The Board of Directors is a diverse group of up to 11 people. In the 2008 calendar year, individuals serving the Board include Todd Austin (President), Sarah Clarke, Mike O’Brien, Jeff Stanzler, Mark Stranahan, Tracy Van den Bergh, and Laura Wagner (Treasurer). Joanna Hastings serves as a member ex officio without vote as Head of School. The Board sets and oversees school policies, hires and oversees the Head of School, maintains financial oversight, and plans for the long term future of the school. Members serve three-year terms, with the potential of re-election for a second term.
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Todd Austin Todd is President of the Board and chair of the Executive Committee. Todd was elected to his second 3-year term on the Board in January 2008, as well as to his first full year as President. He comes to SK with a strong commitment to excellent educational opportunities for gifted and talented young people. Having served for many years in leadership positions in local Presbyterian churches, Todd brings extensive skills in the management of non-profit organizations to the Summers-Knoll community. In his past efforts in non-profits, he has concentrated on the areas of strategic planning and process improvement, including information technology and administrative structure. Professionally, Todd works at the University of Michigan as a information technology consultant. He maintains close ties with Apple, Inc. in the areas of training for systems administrators and support for higher education.
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Sarah Clarke Sarah Clarke joined the Summers-Knoll Board in the fall of 2007 and became Chair of the Communications Committee in January 2008. She comes to the Board with expertise in child developmental and emotional needs. Sarah is currently child and family psychotherapist in private practice in Ann Arbor (MSW, University of Michigan, 2000). Trained in divorce and parent-child mediation, Sarah is also a volunteer mediator at the Washtenaw County Dispute Resolution Center. She is a former corporate litigation attorney (JD, Harvard, 1992). She is the proud parent of three children, two of whom are current Summers-Knoll students.
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Mike O’Brien Mike O'Brien is the president of Star Performance Group, an international consulting firm specializing in leadership and organizational culture. He is also the proud parent of two girls who both attend the upper school. With a business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters in Education from the University of Western Ontario, Mike looks forward to utilizing his experience and education as a Board member of Summers-Knoll.
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Jeff Stanzler Jeff Chairs the Director’s and Education committees of the Board. He teaches at the University of Michigan School of Education and is the Managing Director of the Interactive Communications and Simulations (ICS) group. ICS designs and facilitates interactive, computer-mediated curricular projects linking high school and middle schools students with peers around the world and with university student mentors. Our upper school students have participated in one of these projects, “Place Out of Time” (POOT). Jeff manages four projects, including the “International Poetry Guild”, which brings poets together to share and discuss their writing, and the “Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulation” in which students portray contemporary political figures navigating the complex world of international diplomacy. Jeff has worked in teacher education for fifteen years, and holds a Ph. D in Educational Studies from the University of Michigan.
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Mark Stranahan Mark is a parent of two kids, now teenagers. He is an architect and urban planner with degrees from the University of Michigan. He has worked advocating sustainable design and green development with several organizations, and with Chinese development issues, design for the elderly, business planning and finance, and development economics. He has served on boards of several organizations relating to children and childhood and on private foundation boards.
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Laura Wagner Laura serves as Board Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, having been elected to a second 3-year term in January 2008. She is a Purchasing Program Manager at Ford Motor Company with 19 years of experience in a variety of purchasing assignments. Laura also serves on the board of 826Michigan in Ann Arbor, which serves children 6-18 years of age. She has an M.B.A. in Finance and Operations and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis as well as an M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering from University of Michigan. Laura is the mother of three gifted children, ages 7-14. She brings her experience and her personal knowledge of the challenges of gifted education to her position on the Board.
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