Jonathan Trichter spent a major part of his career in finance and on Wall Street, where he was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan before becoming a founding principal at a corporate restructuring firm. He later went on to work for the New York City venture capital fund, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, which is run by his family. Jonathan and his family were personally touched by autism; he himself became deeply involved in the delivery of therapies that are now available for children with neurological and behavioral differences. He is passionate about making sure many others receive the best therapies available, and he works fulltime and onsite at Hubbard Day.
Joel Maute graduated from Boston University with a degree in Occupational therapy. He began his career in the Milton Public Schools and transitioned to a home care specialist providing therapeutic services to children with varying disabilities. Realizing the critical need for children to generalize their skills outside of their home, he co-founded a successful school-based alternative education program that was widely known for its excellence. Subsequently, he partnered with Jonathan Trichter and expanded that program to include two locations: The Foundry Learning Center in Manhattan and Hubbard Day School in Stamford, Connecticut. He has intricate knowledge of the special education space from a clinical and managerial perspective and works fulltime and onsite at Foundry.
Flynn is a career educator with more than 20 years of experience in independent school and nonprofit leadership. He has served a variety of organizations including day and residential programs, faith-based and non-sectarian institutions, start up schools and schools that are 300+ years old. He has a passion for the advocacy of underserved kids and kids with various forms of neurodiversity. He and his wife Kate, a preschool special education teacher, have four children.
Ashley Coelho holds a Master of Arts Degree in Special Education from Fairfield University and an Intermediate Administration and Supervision Certification (092) from Sacred Heart University. She has been a Special Education teacher for the over 11 years and began her career at an approved private special education program in Connecticut. Ashley has worked with a variety of students who demonstrate cognitive, behavioral, and emotional delays because of their disabilities. Her philosophy on education is that all students have the capacity to make progress given adequate supports. She is passionate about leading a program made up of a multi-disciplinary team that values and focuses on developing individualized programs and learning plans that meet each student’s needs. Learning reaches far beyond the classroom walls and student success is not only measured by academic growth. It is the responsibility of each student’s school team to work closely with families to set high expectations for growth and celebrate small gains along the way.
Lynne Guilmette has worked within the special education field for close to 40 years—first as a Special Education teacher, then Program Director of the Program of Experiential Learning in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and later as a program consultant across Connecticut and Massachusetts. From there, she ran a clinic-based model for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and finally developed and opened, an Approved Private Special Education Program (APSEP) in Connecticut, which she ran first as Chief Administrator and finally Executive Director over the span of 16 years. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Margaret Bauman Award, a lifetime achievement award given for excellence to those who serve the Autism community.