OHM Board of Directors

Mr. Alizadeh is the Cofounder and President of Hemisphere Companies, including Hemisphere Capital Partners, Hemisphere Development Group and Hemisphere Restaurant Partners. The Companies’ areas of interest are gaming and hospitality as well as development and private investments. Mr. Alizadeh has held corporate finance positions at Jefferies & Company, Dain Rauscher, Inc., Marshall Group, and Citigroup. He has raised over $800MM in senior, subordinated and equity capital for private and public entities. He holds a BA in Economics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and an MBA in Finance from University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Ali joined the Board in 2005 and has three children attending Oak Hill.

Kathy Anderson, Head of School

Ms. Anderson joined Oak Hill as Head of School in July of 2004. As Head of School she is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school, admissions and communications with our Oak Hill community, the broader Montessori community and the general public. She is responsible for establishing and ensuring the authenticity of program offerings in addition to hiring and guiding our teaching, administrative and support staff. Kathy has a long history within the Montessori community both as a teacher and as an administrator in several schools throughout the country. Having started her career teaching in the public school system in Minnesota, she entered the business world, working in management positions for a subsidiary of AT&T. After ten years in business, Kathy moved to Atlanta, Georgia where she went back to school, earning her AMI certification at the Primary level. She taught and administrated in Montessori schools in Atlanta, Dallas, Texas and Stillwater, Minnesota. In 2004, Kathy began auditing the AMI Elementary training program, which extends over three summers and is being hosted by Oak Hill.

Paul Grande, Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair

Brooks Cavin, Member-at-Large

Mr. Cavin has been an active member of the Twin Cities Montessori community for the last eleven years as a teacher and school administrator, and currently serves as Assistant to the Principal at Lake County School in Minneapolis. He began his formal education at age three in a Montessori Children's House and is enthusiastic to serve on the Oak Hill Board. Mr. Cavin holds a MEd from Loyola College in Maryland, an AMI Diploma at the Elementary level and an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Carleton College. Mr. Cavin is passionate about supporting the powerful mission and community of Oak Hill Montessori.

Ken Lewen, Member-at-Large

Eric Malenfant, Member-at-Large

Jennifer Martini, Member-at-Large

Ms. Martini has been an Oak Hill parent since 1999. She was elected to the Board in 2002. She has held a variety of roles during her tenure on the Board including Parent Relations Chair (2002-2003), Vice Chair (2004) and Board Chair (2004-2006). She also served on the Finance Committee and Committee on Trustees during this time. In addition to her role on the Board, she served as co-chair for the Outdoor Environment Project in 2005. Jennifer has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California, and an M.B.A. in Management from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is employed by Deluxe Corporation as a Project Manager for corporate initiatives. Her volunteer work includes teaching for Junior Achievement and coaching for community basketball. She is also actively involved in her church. Jennifer has three children attending Oak Hill.

Jean Melancon, Vice Chair

Ms. Melancon has been an Oak Hill parent since 2004 and joined the Board in 2007. Jean is the past president of the OHM Parent Association and was active in the formation of the association's bylaws and committees. She has served OHM in areas including campus planning, development of parent satisfaction survey, documenting a successful auction process, creating a database of volunteer skills, and streamlining the annual collection of family data. Jean is an independent business consultant and prior experience includes working with businesses on Six Sigma deployment, leading nation-wide organizational assessments, and business process redesign. She has traveled internationally working with IT staff of global airline carriers. Jean is a past President of the MOMS Club of Mahtomedi and has served on the Mahtomedi ECFE Advisory Board. She is an assistant leader for Girl Scouts. Jean and her husband Kurt have two children attending Oak Hill.

Valerie Olson, Staff Representative

Valerie Olson is beginning her 13th year of teaching Children's House at Oak Hill Montessori. Valerie has been an ex-Officio member of Oak Hill's board of Directors as well as serving on the Human Resource Committee, Marketing Committee, and Search Committee. This is her first year serving as a voting board member. She also serves as Level Coordinator for the Children's House. Valerie holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Mankato State University as well as her AMI Primary Diploma from the Montessori Training Center of St. Paul. She and her husband Greg have two children; a son currently attending Oak Hill and a daughter who graduated from Oak Hill's Jr. High.

Katie Toghramadjian, Chair

Katie and her husband, Avo, have four children who have attended Oak Hill since 2003. Katie joined the Board in 2004. Having served as Secretary and Vice Chair, she currently serves as Board Chair. In addition to her work on the Board, Katie served on the Head Search Committee in the spring of 2004, has been actively involved in the Outdoor Environment Project since 2005 and enjoyed co-leading the after school chess club for four years. Katie's own formal education began at the age of two in a Montessori classroom. Katie earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering with a structural emphasis from Northwestern University. A licensed civil engineer, Katie has owned and operated Isthmus Engineering, Inc., a transportation design firm since 2002.

Wyatt Stahl, Member-at-Large

Wyatt and his wife have one daughter, Eliana who is attending OHM for the fourth year. Wyatt has been working directly in the medical electronics industry since graduating from South Dakota State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a Biomedical Emphasis. Wyatt currently works for Boston Scientific, Inc. in Arrhythmia Marketing.

Jim Webster, Member-at-Large

Jim joined the board in 2004, and is currently serving on the Committee on Trustees. Jim is a corporate and business attorney, and founder of the law firm MN Law Group. He is also co-founder on MN-Pro, a mortgage and real estate training and consulting company. Jim holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor of the Oregon Law Review. Before moving back to Minnesota in 2003, Jim and his family lived in Anchorage, Alaska, where he also practiced law and served on the board of directors of Anchorage Montessori School, an AMS-affiliated school.

Joan Vaughn, Secretary

Ms. Vaughn has been an Oak Hill Parent since 2004 and was elected to the position of Board Secretary in 2007. She has volunteered at Oak Hill for the community build, auctions, Wall of Wine chair for 2 years, and many other activities. Joan has previous experience fundraising for Make A Wish Foundation and Hope in the Heartland. She has previous board experience as a member of the Children's Hospitals Family Advisory Board. Joan holds a Master's Degree in English and owns Communities of Care, Pediatric Home Care Agency. Joan's daughter, Elena, is in Lower Elementary.