Executive Director

Molly is an educator, youth advocate and nonprofit manager.  Molly’s background includes leadership positions at Global Kids, Hostos Community College, and the YMCA of Greater NY. In addition, she has worked as a consultant for a range of youth organizations, developing curriculum and providing training for educators.  Molly’s expertise includes creating and leading innovative youth leadership programs, facilitating community partnerships to strengthen college access and persistence with first generation students and facilitating staff professional development and capacity building initiatives. Most recently, Molly was the Director of Government Initiatives and Special Projects at the Youth Development Institute.  Molly holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, an MPA, with a concentration in public policy, from the Baruch School of Public Affairs, where she was a United Way Senior Fellow, and nonprofit leadership credentials from the Columbia Business School. 

WHEELS Principal

Tom is the Principal of Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, a high-performing public school serving Pre-K through Grade 1 and Grades 6-12 in New York City. He taught in California and Brooklyn before joining WHEELS, where he has served in several teacher-leader positions, including the founding twelfth grade team leader, founding Social Studies Department Chair, and Principal Apprentice as part of the NYCDOE Leaders in Education Apprenticeship Program. He achieved National Board Certification in 2012 and received the 2014 Teach For America Alumni Award for Excellence. He earned his BA in History and Philosophy from Boston College and his MA from Fordham University, where he studied social movements in an interdisciplinary program.

Lead College Counselor

Rocco Rosselli, a New York native, has been supporting predominately first-generation, low-income, students of color from underserved and underrepresented communities to and through college for over 5 years. After graduating from the University at Albany (SUNY) with a B.A. in Sociology, Rocco earned his Ed.M. in School Counseling from Hunter College. Prior to joining Friends of WHEELS, Rocco worked at East Harlem Tutorial Prep and Harlem Village Academy, aiding students through the college application process and helping them find their best post-secondary fit. At the foundation of his philosophy to college counseling is establishing strong relationships with students and families. That relationship is essential to empower all students to find their best fit college, and narrow the gap in our country that has led to a huge disparity in college attainment between students from the highest income quartile and those in the lowest. Rocco believes that the college admissions process can be viewed as not just a means to an end, but rather a learning opportunity that can help students find their voice. It is Rocco’s role as a college counselor is to ensure that all students have access to superior college counseling. We need to reach, inspire, and empower every student, regardless of background.

Director of Alumni & Community Programs
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Lisa joins the WHEELS team with deep experience in developing youth leadership, program management, and college access and success. After receiving her Masters in Social Work from Boston University, where she interned at a college access program in Brookline, MA, she worked in college access and youth mentoring at iMentor and then spent five years running the Franklin K. Lane Student Success Center with Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation. A first generation college student herself, her professional mission is to build equity for all students in getting to and through college. Lisa is a proud Manhattan College alumnae, a NYC marathoner, and avid sports and comic book fan. She is eager to use her experience to design and implement quality postsecondary programming for the alumni of WHEELS.