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Amber Bennett — Board Treasurer

Amber is a Director at Dell, overseeing financial planning and analysis for the Americas Commercial and Public Business Group. She is responsible for financial planning and analysis supporting Americas Sales including business planning, investment analysis, strategic planning, pricing oversight, and business process controls. Amber joined Dell in 1998 and her positions there have included Director of Enterprise Product Group, Desktop Product Group, and Transactional Product Group Finance organizations. Before joining Dell, she spent 13 years at IBM in a variety of roles including Manager of Latin America Planning & Special Pricing, Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis and Business Controls for PC Company Mfg in Austin, and other financial planning and accounting positions.

Amber holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Texas, Austin. She brings to the Girls' School Board a strong business and financial background and works closely with the Head of School and the school accountant on financial issues.

Jim Boeckman

Jim Boeckman’s daughter Taylor will be in the sixth grade at the GSA in 2008-2009, her fifth year at the school. He and Taylor have two cats and a dog, and love to travel (Jim and Taylor do the traveling, not the pets). He is a lawyer, and has practiced at major law firms, and as in-house counsel at high-tech companies, in Austin, Dallas and Australia. Jim received his law degree with high honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 1986. He graduated summa cum laude from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, with a B.A. in accounting in 1983. Jim grew up in Springfield, Missouri, but came to Austin as soon as he could, inspired by his grandmother’s passion for all things Texan, including the Longhorns, the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers (his grandparents both were native Texans and graduated from UT). He joined the GSA Board in May 2008.

Judith Coffin

Judy went to an all-girls high school and then a newly coed (previously all male) college. She got her Ph.D. in history from Yale in 1985 and is an associate professor of History, Gender and Women's Studies, and Plan II at UT Austin. She has two children who have been in many different schools, public and private, around the country and the world. Her daughter will be a junior next year at Barnard, still an all-women's college. She brings to the board many years of feminism, an ongoing interest in research on girls and women and connections to those at UT and elsewhere involved in that research, high academic standards, and a commitment to the broadest and best possible education for girls (and their brothers).

Christine Crosby

Chris is a therapist and educator who worked primarily with adolescent girls and young women for fifteen years, specializing in the treatment and prevention of eating disorders. She has a BA in elementary education from Antioch College, a MA in clinical psychology from Trinity University, and postgraduate work in educational psychology at UT. She worked as a diagnostic teacher for AISD and has worked with students, faculty, and parent groups at private schools in Austin. She was a founding board member and chair of the Austin Children's Museum and has been on the boards of several nonprofits including the Center for Battered Women and Save Our Springs Alliance, and is currently on the board of the Shumla School in Comstock, Texas. She has a 19 year old son and many nieces, nephews, and semi-adopted teenagers. She brings to GSA a passion for girls, an understanding of women's development, experience in traditional and nontraditional education, and board experience.

Sam Greer

Sam graduated from UT-Austin with degree in Economics, and spent 9 years in the business world before pursuing a Masters of History degree at (now) Texas State University. He is currently completing his Ph.D, in Education Administration at the University of Texas with a minor in non-profit management from the LBJ school of Public Affairs. He is the Executive Director/Superintendent of Austin Discovery School, a charter school serving 224 students in east Austin; he also serves as a project manager for American YouthWorks and Austin ISD designing programs for disadvantaged youth. An experienced school administrator, he has served as Dean of Kirby Hall School, principal of Cedars International Academy, curriculum designer for the Fulmore Magnet Program for International Studies, and project collaborator with the Texas Business and Education Coalition. Sam and his wife, Marcy, have two daughters, Jenny (14) and Julia (9). He serves as chair of the GSA education committee and lends administrative support when needed.

Jennifer Hotz — Vice President

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin in Marketing. She currently serves as the vice chair of the board and as the chair on the committee on trustees. She is the past vice president of River Crossing Homeowner's Association. Jennifer brings her expertise in marketing and her newly discovered interest in development to our gala this year as one of the three co-chairs-she has already overhauled the business end of the auction and is currently working on sponsorships. Jennifer worked as IT manager for Office Pavilion until she resigned to supervise the final stages of home construction. She is also mother to two GSA girls, Lillian and Abigail, and currently a stay-at-home mom who spends a great deal of her time at GSA.

Sugandha Jain

Sugandha received her master's degree in Psychological Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and a master's in Child Development and Family Relations from Nirmala Niketan, University of Bombay, India. Sugandha is a freelance writer on psychosocial issues related to children, adolescents and families; her work can be found in Parent:Wise Austin magazine, Texas Family magazine, Orange County magazine and Moralmetric website. Ms. Jain has also taught here in Austin and in Ottawa, Canada at all levels, PK-high school.

Sarah McGiffert

Sarah graduated from Bryn Mawr College and Seattle University School of Law (formerly known as University of Puget Sound School of Law) where she was an editor of the law review. She was a shareholder in the Phoenix, Az., law firm of Robbins & Green, P.A., when she learned that she was pregnant with what is now the GSA fourth-grader Maddie Matthews. Her law practice included commercial and environmental litigation. Sarah resigned from Robbins & Green in order to become an at-home parent. She has been a member of several non-profit boards, and her other current volunteer commitments include the Lake Pointe Homeowners' Association and the Travis County Master Gardener Association. With the help of many other volunteers Sarah conceived and executed the annual Passing Notes gala, which has brought The Girls' School recognition in the greater Austin community and netted $50,000 for the school.

Carolyn Miller

Carolyn Miller is a native of Chattanooga, TN. After her 1964 graduation from the University of Tennessee she moved to Washington, DC, where she worked on the Barry Goldwater Presidential campaign. Following that she was on the staff of Representative Howard H. Callaway and later on the staff of Senator Howard Baker. After starting her family she then moved into the field of education. She has two daughters, one a graduate of Dana Hall School, Wellesley, MA and the other a graduate of Garrison Forest School, Baltimore, MD. Her hobbies include golf, cooking, walking, traveling and volunteer community outreach.

Carolyn was Vice-President of The Education Group until December, 2007. As the administrative placement coordinator, Carolyn handled search activities for The Education Group. Carolyn’s background includes work with Independent Educational Services (IES) where, from 1997 through the summer of 2002, she served as Executive Vice-President. A graduate of Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN, Carolyn received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and her master’s degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. With her strong people skills and administrative talents, she has devoted her career energies to enriching the school experience for both students and faculty. As Planning Coordinator at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Bethesda, MD, Carolyn was instrumental in its start up activities. Following St. Andrew’s she was appointed Director of Activities and Facilities at National Cathedral School in Washington, DC. In 1984, she joined St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School in Sewanee, Tennessee as Director of Admissions. When Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, embarked on its plan for coeducation in 1990, Carolyn was called upon to coordinate the transition of girls into the school, where she then served for 7 years at Assistant Head for Student Life.

Gary Poole — Secretary

Gary received his Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M in Mechanical Engineering and his Masters of Arts from St. Mary's University in International Relations. He has served as a board member for Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio and has been the treasurer and executive committee member of Save Our Aquifer Political Action Committee, also in San Antonio. Gary's commitment to sustainability is extensive. He is also a member of Save Our Springs Alliance, the Sierra Club and the Texas Archeological Society. Gary is the father of two GSA 7th graders in their fourth year at the school. Gary is also the chair of the facilities committee and, in his free time, is often found on campus digging in the dirt.

Lisa Schmitt — Head of School

In addition to administrative positions as an academic dean, Ms. Schmitt has taught math and physics for over 17 years. Prior to GSA, she was Dean of Curriculum at the Emma Willard School, a private girls' school in New York. Ms. Schmitt has a strong interest in interdisciplinary math and science education and in the use of technology to advance teaching and learning. She has published in Science Teacher and has presented at numerous national and international conferences on the subject of interdisciplinary math and science education. Ms. Schmitt earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her Masters of Arts in Teaching in science education from Boston University. She served in the U.S. Air Force as a research physicist specializing in space physics. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the Rubendahl Faculty Fellowship and a Tandy Technology award for integrating technology into interdisciplinary algebra-physics classes at Northfield Mount Hermon. While at Emma Willard, she developed a partnership project with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to encourage students to pursue math and science. She has taught in the Expanding Your Horizons program for middle-school girls and served on the board of the Rubin Community Fund in Troy, New York.

Don Vail — Board Chair

Don's association with the Girls' School of Austin began in 2004 when his daughter Delaney enrolled as a 5th grader. He is currently the Austin American-Statesman's Manager of Market Research. Before then, he was employed in government relations at Rockwell International's Space Division and as the Executive Administrator of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. He has a B.A. in molecular biology from the University of California at San Diego and an M.B.A. from the Drucker School of Claremont Graduate University.

Board Committees:

Committee on Trustees

The Committee on Trustees fulfils a vital job - ensuring that there are enough qualified board members on the team, nurturing relationships with potential board members, and providing orientation and training to board members.

Chair: Jennifer Hotz

Finance Committee

The finance function includes responsibility for budgeting, development of financial controls, record-keeping, bookkeeping, and finance.

Chair: Amber Bennett

Development Committee

The primary role of the development committee shall be to advise the board and staff of the school on all matters pertaining to fund development and to oversee and coordinate the ongoing fund development efforts of the school.

Chair: Sarah McGiffert

Education Committee

This Education Committee concentrates on issues at the broadest level; develops and recommends to the board educational policies, such as the type of education offered at the school (college prep, arts, vocational, elementary, high school, etc.); assesses the overall school performance against the strategic plan; can play a major role when the school is in the accreditation process; and reports periodically to the board. Committee members can include school faculty and administrators, parents, and outside educators.

Chair: Sam Greer

Long Range Planning Committee

In concert with the head, faculty, and administrators, this committee develops the strategic plan, with its mission statement, goals, and strategic issues, for board approval and monitors the plan's implementation. The development of action plans is the responsibility of the head, unless the goal concerns governance issues.

Chair: Don Vail

Facilities Committee

The Facilities Committee reviews and in consultation with the Finance Committee, recommends for approval any buildings contemplated for lease, or construction, and recommends for approval all plans and cost estimates for new facilities. The Committee analyzes all facilities with regard to use of materials that have the best cost factor from a life-cycle and energy efficiency point of view, and presents such findings and recommendations to the Board of Trustees.

Chair: Gary Poole