Board Members 2023 - 2024
Board Chair
Stacy Ito
Stacy Ito
Stacy is passionate about Waldorf education and the unique opportunities it offers to children and their families. For the past twenty years, Stacy has been working with children in various teaching capacities, including teaching special education classes for students with severe needs, directing a before and after school program for a local school district, and for the past 8 years she’s been in her “happy place” teaching Waldorf preschool. Stacy has also been a teacher and Student Support Services Director for LifeWays North America, an organization that offers a year-long training in Waldorf education and care for birth through 5 year olds. Currently she is working at Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm as the lead teacher for the Seedlings Preschool program, while concurrently enrolled in the Bay Area Waldorf Teacher Training program. As a parent at Live Oak for the past 9 years, she is an advocate for a free, public Waldorf education and is dedicated to helping the school stay connected to its roots, while supporting the needs of families in our community.
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Treasurer
Robert Bunce
Robert’s work in social justice began nearly 30 years ago and brings a wealth of K-12 knowledge and relationships to his role as treasurer for the Live Oak Board of Directors. Driven to serve from an early age, Robert put his graduate studies in education to work as Director of Education for Women Escaping a Violent Environment Inc. in Sacramento, Operations Director for Oasis Children's Services in New York City, after spending nearly a decade as a classroom teacher and coach. Robert currently serves as the Executive Director of the West Contra Costa Public Education Fund. Robert’s entrepreneurial spirit has also earned him a seat on the board of directors for DistrictOS, a K-12 data observability platform, and BizR KidZ Entertainment, a kids animation company.
Over his career, Robert has worked to develop and implement the organizational strategic plan and drive large impact initiatives. Some of the highlights from this work included the creation of the West County College Access Network, and West Contra Costa Out of School Time Collaborative. These initiatives dramatically increased student access to free public aid for college and quality after school and summer programs. More recently, Robert helped transition the Ed Fund to its current role as the strategic fund development intermediary for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. Through these efforts, Robert was able to help the Ed Fund respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting both a district COVID-19 Relief Fund and a city Relief Fund for Richmond - collectively raising over $3M for families in need. As the strategic fund development partner for West Contra Costa Unified School District, Robert has been instrumental, raising over $4M in 4 years for students and schools. Robert and his wife Noa have three children at Live Oak. Robert loves to share his love of cooking, via the NYT Cooking App, and deep love of the outdoors with his family. |
Secretary
Samantha Sheppard
Samantha Sheppard
Samantha grew up in Marin County, and studied psychology at University of California, Los Angeles. She returned to the Bay Area to be close to friends and family, and worked in various industries in administration and coordination roles, including education development, technology and online community management. She then co-founded a construction company with her husband, guiding the company through many years of growth, business decisions and handling the company’s accounting and client services needs.
Samantha’s interest in psychology and brain development was re-ignited in her search for a preschool for her children. For two years, she held positions on the Board of Directors as Secretary and Fundraising Co-Chair at her children’s co-operative preschool. She has two sons, a 9th grader attending Technology High, and a 6th grader attending Live Oak. She is passionate about community, process and organization, and her hobbies include reading, baking and fitness. |
Strategic Plan & Facilities
Kristin Walter
Kristin Walter
Kristin grew up in a small town 30 minutes north east of Philadelphia where EVERYBODY knows your name. While she loved the sense of belonging she encountered in her childhood, she was eager for the big wide world and landed at The University of Texas for her undergraduate studies. Like most humans, Kristin’s college years were defined by wanting to have fun, activism and a deep desire to understand/combat systems of oppression. That led her to starting a non-profit called FeelGood with her friends, the mission of which was/is “to end extreme poverty, one grilled cheese at a time… through the empowerment of women and communities”. In addition to Live Oak, Kristin serves on the boards of the Pachamama Alliance and Crew For All and is eager to finish up her masters in public administration from Presidio Graduate School. After marrying her kindergarten classmate, Joseph Herr, the two moved to San Francisco and eventually landed in Petaluma. Both Joe and Kristin can’t believe they get to drop their 3 older kids off at Live Oak 175 days a year to be nurtured and loved by such a rock star community.
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Facilities, IT & Finance
Justin Lipp
Justin Lipp
Dr. Justin Lipp is a Ph.D. graduate of UC Santa Barbara in Communication, a 15 year Bay Area transplant, and originally from the Midwest (by way of Southern California). He is a lifelong baseball fan having adopted the LA Dodgers but never really taken to the Giants (sorry). His academic interests include how new communication technologies are reshaping traditional modes of social interaction, including in education, having published a number of papers and conference presentations on the topic. He is passionate about student success and using empirical approaches to identify what works in education to help drive the best outcomes for students. He has taught at multiple universities including North Dakota State, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Berkeley, where he held a joint appointment in the Office of Educational Technology and Center for Teaching and Learning. Since 2016, Dr. Lipp has served as the Director of the Sonoma State University (SSU) Center for Teaching & Educational Technology, where he oversees faculty development in teaching and learning (e.g., inclusive pedagogy, universal design for learning, and trauma-informed teaching). He is also responsible for educational technology oversight and governance, including online teaching and learning, brick-and-mortar classroom technology and design, and serves as SSU's Executive Sponsor for the CSU Accessible Technology Initiative to ensure universal access for all in the university community.
The Lipp family relocated from the East Bay to Petaluma 3 years ago during the pandemic and is loving life. Dr. Lipp is the father of two young girls (ages 7 and 2), and the family is new to the Live Oak this year, but has been an active in the community coaching his daughter's PYSL soccer team and serving previously as the Vice President of the McKinley Elementary PTA in 2022-23. He sought to join the board at LOCS to assist with facilities/space planning and resource management. |
School Policy & Human Resource
Kristina Tank-Crestetto
Kristina Tank-Crestetto
Kristina’s passion coupled with her commitment to Social Justice as an educational leader brings a depth of knowledge to the LOC’s Board of Directors. Kristina has spent over twenty-five years leading educational systems, deeply engaged in work that transforms experiences, outcomes and life choices for students and their families. Krisitna began her career as an elementary school teacher at Novato Charter School and knows very well the pedagogy, innovative practices and systems of support that help to realize a Waldorf charter school vision and to keep them thriving and sustained. After transitioning out of the classroom Kristina held administrative roles in diverse urban districts and smaller suburban settings as an Instructional Coach, School Improvement Facilitator, and Curriculum, Instruction and Leadership Administrator. She is often recruited to build structures, initiate teams or develop new departments that are identified as high need in struggling districts. As an example, she was the founding manager of School Improvement Services and Transformational Leadership Coach teams that lead to significant positive student outcomes over multiple years. More recently, Kristina was the founding Director of the Social Emotional Learning and Leadership department in Oakland Unified School District. She led the department and unified the district towards the SEL priority of the strategic plan, systemic implementation and professional learning throughout the organization. Kristina's other work as an advocate lives in the broader community context and focuses on increasing family belonging, building relationships with diverse communities, and ensuring systems of communication work for the people the organization serves. These themes are held in her role as an active member of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco’s Family Advisory Council and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. She was a former advisory board member for the Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child at San Jose State University.
Kristina and her husband Ron have two children. A high school aged son and a daughter that loves LOC! They love spending time as a family exploring the outdoors, whether that is finding a new hiking trail or camping near a rushing river! |
Outreach & School Policy
Jessica Umphress
Jessica Umphress
Dr. Umphress has had an extensive and diverse career in education and human development. Prior to earning a PhD from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, she worked on evaluating, designing, and developing museum exhibitions at world famous institutions including the Field Museum in Chicago. She also ran an internship and apprenticeship program at the prestigious Steppenwolf Theater Company. All of those experiences led her to an academic career asking questions at the intersection of human development and learning/education. Since leaving academia she has co-founded and led a wilderness scouting group for kids, run a school gardening program, and been deeply moved by the beauty and potential of Waldorf-inspired pedagogy. She is the parent of an LOCS alumna and a current LOCS student, and is also an active member of the UC Sonoma County Master Gardeners.
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