Our Team

Georgette Dobkin
Lower School Architect; Adventurer Guide     
Georgette always knew her calling was to work with children.  With a Master of Science in Teaching degree from Fordham University, Georgette taught for two decades in public and private schools in New York, Maryland, Florida and Georgia. During her tenure in traditional education, she taught and served in leadership roles at a Cobb County elementary school, co-founded two foundations at her children's schools, and was the head of the ESOL program for a Fulton County elementary school.  
     In 2017, Georgette left traditional education to create a space where learners could pursue their greatest potential with choice, independence, and joy. She first co-founded the Homegrown Learning Academy, cultivating a multi-age learning program there, before discovering the Acton Academy network. In 2019, she launched Acton Academy Marietta, excited to join the community of affiliates reimagining learning and empowering young heroes across the US and around the globe.
     Georgette serves as part of Acton Marietta’s learning design and administrative team and will guide our elementary-aged studio during the 2022-23 year. She feels honored to be a part of the learners’ Hero’s Journey!

​​Jamie Ashley
Upper School Architect; Navigator & Pathfinder Guide
​Jamie has been a member of the Acton Marietta team since its creation. In 2018, her family joined Homegrown Learning Academy, staying on to become a founding family of Acton Academy Marietta in 2019. After joining the team as our Art Guide, Jamie’s role expanded first to administrative support, then to guiding, then to her expanded current roles. 

Jamie is formally trained as an artist and an art educator. She's worked as an art teacher in both public and private schools, and as a professional artist. Jamie was also involved in relief and development work that took her all over southeast Asia.

​Jamie serves as a part of Acton Marietta’s learning design and administrative team, and she will guide Art as well as our middle school-aged squad during the 2022-23 year. Jamie enjoys watching the learners’ independence and creativity blossom!

Brooksie Pollack
Young Hero Expert; Explorer Guide
After earning her BA degree in Early Childhood Development and a multi-subject teaching credential from San Jose State University, Brooksie taught kindergarten and 2nd grade until she and her husband moved to Georgia. She continued her teaching career working with 1st through 5th graders in the Learning Lab at Paces Academy in Atlanta. As her family began to grow, Brooksie left teaching to focus on motherhood and became active in her children’s interests including scouting and coaching Odyssey of the Mind. As an Odyssey coach she led her children’s teams to World Finals 3 times as well as earned the Ranatra Fusca Award and a spot in the Coaches Hall Of Fame.

In the spring of 2020 she began homeschooling her high schooler, and later her 5th grader. Now that her two oldest children are off to college and her youngest has landed as an Acton Eagle, Brooksie is excited to take on her newest role as the Explorer studio guide and encourage the youngest eagles to find their passion, discover a love of learning, and watch them grow into the heroes they truly are.

Michael Ashley
Director of Operations & Development
Michael brings over a decade of non-profit management experience with roles ranging from relief and development work to community engagement manager. He has worked with hundreds of schools, businesses, communities of faith, and civic groups raising awareness about the scourge of extreme poverty. He has been fortunate to work and travel throughout Southern and Southeast Asia supporting various NGO’s and philanthropic projects.
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Michael’s family joined Acton Academy Marietta in 2018, and he has enjoyed watching his children and the other learners grow in their independence and confidence which is instilled in them through the Acton learning model. He is excited to bring his expertise to helping Acton Academy Marietta grow and expand.

Advisors

Laura Sandefer
​Laura is co-founder and head of school of Acton Academy (Austin). Raised by a science teacher and minister, Laura lived on both coasts and in between as a child and then landed at Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Science.
After working in London and New York City in the aviation insurance business, Laura yearned to follow her heart into the world of teaching. She went back to Vanderbilt's renowned Peabody College and received her Master of Education. This led her to work in arts education at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. Laura later married Jeff Sandefer and has two sons and a stepdaughter. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to cofound Acton Academy (Austin).
Her greatest hero is her beloved late mother, who was a master teacher as none other. Her wisest mentor is her father, who sent her off to college with two words of advice: "Be curious."

Jeff Sandefer
Jeff is an entrepreneur and a Socratic teacher. As an entrepreneur, he began by starting his first company at age 16 and most recently sold Sandefer Capital, an energy investment firm with several billion dollars in assets.
As a teacher, he co-founded the Acton School of Business, a school dedicated to America’s next generation of principled entrepreneurs and famous for its 100-hour work weeks. The Princeton Review has consistently ranked Acton’s teachers, students, and program among the best in the country. While at the University of Texas, Jeff’s students voted him the school’s Most Outstanding Teacher five times, and he was named by Businessweek as one of the top entrepreneurship professors in America. He also co-founded Acton Academy (Austin), where he is a middle school lead guide.
Jeff has been a longtime board member of National Review, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, The Philanthropy Roundtable, and the Harvard Business School and is one of the youngest members ever elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.