To continue our development efforts on the community level, we created an informal Advisory Board made up of local educators, volunteers and EPACS supporters. By whole-heartedly advocating our mission and bringing much needed funds, they have made great contributions to our school's academic successes. We thank our Board members for their on-going enthusiasm and dedication, and invite you to meet them:
 |
Virginia Alber-Glanstaetten
Virginia Alber-Glanstaetten joined the EPACS Advisory Board in winter of 2008. As a former Brand & Naming Strategist for the Taproot Foundation (2002-2006), Virginia helped local nonprofit organizations increase their visibility and effectiveness in tackling issues like the environment, early childcare and education, and microenterprise development. Virginia is a Senior Manager of Strategy at AvenueA|Razorfish, a digital marketing services and technology firm. She is an alumna of Smith College (1994), with an AB in English Literature and has an an M.B.A from Thunderbird School of Global Management (2001).
Back to the top
Carolyn Barber
Carolyn joined the EPACS Advisory Board in the summer of 2004. Through a friend who was a teacher at EPACS and another friend who was the former Director of Development, she has been an observer of EPACS success since moving to the Bay Area in 2000. Carolyn is a Senior Associate with Dresner, Wickers and Associates, a national Republican political consulting firm specializing in strategic communication, survey and focus group research, and media production and placement. Carolyn is a 2000 graduate of Duke University, with an AB in Psychology and Geology.
Back to the top
Marcy Black
Marcy Black joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2005. She is involved in EPACS as a Community Advocate and focuses on assisting establish relationships with private high schools in the Bay Area. Marcy became involved in EPACS first as a volunteer through the Junior League, as a Roundtable Leader for Middle School students. Her academic background is in teaching English as a Foreign Language, and she has traveled and worked abroad extensively. Marcy has worked as an International Banker at Citibank in Mexico City, Riggs National Bank, and as a Legal Assistant at Compaq Computers. She is most excited about working with the children and families of EPACS.
Back to the top
Zachary Bogue
Zachary Bogue joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2003. Zack founded and runs our annual High School Application Workshop for our eighth graders, and helps with 501(c)(3) issues for the EPACS Foundation. The workshop brings one-on-one tutoring from the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley to help our students apply to private and other desirable high schools in the area and so that the students can continue the tradition of excellence that we foster here at EPACS. He gained his legal and entrepreneurial background from working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Zack currently works at Montara Capital Partners, a boutique real estate private equity fund real estate fund he helped found. Zack also brings to bear past experience from his volunteer work at two charter schools in Washington DC. Zack earned his AB from Harvard University and his JD from Georgetown Law School. He is most impressed with the school's strong culture of success and high expectations it sets for its students.
Back to the top
Jennifer Carolan
Jennifer Carolan joined the Advisory Board in 2004 and was formerly a Palo Alto school teacher. She left to pursue her Masters in Curriculum and Teacher Education from the Stanford School of Education. While at Stanford, she studied Curriculum Differentiation and jointly with fellow Ad Board member Abby Guinn, published her study findings in Educational Leadership. Currently, she works at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy fund investing in education organizations and serves as a Stanford S.O.S. school coach.
Back to the topIrene Fehr
Irene started working with EPACS in 2006 on the web site revamp project through the Taproot Foundation and instantly fell in love with the school and its mission. She joined the Advisory Committee in 2007 and helps out with our communications and fundraising efforts. Irene is a marketing manager for Antics, an interactive marketing agency in Belmont, and brings years of experience managing and implementing marketing campaigns for software companies and financial institutions in the Bay Area and New York. Irene has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Barnard College, Columbia University and a MA in Philosophy from Stanford. In the little spare time she has, Irene loves to explore the trails around the Bay Area with her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rocket, cook using organic and locally-grown ingredients, visit local farms and wineries, and experiment with her organic garden. She lives in the Los Altos Hills with Rocket and her four chickens, Radish, Rutabega, Peppercorn and Fennel.
Back to the topAnders Fisher
Anders Fisher joined the East Palo Alto Charter School Advisory Board when he moved to the Bay Area in 2000. Anders currently works for Watershed Asset Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund, where he invests in loans, bonds and equity securities of public and private companies. Prior to joining Watershed, Anders worked in private equity for Golden Gate Capital in San Francisco and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in London. Anders holds an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and an AB in English Literature and Language.
Back to the topPeter Gifford
Peter Gifford joined the East Palo Alto Charter School Advisory Board in the spring of 2004. He brings a diverse background in finance, strategy, business development, and fundraising. Peter currently works at Regis Management Company, a private investment firm in Palo Alto. Peter received his AB in Political Science from Stanford University and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Peter loves working with the passionate faculty and staff of EPACS and seeing the tremendous impact the school is having in the community.
Back to the top
Abby Guinn
Abby Guinn joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2006. She brings with her 10 years of experience teaching in both public and private schools. Currently, she is the Director of Global Education at the Phillips Brooks School, an independent elementary school in Menlo Park, California. After beginning her teaching career as a Teach for America corps member, Abby taught in a private elementary school where she helped to create curriculum and develop a professional growth tool. In addition to her classroom experience, Abby has worked as an independent consultant developing curriculum and served as a teacher trainer. Her work on differentiation was recently published in Educational Leadership. Abby has a BA in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, a multiple subject teaching credential from Chapman University, and an MA in Curriculum and Teacher Education from Stanford University.
Back to the top
Grace Kawahira
Grace joined the Advisory Committee in 2001 although her involvement with EPACS began two years earlier as an employee of Venture Law Group. The former Silicon Valley law firm, committed to giving back to its community, had adopted the school in 1997. Grace embraced that altruistic effort and has coordinated field trips to the SF Symphony, career day visits to the law firm, organized annual book drives, and has helped coordinate the annual Pancake Breakfast events. She is currently employed at Google Inc., which is also dedicated to making the world a better place. Grace earned her BA in Art History from New York University. When she's not organizing the world's information, you can find her walking her dog Ruby or discovering the wonderful plant and insect life in her garden.
Back to the top
Temp Keller
Temp Keller is the Founder and President of RISE (Resources for Indispensable Schools and Educators), a non-profit organization that exists to retain effective teachers in public schools serving low-income communities. By connecting job-seeking teachers and dynamic principals, and then working directly with these teachers and schools to strengthen work environments, RISE enables educators to make a real difference in the lives of their students. Founded in 2000, and awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2004 for the power and promise of RISE's work, RISE now works with over 65 schools and 1,250 teachers between the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Temp previously taught fifth grade at the East Palo Alto Charter School in East Palo Alto, CA, where he now serves on the school's Advisory Board. Temp received his B. A. in Politics from Princeton University and his Masters in Business Administration from The University of Chicago.
Bess Kennedy
Bess Kennedy started as a 4th grade teacher at EPACS in 1999. After two years teaching full-time, Bess joined fellow 4th grade teacher Brian Auld to co-found the EPACS development office. Through foundation grants, individual donations, and corporate giving, the development office raised over $500,000 in the first two years. The funds supported after-school programs, field trips, reading coaches, an organic garden program, and even an entirely new playground for all to enjoy. After 4 years at EPACS, Bess went on to earn her law degree at NYU. She is now a litigation attorney at Bingham McCutchen in San Francisco, but her heart and soul are still with EPACS!
Back to the top
Katie Kling
Katie Ling joined the Advisory Board in 2006 and she currently teaches fifth grade at EPACS. Originally from Rochester, New York she has a B. A. in History from SUNY Brockport and a Teaching Credential from National University. Prior to joining the EPACS community in 2003, Katie worked in Financial Services focusing on Sales & Training. Her favorite things about EPACS is its mission to provide opportunities to a hardworking population of students. She is continually impressed with EPACS families and staff, and the level of dedication to students.
Back to the top
Tom Madson
Thomas Madson joined the Advisory Board in 2006, and is currently co-director of the secondary program of education for EPACS. He came from Michigan in 1999 after working as a youth specialist for the Sarah Fisher Residential Treatment Center and teaching high school English. After teaching third grade at EPACS, he became Site Coordinator for the K-8 program. Mr. Madson has a B. A. in Psychology and in English Language and Literature and also holds an M. A. in Educational Administration.
Back to the top
Margaret Perrone
Margaret Perrone joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2007. Prior to this, she was extremely committed to volunteering at the school for over two years. She has always been very involved at her own children's schools, and realized that they had plenty of talented volunteers. This prompted her to look elsewhere for a school serving at-risk children with fewer resources. Margaret is passionate about reading, and has always been interested in libraries, so she came to EPACS and has contributed to the library in countless ways through helping organize books, inspiring and instructing students, and raising money to continue developing the collection. Margaret is also a member of the Literacy Team at the school, and has been most impressed with the staff and the positive impact of their effort.
Back to the top
John Rethans
John Rethans joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2007 after teaching fourth and fifth grade at EPACS from 2002 - 2005. In addition to Ad Board, he has continued to be involved with the school in various ways since leaving for a career in the Solar Industry. Give him a chance, and he'll gush effusively about his love of all things EPACS. John has a BA in History and European Studies from UCLA.
Back to the top
Nick Romagnolo
Nick Romagnolo joined the Advisory Board in 2006, and has been teaching at East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS) for the past six years. He taught two years of fourth grade and three years of middle school math (including two years as middle school lead teacher) before becoming co-founder of the new high school at EPACS. During that time, he designed and implemented multiple extra-curricular programs, including choir, visual arts, Destination Imagination, basketball, baseball, Junior League mentoring, and Stanford tutoring. Mr. Romagnolo is the son of educators from South Lake Tahoe, CA. He has a Bachelors of Arts degree in History with a minor in Biological Sciences from Stanford University as well as a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University.
Back to the top
Sara Rutherford
Sara Rutherford joined the Advisory Board in 2004, after teaching Kindergarten and first grade from 2002 - 2004. Since leaving the school in a teaching capacity, she has remained connected with students and staff. After earning a B. A. in Spanish & Peace & Global Studies from Earlham College in Indiana and an M. A. from Stanford University in the Social Science of Education, she is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology of Education from Stanford. Sara is most drawn to the sense of collaboration at EPACS among staff, students, and families. With the understanding that everyone's in it together here, she considers EPACS to be her second family, and feels very much at home whenever she comes back to visit or volunteer her time.
Back to the top
Bruce A. Shelton
Bruce A. Shelton joined the East Palo Alto Charter School Advisory Board during his first year at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2004 following the Annual Pancake Breakfast event. Bruce currently works at IBM Corporation as an Enterprise Software Sales Representative. Prior to joining IBM, Bruce worked at American Express Company in New York, his hometown. Bruce has an MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Biology and History from Duke University. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Daria, a broadcast journalist.
Back to the top
» Learn more about our community