to contributing to the mission of GVAC to support learning and communications across the organization and to everyone it serves.
Outside of work, Joe loves spending time with his two teenage daughters and his wife of twenty-plus adventurous years!
James Usoh
Sherry Whitlock
Thomas Yelken