Staff

Herbert Brown

Herbert Brown is senior instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Jackson Campus.

He previously served as a teacher for the Algebra Project at Lanier High School in Jackson from 2006-2010. He later worked as a financial aid counselor at Tougaloo College.

Currently, he serves on the board of directors for the Algebra Project as treasurer. Brown received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Jackson State University and a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Mississippi College.

Margarito Valencia

Margarito Valencia is the instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Biloxi campus.

Jessika Hayes

Jessika Hayes is the instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Golden Triangle campus. Born and raised in Columbus, Hayes is a graduate of Columbus High School and Mississippi Coding Academies. She studied Visual Art and Graphic Design at the Mississippi University for Women for two years before transferring to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division where she studied Graphic Design/Web Design for a year.

In July of 2019, after graduating MCA, Hayes accepted the full-time position as Columbia Municipal School District’s first Coding Facilitator. There she worked with Bulldog Bytes, a computer science camp for children, helped establish the Columbus Cyber League, a club for girls in grades 3-5, facilitated a summer coding program called “Athletes For Computer Science, and served as a judge for the 2020 Major League Hacking Hackathon and Mississippi State University.

Matthew Harris

Matthew Harris is the instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Delta campus located in Clarksdale, MS which is in partnership with People Shores.

He previously taught secondary English in the public school setting. He has over 15 years in Christian education and is a former lay minister. Matthew describes himself as a lifelong learner and always seeks out opportunities to grow.

Matthew is a graduate of Mississippi State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies majoring in Education, Educational Psychology, and English. He attended grad school at MSU and is working toward his Masters in Education. He is also a former graduate of MCA where he received certification as a full-stack software developer. On top of this, he earned certifications from CompTIA in IT Fundamentals and Sec+ and Career Essentials of Gen. A.I. from LinkedIn.

Bob Buseck

MCA Executive Director

Bob Buseck is a self-described “IT guy” formerly the Chief Information Officer for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Since his time serving in the U.S. Army as a Signal Support Systems Specialist, he’s worked in a variety of information technology administrator and director roles.