Joan Swift, Chair

Joan and her husband, Tom, have two sons at Community School, Ben (2014) and Nick (2017). They moved full time to the Valley in 2005, having owned a home here since 1990. Joan spent several years working in commercial real estate development with Hines Interests and, previously, in investment banking with Merrill Lynch. Her non‐profit experience includes trustee and board chair positions with both the Bay Area Discovery Museum (Sausalito, Ca) and the Environmental Working Group (Washington, DC). She is currently involved locally as trustee and treasurer of both the Wood River Land Trust and the Building Materials Thrift Store. Joan earned a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Stanford University.

Pat Aluisi

Pat Aluisi moved to the Wood River Valley from Florida in 2002. Pat was general counsel and then a director of the global construction company, Bovis, LTD, based in London. She was a founding director of Qorval, a business turn around company in Naples, FL. Pat has served on a number of Boards including the Naples Children and Education Foundation, The Boys and Girls' Club of Collier County and A Company of Fools in Hailey.

Peggy Baker
Peggy and her husband John moved to Ketchum in 1997. Their three children were born in Ketchum and attend Community School: Blair (`16), Hayden (`18) and Wilson (`22). After college at UCSD, she worked in San Francisco in advertising before becoming involved in special events for non-profits.  Locally she has been active with St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center serving on both the auxiliary and foundation boards as well as the Sun Valley Figure Skating Club Board.  Over the past seven years Peggy has been involved with Community School as a room parent and has co-chaired the Annual Fund achieving the goal of 100% participation for two years.

Barbara W. Boswell, Emeritus

Barbara has lived in the Wood River Valley since 1986. She moved from Southern California where she received her masters from California State University, Northridge and her doctorate from the University of Southern California. She has a love of and commitment to education and has taught at all levels from the third grade through college. She also served on the board of the Paso Robles Joint Union High School District from 1981-1985 and was its chair for a period of time. She has been a member of Community School's board since 1993 and served as Chair of Campaign 2000. Barbara also has been on the board of Claremont McKenna College for the past 16 years.

Jack Bunce
Jack was a part time resident of Ketchum from 1995 to 2002 and has been a full time resident since 2002. Jack is the founder of the investment firm Greyhawk Capital Management and serves as a Senior Advisor to Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco private equity firm where he worked as a Managing Director from 1988 to 2006. He serves on numerous corporate boards including NIC, Arch Capital Group, BirdDog Solutions, Active Business Network, Serra Energy Holdings, and IMSI Design. He earned an AB degree in International Relations from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Jack and his wife Elizabeth have three children who have graduated from the Community School: Austin Nalen (`10), Wyatt Bunce (`10) and Devon Bunce (`06) and a fourth Josie a member of the Class of 2012.

Charles Conn
Charles is Senior Advisor to the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and a private investor.  At the Moore Foundation, he focuses on conservation projects, including the Foundation’s wild salmon ecosystems initiative and the Palmyra Atoll research station.  As an investor he works with energy and green tech companies. Charles is active in the Ketchum community, and currently also serves on the boards of Idaho’s Bounty, Leroy’s Ice Cream and Trout Unlimited. He is a member of the Energy Solutions Team of the CDC and of the Ketchum City Council. He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Previously, Charles was an entrepreneur and business consultant. He co-founded Citysearch and as CEO led the company through its mergers with Interactive Corporation’s Ticketmaster, as well as its public offering and acquisitions of Microsoft Sidewalk, Match.com, Evite, and other companies. Prior to starting TMCS, Charles was a partner with McKinsey & Company, and a leader of its Growth Strategy Practice. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and Boston University. He is married to Beverley Robertson; his daughter Hannah is a member of the School’s Class 2016, and his son Alex graduated from the School in 2009.

Michael Engl, Emeritus
Michael has been an active contributor to the arts and education for many years. He has been actively involved with the Sun Valley Center for the Arts as a member of the Advisory Board, and Michael has served Community School in many capacities over the years. He was Chairman of Board of Trustees of The Mountain School, and was instrumental in the effort to merge the two schools in 1988. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our School for six years. He is currently on the Board of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe and is the Chair of its Research Center Committee. He is also Vice President of The Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe and a member of the Director's Council of The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Michael was Dean and Chairman of the Visual Communications Division at New School University in New York and has spent many years managing and directing family trusts. Michael received his B.A. from Williams College and did his graduate studies at Yale University and Columbia University.  His daughter Riley graduated from Community School in 1992.

Leigh Everitt
Leigh is the mother of George (Class of 2015), Henry (Class of 2016), James (Class of 2018), and William (Class of 2020). She and her husband, Jamie, moved to Ketchum in 1992 from Marin County, California. She has been an active volunteer with The Wood River Community YMCA, and has been a Community School room parent for many years. She received a BA from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. in 1988.

Ellen Gillespie
Ellen Gillespie and her husband James are the parents of two Community School students, Lily (2014) and Thomas (2016). She is the co‐owner of Sun Valley Events, organizing some of the largest events in the Wood River Valley, including Wagon Days and the Wellness Festival. Prior to moving to Sun Valley from New York in 2003, Ellen worked for Time Warner in Washington DC and London. She is a graduate of Duke University.

Randi Kanellitsas

Randi moved to the Wood River Valley with her family in 2000. Prior to that, after graduating college with a BS Degree in Nursing, she worked as a registered nurse followed by a career in the medical equipment industry.  Randi has been active in the Parent’s Association, serving as room parent, VP of the Lower School, VP of the Middle School and as a Co-President.  Randi and her husband John have two children at the School, Tim (Class of 2012), Ben (Class of 2013).

Bob Massa
Robert J. Massa serves as Vice President for Communications at Lafayette College, his son’s alma mater.  Assuming that position in July, 2009, he is responsible for electronic and print publications, college-wide marketing and public relations. From July, 1999 through June, 2009, Bob served as Vice President for Enrollment and College Relations at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.  For 10 years prior to joining Dickinson, he was the Dean of Enrollment at Johns Hopkins University.  Beginning in 1974 he held various positions in admissions, financial aid and student affairs at Colgate University and Union College. Bob received his bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester and a doctorate in higher education from Columbia University. He has published widely in books and journals in the field of college admissions and enrollment management and is active as an instructor and journal editor in national organizations for admissions and financial aid professionals.  He has also written and spoken extensively on the use of academic scholarships in student recruitment and on the abuse of national rankings of colleges and universities. When he left the field of college admissions in June, 2009, the Chronicle of Higher Education did a major article on his contributions to the profession after 35 years. 

Rob McGowan
Rob and his family have been residing in the Valley on a full time basis for the past four years, previously living in Los Angeles. Rob and his wife Katherine have two children at Community School, Chloe who will begin her second year this fall in the first grade and Peter who will enter his second year in the newly developed ECC. In 2004, after selling a business founded in 1993, Rob started Architectural Resources a business that specializes in interior architecture and design. Rob also sits on the board of Directors of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts.

Jim Milgard
Jim and his family moved to the Wood River Valley in 2005 from Seattle. Jim and his wife Jennifer have two daughters attending Community School, Madison (Class of 2015) and Molly (Class of 2018). In 2003 Jim started a small private investment company focusing on acquisition, private equity and venture capitol named The Great Day Group, which is now based in Ketchum. Jim sits on the board of directors for two additional non-profit groups, The Sun Club and The Great Day Foundation.

John Perenchio
John and his wife Stephanie moved full time to Ketchum in 2004 from Santa Monica, California.  They have four daughters: Robin (24), Lauren (23), Gabi (Class of 2012) and Lena (Class of 2014).  John is chairman of Fearless Records, LLC, a boutique record and music publishing company.  He is also a private investor and lawyer.  John has over 18 years of experience as a director of public companies and he is currently a director of Deckers Outdoors Inc. and chair of its governance committee.  John has been on the board of Heal the Bay, a Southern California environmental non-profit, since 1989. John has previously served on other non-profit boards, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, where his responsibilities included chairing its Hollywood Bowl committee. John is a graduate of Brown University (AB Political Science 1977) and the University of San Diego School of Law (JD 1981).

Jake Peters
Jake is a transportation entrepreneur and former investment banker. Jake's current transportation-related endeavor is Swoop Technology.  He is also involved with an edutainment site, PicLits.com, and Leroy's Ice Cream (whose profits benefit Wood River Valley children). Prior to moving to Ketchum in 2001 with his wife Trina and daughter Katie (Class of 2018), Jake was a managing director at Credit Suisse based in Boston, New York and London.

Kirk Riedinger

Kirk is the co-founder of Alta Colleges, Inc., a nationwide network of career colleges.  Kirk currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and previously also served as Executive Chairman of Alta Colleges.  During his tenure as Executive Chairman he was responsible for developing and overseeing the company's operations.  He has served as a member of the Governor's Commission on Science and Technology (Colorado), a member of the Board Nominating Committee of the Career College Association and a Board member of the Career College Association.  Kirk was a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Region Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 and is a member of the Mile High United Way Tocqueville Society.  He has coached youth soccer for many years and was active in Boy Scouts in Denver, Colorado. Kirk earned his BA in International Relations from Stanford University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.  Kirk and his wife Kathy have three children at Community School; Patrick (Class of 2015), Paige (Class of 2013) and Gray (Class of 2012).

Elizabeth Schwerdtle
Elizabeth Schwerdtle moved to the Wood River Valley with her family (husband, Bob Corker, and children Bobby and Caroline) in 2002, having visited the valley many times after her sister moved here to be a teacher for Community School in 1990.  Elizabeth worked for many years as a futures and money market trader in New York City, the last eight years of which she was a Vice President at Societe Generale Bank.  She currently trades futures part-time.  Elizabeth has been an education activist, both at the state and local level.  Elizabeth earned a BA in economics and government from Georgetown University, and a MA from Columbia School of Journalism.

Peter Smith
Peter was born and raised in Southern California. After graduating from Santa Clara University with a degree in business administration, he joined a family business. Pete and his wife Becky moved to the Wood River Valley in the mid 1980s. His daughter Alison graduated from the Community School in '89. He has served on the boards of the Idaho Nature Conservancy, the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Becky has served on the Board of the Community School, as well as the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Pete has four sons, the youngest of whom was in college when they moved to Sun Valley.

Don Wiseman
Don Wiseman has lived in the Wood River Valley for over 25 years. He earned his B.S. in Accounting from Montana State University. Don was an owner and operator of the Sun Summit Ski and Bike Shop before becoming the Director of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Don's two children graduated from the School, Katie Matteson (Class of 2002) and Mike Matteson (Class of 2007).