Board of Trustees

List of 20 items.

• Andy Laats - Chair

  Andy Laats is co-founder and board member of Nixon, Inc.  Nixon custom designs, markets, and distributes fashion accessories, primarily watches, in over 70 countries through specialty sporting goods and fashion retailers.  Prior to starting Nixon, Mr. Laats worked as the Snowboard Product Manager at Burton snowboards where he introduced new product development protocols and technologies.  He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, where he is currently a Lecturer in Management.  Mr. Laats lives in Encinitas and his three children attend Pacific Ridge.

• Tracey DeLange

  Tracey DeLange is a versatile attorney with over 15 years of broad in-house and large law firm experience representing public companies, private companies and individuals. Her background includes corporate compliance, transactional, regulatory, securities, environmental, and over 10 years of complex litigation experience. She is recognized by colleagues, management, clients and partners for her exceptional ability to provide competent, practical and timely legal advice in a wide variety of subject areas.
  
  

  Ms. DeLange spent two years as Assistant General Counsel at Jenny Craig after serving as Corporate Counsel for Santarus, Inc. She gained her previous experience in complex litigation as Senior Associate at Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker. she is a graduate of the University of California, Riverside and University of San Diego School of Law. She and her husband, Tim, have two Firebirds.

• Rio Dickens-Celestin

  Dr. Rio Dickens-Celestin is an internal medicine physician at Scripps Health. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Psychology, then attended the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Following medical school, Dr. Dickens-Celestin completed her internship and residency at Emory University in Atlanta. She joined the faculty at Emory after training and served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine for thirteen years. She is a member of the American Medical Association and American College of Physicians.

• Mark Elmore

  Mark Elmore is Chairman of the Board at Nathan Hale Capital LLC, a broker-dealer firm focused on fixed income securities. Semi-retired after 23 years as a securities broker, he is an active investor in real estate and local businesses. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Business Economics from Southern Illinois University. He and his wife Cristina have two children, one of whom attends Pacific Ridge.

• Derek Footer

  Derek Footer is a Founder of ExtraVallis, an investment and management platform connecting investors to startups. In conjunction with his role there, he serves as Managing Partner of HardTech Labs, a venture capital fund management company. He also serves on the Board and is General Counsel for Hands United for Children, a non-profit funding the building of schools in Africa, Latin America and San Diego County. He holds two patents related to interactive television software infrastructure and has a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Lynn S. Frank

  Lynn S. Frank is a co-founder of the mediation firm Frank & Feder. Previously, she was a principal mediator with the law firm Gregorio, Haldeman, Piazza, Rotman, Frank & Feder for over twenty-three years.

   

  Ms. Frank has specialized exclusively in the mediation of complex disputes since 1987, having successfully mediated over two thousand matters covering virtually every field of endeavor.

  A fellow in the American College of Civil Trial Mediators, he conducts seminars and trainings in mediation for law firms, corporations, and public agencies throughout the country and has designed dispute resolution training programs for non-profit organizations and for Santa Clara University. She also worked with autistic children and families in crisis.

   

  Ms. Frank is a graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law, holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara. Ms. Frank served as chair of the Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation from 2014-2015.

   

  Ms. Frank has three children, two of whom attend Pacific Ridge School. She is married to Todd Frank and, in addition to their wonderful kids, the family includes a menagerie of pets in Elfin Forest.

• Kristin French

  Kristin French is a civic leader in the San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe communities bringing expertise and focus from her professional experience in the areas of finance and accounting, Human Resources, contract negotiation, sales/marketing, fundraising, and strategic planning.  

   

  Ms. French’s passion for education and service started early as an undergraduate student at the University of San Diego. After graduating, she served for over 15 years on the school’s Alumni Board. In 2010, Ms. French served on the steering committee to develop the vision for Epiphany Prep Charter School, which was established to serve the inner-city children of San Diego. She continues to serve on the Epiphany Prep Charter School board. Ms. French also served on The Nativity School Advisory Board where her children attended school and focused on curriculum and fundraising for the school. 

   

  Prior to her civic involvement and having her two children, Ms. French spent over a decade at Pepsi Bottling Group working in sales and marketing. 

   

  Ms. French earned a B.A. in Business Administration and MBA from the University of San Diego. Ms. French and her husband have two children, both of whom attend Pacific Ridge.

• Felicia Hinrichs

  Felicia Hinrichs has long history and experience in the performing arts.  Mrs. Hinrichs was born in New Jersey and grew up in South Florida, where she attended Ballet Etudes on a full scholarship.  She is a classically trained ballet dancer and has danced professionally around the globe.  Immediately after high school, she spent three years with the Atlanta Ballet II.  She then joined the Louisville (Kentucky) Ballet where she spent five years as a corps de ballet and featured performer.  From there, she moved to Europe and spent five years as featured performer in the Norwegian National Ballet, performing in Oslo and touring across Europe.  Additionally, she has guest performed in numerous roles around the United States and Europe.

  
  

  Mrs. Hinrichs and her husband have two boys.  One son graduated from Pacific Ridge in 2014 and the other is currently attending the school.

• Stefan Karnavas

  Stefan Karnavas is the President of EAG Laboratories, where he helped transform the business into a commercially oriented enterprise, culminating in the successful sale of the company to Eurofins Scientific in December 2017.  Before joining EAG, Mr. Karnavas served as CFO of SKLZ, a consumer branded, sports training equipment manufacturer where he was responsible for Finance, Accounting, IT and Corporate Development. Previously, he spent 10 years at Leap Wireless International / Cricket Wireless, where he initially served as the CFO of Cricket during the start-up phase, then transitioned to senior financial management roles at Leap, the parent company. Prior to Leap & Cricket, he served as CFO of Cobblestone Golf Group, Treasurer and Director of Corporate Development for Horizon Cellular Group and as an Investment Officer for Fidelity Bank.

  
  

  Mr. Karnavas graduated from the University of Denver with a B.S.B.A. in Finance, and from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management with an MBA. He and his wife have one daughter, who attends Pacific Ridge.

• Bill Keitel

  Bill Keitel retired from Qualcomm in 2013 as Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer responsible for leading the finance, accounting, reporting, tax, treasury, investor relations and information systems organizations. He joined Qualcomm in 1996, serving in senior finance roles until his appointment to Chief Financial Officer in 2002. From 1983 to 1996, Mr. Keitel held senior finance and manufacturing responsibilities with Nortel. Prior to Nortel, he was with PepsiCo in financial planning positions. He is currently a board member of Turtle Beach Corporation. Mr. Keitel has an M.B.A. from Arizona State University and a B.A. from University of Wisconsin, Madison. He and his wife have three daughters. Their youngest daughter is a graduate of Pacific Ridge School.

• Kirk Malloy

  Dr. Kirk Malloy is Executive Chairman and CEO at Verogen, a San Diego company that provides next generation DNA sequencing solutions for human ID and forensics to law enforcement, intelligence agencies and homeland security.  Dr. Malloy is also founder of BioAdvisors, LLC, an executive and strategic consulting company for life science companies.  He previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Illumina's Life Sciences business, managing the company's core platform technologies and the core markets they support, including complex diseases, agrigenomics, microbiology and metagenomics. Previously at Illumina ae was responsible for  building and leading the commercial support organization and a robust service business for all of Illumina's markets. Prior to joining Illumina, Dr. Malloy built and managed training, support and validation services at Biosite Inc., a leading provider of rapid diagnostics products, where he helped build the point of care cardiovascular diagnostics test market. Before joining industry, Dr. Malloy spent several years as an academic scientist teaching and leading a research program using molecular biology to investigate physiology, evolution, and population ecology of marine organisms. Dr. Malloy currently serves as a Corporate Director on two public and three private boards of directors.  Dr. Malloy earned his B.S. in Biology from the University of Miami, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware and held post-doctoral positions at Boston University and Northeastern University.

   

  Dr. Malloy has two children. One attends Pacific Ridge; the other is a recent graduate.

• Amy Monteparte

  Amy Monteparte was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania. She received a B.A. from Mercyhurst University where she dual-majored in Accounting and Business Administration with a concentration in Organizational Behavior. Her past work experiences have been in the non-profit sector, including work at West Penn Hospital, a large teaching hospital in Pittsburgh, PA in auditing and finance. After moving to San Diego with her husband, she worked at the Sydney Kimmel Cancer Center in finance where she helped streamline the Clinical Trials accounting system. After the birth of her daughter, she remained actively involved in her field and community as a stay-at-home mother. She has served as president of her homeowner’s association and managed a large land subsidence project and litigation with a successful outcome. Mrs. Monteparte was one of the founding members and secretary of the Del Mar Pines Foundation for Education. She is currently serving her second term as VP of Communications of the National Charity League, San Dieguito Chapter and sits on the finance committee at the Santaluz Club. She has been actively involved in Girl Scouts and supports various charities throughout San Diego.
  
  Mrs. Monteparte's daughter is a graduate of Pacific Ridge School.

• Laing F. Rikkers

  Ms. Rikkers is a Managing Director at Healthpoint Capital, where she is a member of the Investment Committee and an advisor to portfolio companies. Her principal roles are identifying investment opportunities, determining strategies and developing organizations. Ms. Rikkers has been at HealthpointCapital for 14 years. Her prior experience includes 10 years spent in management positions at Amerada Hess Corporation, the Walt Disney Company and New York-Presbyterian Hospital focused on Organizational Development and Human Resources.
  
  Ms. Rikkers is Chairman of ProSomnus Sleep Technologies, a member of the Board of Directors at HealthpointCapital LLC, and was formerly a Director of BioHorizons, Inc. and MicroDental Laboratories, Inc. She is the Chair of the Salk Institute Council and a Cabinet member of the Salk Excellerators at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
  
  Ms. Rikkers received a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Both of her children attend Pacific Ridge.

• Brent Rivard

  Brent Rivard is a Partner and Managing Director of Pathfinder Partners, LLC, a real estate investment firm. He is also a principal in several business-to-business service firms targeting mid-market companies including RelationEdge, Main Path Marketing and Signature Analytics. He was previously the President of a local wealth management firm, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of a commercial real estate brokerage firm, the Vice President, Finance and Operations at The MHA Group and Vice President, Accounting and Finance/Treasurer at NYSE-traded AMN Healthcare..
  
  ​Mr. Rivard started his career at Deloitte & Touche after graduating cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Business Economics. His philanthropic work includes serving on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County, including as Board Chair in 2012-2013. 
  
  Mr. Rivard resides in Encinitas with his wife, Laura, and their three children. Two of their children attend Pacific Ridge.

• Raghu Saripalli

  Raghu Saripalli is the CFO of Endeavor Biomedicines, a biotech startup in San Diego. Prior to that he was co-founder and CFO of Impact Biomedicines, which was acquired by Celgene Corporation.

  Since moving to San Diego in 2003, Mr. Saripalli has been working with early-stage and small companies mostly focused on biotech. Prior to that, he was an investment banker in New York. Over a period of ten years he worked at Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and Wasserstein Perella in mergers and acquisitions with a focus on gaming and defense.

  Mr. Saripalli has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (India), dual Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science and an MBA (with distinction) from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in Rancho Santa Fe with his wife and two sons – one a Pacific Ridge graduate and the other a current student.

• Michele Saunders

  Michele Saunders recently ended a four-year tenure on the Pacific Ridge School Parent Association Board of Directors, including a year serving as Executive Director.

  Ms. Saunders served in numerous financial positions, most recently as Controller for The Governance Institute, a service of NRC Health, supporting not-for-profit hospital and health care leaders. Over the years, she also served as Accounting Director for Pyxis Corporation and in Price Waterhouse LLP’s Audit Group. 

  As a first-generation college graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Ms. Saunders believes deeply in the value of education and the importance of its accessibility. She and her husband have two children, both of whom attend Pacific Ridge.

• Richard Shen

  Richard Shen, Ph.D., is the founder and managing director of RS Technology Ventures, a strategic advisory and investment company focused on the fields of nucleic acid analysis, oncology diagnostics and genomics. He is an active member of Tech Coast Angels in San Diego, on the Externa Advisory Board of Georgia Tech and is advising several early phase startups. Earlier in his career, Dr. Shen held several senior positions in a 15-year career at Illumina. Dr. Shen earned a B.S. from UCLA and a Ph.D. from LSU Medical Center. He did postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Michigan Medical Center to study gene therapy and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to study variation in DNA repair genes.

• Brit Stickney

  Mr. Stickney is a portfolio manager and a managing director with Allianz Global Investors, which he joined in 1999. He has portfolio-management and research responsibilities for the Income and Growth Strategies team. Mr. Stickney has 29 years of investment industry experience. He was previously  a vice president of institutional fixed-income sales with ABN AMRO, Inc., where his primary focus was on high-yield corporate securities; before that, he worked for Cowen & Company and Wayne Hummer & Company.
  
  Mr. Stickney has a B.S. in finance from Miami University, Ohio, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Both of his children attend Pacific Ridge School.

• Jeffrey Thacker

  Jeff Thacker is a corporate and securities law partner at Gunderson Dettmer, an international law firm headquartered in Silicon Valley.  Throughout his 25+ year practice, he has represented both public and private companies and venture capital firms.  He has advised life science and technology companies, including CareFusion, Life Technologies and Anterix, in a variety of transactions, including IPOs and other public offerings, venture financings, mergers and acquisitions and strategic collaborations. He also has expertise in SEC reporting, and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Governance Law.  Mr. Thacker earned his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Brigham Young University.

  Mr. Thacker and his wife have three children; the eldest attends Pacific Ridge.

• Paul Twardowski

  Paul Twardowski is a Senior Managing Director and Partner at Hines, a global real estate investment firm.  He oversees Hines’ investments, developments and management across Southern California and Las Vegas. Before his tenure with Hines, Mr. Twardowski was an asset manager at the Yarmouth Group in New York City and a development manager with Lend Lease Development in Sydney, Australia. He received a B.A. from Princeton University. He and his wife have two daughters, both of whom attend Pacific Ridge.