Our Team

Jonathan was the founder and headed the Abaarso School in Somaliland, breaking a decades-long drought in Somali education by matriculating over 200 students to educational institutions globally, including 7 of the 8 Ivy League Universities and MIT. Abaarso’s success has been covered by Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, MSBNC’s Morning Joe, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBC’s The Current, and BBC.  In 2017 Jonathan co-founded Barwaaqo University in Somaliland, the first all-female boarding university in the country. In 2019, he co-founded Kaabe Schools, spreading high-quality Montessori-inspired K-12 education throughout Somaliland. Jonathan has spoken at The World Bank, The Nantucket Project, and several school campuses, including Marist College, which selected Jonathan’s book, It Takes a School, as its first-year student required reading. Jonathan graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Emory University.

As a high school valedictorian, graduate of Harvard University, and former public school teacher, Rachel has been passionate about learning for her entire life. She received her Master’s in Elementary Education in 2019 and taught elementary school for four years before joining Nomizo. She had also previously worked in non-profit administration and development. Rachel specializes in curriculum development, utilizing the most recent research-based teaching practices to help students learn most effectively. 

James Greisler has a BA in theater from Hamilton College and an Ed.M. in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has taught in South Korea, the Republic of Georgia, Malaysia, and Somaliland. James spent two years on a Fulbright in Malaysia where he taught in public schools, directed plays, and had the honor of presenting his work to then Secretary of State John Kerry. In Somaliland James spent six and a half years working at the Abaarso School, working as a teacher, academic coordinator, and eventually assistant head of school. He currently serves as curriculum director for Nomizo and as academic coordinator, site lead, and teacher with Minnesota schools that have chosen to partner with Nomizo.

Mohamed Hussein is an experienced educator who earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Amherst College. While at Amherst, Mohamed was a 6-time All-American in cross country and track and field. Immediately after graduation, Mohamed started teaching at Northfield Mount Hermon while simultaneously earning his Masters in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. In his current roles, Mohamed strives to deliver world-class education to students who are left behind by the broken public education system in America.