About us
Wendy Weinberger
President & Co-Founder
Wendy is the President & Co-founder of Illuminos, a passion born business from her experiences growing up with numerous family members with ADHD. When her son received the same diagnosis, she worked hard to help him overcome the many challenges and decided to bring her cousin Evan’s unique curriculum-based academic coaching business to the DC area to help parents and students in her community with similar challenges.
A lifelong supporter of children’s causes, Wendy has been a long-time advocate for Children’s Miracle Hospital Networks and Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC for whom she raised more than $550,000 for the facility.
Wendy holds a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Bachelor’s in Science, cum laude, from the University of Maryland. Prior to founding Illuminos, she spent 25 years as a practicing attorney, General Counsel & COO of publicly traded companies gaining a broad range of experiences that she leverages today in managing Illuminos.
Evan Weinberger
Co-Founder
Evan Weinberger is the Co-founder of Illuminos. Evan graduated from Rhoades College before being admitted to the University of Houston Ph.D. program for Psychology. Following decades of his own struggles with learning differences, he started Staying Ahead of the Game, a Texas-based academic coaching company in 2006 with the goal to equip students with the executive functioning skills, habits, and tools they need to manage stress and achieve greater success.
Evan particularly enjoys speaking to parents, counselors, and educators all over the country about the power of executive functioning skills and the most useful ways to assist students in getting the most out of school and achieving their goals.
Ashley Horner
Onboarding Specialist & Parent Liaison
parentsupport@illuminos.co
Ashley has been working with students and their families for over ten years as a behavioral specialist, family ministry counselor, and school counselor. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Counseling. Ashley is passionate about helping students discover their unique strengths and understanding how they’re wired so they can grow into their full potential.
In her role as Onboarding Specialist & Parent Liaison, Ashley works closely with parents and students to understand their needs and ensure they are properly supported. She also collaborates closely with our Coach Manager, Theresa, and Recruiting Specialist, Lindsey, to ensure each learner and their family are matched well with an Academic Coach.
Katie Leslie
Director of Culture and Coach Development
HeyKatieL@illuminos.co
Katie has been a behavioral specialist for the neurodivergent population for close to 15 years. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Human Development, a post-bachelor’s certificate in Applied Behavioral Analysis, and is currently working towards a master’s degree in Applied Neuropsychology. Katie’s many years of experience providing services for students and their families both in the home and at school have made her passionate about implementing instruction that is highly individualized and grounded in her students’ unique needs and strengths.
In her role as Director of Culture and Coach Development at Illuminos, Katie works closely with our Coach Manager, Onboarding Specialist & Client Success Manager, and our Recruiting Specialist, to foster a positive and supportive company culture while ensuring the continuous education and professional development of our coaches. With Katie's background in ABA, Human Development, and Psychology, she works alongside our coaches to tailor learning plans for students based on their individual needs.
Lindsey Hubert
Recruiting Specialist
HeyLindseyH@illuminos.co
Lindsey has been a dedicated educator for over 10 years. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and a Master’s in the Art of Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh, Lindsey started her career as a teacher where she engaged daily with students and parents to support learning in the classroom by building authentic relationships, creating differentiated opportunities, and refining self-advocacy skills of her students.
In her role as Recruiter, she works closely with our Onboarding Specialist, Ashley, and Coach Manager, Theresa, to engage exceptional coaches with experience, credentials and passion for helping students succeed.
Jen Zwirlein
Coach Operations Manager
HeyJenZ@illuminos.co
Jen has been working in various roles in education for 14 years. She earned her dual certification in both K-12 Special Education and Regular Education during her undergrad. She is a certified Learning and Behavior Specialist. She has taught for over ten years and has been a Dean of Students and Instructional Coach for three years. She has also been a case manager and family advocate for students with educational needs. Jen is passionate about servicing each student as an individual and encouraging their unique talents and gifts during their most formative years.
In her role, Jen will work closely with Ashley, Katie, and Lindsey to ensure that each student receives tailored support and guidance, leveraging her extensive experience in special education and instructional coaching to enhance student outcomes.
Lisa Donovan
Accounting
accounting@illuminos.co
Lisa has been working in the accounting industry for over twenty years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus in accounting.
Lisa joined the Illuminos team in 2021. In her role in accounting, she is primarily responsible for all billing and payroll.
Alexis Dell
Community Engagement & Outreach Specialist
HeyAlexisD@illuminos.co
Alexis graduated from Frostburg State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science, Magna Cum Laude, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a Healthcare Management focus. She holds a strong passion for community engagement and helping others improve their lives. In her role as Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist, Alexis collaborates closely with community members, mental health professionals, and educators. She focuses on educating the community about Illuminos’ academic coaching services and executive functioning supports, with a specific emphasis on identifying the best student support services for families with students facing learning challenges.
Jen Gaegler
PR & Social Media Manager
HeyJenG@illuminos.co
Jennifer has more than 20 years of experience building relationships between parents, students and family businesses. In her role as the PR, Jennifer is the community and media contact for press inquiries, speaking engagements and community partnerships.
Kate Zimmer
Executive Administrator
admin@illuminos.co
Stefanie Riegel
Controller
accounting@illuminos.co
All PR-related matters should be directed to Jen Gaegler at pr@illuminos.co
Our Priorities
Help your child suceed
In school & life
Each student has unique needs - we understand that. We meet with every new family and student for an hour or more for an extended interview to get to know you and your child. We learn about your child’s goals, personality, likes/dislikes, and more.
Academic achievement is only one factor in a student’s overall success. Unlike traditional, subject-specific tutoring services, our coaches guide and mentor students to develop robust executive functioning skills that allow your child to succeed inside and outside of the classroom. These fundamentals include strong organizational skills, effective time management, well-developed study habits, and proactive communication.
Successful development of these essential skills ensures that our students always stay ahead of their game!
One-on-one in your home or virtually
Your child will work with his or her coach at least twice a week. In-person sessions are a minimum of 1-hour; virtual sessions are a minimum of 15-minutes. The precise length of each session will vary depending on the needs and/or the demands of the time of year (e.g., midterms, tests, projects).
We require regular and consistent meetings, at least at the onset of services. In order for students to replace old routines with new routines, consistency is essential. We prefer to meet with students on non-consecutive days and are available 7 days a week. We will work with your schedule in order to support your child. As a result of consistently meeting and building new skills, routines, and confidence progressively, academic work and grades (if grades are a concern) should also improve.
Customized for your child
Our coaches work with students in creative ways to help build new neural pathways, routines, and automaticity while supporting their subject matter needs. We also help students learn new ways of understanding, retaining, and retrieving subject matter. For example, if meeting in person, our coach and your child may take a walk and discuss history; turning it into a story and giving visual cues helps a child retrieve individual points in the story later while taking an exam.
Our Approach
Our Mission
Our mission is to help capable students, including those struggling with learning differences, achieve success by improving their executive functioning skills such as organization, task prioritization, study skills, and impression management.
We believe every student is unique and should be treated as such. While we offer subject-specific tutoring and standardized test prep as needed, our unique academic coaching program focuses on helping students improve their executive functioning skills. With an emphasis on positive reinforcement, our coaches/tutors cover goal-setting, organizing, prioritizing tasks, note-taking, learning material, problem-solving, communicating effectively, managing impressions, and self-advocating. We aim to help students perform to their potential by equipping them with the systems, habits, tools, and skills they need to manage stress and achieve greater success.
Our Philosophy
We believe every student is unique and should be treated as such. While we offer subject-specific tutoring and standardized test prep as needed, the focus of our unique academic coaching program is helping students improve their executive functioning skills. With an emphasis on positive reinforcement, our coaches/tutors cover topics such as goal-setting, organizing, prioritizing tasks, note-taking, learning material, problem solving, communicating effectively, managing impressions, and self-advocating. Our goal is to help students perform to their potential by equipping them with the systems, habits, tools, and skills they need to manage stress and achieve greater success.
Our Values
We value the highest customer service standards and relentless commitment to our clients’ success; we value loyalty, integrity, accountability, respect, teamwork, creativity, curiosity, and adaptability.
We believe in guiding others with constant encouragement and persistent positivity, winning others over, both by managing expectations and exceeding them; we believe the pursuit of greatness is never over.
Contact Us
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Careers
We're hiring
We are always seeking individuals interested in becoming a part of our rapidly growing team.