Our Team
Strength in Knowledge. With more than 150 years of combined leadership experience and work across Districts, County Offices, State Agencies, our thought leadership in the field of SPED is unparalleled.
Leadership
Arjun Kushwaha
Managing Director
He has more than two decades of special education dynamic leadership experience and has worked with multiple LEAs to improve educational achievements for students with disabilities.
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Arjun has served on various county and State educational committees to streamline resources, data, services and instructional pedagogies. In his role at Expatiate, he is responsible for conceptualizing, developing and launching innovative services to improve special education programs for schools and agencies.
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Arjun strongly believes in the One Student philosophy and advocates tirelessly for removing learning barriers for students with exceptional needs. His demonstrated talent is leveraging technology and developing new models of service delivery designed to promote inclusion. Arjun’s work has benefitted students at school districts, county offices and charter schools by developing and implementing high quality sustainable special education programs.
Kim Hopko
Senior Director
Consulting Services
Kim has an extensive background in the field of special education with more than 44 years of experience. She began her career as a Speech Pathologist working in an Aphasia classroom, and then moved into Special Education administration. Kim served in a variety of positions from Assistant Principal, SELPA Director and Director of Special Education for the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), a regional education agency serving 80 school districts. She spent 12 years as Director prior to her retirement in June 2015.
Kim’s passion has always been meeting the needs of students. She enjoyed being at school sites, working with students and staff. She developed partnerships with the district hosts, engaging them in inclusive education for all special education students.
Kim gladly accepted the opportunity to contribute her skills in the field of special education with Expatiate Communications as the Senior Director of Consulting Services. She works directly with charter schools and LEAs to provide guidance and support to their special education programs.
Our Staff
O'Connor Joseph Mahabir, Ph.D
Administrator
Special Education
Dr. Mahabir has a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary and Special Education, and a Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Rhode Island College. He received his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in Urban Education Leadership.
He gained valuable experiences as a teacher in Regular Education and Special Education at the Compton Unified School District. In Special Education, Dr. Mahabir began as a teacher then moved to a program specialist, a program coordinator and then Director of Special Education.
After Compton Unified School District, he accepted a position as a school administrator at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He was also worked a Graduate Academic Advisor/Adjunct Professor at Cambridge College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and as an adjunct professor at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California.
From his deep experience in the education field, Dr. Mahabir authored The Marginalization of Students in Need, a book on the exclusion of students with disabilities from obtaining an appropriate education, from early in America’s history to the current time.
Tammie Wilson
Administrator
Special Education
Tammie Wilson is the Special Education Administrator for Expatiate Communication. She is a graduate of the University of North Texas, National University and California State Dominguez Hills. She holds a Master degree in Public Administration and a Masters in Educational Leadership, with a focus on Special Education and Human Resource Management.
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Tammie enjoys using her knowledge, skills and abilities to empower all students and staff to reach their full potential. With more than 20 years of professional leadership in the public and private sector, her guiding philosophy has always been equity, collaboration and fairness in a pursuit of happiness and growth.
Mark Scott
Consultant
PBIS/MTSS
Mark Scott has worked in education and professional development for
more than 25 years, specializing in behavior supports, management,
and applied practices. For 20 years, his service was with the Los
Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), the largest regional
education agency in the United States.
Mark is skilled in in the framework of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
(MTSS) and Response to Intervention (RtI), as well as Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Trauma Informed Care
and Response, Restorative Practices, and Cultural Competencies.
Mark is certified by the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) as a master
instructor in Nonviolent Crisis Intervention in the content areas of
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Trauma Informed Care, Applied
Physical Training, and Enhancing Verbal Skills. He is also certified as
a Restorative Practices (Justice) Conferencing Facilitator.
Since joining Expatiate Communications, Mark has applied his
experience to a continuum of MTSS service and support and
developed a unique behavior intervention concept (C.A.R.E.) to build
resilience and improve student engagement, accountability, and
access to curriculum.
Frank Kwan
Director
Strategic Communications
Frank Kwan, APR, is the Director of Strategic Communications, overseeing communications, marketing and digital media for Expatiate. He has an extensive background in education marketing, media relations, diversity and community relations, crisis communications, and special event management.

He recently retired from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), an agency serving 80 K-12 school districts. He was also the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, with more than 500 k-12 school board and community college trustees.
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Frank’s experience includes consulting for national and state education organizations, and he holds an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).

Frank is the recipient of major awards from professional organizations including the Public Relations Society of America. the Los Angeles Television Academy, National Education Association, American Women in Radio and TV, the NAACP and the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
