Board Biographies
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- Carolyn von Behren, President
- Betsy Feldman, Vice President
- Julia Bourland Chambers, Secretary
- Paul Steckel, Treasurer
- Mickey Butts
- Christopher Cherney
- Cara Eisenberg
- Jane Friedman
- Jodi Nishimura
- Seema Patel
- Erica Ryan
- Patricia West
- Steve Zhang
Carolyn von Behren, President
Carolyn joined the Berkwood Hedge Board in 2007. She is the parent of a current Berkwood Hedge student. Carolyn holds a Bachelor's Degree in History and Diplomacy from Georgetown University and completed her J.D. at the University of San Francisco. Her professional career has focused primarily on legal issues related to underserved communities. As a Board member, Carolyn has particular interests related to diversity and development.
Betsy Feldman, Vice President
Betsy joined the Board of Directors in 2007. She brings education and administrative experience from her work at TERC, a math and science education non-profit in Cambridge, MA, and at Heinemann Publishing, where she ran a program providing online professional development courses for K-12 teachers. Her daughter Ilana started kindergarten at Berkwood Hedge in 2006, and her younger son looks forward to starting in 2011.
Julia Bourland Chambers, Secretary
Julia is an author, writer, and editor specializing in health, women's issues, and parenting. Inspired by her work as Committee Chair for the Berkwood Hedge Library, she has recently embarked upon a master's program in Library Information Sciences at San Jose State, where she plans to focus on library management and leadership and possibly youth librarianship. She has two daughters at Berkwood Hedge, one in Kindergarden the other in second grade, and joined the Board because she enjoys working with and learning from smart, dedicated people.
Paul Steckel, Treasurer
Paul joined the Board of Directors in 2005, serving as Treasurer for the 2006-2007 academic year and as Board President since 2007. Paul's interest on the Board is to promote a well-defined and organized governance structure that supports the school's mission. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Paul is President of Van-Mulder Sheet Metal, Inc. an Architectural Sheet Metal specialty contractor in the Bay Area. He is the parent of two girls. Halle is in the third grade at Berkwood Hedge. Isabel is a recent alumna, now attending middle school at the Julia Morgan School for Girls.
Mickey Butts
Mickey is an editor and writer who specializes in business and nonprofit management. His son, Rudy, is in first grade at Berkwood Hedge. Since 2001, Mickey has worked with a variety of leading consulting, nonprofit, publishing, and education clients, helping them edit and write books, articles, case studies, white papers, curricula, and business plans with wide appeal. His writing has appeared in such publications as Harvard Business Review, The McKinsey Quarterly, The Financial Times, Salon, The Nation, Food & Wine, The Industry Standard, Parenting, and Wired. He has coauthored three books, and edited nine others for major publishers and authors, including Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits. He is a former editor of The Industry Standard and Parenting magazines. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School, a master of journalism degree from UC Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Brown University. He joined the board in 2011 to help advance the school's mission and sustain its financial, operating, and educational excellence.
Christopher Cherney
Christopher, whose daughter Kahtya, is in the WOOD class, is excited that Berkwood Hedge doesn't over-emphasize superior academic achievement at the expense of the child. Himself a product of intensely achievement-focused schools, he now is interested in building school communities that emphasize emotional intelligence, physical movement, and undirected play, as well as academic rigor. Since 2007 he has been an energetic fundraiser for Richmond College Prep Schools, an innovative charter elementary school in Richmond's Nystrom neighborhood. In 1996, he was "called" to be a nursing home administrator. He remains an outspoken advocate for U.S. nursing home reform.
Cara Eisenberg
Cara is currently an elementary teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District. She has taught for 13 years as a classroom teacher in grades K-5 and has also worked as a literacy and educational specialist. Cara received her MA in Education at Mills College where she developed a strong belief that learning should be child-centered, developmental and inquiry based. Her son, a second grader, has thrived at Berkwood Hedge and has benefited from the nurturing and accepting community that the school fosters. Cara joined the board in 2010 with a deep interest in continuing to support the school's leadership in progressive education.
Jane Friedman
Jane graduated and received her teaching credential from the University of California at Berkeley. She began teaching pre-school at Hedge School in 1973 and was here when Berkwood and Hedge merged in 1975. Since then she has taught kindergarten through third grade. In 1992, she returned to U.C. Berkeley for a Master's Degree from the Advanced Reading, Language and Literacy Program. Jane has been the school's Director since 2001.
Jodi Nishimura
Jodi is excited to be joining the Berkwood Hedge Board in 2011 and helping to ensure the continued success of the school. She has an MA in ESL from the University of Hawaii and ten years experience teaching ESL and adult and family literacy. Herself a graduate of a small constructivist elementary school in Honolulu, she has a deep appreciation for the pedagogical perspective that children have a natural curiosity and love of learning and that the role of the school is to encourage, ignite and guide that curiosity in a safe and supportive environment. She loves that Berkwood Hedge is a place where children are nurtured in a myriad of ways and where the teachers and staff share an infectious and inspiring love of learning. Her son is in the Berkwood Hedge class of 2013.
Seema Patel
Seema graduated from U.C. Irvine with a B.S. in Psychology and Social Behavior, and a minor in Spanish. She continued her Spanish education when she moved to Spain for a year, earning her Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate. Back in the Bay Area, she received a Bilingual Multiple Subject Credential and an M.A. in Elementary Education (Critical Research on Language, Culture, and Society). Seema joined the Board of Directors for the 2009-10 school year. She looks forward to bringing the classroom perspective to the board conversation, as well as learning about the foundation of this organization and how it operates.
Erica Ryan
Erica graduated from the College of Natural Resources at U.C. Berkeley in 2002. After graduating, she worked for one year at Berkwood Hedge in the Afterschool program and as a classroom assistant. Erica left Berkwood Hedge to earn her teaching credential at Mills College. She returned in 2005 to teach Environmental Science in kindergarten through fifth grade. In 2006, she began co-teaching the fourth grade class while continuing to work as the Science Specialist. In 2007, she set a personal goal of becoming bilingual and began studying Spanish at Berkeley City College.
Patricia West
Patricia graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 2001 with a B.A. in English and minors in Education and Dance. In 2004 Patricia received her M.A. in Elementary Education (Critical Research on Language, Culture, and Society) from San Jose State University. Before joining the Berkwood Hedge community, Patricia had taught third grade at Windrush School in El Cerrito. Patricia joined the Board of Directors in the 2010-2011 school year. Bringing her teacher perspective, Patricia is excited to be part of a group of committed individuals who help sustain the philosophy and culture of Berkwood Hedge.
Steve Zhang
Steve is a scientist at an East Bay biotech company, working on early stage drug discovery for neurological disorders. He received his Bachelor's degree from Fontbonne University and his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Washington University. Steve is thrilled that his daughter is enjoying her time at Berkwood Hedge. He joined the Board of Directors in 2010, hoping to help advance Berkhood Hedge's role as a leader in progressive education.