The Foote School: About Foote

Meet the Board

Libby Peard, P ’05, ’08, ’10
President
Board Member since 2007
Committees: Executive, Educational Advisory, Finance, Governance, Investment,
Nominating, Search

Libby Peard is Coordinator of Parent Relations at Choate Rosemary Hall and also works as a marketing consultant for Intuit Inc. and other corporate clients. Before moving to Connecticut in 1989, she worked for Time Warner in New York City, first as a corporate planner, and then as financial manager and marketing manager for People Magazine. She has a BS from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Libby and her husband, Trevor, an English teacher at Choate, live in Wallingford. She served on the board ex officio as Co-President of the Parent Teacher Council from 2004-2006.

Melinda Agsten, P ’10
Vice President
Board Member since 2003
Committees: Executive, Governance (Chair)

Melinda is a partner at Wiggin and Dana, a regional law firm with offices in New Haven, and Chair of its Health Care Department. She focuses her practice in the area of hospitals and health care organizations, tax-exempt organizations, and schools. A native of Charleston, West Virginia, she has an AB from Duke University magna cum laude and a JD from Vanderbuilt University School of Law, where she was an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Melinda is involved in a number of community and professional activities and is a founding member of Women Organizing Women. She lives in Hamden.

Gordon Armour, P ’06, ’09, ’14
Board Member since 2002
Committee: Search (Co-chair)

Gordon has taught English at Choate Rosemary Hall since 1984 and has also served as a house adviser, class dean and coach of crew, squash, ice hockey, and and cycling. He is a graduate of Choate and has a BA from Trinity College, where he was captain of the lightweight crew, and a MLS from Dartmouth College. For his thesis at Dartmouth he wrote a cycle of sonnets. He and his wife, Anne, a French teacher at Choate, live in New Haven.

Sidney Bogardus, P ’06, ’08, ’09, ’14
Board Member since 2004
Committees: Development (Co-chair), Nominating

Sid is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. He grew up in New York City and attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale. Sid holds an MD from Columbia, trained at the University of Chicago, and returned to Yale as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in 1995. His hobbies and interests include opera, flying, squash, tennis, rowing, sailing and flyfishing. He and his wife, Julia, live in Woodbridge with their five children, three dogs, cat, rabbit, and 20 chickens.

Lawrence Buhl III, P ’08, ’09, ’13
Board member since 2001
President 2006 – 2007
Committees: Executive, Audit, Finance

Larry is CEO of Lawrence Holdings, Inc., which operates specialty metal alloy distribution centers, including Tico Titanium, Supra Alloys, Alloy Metals, and Snappy Materials with locations in Michigan, Texas, California and Connecticut. Larry and his wife, Amy, came to Connecticut from Boston in 1988. They met as students at Babson College, from which Larry earned a BS in finance and an MBA. Larry and Amy live in North Haven. In his spare time, Larry enjoys most sports and is a private pilot, serving on the board of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Judith Chevalier, P ’13, ’16
Co-Treasurer
Board Member since 2005
Committees: Executive, Audit, Finance, Investment

Judy grew up in Hamden and attended Yale and MIT. She joined the Yale School of Management faculty in 2001 and is now the William S. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Economics & Deputy Provost for Faculty Development. Currently, she teaches competitive strategy and a course in technology strategy, as well as a senior seminar at Yale College on the economics of the information economy. Her research is in the area of industrial organization. Judy and her husband, Steve Podos, a research scientist at a New Haven biotech pharmaceutical firm, and their family live in New Haven.

Nancy Close, P ’99, ’03
Board Member since 2001
Committees: Educational Advisory, Footebridge Liaison

An assistant professor at Yale’s Child Study Center, Nancy’s specialty is the evaluation and treatment of children under five. She also teaches Yale College students and fellows-in-training at the Center and provides mental health consultation to early childhood education programs in the community. Her publications include the 2001 book, Listening to Children: Talking with Young Children about Difficult Issues. She is president of the Calvin Hill Day Care Center Board. Nancy and her husband, Gene Winter, live in New Haven.

Sequella Hollis Coleman, P '04, '06
Board Member since 1997
President 2004 – 2006
Committee: Governance

Sequella is principal of the John S. Martinez School in New Haven, which serves children from kindergarten to grade eight. She has BA from Tufts University, an MPA from Quinnipiac and a Sixth Year Degree from Southern Connecticut State University. She and her husband, Ronald, a Vice President of Sales for CommScope Carrier Solutions, Inc., live in North Haven.

Joseph Craft, P ’07, ’14
Vice President
Board Member since 200
Committees: Executive, Nominating, Personnel (Chair)

Joe is Professor of Medicine and Immunobiology, and Chief of the Section of Rheumatology and Director of the Investigative Medicine Program at the Yale School of Medicine. He directs a research laboratory devoted to the study of immunology and immunological diseases, teaches graduate students and medical students in their pre-clinical and clinical years, and sees patients with autoimmune diseases. He holds BA and MD degrees from the University of North Carolina, with postgraduate training at Yale. Joe has been a long-time volunteer for the National Arthritis Foundation and chairs the scientific advisory board of the Alliance for Lupus Research. He lives in Hamden with his wife, Cristina Brunet, a rheumatologist.

Melanie Ginter, P ’08, ’12
Secretary
Board Member since 2002
Committees: Executive, Buildings & Grounds, Development

Melanie is a psychotherapist who, in her private practice, treated adolescents and their families for more than 15 years and consults for small independent family businesses. After receiving her BA from Yale, she worked for the New Haven Board of Education in Special Projects and Planning. She also holds an MS in clinical and community psychology from Yale and has published articles on the effects of parental death and divorce on young children. She is a past president of both the New Haven Preservation Trust and the Yale Club of New Haven. Melanie and her husband, John Lapides, live in New Haven.

Lisa Gray, P ’08, ’11
Board Member since 2006
Committees: Building & Grounds, Search (Co-chair)

Lisa is founding principal of Gray Organschi Architecture, a New Haven firm specializing in custom design of residential and institutional buildings. She attended Yale College and received an MArch from the Yale School of Architecture, where she met her husband, Alan Organschi. Lisa and Alan started their practice in New Haven in 1994; in 2000, after an adaptive re-use renovation of a 19th century warehouse building, they moved their office and workshop to New Haven’s Ninth Square. Lisa enjoys volunteering with her daughter's ice hockey program, yoga, and working with Foote students on occasional in-classroom building projects. Lisa and Alan and their children live in New Haven.

Donald Green, P ’05, ’07
Board Member since 2001
Committees: Executive, Audit, Governance

Don is A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale. His academic specialty is campaigns and elections. He also teaches statistics and research design. A life-long board game enthusiast, he is the inventor of numerous games, including Octi, Razzle Dazzle, and Jumpin’ Java. Don has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He and his wife, Ann, and their children live in New Haven.

Heidi Hamilton, P ’09, ’13
Board Member since 2006

A native of Los Angeles, California, Heidi grew up in Stony Brook, New York. After 13 years as a commercial litigator in Manhattan, she moved to Connecticut in 1996. Her work has included various positions in non-profit organizations. She is currently a consultant. Heidi and her two children live in Hamden.

Kristin Hawkins, P ’07, ’13
Board Member since 2005
Committees: Finance, Personnel, Search

Kristin is an architect and Senior Associate at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in New Haven. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Architecture and the Yale School of Architecture. Kristin and her husband, Anthony Markese, also an architect, live in Hamden with their three sons. Prior to her appointment , Kristin served on the board ex officio as Co-President of the Foote PTC from 2001 to 2004. She is also on the board of the CT Trust for Historic Preservation.

Mary Hu, P ’05, ’09, ’10
Vice President
Board Member since 2005
Committees: Executive, Educational Advisory (Chair)

Mary is Director of Institutional Planning and Communications at the Yale School of Medicine and Director of Strategic Development and Marketing for the school's clinical group practice, the Yale Medical Group. She attended Phillips Academy Andover, Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Her husband, Jon Knisely, and their children live in New Haven. Her hobbies include knitting, reading and music.

David Moore, P ’99, ’04
Board Member since 2004
Committees: Buildings & Grounds, Search

David is an architect with an office in Woodbridge, where he and his wife, Debby, live. He served on the Building Committee during the construction of the art/music building and theater/gym addition. David received a BA from Williams College and an MArch from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.

Karen Pritzker, P ’04, ’10, ’13
Board Member since 1996
President 1999 – 2001
Committees: Development (Co-chair), Nominating (Chair)

Karen is a freelance writer and editor and the President of Seedlings, a private family foundation dedicated to improving literacy and health for young people. She founded the Seedlings Teachers Collaborative, which nurtures best practices between public and independent school teachers. Karen has a BA from Northwestern University and is a former editor for McCall’s and Working Mother magazines. She has been a frequent volunteer teacher in the New Haven Public Schools and is co-founder and co-producer of the My Hero Project, an interactive web site for kids. She serves on the Americans for Libraries Council, and Read to Grow. Karen and her husband, Michael Vlock, and their family live in Stony Creek.

Robert Sandine, P ’75, ’79, ’83
Board Member since 2006
Committee: Educational Advisory

Bob grew up in Illinois, attended DePauw University in Indiana, and earned an MDiv from Yale and an MEd from Southern Connecticut State University. From 1965 to 2000 he served Foote in many capacities: English teacher, theater director, assistant headmaster, lower school head, and twice as acting headmaster. He is founder and director of The Trinity Players of Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, where he also serves on the vestry. Bob lives in Whitneyville with his wife, psychiatrist Dr. Irene Kitzman. Their hobbies are canoe camping, scuba diving, astronomy and hiking.

Dean Takahashi, P ’07, ’09
Co-Treasurer
Board Member since 2000
Committees: Executive, Finance (Chair), Investment (Chair)

Dean Takahashi is Senior Director of Investments at Yale University, where he helps oversee more than $23 billion of the University's endowment, pension, and charitable trust assets. Since 1986, Dean has been responsible for Yale's domestic, foreign, and private equity portfolios; absolute return strategies, natural resource investments, and analysis regarding asset allocation and spending policy. Prior to Yale, he was an investment officer at Affirmative Investments in Boston and a VISTA volunteer in Vermont. An investment committee member for the Kresge Foundation, Save the Children, and Choate Rosemary Hall, Dean has served on the boards of several other non-profits. He has a BA in economics and an MPPM (master of public and private management) from Yale, where he is a Lecturer in Economics and a Fellow of the International Center for Finance. He also teaches a senior economics seminar in Yale College and a course on endowment management at the School of Management. Dean and his wife, Wendy Sharp, who teaches violin and oversees chamber music at Yale, live in North Haven with their two children.

Annie Wareck ’85, P ’15
Board Member since 2006
Committee: Development

Annie has worked with children in a variety of settings including Montessori and Waldorf schools in Portland, Oregon, The American School in London, The Seattle Children’s Museum, and Seattle Kids Radio. She grew up in New Haven and is an alumna of both Lewis & Clark and Evergreen Colleges. She also attended Bank Street College of Education in New York City while teaching second grade at The Little Red School House. Currently, she manages commercial real estate in New Haven. She is on the Calvin Hill Day Care Center board. She and her husband, Iain York, live in New Haven.

Ex Officio Members

Peggy McCarthy Berman, P '08
PTC Co-President
Ex officio Board member since 2006
Committees: Communications ('07); PTC

Peggy is a journalist who has written extensively for The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and a variety of newspapers, magazines, new services, and radio stations. She was a longtime State Capitol reporter for the Bridgeport Post and Telegram and taught journalism at the University of Connecticut. Other professional experience ranges from broadcasting radio news to serving as press secretary for a Democratic gubernatorial contender, Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. She received a BA from UConn and did graduate work in journalism at New York University. Peggy and her husband, Barry Berman, a corporate executive, live in New Haven. She previously served as PTC secretary.

Christine Chiocchio P '13, '16
Co-President of the Parent Teacher Council
PTC Nominating Committee Co Chair

Christine is an artist with works shown at Stony Creek Summer Art Show (Honorable Mention), Arts Council of Greater New Haven, Thomas J Walsh Art Gallery, and Lukacs Gallery. She has a BA from Fairfield (Phi Beta Kappa) and has studied in the summer program of the Lorenzo De Medici School of Art in Florence, Italy as well as at Paier College of Art, and Guilford Art Center. She has been active in Neighborhood Music School events and was a member of the Read to Grow Patron Events Steering Committee. For the PTC she has Co-Chaired the Fall Family Picnic, Host Families Program, and Bulb Sale. Christine lives in Stony Creek with husband Vincent and their children.