Kathleen has her BA in Special Education and K-8 Education and started her career as a special needs teacher in Florida, concentrating on emotional and learning differences. She has her MA in Administration and Supervision, and principal’s certification in NY. Kathleen is a recent graduate fellow of The Klingenstein Heads of School at Columbia University.
Kathleen moved to Europe and taught in a small international school in Genoa, Italy- 3⁄4 grade, and at The University of Genoa. She moved to Germany and sold educational texts for Macmillan McGraw Hill worldwide for 7 years- traveling the world and visiting international schools, colleges, and Department of Defense schools.
Next, she moved back to the USA and worked at United Nations International School that has the IB and languages, some public schools in NJ, and an early childhood center, before moving into admissions at Far brook School in Short Hills.
She moved to CA to Silicon Valley and continued as Admissions Director, before moving to DC as the Enrollment Director at Washington International School that had both the IB and immersion in Spanish, French and Dutch. She has led in two of the biggest international schools in the USA and been in senior leadership for over 20 years.
Seven years ago, Kathleen joined The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, once of the most diverse schools in the country. She moved to Hoboken, where both of her parents were born and grew up, so has a heartfelt connection to this city.
Kathleen’s daughter Kate has her BA in Econ and Mandarin and MPA from NYU and works for the Comptroller of NYC in pension investments and Worker’s Rights.
Kathleen is delighted to find a bilingual IB school right here in Hoboken and is honored to be joining the Tessa family. Her strengths include strategic planning, helping parents with concerns about learning styles, building enrollment and community partnerships, structures and programs, diversity and inclusion, and communication. She often presents national and international workshops on creative outreach.

Lea was born and raised in France, in a little town of Loire Valley, located between farms and vineyards. She has a Masters degree in humanitarian and social work with a focus in communication from Ircom, in Angers.

Lea has always wanted to serve different communities since a very young age. She was involved many years with the Girl Scouts. She spent months volunteering at an orphanage in India, and she is the co-founder of non-profit organization in France which helps people by organizing social and cultural events. Since she arrived in the States a few years ago, she has volunteered in several non-profit organizations, including America Scores, which provides afterschool programs in soccer, poetry and service learning. From these experiences and thanks to her mother who has been a dedicated teacher for 35 years, she learnt that education is the key to development in all communities.

She has been Head of Auxiliary Programs at Tessa for 3 years, running a wonderful Summer Camp every summer.

She believes that school instills confidence, knowledge and an open mind to our future generation to be tomorrow’s leaders. She is proud to be part of Tessa, which represents an education of excellence through bilingualism!

Born and raised in France, Marie moved to the US with her husband and their 2-year old twin daughters over 20 years ago. She started her career in IT Services in Paris before settling in Central New Jersey. She began her journey in bilingual education as a mother raising bilingual children before leaving behind her corporate life and taking a different career path at the French American School in Princeton, NJ.

Marie brings over 15 years of extensive school leadership and administration experience in a French American independent school, holding various roles as Assistant Head of School, Director of Admissions & Marketing, and Development Head. Her expertise lies in enrollment management, school marketing, fundraising and community outreach. During her tenure at FASP, she also served on the steering committee of the Admissions Group of French American Schools in North America.

Marie and her husband relocated to Hoboken in 2020. Having seen firsthand the benefits of a bilingual education, both as parent and educational professional, she is very excited to join Tessa to lead the admission efforts for the French track and develop strong partnerships with the community in Hoboken.

Born and raised in Belgium, Amélie graduated in Education, with the Haute Ecole Roi Baudouin, in June 2007.

She holds a Bachelor degree in Education and a License in Education.She is currently finishing her Master in Training Practices & Engineering Trainer training.

Throughout her career, she has been able to broaden her skills in four different countries: Belgium, Congo DRC, Cambodia and now the USA.

Her travels and experiences, across multiple continents with diverse environments, have enriched her with practical and beneficial skills such as the ability to adapt to cultural diversity, the means to grow rapidly in an unknown environment, and the capacity to achieve efficiency despite, sometimes, unusual working conditions.

Amélie joined Tessa in 2020 as a lead Teacher and French Coordinator and the leadership team, in 2021. She is happy to continue the beautiful “Accreditations/IB/Curriculums/Learning” adventure in a school that advocates for education without borders to stimulate international sensitivity and consideration.