The Board of Trustees is a self-perpetuating body composed of past and current parents, alumnae, and members of the larger community who, as a collective body, holds the mission of Lake Washington Girls Middle School, and bears particular responsibility for the school’s fiduciary policies.
Douglas Greene P'17, ‘21
President
Doug Greene is the father of L-Dub graduate Sophie, ’17 and current student Darby ‘21, and husband of Barb Manning. While considering middle schools along with Sophie, Barb and Doug became true believers in the social and academic advantages of all-girls middle schools. L-Dub, in particular, felt just right for Sophie and the whole family. And were they ever right: Sophie codes. She acts. She writes poetry. She breaks boards in karate. She’s truly becoming strong in mind, body, and voice.
Outside of his family life, Doug leads the Securities and Governance Team at BakerHostetler, one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he defends securities litigation matters for public companies and individual directors and officers around the globe.
Doug is also on the Re-Member board. https://www.re-member.org/
Danielle Tilden
Vice President
Danielle is the Owner of Station 7, a small shop on Capitol Hill with a focus on locally made goods and art. She also serves as a Trustee of the Museum of Flight and is President of the Washington Aerospace Scholars Foundation through the Museum of Flight. Danielle’s career working in youth-serving organizations spans over 25 years and includes board or leadership positions with The Joshua P Williams Foundation, Issaquah Schools Foundation, Issaquah District PTSA, and Friends of Youth. She is specifically interested in educational opportunities for youth and programs benefitting underserved youth and families. Danielle is a proud graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and has a background in public accounting. She and her husband Brad have three grown daughters: Lauren, Jacquie, and Maria. She enjoys spending time with them traveling, hiking, and urban exploring.
Valerie Kampe
Treasurer
Valerie Kampe co-founded Kaufman Kampe Advisors in 2007. A Chartered Financial Analyst since 1992, Valerie brings more than 20 years of expertise to Kaufman Kampe Advisors. Her experience ranges from pension consulting to money management to corporate finance. She is an active member of the CFA Society of Seattle and the Financial Planning Association.
Before co-founding Kaufman Kampe Advisors, Valerie was a Principal and Senior Portfolio Manager at several Seattle “buy side” firms, including Sirach Capital Management, Badgley Phelps, and The Harris. She has managed equity and balanced portfolios for private and corporate clients and mutual funds. Valerie also has developed quantitative models to support tax management strategies, multi-generation trust distribution policies, and to evaluate portfolio performance.
Prior to these portfolio management roles, Valerie spent seven years at Russell Investments, researching investment managers, consulting to large public and corporate pension plans, and rebuilding and enhancing quantitative tools. From 2000 to 2002, she left the investment industry to become the Chief Financial Officer of Rhodes Architectural Stone, an international manufacturing company based in Seattle.
Valerie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a specialization in Finance. Valerie is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Seattle Symphony Foundation, and the past Treasurer of the Seattle Academy Parent Association, the Board of Trustees of Spruce Street School, and the Board of Trustees of Green Tree Early Childhood Center. A fifth-generation Seattleite, Valerie practices yoga daily, and she studies and teaches martial arts.
Jennifer Bucher P'12
Secretary
Jennifer Bucher has served on several nonprofit boards serving local youth, including Teens in Public Service and SMARTgirls. She received both undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Washington, and currently works as Senior Corporate Counsel at Vulcan, Inc. Her prior work life included time as the Director of Operations at Personnel Management Systems, a 9 year in-house stint as Employment Counsel with Nordstrom, and as a partner with the law firm Garvey Schubert Barer. She is the proud mother of Maggie, a LWGMS Class of 2012 graduate, and son Luke, and is passionate about LWGMS’ mission.
Sumathi Raghavan P'16
Sumathi Raghavan is the mother of Mena '16. By training, she is a librarian and writer/editor, with past positions at the Stanford University Press and the University of Texas at Dallas. She currently works at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, as a grant writer. She volunteers with the Backpack Brigade, writing grants and assisting with meal packing and delivery. Sumathi attended Wellesley College and her passion for girls' education is an outgrowth of that experience. She and her family have lived in Seattle for six years, and after ten years in Texas, are still enjoying getting to know this new, beautiful part of the country.
Brenda Cram P'12
Brenda Cram has over 25 years of experience in teaching and administration at independent schools. She is currently the Associate Head at The Evergreen School in Shoreline, Washington. She is an avid supporter of LWGMS and the mission of empowering girls through education and mentorship during the middle school years. Brenda's step daughter, Eliza, attended LWGMS and is now steadily in her college career at Clark University. Eliza's confidence, advocacy, and internal fortitude are in large part directly correlated to her experience in middle school. That spirit is what motivates Brenda to participate on the LWGMS board to ensure that many other girls may enjoy similar opportunities. Outside of school, Brenda enjoys running, hiking, canoeing, biking, and spending time in the outdoors with her family. She believes that LWGMS provides the type of well-rounded education necessary for girls to begin to recognize their individual potentials and to explore the kinds of studies that will engage their minds, bodies, and spirits for a lifetime ahead.
Olympia Edwards
Olympia Edwards has more than eight years of experience working youth-serving nonprofits, and has a background in community development and sustainability; marketing; student development; and event planning. She completed her undergraduate degree in Sociology with a concentration in Gender Studies from the University of North Florida. She has worked with several university research projects and community organizations in Florida. She has facilitated several leadership development programs, supervised service learning efforts, and learning community programs. In 2012, Olympia established her own mentoring organization for girls and young women of color in Snohomish & King County – Project Girl Mentoring Program – specializing in promoting self-esteem, developing life skills, and creating a positive environment for girls and young women to use their voice. Olympia is a member of the NAACP, Northwest Girls Coalition, and has been a recurring guest lecturer in the Student of Color Career Conference at Everett Community College. Her desire is to see all young women of color realize their full potential and overcome obstacles in their lives to prove how unstoppable they are.
Dave Pon P'18
Dave Pon is the father of Charlie ‘18. He serves as the Director of Finance and Operations at the Seattle Waldorf School. Prior to working at SWS, he worked in the finance department at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for 17 years (focusing on budget to actual analysis, bond financing and bond compliance). He likes the friendly and student focused environment of an independent school, and enjoys having the ability to make decisions and work on projects that have a positive and immediate impact on the school.
Dave grew up in Southern California and graduated from UC Santa Barbara. He began his career working in public accounting for Arthur Young and Company performing financial audits. He also worked for Hughes Aircraft Company in their financial reporting department before moving to Seattle to attend UW Law School.
Ben Wilson P'11, '14
Ben is the father of Deepika '11 and Savita '14, and has been an enthusiastic L-Dub volunteer (tech support, chaperone, driver, prop maker, handyman, pizza cook) since 2008. He is a Seattle native, born just a block away from L-Dub. He works as a Senior Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com. He currently serves on the board of Seattle United soccer club and formerly has held board positions for the India Association of Western Washington. He is a former PTA president for South Shore K-8. Ben has a B.S. from Washington State University.
Jennifer (Jen) Winter
Jen Winter is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Lenati. She has 25 years of experience in delivering solutions to help clients leverage their most important asset –customers. Her expertise is focused on creating customer experiences that drive acquisition and retention. She has worked with leading technology brands including Cisco, Adobe, Hitachi, Cadence, webtrends, Oracle, and Microsoft as well as a large cross section of PNW based companies.
Outside of work, Jen and her partner Renee have four amazing daughters – Grace – 19, Margo – 7, Brooke – 7, and Charlotte – 7. As a family, they love to spend time hiking, biking and exploring the Pacific Northwest.
Diankha Linear P'21
Diankha is the General Counsel of one of Seattle's fastest growing tech startup companies. She brings over 20 years of legal and business experience with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, the military, not-for-profit organizations and law firms. She is a Seattle native and graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Washington. Diankha currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Rainier Scholars and also has served on a number of additional boards, including Habitat for Humanity Seattle/South King County, Loren Miller Bar Association, Washington Women's Foundation and the Washington Leadership Institute. She is passionate about community leadership and giving back. Mostly, however, Diankha is simply grateful and thrilled to be the mother of her two young daughters, Nadia and Simone.
Jason Leong P'19
Jason is the proud dad of Hi'ilei '19 and son Makana, as well as the lucky husband to Keahi. If you were to ask Hi'ilei, Jason is the guy who studied accounting (boring), works at a bank (boring), and is the most embarrassing dad ever.
Jason is a Hawaii native, attended Kamehameha Schools, then decided he wanted a slightly cooler climate and got his BS in accounting from Boston College. He then went back to Hawaii and received his Masters in Accountancy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Jason is a CPA and began his career at Deloitte Haskins & Sells and along the way worked at Wizards of the Coast, which kind of means he has some gamer cred, although he would be clueless in Mr. E's D&D club. Jason has been in the financial services industry for almost 20 years in various accounting and finance roles.
During the times Jason is not being the biggest cheerleader at his kids' sporting events, he likes to bike or walk with what he calls his men's group therapy sessions on Saturday mornings.
Terra Vall-Spinosa P'20
Christine Gardiner, P’20
Christy Gardiner runs operations for Adaptive Integration, a hardware and software solutions provider for large corporate clients on the west coast. For more than 20 years, Christy has provided legal, business, and marketing expertise to companies ranging from Washington Mutual to Nordstrom, and the Seattle Times. For years, she has volunteered with legal-based, foster-related, education, and athletic organizations including the Crisis Clinic, UW Law School, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, America SCORES Seattle, Treehouse, Childhaven, Hunger Intervention Program, Cascade Swim Club, Seattle United, and John Rogers PTA. Christy received both her bachelors and law degrees from the University of Washington. Her daughter is in the LWGMS class of 2020.
Hannah Keyes '08
Hannah Keyes is a graduate of Lake Washington Girls Middle School's Class of 2008. She serves as Secretary of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board advocating for safe streets for people of all ages and abilities. She received an undergraduate degree in Community, Environment & Planning from the University of Washington and currently works as an urban planner for NBBJ. Hannah is an enthusiastic supporter of all-girls education having also attended an all-girls high school. She is inspired by LWGMS' focus on social justice and giving girls the confidence to use their voices to change the world.
Rachel Ligtenberg, P’18, ’21
Rachel Ligtenberg is vice president of retail at REI, where she oversees REI’s entire retail organization – the culmination of more than 25 years in leadership roles at REI. Rachel is also actively involved in the community, having served on the boards of YMCA Bold/Gold, Camp Fire (Puget Sound Council), Passages Northwest, and as a mentor for Camber (an outdoor industry women’s coalition). She also volunteers in the Seattle Public Schools and as a soccer coach. Rachel and her wife, Leanne, live in Seattle with their daughters Ella '18 and Piper'21. As a family, they love to play and learn together and take every opportunity to travel and explore the uniqueness of place, people, sound, taste, art and design. Their favorite outdoor activities are cycling, skiing, camping, swimming and yoga.