School Support Center Team

KIPP LA’s School Support Center supports our schools by providing financial, operational, and fund development services.

Marcia Aaron, Executive Director - bio
maaron@kippla.org

Katie Braude, Director of Advancement - bio
kbraude@kippla.org

Will DeSmit, Program Associate - bio
wdesmit@kippla.org

Jennie Herriot, Communications & Development Associate - bio
jherriot@kippla.org

Alejandra Murillo, Staff Accountant - bio
amurillo@kippla.org

Kiran Puri, Administrative Assistant - bio
kpuri@kippla.org

Arielle Rittvo, Director of Operations & Planning - bio
arittvo@kippla.org

About Our Team

Prior to being named Executive Director of KIPP LA, Marcia Aaron was the founding Board Chair of KIPP LA and the Board Chair of KIPP Academy of Opportunity in LA. Previously, she worked as a Senior Analyst at Pacific Growth Equities, and as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and Montgomery Securities. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Oregon Foundation, where she is the Chair of the Development Committee and part of the Investment Committee. She also serves as a Member of the University of Oregon Journalism Advancement Council and a Member of All Stars Helping Kids’ Board of Directors. Marcia holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon.

Before joining the School Support Center staff, Katie Braude served as a consultant to KAO for three years, where she directed the school’s fundraising and community engagement efforts and raised close to $2 million. Katie worked as an independent fundraising and public affairs consultant for over ten years, and served as the Executive Director of the Palisades Charter Schools Foundation. She has many years of varied experience that took her from the US Deptartment of Education, to political and public affairs campaigns at the national, state, and local level, and to non-profit fundraising and management. Katie holds a BA in Government from Smith College, a Master of Arts in Aesthetic Education (Music Emphasis) from American University, and Masters of Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Will DeSmit joins the KIPP LA team from Year Up New York City, where he served as Executive Assistant to the Executive Director, an intern/part-time staff member, and a member of the startup team for the New York City site. He has participated in post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in Gulfport, Miss., and headed a large New York University event sponsored by Amnesty International to raise awareness for Darfur. Recently, he served as an intern with the LGBT Project at the American Civil Liberties Union's national office, and as President of the ACLU campus organization at New York University, where he graduated with a degree in individualized study from the Gallatin School, concentrating in Education, Social Work, and Civil Rights.

Jennie Herriot comes to KIPP LA from Katie Braude & Associates, where she provided fundraising and communications services to KIPP Academy of Opportunity for two years. Prior to joining KBA, she held internships at Edelman Public Relations, US Sen. Dianne Feinstein's District Office in Los Angeles, and the United States Mission to the United Nations. She has tutored high school students in SAT reading and writing, as well as college students in academic writing. While in college, she helped organize the UCLA Dance Marathon, a fundraiser for children with AIDS. Jennie holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also earned a minor in French.

Before coming to KIPP LA, Alejandra Murillo worked as a as a staff accountant for a social service agency in Southeast Los Angeles where she also provided financial analysis and contract compliance support for state, city, and local grants. She has worked on both administrative and direct services at several non-profits in Los Angeles for the last six years. Alejandra received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kiran Puri joins KIPP LA from a journalism background, having most recently worked as an editorial and research assistant to a Los Angeles-based journalist, and as a freelance writer for several national publications. She has served as the communications operative for literacy and sustainability nonprofits in Orange County, organized a gulf-relief trip to New Orleans through Habitat for Humanity, and completed several internships in press relations. While attending the University of California, Los Angeles, she was a staff writer for the school’s award-winning Daily Bruin and an active member and coordinator of Food Not Bombs. She holds her BA from UCLA with a major in English and a minor in Political Science.

Arielle Rittvo joined the KIPP LA team first as Director of Operations and Finance at KIPP LA Prep from 2006 to 2008. Before coming to KIPP, she worked in the communications department at Oakland Unified School District. As the Associate Director of Community Outreach at the New York City Department of Environment Protection, she designed and implemented six major citywide programs such as a $10 million benefit fund that created environmental education programming throughout West Harlem public schools. She also served as Operations Manager of REACH Charter School, Policy Analyst at The After-School Corporation, and a Coro Fellow. Arielle holds an MBA from University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University.