The headmaster of C4L Academy, Dr. Shirin Ansari, established C4L Academy in 2012 to provide an alternative educational path for K-12 students. Dr. Ansari’s passion for reaching students who struggle led to the addition of the C4L Academy Online High School program in 2015. Understanding that children who struggle to learn become adults who dislike or avoid learning, Dr. Ansari has assembled a team of education and curriculum experts to create a high school diploma program that is expressly suited to an adult learner’s needs and practically applicable to their lives.

Hamid Afyouni has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operation Officer since the inception of C4L Academy in 2015. Hamid is responsible for managing the overall finance and accounting for C4L Academy. He also oversees the operations teams and collaborates with both the IT and curriculum teams to ensure seamless service delivery to all students.

Mark Sontag joined C4L Academy in 2016 to revise math and science curriculum; led the C4L Academy Accreditation by AdvancEd (now Cognia) in 2017. He has been the Director of Curriculum from 2017 through present and is Advisor to the C4L Academy Governing Board.

Judy Cunningham is a professional educator with a broad background in instructional practices, school design, and professional learning communities. A former school principal, she is currently President of Cunningham Education Consulting, working with superintendents, principals and site leadership teams to develop all elements of an effective learning community with students first. Judy has worked with teams from over 100 schools in nine California counties.

Rami Muth served as Superintendent of the Martinez Unified School District for 8 years until her retirement in June of 2016 closing a 40 year career in education. During her tenure, Rami developed and implemented a compelling vision of 21st century education that supported academic achievement for all students. As an innovative leader, Rami brought important resources to the district by forging strong, positive relationships with the immediate community as well as many outside agencies including the City of Martinez.