 | Friends’ School, Inc. is a Colorado non-profit corporation and has been granted 501(c)(3) status by the Internal Revenue Service as an educational, charitable organization.
The Bylaws of Friends’ School require that a Board be appointed. This group meets on a regular basis and is responsible for setting strategy and policy and ensuring that the school achieves its objectives. The Board oversees the evaluation of the Head of School in accordance with the school's evaluation policy. The Board is responsible for the sound fiscal management of the school. It provides support to the Head of School as s/he develops the school. The normal term of service on the Board is three years.
The Friends’ School Community Board is the board of directors for the corporation and, as such, has authority and responsibility for the business and affairs of the Corporation. The Board oversees the school’s business in relationship with the Head of School, the Founding Parents, and the staff. The participation of each group is important to the governance of the school.
The Community Board oversees and maintains the financial stability of Friends’ School, develops major school policies, creates processes for long-range planning, periodically reviews the school’s organization, and oversees the implementation and maintenance of the school’s values. The Founding Parents are a source of historical information for the school community, a source of the embodiment of the school’s core values, and a source of wisdom. The Head of School is responsible for school programs, personnel, facilities, and resources.
Members of the Community Board include parents, parents of alumni students, the Head of School, the preschool director, an elementary teacher, and community members. In addition, the three founding parents are ex-officio, non-voting members of the Board. The Community Board has an active committee structure including the Finance Committee, Development Committee, Committee on Trustees, Diversity Committee, Building and Grounds Committee, and Strategic Planning Committee as well as ad hoc committees as needed. These committees are working committees that meet regularly and report to the full Board.
The three founding parents help sustain the school’s core values through participation in the Community Board as ex-officio members and as outlined in the school’s bylaws. In addition, a Founders Committee meets twice a year to facilitate the exchange of information between the Founding Parents and the Community Board. The Founders Committee does not vote or take any specific actions; it consists of the three founding parents, the Head of School, the Chair of the Community Board, and a teacher who is also a board member.
With respect to Friends’ School’s programs, the Board develops major school policies and employs, evaluates, and supports the Head of School. The Board delegates the day-to-day responsibility for the administrative and educational activities of Friends’ School to the Head of School and to the faculty and staff.
Decision-making by the staff generally follows the Friends’ School Decision Making Process. Since Friends’ has a participative governance structure, the role of staff is critical to the well-being and success of the school. Staff members are expected to be informed and engaged in the governance of the school. As part of their jobs, staff members serve on school committees and/or Board committees. In all things, the staff commit to be safe, to be respectful, and to be responsible. |
Friends' School Community Board 2012-13 | | Friends' School Community Board 2012-13 Trustees Roster Ewa BorowskaEwa Borowska and her family moved to Boulder from London in 2006. Until 2007, she was an Executive Director and a senior member of the investment team for the Global and American Franchise equity funds at Morgan Stanley. The five-person team managed in excess of $10 billion of assets on behalf of institutional, intermediary and individual clients. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Ewa worked at JP Morgan in New York and London, Cambridge Associates in Boston, Linden Board of Education in Linden, New Jersey, and Shearman & Sterling in New York. Ewa holds BA with honors in Comparative Literature from Yale University and an MBA from Dartmouth College where she was a recipient of the Julia Stell award for community service. She is a certified teacher for K-8 and German in the state of New Jersey where, prior to her career in finance, she taught bilingual education. She has been elected class secretary for her class at Dartmouth and she has held that office for the last 12 years. Until recently, she was a member of the Board of Governors for the NewVic College in London. She is a member of the Board for the Women’s Health Clinic in Boulder.
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Diane BrambleI have taught at Friends’ School since 1989. I love teaching here because it’s a place where children are respected. I believe, as Plutarch did, that the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. In my classroom I aspire to not only get children thinking and to challenge themselves, but also to impart to them the knowledge and expertise I possess. I have had the opportunity to study with master teachers who inspired me to constantly examine my teaching practice. These mentors gave me many gifts, but the most important one was to respect and value children in their learning process. Friends’ believes in children, families, teachers, and community – that’s why I love to teach here.
On a more personal note, I am passionate about music. I play guitar, djembe, and I love to sing. Nature is where I go to quiet my mind. My favorite thing to do is hike and bird watch. I love words – I collect them in notebooks, on napkins, backs of receipts and in a journal. I enjoy passing my love of words on to the children through the teaching of reading and writing. As my passions enrich my life, they also enrich my teaching. I love the cycle of learning and teaching, both in my personal and professional life – Friends’ supports both. |
Amy CarpenterAmy is currently the National Expansion Director for There With Care, a charity based in Boulder that provides support for families facing critical illness. Amy’s role is to expand a local, mission-driven non-profit to a national organization opening new chapters in multiple cities. Prior to taking the role of National Expansion Director, Amy contributed to There With Care as a volunteer for over two years helping define and implement operational processes to support There With Care’s growth.
Before moving to Boulder, Amy lived in the Netherlands with her family for three years. Prior to that she worked at Visa as an instructional designer focusing on technical training and performance management systems.
Amy has a master’s degree in Information and Learning Technologies from the University of Colorado, Denver and undergraduate degrees in Political Science and English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Amy and her husband, Steve, have two children, Zach and Finn. The boys transferred to Friends’ School from their neighborhood school and as a family have seen the positive impact it has had on them as learners and individuals. |
Stephanie CenedellaI grew up in the Midwest, in Iowa where life was simple and working hard was commonplace. After graduating from the University of Northern Iowa, I moved to Chicago and began working as a creative for the Brand Design Consultancy, formerly LAGA, now Brand Image. Within a year or so I transitioned to the business side serving first as project manager, growing into a Senior Brand Consultancy role. I drove the physical consumer packaging process while also developing strategic roadmaps for Fortune 500 hundred companies including: Kraft General Foods, Quaker Oats, Keebler CO., Jockey Int., Alberto Culver and Wells Dairy (Blue Bunny Ice Cream), just to name a few.
Sixteen years in the business, I grew a family and traveled non-stop…the most remote destination being Reykjavick, Iceland. In the height of my career I realized I needed to focus on raising my children. Leaving my career I served on the board for The Reverie Theater Company, as their marketing guru.
In 2007 I moved my family to Boulder and a year later I discovered the Friends’ School. It was an instant fit for us, a warm, intimate environment that engaged with our children, delivering on their personal needs. My children, Oliver and Violet, are now in middle school and I can see the benefits of their Friends’ school years, how they navigate social and academic waters with strength and confidence. I am proud each time a teacher or parent compliments them while secretly thanking Friends’ all over again.
The next chapter of my life has involved embarking on writing a memoir, Honor Thy Father. A frequent attendee of writing festivals and workshops I am also a professional member of the Boulder Writers Workshop. When my hands aren’t pecking at a keyboard, I do all I can to keep up with my active outdoor kids.
I have served as co-chair for the school's auction and continue to do all I can to market the unique qualities of Friends’. I am honored to serve on the community board and am thankful to be among a body of amazing Trustees sharing expertise and heart, working toward the ongoing growth of this amazing school. |
Steve de BeerI am honored to be at Friends’ School. I am thrilled to be at a school that is at the forefront of child-centered, hands-on, creative learning. I believe education to be a cumulative, integrated process. I am proud that the teachers here teach to the whole child and have a strong foundation in developmentally appropriate practice, giving children meaningful choices and a clear path to discover who they are. I am passionate about the arts. I am a writer and I’m very involved in theater. I have written and directed children’s theater for many years, everything from children’s classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to large-scale musicals such as Beauty and the Beast and sophisticated farces for high school students like The Curious Savage. I meet with my writing group a couple of times a month. You can read much of my work on my website. I enjoy acting whenever I get a chance. I have two wonderful daughters. Emma is a high school sophomore at St Mary’s Academy and Leah is a seventh grader at Stanley British Primary School. We live with my partner, Stephanie. We have three dogs and a goldfish named Gilbert. I love being outdoors, particularly hiking and snowshoeing, and I’m an avid swimmer. I read a lot, especially non-fiction. I enjoy traveling and I’m a big fan of Rockies baseball. Originally from Storrington, West Sussex in the south of England, I grew up in traditional English boarding schools. For twenty years I was a teacher, administrator, teacher educator, and creative director at the Stanley British Primary School in Denver, a school with a closely aligned educational philosophy to Friends’. I have a B.A. in French and Linguistics from the University of York in England and a M.Ed. in Teacher Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
Paul GagnerPaul Gagner has spent his career in the outdoor industry, and is currently President and co-owner of The SportsOneSource Group, a multi-channel trade media and market research company that services the outdoor and sporting goods sectors. Prior to joining the company Paul was President Successful Summits Consulting, President Sierra Designs, and VP Gregory Packs. Paul has served on many boards, including the American Alpine Club (Currently: Executive Committee member and Treasurer), Outdoor Industry Association, USA Climbing, QIO Systems, and others. Paul has been an avid climber for more than 35 years and has been lucky to pursue his passion in mountain environments around the world. |
Jennifer GreeneJen Greene has lived in Boulder since 1982—drawn west from Washington D.C. by the wide open spaces. She loves being a Mom and has a daughter, Maya, who has been at Friends’ School since she was three and who will graduate from Friends’ in 2012. Jen graduated from Colgate University (BA in Economics) and the University of Colorado (MBA). She has helped to build successful Boulder-based start-ups in business intelligence markets and she loves working in entrepreneurial environments with creative and motivated people. Jen has broad leadership experience with growth-oriented companies, most recently heading finance and corporate development functions. She really enjoys learning and counts her experience as a Friends’ School parent as a highlight in her own growth and education. Jen is an outings leader for the Sierra Club, a Girl Scout troop leader, an avid Yogini, outdoorswoman and traveler.
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Carol HampfCarol Hampf’s oldest child enrolled at Friends’ 2001. After both of her boys attended Friends’ preschool and elementary school, and went onto middle school and teenage lives, Carol continues to volunteer at the school because she supports the mission of the school and she is always learning from the exceptional trustees, staff, faculty and families of Friends’ School. Carol’s favorite “job” is being a mother to her children. The 19 years she spent as a business attorney and providing financial management oversight to several businesses and wealthy individuals, occasionally helps Carol contribute to the school. A summer lived in Hawaii as a child, while her engineer father directed the construction of a sugar cane processing facility, and undergraduate study of geology and marine science gave Carol a deep respect for the importance of marine ecosystems to planetary sustainability. A certified advanced scuba diver for over 30 years, she also has the desire, rarely fulfilled, to be submerged in warm, salty water.
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Surrie HobartSurrie Hobart grew up in Troy, Ohio. She spent most of her youth pursuing a ballet career and began dancing professionally at age 17. She danced with the Dayton Ballet Company and Tulsa Ballet Theatre. At the age of 24, weary of The Nutcracker, she moved to Boulder to go to the University of Colorado and study biology. Surrie then moved back to Columbus, Ohio to attend The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. After four years she and her husband Steven Frank returned to Denver and Surrie completed a small animal rotating internship at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital/ Denver Veterinary Specialists. She then worked at Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital in Denver followed by emergency/general practice work at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital. Eventually, Surrie and Steven moved back to Boulder and now have three children, Charlie, Julia and Edward attending Friends’ School. Surrie and her family love the philosophy of Friends’ School and are thrilled to live in such a beautiful, sunny place with so many opportunities for adventure. |
John Hoeffler
John Hoeffler left his hometown of Strongsville, Ohio in 1978 to attend the University of Colorado. He received an undergraduate degree in Finance at C.U. and returned for his M.B.A. after spending two years in Aspen. He began his career as a real estate investor and Realtor in 1986 and continues that work today.
John and his wife, Carol, have been proud Friends’ School parents since 2005 when their son Cameron began preschool. Cameron is now in fourth grade and their daughter, Allison, is in first. |
Anne HunterAnne Hunter, a 2008 graduate of the Friends' School Teacher Preparation Program, is a licensed elementary educator who teaches enrichment in an arts integration setting to students in grades 1-5 at Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies in the Boulder Valley School District. Anne has recently become a member of the Talented and Gifted District Advisory Committee. She has created and continues to teach the Human Development curriculum for 4th and 5th grades at Friends' School. Anne also teaches Physical Development and Cognitive Development to the teacher candidates in the TPP.
Anne and her family moved to Boulder from Long Island in 2005, and she is the proud parent of two children, one of whom is a Friends' School alumnus in the class of 2008. Prior to living in Colorado, Anne completed her training in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook where she received the Robert L. Barbieri, M.D Research Award and the David Marzouk, M.D. Humanism in Medicine Award. Anne earned her M.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and her B.A. in modern dance from Bennington College.
During college, Anne studied and worked in France for a year, teaching in a bilingual preschool. This experience led her to the conscious realization of the richness inherent in any different perspective -- cultural, linguistic, economic, experiential, or simply individual. Anne strives to embody this awareness, especially in teaching and learning. Passionate about the arts, science and math, stewardship of the earth, and gifted and twice-exceptional education, Anne also enjoys being anywhere outdoors from ocean to mountains, especially hiking and biking with her family. |
Fred MarienthalFred Marienthal is a partner in Kutak Rock LLP’s Denver office. He focuses his practice on higher education facility financings, conduit private activity bonds, nonprofit facility financings and single-family mortgage revenue bonds. He routinely serves as bond, disclosure and underwriter’s counsel on tax-exempt bond financings for public and nonprofit colleges and universities, charter and independent schools and charitable organizations. In addition, Fred is the Chair of the firm’s federal multicandidate Political Action Committee and has represented an array of issuers and financial institutions before various state legislatures and federal agencies. Governors Roy Romer, Bill Owens and Bill Ritter appointed Fred to serve on the Colorado Municipal Bond Supervision Advisory Board. He also serves as a Board member for Kitchen Sisters Productions, Thistle Communities and Public Media Company and is on the Credit Committee of the Public Radio Fund. Fred received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, from the University of Arizona in 1977, a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Colorado in 1979 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver in 1982. Prior to joining Kutak Rock LLP, Fred served as a staff assistant to United States Representative Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.) during the 97th and 98th Congresses. Fred is admitted to practice law in Colorado and New York. Fred joined the Friends’ School Board in 2007 and began serving as Board Chair in 2009. |
Ryan MartensI founded Rally Software in 2002 and I am living the dream with a great team of people and some of the worlds best and brightest software teams as customers. Rally helps move the technology industry to a service model from a product model. I hope this leads to changes, as Paul Hawkin and the Lovin’s describe in Natural Capitalism, to break the take-make-waste cycle in the world. (See Chapter 7, “Muda, Service and Flow”) You can follow all of my efforts in this area in my posts on Greening of the Software and High Tech Industry.
Agile is one of the true enablers for this move to services economy. You can not run a service business on 9 month release cycles and poor quality. You can not deploy SOA on 12 month release cycles. To move to services, you have to move to Agile.
In addition to trying to change the technology industry, I am trying to balance my work in capital markets with volunteer work in the social and environment parts of the economy. I like the picture of this at conservation economy. I am a trustee at the Colorado Conservation Trust, a founding board member with Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado and the current Treasure for the Agile Alliance.
I live in Boulder with my wife, son Gus and a menagerie of animals including horses, dogs, chickens, goats, rabbits and a canary. I am a place person and will never leave Colorado. The lake sailing, skiing, mountain biking, trail running and fly fishing are all easy accessible to a family that works. |
Michael Sampliner
Michael is the Chief Operating Officer of Arts and Exhibitions International, the world’s leading producer of museum exhibitions, including the current tours of King Tut, Real Pirates, Cleopatra and America I Am. He has spent the past twenty years producing and promoting music tours and now museum exhibitions. He began in management consulting for LEK Partnership, a small boutique in Los Angeles where he spent most of his time as part of the strategic division for Disney. From there it was a full commitment to producing and presenting live entertainment – first touring ballet and orchestral companies in the Far East, and then producing large scale spectaculars for IMG throughout the UK and Asia. This led to his three year journey as a producer and promoter of the Three Tenors. From the Three Tenors straight into Nine Inch Nails, Sampliner moved on to organize and direct national music tours for Concerts West / AEG Live, including the Dixie Chicks, Eric Clapton, Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park, The Who, Yanni and Barry Manilow. It was a meeting between John Norman and Sampliner in 2004 that sparked the relationship between John’s AEI with AEG Live, and began Sampliner’s career within the museum industry.
Sampliner holds a B.A. in philosophy from Yale University. He lives in the foothills West of Boulder, Colorado with his wife and two Friends' School students.
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Allison ShorsAllison is a graduate of The University of Iowa with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. Upon graduating, she lived and worked in Ireland and Japan, backpacked around Europe and Southeast Asia and during all of these stints met her husband, John. Allison has been with ING for the past 14 years selling group insurance to large companies and ING’s global network of insurance partners to multinational companies.
Allison enjoys spending time with her family. She has also been part of the Friends’ School community since 2005 when her daughter, Sophie, began preschool. Her son, Jack, started at Friends’ in 2007. Her interests include traveling as much as possible, reading, running, biking and being outdoors as well as volunteering at Friends’. Allison has spent the past three years co-chairing the Friend’s School Annual Fund and participating in Habitat for Humanity builds. |
Christine SpringerChristine Springer was born and raised in Virginia, where she received a BA from the University of Virginia. After traveling and working abroad in France and the former Czechoslovakia, she returned to the US and focused on obtaining a degree in Art Therapy and Marriage and Family Counseling from Notre Dame de Namur University in California. She completed her internship at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, before moving with her husband, Don, to Boulder, where they have chosen to raise their two children. Friends’ School is near and dear to our hearts. Sofia is a graduate of Friends’ School, Charlie is currently a very happy 3rd grader, and Christine has been a member of the Parent Council since 2003, serving as co-chair for two years.
While in Boulder, Christine has concentrated on raising her children and painting while working as a Victim Advocate/Crisis Counselor for the Boulder Police Department. She also runs bereavement groups for HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties, which puts a great perspective on life! With her family and friends, Christine loves to spend time in the outdoors, skiing (skate and downhill), running, swimming, hiking and competing in the occasional triathlon. |
Christie Stanford
I’ve been fortunate to be teaching in the Friends’ Preschool since 1999. I believe the 3, 4, and 5 year old child is a true pleasure with an enchanting view of the world. My teaching days are full of new beginnings as I am witness to curiosity in action. I love learning and am continually looking for ways to pass this passion onto my preschoolers!
My husband, two children and I have been in Colorado since 1998. My two children are in college and we are learning how to navigate this new phase in our lives. We regularly take advantage of the surrounding beauty in our state by indulging in a myriad of outdoor activities. I especially enjoy running, hiking and biking. |
Ed WalentIn over twenty five years of working in the field of education I have been deeply touched by the many students, teachers, and parents that I have come to know. I am humbled each day and consider myself fortunate to have taught and learned from so many in the admirable endeavor of educating our children.
As a former teacher, assistant principal, principal, curriculum coordinator and director, in both private and public school settings, encouraging and supporting excellence in teaching is paramount. My educational values and beliefs are resolute and deeply held. Schools are not only places where rigorous and relevant curriculum is offered, but also places where students are challenged to see themselves as an integral part of a larger community. As co-director of the Friends’ Teacher Preparation Program it is exciting to be working closely with teacher candidates who will influence their students for years to come.
I have three grown and remarkable children and three beautiful grandchildren. I enjoy reading, playing golf and swimming. My wife is a fellow educator and is the love of my life. Together we have traveled to 26 countries and lived abroad. For our next adventure we are leaving the east coast to journey west and make a new home here in the Boulder area.
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Chris WirthChristopher Wirth is the founder of Liberty Puzzles in Boulder, Colorado. He has worked as a financial analyst for several Colorado companies and is a member of the Colorado Bar Association. He currently chairs the board of Western Resource Advocates, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group in Boulder and also serves on the board of the Winslow Foundation. Chris has an MBA in finance, a J.D. in business and natural resource law from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University. Chris and his wife Sage have three children: Jack, Teddy (both at Friends’ School) and Porter. |
Ewa Borowska - Chair
Jen Greene - Treasurer
Surrie Hobart - Secretary |
| Founders (Ex-Officio)
Bev Cole
Larry Gold
Hope Morrissett
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