Staff

Glenn Pierce, President & CEO

Glenn Pierce, President & CEO, co-founded Pacific Charter School Development with NewSchools Venture Fund in 2003. He brings over twenty years of experience in corporate finance, food service and K-12 education management. He has been a leader in the development of charter schools since 1997. During that time, he has developed over thirty charter schools in ten states and the District of Columbia. Projects ranged from new construction to retrofits of former big box retailers and supermarkets to the refurbishment of former parochial and private schools. These projects created over 15,000 incremental student seats. He was Chief Financial Officer for Advantage Schools and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Development Officer for Charter Schools USA.

Previously, Glenn was Chief Performance Evaluation Officer & Chief Development Officer with Colonial Bagel, a regional franchisee of Einstein Noah’s Bagel, Inc., and a Senior Director of Asset Development with the Pizza Hut division of PepsiCo (now Yum Brands). This followed roughly nine years in commercial lending with Citibank and regional banks that are now a part of PNC Corp and Wachovia.

Glenn holds a bachelors degree in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and a masters in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Citicorp’s Institute for Global Finance and the Broad Center for Urban Superintendents.

Bill Spiller

Bill is Director of Finance and also serves as Pacific’s Senior Team Leader. Bill’s professional experience spans the fields of education, local government, housing and public finance.

Bill began his career as a teacher where, over the course of twenty years, he taught in middle school, high school and college. He also created literacy programs for adults, as well as a series of alternative junior high schools for troubled adolescents. Based on his expertise in dealing with violent adolescents, Bill was hired to serve as the Deputy Commissioner for New York City’s Department of Juvenile Justice. He went on to become Assistant Commissioner for Budget and Finance, Deputy Commissioner for Property Management, and then First Deputy Commissioner for the NYC Department for Housing Preservation and Development under Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani. HPD was given the leadership responsibility to implement NYC’s ten year, $5.5 billion housing program that transformed the communities of the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn, Harlem and Washington Heights during the 90’s. Since leaving city government in 1995, Bill has devoted himself to improving housing and educational opportunities for low income individuals and families working for local and national nonprofit and for-profit firms.

Bill has a BA and MEd. from Rutgers University and an MBA from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Antonio Gonzalez

Antonio is the Director of Architecture and Planning. In his dual role as Senior Project Manager, he oversees the portfolio of facility development projects for Green Dot Public Schools.

Prior to joining the team at Pacific, Antonio worked as a Neighborhood Planner for Lawrence CommunityWorks (LCW), in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he worked on various initiatives including the redevelopment of an abandoned school into a public community school as well as affordable homeownership housing. Antonio also spent his time as the principal instructor for the LCW Young Architects Program, an after-school program for high school youth where students learn skills in architectural design, drawing, and drafting. Prior to that, Antonio worked with Professor Roy Strickland and the New American School Design Project where he created comprehensive community and school development plans in Paterson, New Jersey. Antonio’s architectural career began in Northern California where he designed a variety of commercial, residential, and educational projects for private and nonprofit clients. Antonio believes comprehensive school reform and development are catalysts for community and economic development.

Antonio holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master in City Planning with an emphasis on Housing, Community, and Economic Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Frank Gonzalez

Frank Gonzalez is the Director of Policy. In his dual role as senior project manager, he oversees development projects for Inner-City Education Foundation (ICEF) and Aspire Public Schools.

Prior to joining Pacific, Frank served as General Manager for the California Charter Schools Association, the largest statewide professional organization for charter schools in the country. While at the Association, he advised clients on issues related to strategic growth, development, operations, policy and regulation. He also partnered with educators on advocacy and reform efforts, successfully leading various changes in policy, finance and legislation.

Prior to that, he worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Facilities Services Division, where he developed community outreach, communications and public relations strategies for highly sensitive new school construction projects. Frank’s experience includes teaching at the elementary school level, where he worked with other educators on school-wide reform efforts that led to increased student achievement and parental involvement.

Frank holds a B.A. in Politics, with a concentration in Western Democracy, from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Executive Management Program, focusing on Urban Education Leadership and the Strategic Management of Charter Schools.

Anna Olvera

Anna Olvera directs marketing, investor and foundation support initiatives. In her dual role as Senior Project Manager, Anna is responsible for managing the development portfolios for Partnership to Uplift Communities and Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools.

Anna was previously affiliated with KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad) where she assisted the company’s 29 divisions in land acquisitions across all domestic markets. Before that, she served as a gubernatorial appointee and Regional Director for the California Trade and Commerce Agency, where she oversaw large-scale real estate transactions in the manufacturing, aerospace, bio, and apparel industries. Anna was recruited for that position after spending seven years as principal of an economic development firm specializing in urban renewal and commercial real estate. She also spent six years in the corporate sector, most notably, The Walt Disney Company and Neutrogena Corporation. During her tenure with these Fortune 500 companies, she created and implemented national consumer brand marketing campaigns for both flagship and new product franchises.

Anna holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and she graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California.

Patrick Anton C. Ontiveros

In his role as general counsel, Patrick is responsible for overseeing Pacific’s routine legal matters. As Senior Project Manager, Patrick is responsible for assisting with the development of campuses for Green Dot Public Schools.

Prior to joining Pacific, Patrick was an attorney with Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP in Oakland, California, where he focused on corporate and real estate transactions and represented private companies, such as 24- Hour Fitness and Clif Bar Inc., and various municipal entities. While at Wendel Rosen, Patrick was nominated and elected to the Alameda County Bar Association's Board of Directors. Before his tenure at Wendel Rosen, he was an attorney with a boutique Silicon Valley law firm counseling both high tech and emerging growth companies and venture capital investors.

Patrick began his legal career in New York City with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in its Public Finance and Structured Finance Departments. He is licensed to practice law in the states of California and New York. A native Angeleno, Patrick is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, and he holds an economics degree from Yale University.

Pete Kyriacou

Pete Kyriacou is Senior Project Manager and Director of Systems, where he is responsible for defining and executing school development system strategies as well as internal system support and growth. His day-to-day activities include project management on new Green Dot Public School projects.

Prior to joining Pacific, Pete had 9 years of accomplished Program Management for Fortune 500 consumer electronic firms, including Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard. His most recent position was Sr. Program Manager for Sonos, Inc., where he managed the development phase of new products with engineering as well as manufacturing with contractors in Southeast Asia and China.

Pete started his career with Litton Industries, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. He served as a Senior Systems engineer for the Guidance and Controls division and was awarded 3 patents for his work on emerging technologies. Pete has a BS Engineering degree from UCLA and a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

Ramiro Viramontes

Ramiro Viramontes is the Director of Facilities/Construction Management. In his dual role as Senior Project Manager, he oversees the portfolio of facility development projects for Aspire Public Schools.

Ramiro brings over 20 years of corporate experience in construction management, facility operations, and property management. Prior to joining Pacific, he served as First Vice-President of Facility Operations for Countrywide Financial Corporation, the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. During his ten years at Countrywide, he oversaw a 3.2 million square foot portfolio of corporate sites across the country, a staff of 386 employees, and the remodeling/new construction and expansion of over 900,000 square feet of office and data center space.

Ramiro’s other management experience includes Fiserv, 20th Century Insurance, and Transamerica Corporation. He holds an Associate Degree in Architecture from Pasadena City College and holds the distinguished CFM designation from IFMA, the International Facilities Management Association. In his spare time, Ramiro serves on the boards of several local grammar schools in Southern California and is a member of the Executive Board for the re-development of private high schools in the San Gabriel Valley.

Alma A. Cibrian

Alma is Project and Acquisitions Manager, where she is responsible for identifying and securing acquisitions for the Los Angeles area market. Alma also assists in overseeing development projects from pre-development through construction and occupancy.

Prior to joining Pacific, Alma was Research Director at Bentley Forbes, one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate investment companies, where she conducted asset valuations for the company’s multi-billion dollar office portfolio. Alma also served as an appraiser for Norris Realty Advisors, specializing in institutional and commercial properties for clients such as the Anschultz Entertainment Group, LACERA, New York Life, and the U.S. General Services Administration. Prior to that, she undertook a number of social policy endeavors at RAND Corporation, Resources for Community Development, and Columbia University.

Alma holds a bachelors degree in Economics from UC Berkeley. She also recently received a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California, where she was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Fabian Garcia

Fabian Garcia is a Project Manager assisting in the management of development projects for Partnerships to Uplift Communities and The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools.

Prior to joining Pacific, Fabian worked for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). As Program Associate under NALEO’s Civic Education Program, he provided advocacy and training to organizations interested in increasing citizenship, and he also administered an interest-free loan program that helped families offset the costs of becoming citizens. Prior to that, Fabian worked for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) where he served as a Development Assistant for their fundraising arm working on grant proposals and special events. He also developed a curriculum for a financial literacy program for working families.

Fabian holds a bachelors degree from the University of California Santa Barbara.