Our Team

Alicia brings a unique blend of skills and experiences that map to her passion for building solutions that drive impact for youth and adult learners. As a Principal with Common Group, she provides innovative strategic direction, project management, and partnership development for her portfolio of clients. Alicia is a thoughtful leader with a track record of strengthening policies and programs on the national level, as a Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Education and Project Director at the Institute for Educational Leadership, as well as the district level, as the Director of Career Education for D.C. Public Schools. In addition, she has experience managing design challenges, leading complex projects, designing older youth and adult career programming, and overseeing intricate budgets and grants.

Coming Soon

Peter Catchings (he/him) is an empathetic learner whose dedication lies in amplifying voices that have historically been silenced by social, racial, and economic barriers. Holding a Bachelors of Arts in Politics from Cornell College and an MBA in International Business and Marketing from Roosevelt University, Peter combines his educational background with his diverse professional experience to drive substantial and lasting transformation within underserved communities.

Peter’s work has spanned across both the public and private sectors, including time at organizations such as Hillary Clinton for Iowa, CVS Pharmacy, and the NBA. He firmly believes in the power of collaboration and actively seeks out partnerships with organizations, nonprofits, foundations, and individuals who share his vision for a more equitable world. These career experiences have allowed him to seamlessly integrate lessons learned from the dynamic world of politics with the tactical approaches employed in the corporate landscape.

When not working, you can find Peter in New York City where he enjoys sipping on a hot cup of ginger tea by a lake, playing Catan with friends, or cooking a nice meal with his family.

Naomi is a Program Associate at Common Group who is passionate about transforming the narrative of the one-track pathway to success by impacting the way organizations, communities, and individuals think of education and economic mobility. Naomi opens the line of communication between clients and partners to get mission aligned initiatives off the ground. As a program associate, Naomi does more than support our catalytic team. With a passion for communications, marketing, and creativity, Naomi is obsessed with innovating new ways of creating amazing content that's useful and effective. Naomi successfully obtained her Google IT Support Professional certification through the Merit America program which she graduated from in 2020, and is currently finishing her Google Project Management certification.

Cristal graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in Political Science and Double-Minor in Sociology and Intergroup Relations. Her studies, social justice initiatives she’s led, and her experience navigating the U.S. education system as both a daughter of Latinx immigrants and a multiracial woman cultivated a deep knowledge of systemic inequities that result in inequitable and unjust outcomes for underserved learners. As a Senior Program Associate with Common Group, Cristal utilizes this knowledge and experience to inform her project management, design, and strategy, research and recommendations, and project facilitation in support of her team and clients.

Lauren Mobertz (she/her) is a human-centered organization designer and researcher who aligns the needs of teams, clients, and society through co-creative methods and an equity lens.

Previously, Lauren served as a marketing advisor to technology startups, managed employee grantmaking initiatives, and helped launch eBay’s first eCommerce training program for small business owners. A former Fulbright fellow, Lauren holds degrees in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University and organization development from the University of San Francisco.

Outside of Common Group, Lauren supports first-generation college students through the Posse Foundation. Lauren’s an avid runner of 16+ years and a hobbyist of Brazilian zouk, among other partner dances. She’s based in Washington, DC, where she consumes inordinate amounts of pizza.

Dipika is a DMV native passionate about bringing innovation, equity, and efficiency to the business of learning. She's the product of a public sector education and a private sector career, and her genuine curiosity for how people and systems work together motivates her to put the learner and their economic mobility at the center of strategy & growth. Her decade-long career at first Microsoft and then 2U have spanned roles in sales, operations, strategy, and client management with the throughline of advancing educational access and outcomes. She's grateful for the opportunity to bring her skills and interests to Common Group and to learn from everyone here! Outside of Common Group, Dipika is an arts advocate whose interests extend from two decades of dance training and performance. She works with YoungArts to empower and fund arts education and performance across the country. Outside of her professional life you'll find her working through her Goodreads list, attempting to make the world's best pie crust, and psychoanalyzing reality TV participants. She lives in Silver Spring, MD with her husband and 50+ houseplants.

Bruce comes to Common Group as a graduate of Communications from the University of Kentucky. Having previously worked at a non-profit mental health organization with an administrative background, he had many opportunities and experiences that reinforced his passion for finding ways to assist those in need and those underrepresented.

Bruce currently resides in Georgetown, Kentucky, with his fiancée and kitten.

Coming Soon

Tara is a results-driven, equity-rooted leader who brings over 15 years of experience working and organizing in nonprofits, schools, universities, and social movements with a focus on systemic change. She has been committed to equity for underserved communities since 2003 when she taught students living in one of the biggest slums in Delhi. Tara has weaved this passion for education throughout her career, including designing programs for learners ranging from K-5 students, young adults, and early career professionals. She approaches her systems change work from the bottom-up, leveraging community-centered design and data-driven insights to drive programmatic strategy, and the top-down by building multi-stakeholder coalitions and publishing joint reports such as this one with Sustainable Energy for All. Outside of Common Group, Tara is a mentor with the South Asian Girls Project and a long-standing member of The Women’s Impact Alliance. Outside of work, you’ll find Tara iterating on her chocolate chip cookie recipe, teaching her niblings how to sing and play their favorite songs on guitar, and nerding out with her partner about leadership.

Lisa Richardson drives positive change through custom-built evidence-based solutions. Lisa brings several years of experience as a communications and culture leader in mission-driven, hyper-growth, start-ups. Lisa started her career as a K-12 educator, where she served as a school Principal leading school turnaround initiatives. As a consultant for Common Group, Lisa brings her experience as an educator, culture builder, and changemaker to help teams and organizations drive positive and sustainable change. Lisa holds a B.S. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania.

Megan comes to Common Group with more than a decade of experience in K-12 education, both in the classroom and at the school and district level. She has served as a teacher, instructional coach, program coordinator, and consultant. Bilingual in English and Spanish, Megan is passionate about language learning and advancing equity through bilingual education opportunities for learners of all ages. As a Sr. Associate at Common Group, Megan leverages her education background and experience in project management to support innovation and social change across the sectors of education and workforce development.

Megan holds an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College and an M.Ed in Bilingual Education from Lesley University. Originally from Minnesota, Megan received her B.A. from the University of St. Thomas. Megan now resides in Takoma Park, MD, just outside of Washington D.C., with her husband and 70lb bernedoodle.

Kim comes to Common Group from an operations and administration background, and has worked with education consulting and venture studios in helping to form, grow and manage operations for them and for several of their related startups. Kim enjoys the challenge of helping set up and growing early stage companies, a skill she learned with her first job setting up a program office for an aid organization in rural Cambodia. Having grown up in Southeast Asia and India, Kim believes strongly in working with companies which have a mission to address education and resource access inequities.
Kim currently lives in San Francisco, the best foodie city in the United States.

George is the CEO and founder of Common Group, a social enterprise centered on education and economic opportunity. As an entrepreneur, advisor, and operator, George has built companies, and led programs with the U.K.’s and U.S.A.’s largest foundations and corporations. A believer in the fundamental need for equality of opportunity, and recognizing the need for more efficient and effective platforms for shared action, George founded Common Group to fill a gap in the U.S. and worldwide. George holds a B.A. in Politics from Durham University, and a Master’s in Education from Harvard University

An expert on workforce development and adult education, Rachel most recently served as Senior Vice President of Market Advisory Services at Penn Foster, an education provider that works with hundreds of institutional clients on job readiness programs focused on the Future of Work. During her tenure at Penn Foster, she led product strategy, the transformation of Penn Foster’s offering into a contemporary digital learning experience, the integration of Ashworth College, and the company’s social impact work. With more than 20 years of experience consulting to and managing education product teams, Rachel has held leadership roles at Pearson, The Princeton Review, Pri-Med, and several education startups. Rachel is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.