2018 Board Slate of Candidates
We’re happy to announce PIC's slate of nominees for the 2018 Board of Directors election. These individuals have been selected by the current Board for their deep expertise and broad experience.
For the 2018-20 board term, there are eleven seats open for election. Five new candidates and six incumbents. Terms are for two years and begin July 1, 2018.
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New Candidates
Rotonya Carr
Rotonya Carr, MD is a hepatologist and physician scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband, Tyree (a member of the PIC Finance committee), live in West Philadelphia and have two children. Their son Tyree is a PIC alum and daughter Avery is a PIC pre-schooler. Rotonya has been active with PIC since becoming a PIC parent, teaching science to the pre-schoolers, helping with PIC-wide workdays, and serving as Room Parent. Rotonya is excited to become a board member and hopes to contribute her time to help propel our cherished PIC to the next level of early childhood education and community building.
Matthew Closter
Matthew is a Senior Research Associate at Rutgers-Camden whose daughter, Sadie, is a Caterpillar. Matt currently serves on the Development and Quality Committees. Matt is passionate and committed to ensuring that early learning programs are successful and equitable. He has studied educational pipelines from cradle to college in urban settings and wants to ensure that students and families from different socioeconomic backgrounds receive high quality and accessible education in Philadelphia and beyond. Matt comes from a family of educators (including his mom as an early childhood specialist), so he looks forward to sharing his background and experiences with PIC's Board and community and learning from everyone as well.
Jeanette Lee
Jeanette is a retired Early Childhood Educator, having worked in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education. She has a master's degree in Education from Arcadia University. During her retirement, she has reached out to community organizations that support literacy in West Philadelphia, like West Philadelphia Alliance of Children (WePac) and the Kingsessing library adult literacy program. Having worked at PIC and seen childcare at its finest, Jeanette is committed to sharing PIC’s mission and philosophy with other programs so that the next generations of Philadelphians are ready and prepared for school. When Jeanette came to PIC many years ago, she knew that it was special, and she was honored when asked to join PIC's Board.
Mary Green Maier
Mary is the Director of Admission at Haverford College and a current Parent of a Hawk and Roadrunner/Dragontail. She has served on PIC's HR Committee since 2015. Mary and Andrew chose PIC for their kids because they wanted a high-quality early childhood education program in the neighborhood. PIC teachers are exceptionally dedicated and creative, and help kids to learn about the world and themselves. What they appreciate most about PIC though, is how the school community is planting the seeds for all of our kids to develop as good people and engaged citizens. She would like to help preserve this commitment to community by serving PIC as a member of the Board.
Sugirtha Stathis
Sugirtha Stathis is a long-time resident of West Philly and has been a member of the PIC community since 2015. She currently serves on the Quality Committee and recently co-chaired the PPP Task Force. A true Philly native, Sugirtha lives in University City with her husband Pete, daughter Zoe who attends PIC's After School Center, and son Kalin who is in the Fireflies classroom. Sugirtha works at the Wharton School as Director of Student Programs and Communication for the MBA Career Management office. She oversees all career education workshops and student-facing marketing initiatives, while also supporting MBA students as a career advisor. Sugirtha earned her MBA at Chicago Booth.
Incumbent candidates
Maya Nayak
Maya Nayak serves as General Counsel of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. Maya and her husband Chris live in the PIC neighborhood with their young son. As PIC parents, they are thrilled with all the different ways that their son learns in PIC's Early Learning program. They are continually impressed with the care and patience that his teachers show him. Maya co-chairs the Governance Committee and serves on the Human Resources Committee. Maya enjoys contributing to a place her son loves and an institution that is so important in the life of her family and neighborhood.
Sara Richman
Sara is a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP. In her law practice, Sara represents and counsels both businesses and individuals in complex commercial litigation and white collar matters, with a particular focus on the health care and insurance industries. Sara and her husband Andrew chose to send their daughters Lily and Celia to PIC because "it has exceptional, highly dedicated teachers who truly care for their students, engage with the parents, and create learning opportunities that are imaginative and exciting." Sara has been a volunteer classroom parent (Room Parent). She previously served as Board Secretary and as Vice President, and currently serves as the Board President. Sara has relished the opportunity to serve PIC and help ensure that her daughters and other children in our community receive the best possible early childhood education.
Nancy Rimmer
Nancy Rimmer is a trial attorney at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She also teaches criminal defense and trial advocacy for Villanova School of Law's clinical program. Nancy and her husband, Al, live in West Philadelphia with their sons Benjamin who is a PIC After Schooler, and Colin who is enrolled in PIC's Early Learning program. With a firm belief that PIC is the best early child care provider in Philadelphia, Nancy is thrilled to have the opportunity to send her boys to such an excellent center for exploration, imagination, and learning. Prior to joining the Board, Nancy was an active member of the Parent Involvement Committee. As a Board member, she continues to help PIC continue to provide high quality care and encourage parent and community involvement. Nancy currently chairs the Quality Committee.
Kate Stanley
Kate Stanley is an attorney at Pepper Hamilton LLP, where she specializes in white collar criminal defense. She and her husband Doug have two sons at PIC: a Rainbow (soon to be Blue Jay) and a Bumblebee. Kate and Doug feel very lucky that their boys are under the care and guidance of such dedicated and thoughtful teachers. They also appreciate that all the other teachers and administrators in the Early Learning program know their sons by name and make a point to engage with them in the hallways and on the playground. It is another example of PIC’s strong community of parents, teachers, staff and students. Having grown up with a mother who is an early childhood educator, Kate knows the importance of quality early childhood education to the healthy development of children. As a Board member, it will be her goal to help PIC continue to support and develop outstanding teachers.
Jonathan Staszewski
Jonathon Staszewski is Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis at Clarivate Analytics, formerly the Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters, where he interacts with fellow leadership to develop financial budgeting and reporting. Jon and his wife Mariel live in Society Hill with their two daughters, Vera (a PIC alum) and Nina, who is in the Sunshines toddler classroom. Jonathon feels that PIC provides his children with new and exciting opportunities that allow them to grow into amazing and unique individuals. Jon has served as a PIC Room Parent and as a member of the Board Finance Committee. Jonathon is currently the Board Treasurer and the Chair of the Finance Committee. He hopes to continue the committee's legacy of supporting PIC in achieving the financial freedom and flexibility to provide top quality services to the community.
Anne Thomforde Thomas
Anne Thomforde Thomas teaches first grade at Friends Select School and holds a master's degree in early childhood education. Since joining the Friends Select faculty, Anne has taught every grade from kindergarten through fourth. Anne is the mother of four. Anne's second daughter attended PIC in 1978; her third and fourth daughters were at PIC from 1987-1992. She and her husband Lee chose PIC as their day care provider because of the "high level of care, the professionalism, and warmth of the staff and the provision for the engagement of the families involved with the center." Anne states, “I am on the Board so that other families can continue to have access to the same high quality services that my daughters enjoyed, now and into the future.”
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Read about all of PIC's current Board members.
Note the following Board members will be leaving after the current term:
Margaret Balamuth
Larry Leso
Vicki McGarvey