Board of Directors

Jon Bowman
Chief Operating Officer, Zapolski & Rudd, LLC

Dr. David Brown
Executive Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges

After having taught for five years at Morningside High School from 1970-75, Dr. Brown became the Assistant Principal of San Marino High School, where he remained for three years. After serving for several years as Principal of La Cañada High School, he returned to San Marino as Superintendent, where he served for seven years. Dr. Brown then became the Superintendent of the Irvine Unified School District for eight years. During his tenure in Irvine, he was actively involved with the Association of California School Administrators, serving as State President in 1990-91.

Dr. Brown then became the Superintendent of the Napa Valley Unified School District. During his eight years there, he was appointed to serve as the chair of the State Superintendency Committee. He was also given the opportunity to serve as chair of several state task force groups, including School-to-Career, and Discipline and Safety committees.

Dr. Brown has been the Executive Director of WASC since January 2003. He resides in the Napa Valley.
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Ted Fujimoto
President, Landmark Consulting Group, Inc.

Ted Fujimoto began his career as founder and CEO of Landmark Consulting Group, a technology management consultancy. For 12 years he worked with clients formulating strategic technology plans and designing and implementing finance, accounting, human resource, sales and customer support systems. His clients included Airtouch Communications, Bank One, California Chamber of Commerce, Chandon Estates, General Motors and IBM Corp. During that time, Ted volunteered for the role of chief strategist to help set up New Technology High School , making major contributions to the design of its technology infrastructure and adoption of Lotus Notes as its integrated collaboration software. Then he helped establish New Technology Foundation .

Ted has served on the California Education Technology Advisory Committee that advised the State Board of Education on billion-dollar educational technology issues. He was profiled in Converge Magazine's "Year 1999 in Review" anniversary issue as one of education's "Dreamers, Leaders and Innovators." He received the 2002 "In the Arena" award from the Center of Digital Government for leadership in transforming educational vision into reality.

Ted co-founded LearnCity, a national web system to help K-12 teachers improve their instruction and meet accountability requirements, and still serves on its Board of Directors. He also Co-founded Ebos AG, a corporate performance and learning system that improves the ability of companies to deliver consistent customer experiences across their distribution networks.

He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pacific Union College in Angwin, California.
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Dr. John Glaser
Superintendent, Napa Valley Unified School District

Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) Superintendent, Dr. John P. Glaser brings to the Foundation over 29 years of organizational development, educational instruction, labor relations and educational management expertise. In 1992, Dr. Glaser formed his own company known as Glaser and Associates, a firm specializing in organizational change and labor relations for client organizations in the United States and Canada. Prior to that time, he provided educational leadership to the NVUSD by serving as Assistant Superintendent and Director of Instructional Services and Employer-Employee Relations.

A leader in the local community, Dr. Glaser served over the years in a variety of capacities and organizations. He has been recognized through community awards such as Napa County “Schoolmaster of the Year” and NVUSD Leadership Award “Distinguished Management Performance.” The University of California Berkeley alumni magazine recently honored him as an “alumni making a difference.”

Other training and teaching experience includes faculty appointments in various prominent local, regional and national colleges and universities. Dr. Glaser has presented extensively at conferences and workshops all over the world and has authored a number of publications in the area of educational leadership, labor relations, and organizational development.

Dr. Glaser graduated with Honors and Distinction with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. In 1974, he received a Master of Education from Harvard University with an emphasis in Learning Environments. In 1977, he obtained his Administrative Services Credential from San Jose State University. Following San Jose University, he earned a Doctorate Degree in Education from University of California at Berkeley.
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Robert Kusel
Senior Consultant, Essex & Drake

Rob Kusel brings to the Foundation over 20 years institutional advancement, external affairs and business development expertise. Rob is a Senior Consultant with Essex & Drake. Prior to that Rob was the Director of Development and External Affairs for Blue Oak School, in Napa. For 5 years previously, he worked as an executive with GroupStone, Inc., Entango Corporation, and LocalVoice.com, companies specializing in developing web-based programs to assist non-profits in achieving membership-relation and fund-raising success.

Rob's prior experience includes working as Associate Director of Development and Major Gifts for Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, Director of the Centennial Campaign for The Hotchkiss School, CT and Cate School, Carpinteria, CA.

Rob has coached youth soccer for many years, and, since 2002, has served on the Stanford University Soccer Advisory Board as chair on the sub-committee for facilities and long-range planning. He is an active member on COPIA’s marketing committee, and also serves on the Advisory Board of Common Knowledge, Inc., a software company serving the nonprofit sector.

Rob earned a Bachelor of Arts with a distinction of honors in French Literature and an additional concentration in Economics from Williams College, and a Master’s in Education from the University of California at Berkeley. Rob was awarded The Klingenstein Foundation Summer Fellow from Columbia University in 1984 and the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Follow position with the University of Wyoming in 1988.
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Katja Loeffelholz
Intellectual Property Attorney, Gaw Van Male

Katja Loeffelholz joined the NTF Board of Directors in 2006. Ms. Loeffelholz has been a registered attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 1997. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1995 and her undergraduate degree in Political Science, International Relations concentration from the University of California Los Angeles. Prior to coming to California in 1999, Ms Loeffelholz practiced in South Carolina. Ms. Loeffelholz focuses her practice in the areas of intellectual property law, namely, trademark, patent and copyright registration, licensing and protection. She is a member of the State Bar of California Intellectual Property Section as well as a member of the International Trademark Association.
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Barry Martin
City of Napa 's Community Outreach Coordinator and Public Information Officer for the Napa River Flood Project

Barry Martin communicates for a living. Known locally for his many years on the radio, Barry became a communications consultant in 2001 and today is the City of Napa 's Community Outreach Coordinator and Public Information Officer for the Napa River Flood Project. He is the President of the Board of Napa TV-Channels 27 and 28, and serves on the Board of the Napa Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Napa Valley , the Kiwanis Club of Napa , and the New Tech Foundation. He is also a nationally-accredited soccer coach, holding the USSF "C" license. Barry's wife Maureen McCullough is an elementary school teacher. Their son, a 2002 graduate of New Tech High SchoolT in Napa , is a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps recently returned from Iraq , and daughter Sarah Martin is preparing for her second year of college.
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Kathleen O’Dowd
CPA, O’Dowd Franklin & Rabanal LLP

Kathleen (Kathie) L. O'Dowd is a Certified Public Accountant who performs assurance and business advisory services for the wine industry. Her most recent experience has been as a partner with Motto Kryla & Fisher LLP where she spent seventeen and one-half years performing audits, reviews, compilations, financial forecasts and business advisory services for wine industry clientele. Prior to joining Motto Kryla & Fisher LLP, Kathie worked for three years in the small business assurance practice of Arthur Anderson in Oakland, CA. Kathie graduated cum laude from the Sonoma State University with a degree in Management with emphasis in accounting. Kathie is a member of the AICPA and California Society of Certified Public Accountants. She has lectured at numerous wine industry events including teaching Understanding and Using Winery and Vineyard Financial Reports for UC Davis Extension and the California CPA Wine Industry Conference.
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Gopal Shanker
President, Récolte Energy

Gopal Shanker is the President of Récolte Energy, a provider of turn-key energy solutions. He has a B.S. in Computer Science and an M.B.A. in General Business, both from Iowa State University.
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Susan Schilling
CEO, New Technology FoundationT

Susan Schilling has been the CEO of New Technology FoundationT since 2001. Until recently, she also served as the Director of Replication, spearheading NTF's replication efforts.

Prior to joining New Technology FoundationT , Susan Schilling was General Manager for Lucas Learning Ltd., a multimedia educational company formed by George Lucas. Working under George Lucas' creative direction, she was responsible for hiring and directing the creative teams that produced and marketed entertaining software, founded on educational principles to homes.

Susan has a rich history in the development of educational product. Prior to joining Lucas Learning Ltd., Susan was Senior Vice President and Creative Director for MECC, one of the first and premier developers and publishers of educational software for schools.

For 10 years, Susan has worked alongside two foundations in the Minneapolis area that focus on raising up the next generation of leaders from the inner city. Both of these foundations have strong technology components to their neighborhood outreach. The Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation, which she co-chaired, is providing athletic as well as academic skills to young people though their recently inaugurated Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center and creating a qualified work force that will be able to fill the job opening being creating in the Opportunity Zone - an area zoned light industrial into which the Foundation recruits qualified businesses.

Susan holds a Master's degree in German from Middlebury College, Vermont, and Studio Art and German degrees from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.
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Deborah Steinthal
Executive Advisor, Scion Advisors

With 25 years of executive management experience with companies large and small, Deborah Steinthal brings leadership best practices to the wine industry. She has been a senior executive for world class organizations such as Oracle and Lockheed Martin - with a lead role in joint ventures and acquisitions, launching new businesses, products, initiatives and services regionally and globally. In the last five years, before founding Scion Advisors, Deborah has held executive positions at The Winetasting Network and MKF Group LLP. She has been an advisor to a Stanford University legacy leadership project focused on helping Napa Valley vintners’ benchmark themselves in the consumer direct channel.
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Howard Mahoney
Principal, New Technology High SchoolT , Napa, CA

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Sonia Wright
Executive Director, Napa Valley College Foundation

Sonia Wright joins the NTF Board of Directors in 2006 as a representative of our College Partner, Napa Valley Junior College. Ms Wright continues the strong presence of Napa Valley Community College in the work of high school reform.
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Will Wyman is an experienced financial advisor working high net worth clients, business owners, and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining Strand, Atkinson, Williams & York in their Napa executive office on Soscol Avenue, he worked for many years at the Merrill Lynch Napa Private Client office. He is a 1982 graduate of Pomona College (Claremont, California) with a BA in History, and a 1978 graduate of the Thacher School (Ojai, California).

In his younger days, Will worked for twelve years in varying capacities as a management consultant and staff member for non-profit organizations and educational institutions overseeing endowment management, fund development, public relations, marketing, and strategic planning. These include the Thacher School, St. Mary's School, Napa Valley Museum, the Community Foundation of the Napa Valley, and many other community organizations including four Northern California land trusts.

In addition to his work on behalf of NTF, Will serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Helena and is Chair of the Club's Endowment Committee. In 2001 he retired from a three-year term as vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Young School in St. Helena. He also recently served a three-year term on the St. Helena Parks and Recreation Commission and is a founding member of the Napa County "Leave A Legacy" Committee, providing planned giving expertise for local non-profit organizations.

When he's not working on behalf of the community he can occasionally be found making wine in a garage with his "Fickle Fermenter" friends or playing traditional blues and folk tunes (and a few originals) with the "Rogue Stock Pickers!"
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