Meet Our Team

Aisling Gallagher

Center Director

Aisling is the Center Director at Sylvan Camden. Aisling received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Maynooth University, Ireland. She has worked in various education settings in the United Kingdom and has experience working with children of all ages and special needs. She started her journey at Sylvan as a teacher in Mountain View and San Jose before becoming a Director with Sylvan. Aisling is passionate about education and helping children reach their maximum potential. In her spare time, Aisling loves to travel and explore new countries and cultures.

Roger Shore

Executive Director

Roger is a former classroom teacher with experience in grades K-8. Following his teaching career, Roger received a master’s degree in clinical psychology and worked in private practice as a marriage, family and child counselor specializing in families and school related problems. He opened the Cupertino Sylvan Learning Center in 1993, the Center in San Jose in 1994 and the Mt. View Center in 2000.

Karyn Cipresso

Tutor

Karyn has been a professional educator since earning her California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential in 2004. Her many years of teaching experience allow her to be quite versatile, but she especially enjoys tutoring students in reading and writing. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her master’s degree from San Jose State University. Karyn genuinely enjoys helping students of all ages and abilities improve their academic skills and knowledge.

Kristina Apodaca

Tutor

Kristina is a tutor in San Jose, CA, and her favorite tutoring subject is writing. She has taught middle and high school for 15 years, and loves coaching soccer. Kristina has her bachelor’s in Family and Consumer Sciences Education and her Master’s is in Educational Leadership. When she isn’t working with kids, she’s spending quality time with her own kids, usually outdoors and likely at the beach.

Marina D

Tutor

Marina is a tutor at Sylvan San Jose. She has special expertise in math and physics tutoring. Marina studied at the University of Moscow. When Marina is not working at Sylvan you’ll find her hiking with her husband or spending time her cat. 

Marlisha Holland

Tutor

Marlisha is a tutor at Sylvan of San Jose. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Child and Adolescent Development from San Jose State University. She is currently working on a Master’s in Secondary Education at Grand Canyon University. Once she completes her student teaching hours, Marlisha will be teaching math at either the middle school or early high school level. Marlisha started teaching preschool in 2015 and moved on in 2017 to teaching at a before and after school program at Bracher Elementary in Santa Clara. In her free time, Marlisha enjoys cooking for family and friends, watching football, especially the Dallas Cowboys, and watching basketball, especially the Los Angeles Lakers

James Taylor

Tutor

James has been tutoring for 5 years and is a math tutor at Sylvan. He has a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from SJSU, and he loves teaching so he’s currently getting his teaching credential for secondary math education. In his free time, James enjoys playing Sudoku and programming web applications.

Maureen Frantzich

Tutor

Maureen is a dedicated and skilled education professional. She has held the roles of teacher, tutor, curriculum editor, and academic researcher. While working in both public and private schools, she taught all levels of students from kindergarten through adult. Maureen recently completed the Online Teaching Certificate Program at UCSD Extension. She has a Master of Arts in History (U.S.) from San Jose State University, a Master of Education in College Student Personnel Administration from University of Alaska-Fairbanks, concentration in Counseling and Student Services, and a California Secondary Single Subject Credential in Social Studies. Her Bachelor of Arts is from UC Davis.