BOARD OF TRUSTEES
The Board of Trustees is responsible for appointing and evaluating the Head of School, assuring the School’s financial stability, setting the institutional mission and board policies, and directing strategic planning.
The board delegates responsibility for managing day-to-day operations to the Head of School.
The board members are volunteers, nominated by the Board Governance Committee and elected by the Board of Trustees. There are 11 committees of the Board of Trustees: Alumni Relations, Audit, Board Governance, Communications, Compensation, Development Review, Diversity, Executive, Finance, Philanthropy, and Strategic Initiatives.
Board business is conducted in accordance with approved bylaws, last revised in June, 2020.
The board is devoted to best governance practices and won the University of San Diego's 2012-2013 Kaleidoscope Award for Exceptional Governance, which recognizes and celebrates excellence in nonprofit governance.
Meet Parker's Board of Trustees
Susan retired from a 25-year career in finance and banking as Chief Financial Officer of US Bank. She has since served as a director of several publicly held companies and start-up ventures. As a community volunteer, Susan chaired the Board of Trustees of the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and was Treasurer of Hazeltine National Golf Club. She has served on the board of several nonprofits in Minneapolis, from which she and her family relocated in 2011. In 2012, she joined the Parker Finance Committee, which she chaired for three years; and since joining the Board of Trustees in 2013, has served as a member of the Diversity Committee, Compensation Committee and Executive Committee. Susan attended the University of Dayton, has an MBA from the University of Chicago, and studied public policy at the University of Minnesota. Susan and her wife, Petra Mertens, have two daughters, Arianna, Class of 2024 and Lara, Class of 2025, and a son, Luca, Class of 2027.
Diana Casey is Vice President of Danube Properties, Inc., a local real estate corporation. Diana is a real estate attorney who specializes in multi-family development and related transactions. Prior to joining Danube Properties, Diana was a partner at the San Diego office of Latham & Watkins, LLP, a global law firm. Diana received her bachelors’ degree from Wesleyan University and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is an active singer with the San Diego Women’s Chorus and serves on the Chorus’ Board of Directors. At Parker, Diana is the Chair of the Audit Committee. Diana has an older daughter Courtney, Class of 2024, and twins, John and Hannah, Class of 2029.
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Jeannette L. Aldous, MD, practicing physician and Clinical Director for Infectious Disease for San Ysidro Health, where she provides direct patient care and clinical leadership for a large HIV program serving the South Bay region. She is also active in promoting equity in access to healthcare for LGBTQ patients and is the founding medical director of the SYHealth's Gender Medicine and Sexual Health Clinic.
Dr. Aldous has a career focus on healthcare for historically underserved populations and addressing social determinants of health and she serves on several regional advisory committees in the areas of HIV and Tuberculosis treatment and prevention. For that work, she was honored by the County of San Diego as the Live Well San Diego "2018 Individual Public Health Champion”.
Originally from Philadelphia PA, Jeanette (“Nettie”) received her BA in Biology from Wesleyan University, and moved to San Diego in 1994, starting her career in neuroscience research. She subsequently attended medical school at UCSD, Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Colorado, and Infectious Disease Fellowship at UCSD. At Parker, Nette serves on the Strategic Initiatives Committee, is a leader for the class of 2025 Girl Scouts troop and is a supporter of the Parker Drama Club. Nette and her husband, John Aldous, MD, MPA, have two children at Parker; Zora, Class of 2028 and Mina, Class of 2025.
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Will Beamer is the President, Chief Investment Officer, and Principal at Dowling & Yahnke, an independent, fee-only wealth management firm. A Francis Parker School "lifer," Will attended Duke University on a Navy ROTC scholarship and graduated with honors in history. After graduation, Will spent four years in the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet as a surface warfare officer before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School. Will holds the designations Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®). Within the San Diego community, Will serves on the board of The Parker Foundation and the San Diego chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He is a past board member of Scripps Mercy Hospital Foundation and Serving Seniors. He is also a member of the investment committees of the San Diego Museum of Art and Serving Seniors, and formerly served on the investment committee for San Diego Zoo Global. At Parker, Will has served on the audit, alumni relations, finance, board governance, and investment committees. Will and his wife Jenn have four children. Their son Drew, Class of 2020, is a recent Parker graduate.
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Steve Bjorg was the Founder and Chief Technical Officer at MindTouch (acquired by NICE CXone in 2021), a San Diego-based enterprise software company that specializes in customer self-service software. He is a seasoned technologist and serial entrepreneur who is passionate about helping others. Prior to founding MindTouch, Steve worked in Advanced Strategies and the Developer Division at Microsoft, focusing on distributed computing.
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Jing Bourgeois works as a private real estate investor, overseeing commercial and residential investments. After graduating from the Sichuan Music Conservatory in China, she worked in the Public Relations department of the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), the largest nuclear power company of China before coming to the United States. At NPIC, she chaired various conferences and negotiation events. Jing also received her music education teaching credential and taught music at the Normal School in Si Chuan Province in China for two years prior to working for the NPIC. Since coming to the US, she enjoys real estate and volunteering. Jing is active in the San Diego community. She is involved with the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra (MMYO) leadership council, as an advisor, gala committee and chaired the 2018 MMYO Gala. At Parker, she has been a member of the Philanthropy Committee of the Board of Trustees for the past four years, and co-chaired the 2019 Middle School Day of Giving. Jing and her husband, Jim Freeman, have twin children Mercy and York, Class of 2024. They joined Parker in 2013.
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Carin Canale-Theakston is CEO of Canale Communications Inc., where she also serves as the chief culture officer, principal strategist and resident sommelier. Carin is involved at some level with every client, providing communications insights to life science executives and contributing to strategic planning. She founded CanaleComm in 2010 after her tenure as president of the life sciences division of international public relations firm Porter Novelli. A sought-after speaker and moderator, Carin serves as vice-chair of the board of directors for San Diego-based Biocom, the largest regional life science association in the world, and co-chairs the Biocom Capital Development Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. She also is a director of CONNECT/San Diego Venture Group, where her efforts help bring additional investor capital to San Diego’s early-stage life science companies. Under her leadership, CanaleComm received a Best Places to Work award from the San Diego Business Journal three consecutive years in a row and the agency was named to Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately-owned businesses in the U.S. in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, Carin won the prestigious E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award and previously was named “Woman of the Year” by California Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins. At Parker, she has served for many years on the Communications Committee of the Board of Trustees. Carin and her wife, Hillary, have two daughters at Parker, Piper, Class of 2028, and Ella, Class of 2031.
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Ana is a financial services executive and board director with experience at start-ups, private companies and Fortune 100 firms. Presently, she is a Senior Relationship Manager and Alternatives Lead at Allianz Global Investors. Prior to Allianz, Ana was the President of JHL Capital Group, an alternative investment management firm, and worked at Smith Barney (now Citigroup), Goldman Sachs, Amba Research and Coghill Capital Management in investment banking, investment research, business development and executive leadership roles. Ana has worked and lived across the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. She is a member of the Advisory Board at Backstop Solutions Group, a cloud-based productivity suite for investment management firms, and served as a Board Director at MP Materials, North America’s only rare earth producer. She serves in the Parker Center for Investment Research Advisory Board at Cornell University and is Vice Chair of the President’s Council of Cornell Women. Ana received a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia Graduate School of Business. She is also a graduate of the Women on Boards executive education program at Harvard Business School. At Parker, Ana has served on the Philanthropy Committee. Ana and her husband Tom, who serves in Parker’s Finance and chairs its Investment Committee, have twin children Max and Audrey, Class of 2021.
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Randall Clark is Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer for Sempra North American Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based Fortune 500 energy services holding company. In this position, he is responsible for leading a variety of shared business services, including human resources, business transformation, communications, external affairs, human resources, information technology and supply management. Mr. Clark has served in various leadership and legal capacities at the Sempra Energy family of companies over the last 20 years. Most recently, he was Sempra Energy's Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer and prior to that, Sempra Energy's Deputy General Counsel and Chief Human Resources Officer. Before joining Sempra Energy, he practiced transactional law with Morrison & Foerster in Los Angeles and Cooley in San Diego. He graduated with honors from Duke University Law School with an emphasis in international and comparative law and summa cum laude from Pepperdine University with an accounting degree. At Parker, Randall is a member of the Audit Committee and the Board Governance Committee. He also serves on numerous other non-profit boards and currently is Board Chair at the La Jolla Playhouse. Randall and his husband, Michael, have twins, Annika and Evan, Class of 2023.
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Estela holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a second major in international studies from Yale University. At Parker, Estela serves as chair of the Board’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee. Estela also currently serves on the board of the California Environmental Voters Education Fund and the Coalition for Clean Air. Estela and her husband, Lars, have three children: Maia, Class of 2021; James, Class of 2023; and Nora, Class of 2026.
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Kristie Diamond has served on the Parker Board of Trustees for three years. She served on the Board’s Philanthropy Committee as an ex-officio member prior to becoming a Trustee and has subsequently served on the Development Review Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Executive Committee since joining the Board in 2017. She has also served the Board as Vice Chair and Chair of the Board Governance Committee and the Secretary of the Board since 2019. In 2013, Kristie began her four years of service on the Parents Association’s (PA) Executive Board on which she also served as an ex-officio member/Chair of the Nominating Committee for two years following her 2016-17 tenure as PA President. Kristie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the University of San Diego and earned her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. Before leaving the traditional workforce, she worked as an assistant legislative correspondent and speechwriter in the office of a United States Senator in Washington DC. Upon returning to San Diego she worked in the three strikes and serious crimes units of the San Diego County Office of the Public Defender and for the State of New Mexico Public Defenders Death Penalty Appellate Division. She has since volunteered legal services to FOCAS (Friends of County Animal Shelters) and Casa Cornelia and was a guest lecturer in Animal Law at California Western School of Law. Kristie is active in the community and has served on the boards of the Point Loma and Ocean Beach Recreation Councils. Kristie and her husband, Earll Pott, an attorney with Klinedinst, PC, have four Parker children: Henry, Class of 2018; Joseph, Class of 2021; Charlotte, Class of 2023; and Penelope, Class of 2026.
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Graeme Gabriel is the Chairman of the Board of ColRich, a residential real estate development and investment company based in San Diego. Graeme joined ColRich in 2001 after relocating to San Diego from Washington, D.C. where he worked in the field of Commercial Real Estate for Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette Company and Ge Capital Real Estate. From 2004 to 2016, Graeme served as Co-President and Chief Operating Officer helping to establish the multifamily platform, growing it into a leading West Coast investment ownership group. Graeme is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in International Relations. He is currently President of Congregation Beth El and a Board Member of the Jewish Community Foundation, as well as a past Board Member of the Building Industry Association of San Diego. Graeme and his wife, Dr. Simone Kanter have three children, Naomi, Class of 2024, Julia, Class of 2025 and Aidan, Class of 2028. Graeme currently serves as a member of the Campaign Steering Committee at Parker and was a volunteer coach on the Parker Squash Team.
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Marvin Gunn is VP, SFR Underwriter at Arbor Realty Trust, a nationwide real estate investment trust and direct lender, providing loan origination and servicing for multifamily, seniors housing, healthcare, and other diverse commercial real estate assets. More specifically, Marvin underwrites single-family residential build-to-rent construction loans. With over 20 years of commercial real estate experience, Marvin has held similar roles at CalPrivate Bank (formerly San Diego Private Bank), Axos Bank (formerly BOFI Federal Bank), GE Capital Real Estate, and RLJ Lodging Trust (formerly RLJ Development), moving from the Washington, DC metro area, to Miami, FL, to Denver, CO before landing in San Diego, CA. Marvin graduated from The George Washington University with an M.B.A. and from Penn State University with a B.S. in Finance.
For the past three years, Marvin has been Co-Chair of the Parent’s Association Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Committee and has served on the Diversity Committee. Marvin and his wife, Nicole Baham-Gunn, have three children at Parker: Matthew, Class of 2028; Tristan, Class of 2030; and Nathan, Class of 2033.
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Erik Keskinen was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska but has called San Diego home for twenty-seven years. He attended the University of Arizona, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in History. He worked as a financial analyst for SAIC Corporation before becoming a small business owner, owning and operating a home furnishings store for eleven years. Eventually, he recognized his true passion and turned his focus to volunteering and being a stay-at-home dad.
During his fifteen years in the Francis Parker School community, Erik has volunteered extensively and consistently both in and outside the classroom. Since 2012, he has served four years on the Parents Association’s (PA) Executive Board, which included his tenure as Lower School VP and PA President. Additionally, he has chaired two record-setting School galas and co-chaired three record-setting Parker’s Day of Giving. These combined efforts have raised more than $3 million for financial assistance and professional development. Erik also enjoyed a one-year term serving on the Parker Board of Trustees Philanthropy Committee. In his final year as a current Parker parent, Erik will serve as a PA Executive Board ex-officio member/Chair of the PA Nominating Committee.
For six years, Erik was an active -and founding member of Teen Volunteers in Action’s (TVIA) SD4 Chapter. A proud member of San Diego’s LGBTQ community, Erik has been an active participant in the “America’s Finest City Softball League” for twenty-one years. He and his husband, Bob Keskinen, have a son, Parker, Class of 2020, and daughter, Presley, Class of 2022.
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Ted Kim is a partner and Director of Investments at Brandes Investment Partners LP, a global investment advisory firm based in San Diego. He is one of the team leaders responsible for the firm’s research efforts in the Investments Group. He is also a member of the Global Large Cap Investment Committee at Brandes. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in system design and management. Ted also received an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is currently a volunteer member of the Parker’s Finance Committee and Development Review Committee. Ted and his wife, Kathie, have three children at Parker: Jenna, Class of 2022, Samantha, Class of 2024, and Nicholas, Class of 2026.
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Samir Singh '96 is an attorney and Principal at Triton Bridge, PC, a San Diego-based technology licensing law firm and Founder and President of MakeYou, Inc., a mobile health software company. He was previously Innovation Officer for ProQuest, LLC a leading global library information services company. Samir received a Bachelor of Arts from Claremont McKenna College, cum laude, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law. Samir currently sits on the Board of Directors of Accel Robotics Corporation and serves on the Francis Parker Alumni Relations Committee. He and his wife, Priya, have three children: Akash, Class of 2026; Arya, Class of 2028; and Aditi, Class of 2032. Samir, himself, is a Parker “lifer."
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Meghan Spieker received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and her law degree with honors from Georgetown University. She chairs the board of Free to Thrive, which provides direct legal services to survivors of human trafficking. Previously, she co-chaired the San Diego Lawyers Club Human Trafficking Task Force, an organization committed to combating domestic trafficking, particularly of minors. Meghan represented public companies and business leaders for over 15 years in private practice as a litigator at the law firms of Cooley LLP and Shearman & Sterling. She also serves on the boards of the California Wildlife Officers Foundation and Teen Volunteers In Action SD3. At Parker, Meghan chairs the Philanthropy Committee and previously served on the Communications Committee. Meghan and her husband Warren have four sons: Wes, Quinn, Liam and Rogan.
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Voltaire Sterling is an attorney whose practice focuses on complex antitrust litigation and class actions. A gifted storyteller, aside from his work as an attorney, Voltaire has worked professionally as an actor, writer, political strategist, PR consultant and non-profit executive. In film, he worked at Overbrook Entertainment for Jada Pinkett Smith’s Creative & Producing Partner and then was cast by Denzel Washington to play a role in The Great Debaters. Voltaire formerly served as the Chairman of the Board of actor/author/activist Hill Harper’s Manifest Your Destiny Foundation and as the Strategic Advisor to the President of a nationally renowned San Diego-based non-profit for underserved youth called Reality Changers. Voltaire honed his penchant for connecting with people growing up on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended Chicago Public Schools. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Morehouse College and was the first black Head Class Marshal and Commencement Speaker at Harvard Law School. Voltaire penned a screenplay entitled Eagles (a love story tied to the 2008 presidential campaign).
He is a proud Parker Dad and enjoys writing, acting, public speaking, mentoring youth, and spending time with his wife, Meagan, and children Jude—a Parker student—and Felicity-Rose.