Board of Trustees
The Pine School's Board of Trustees is uniquely positioned to assure that students have access to opportunities that will challenge and inspire them and that parents have the opportunity to participate fully in their children's academic growth and development. Trustees serve as volunteers without compensation, except for the satisfaction of knowing they have played a critical role in the achievements of our students and the school as a whole.
The Board of Trustees has set an aggressive agenda for its members: to recruit and retain a superb faculty and administration; to encourage a curriculum that meets the 21st century needs of our students; to maintain excellence as the hallmark of the school; and to assure the financial stability of the school into the future.
THE PINE SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Russell Katz, Chair
Kimberly Crook, Vice Chair
Nadine Macon, Secretary
Cris Branden, Treasurer
Board Members
Scott Berry, Tony Julian, Ellen Koo, Teresa Krastel, AJ Longmaid, Don Mader, Tom McNicholas, Grant Mortell, Michael Rhys, Chris Saia, Bill Sarcia, Tami Skelly, Amy Swan, John Tranter
Ex-Officio Members
Binney Caffrey, Head of School
Head of School Emerita
Phyllis Parker
Trustees Emeriti
Casey Cummings, Alita Reed, Dale Hudson, S. Robert Rimer, Stuart Tenney, Debbie Textor, Lynda Carroll Whitfield
Trustees Emeritus in Memoriam
Michael Baum
BOARD BIOS
Scott Berry
P'24, P'30
Joined Board 2020
Scott did his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Scott is the Executive Director of the Hobe Sound Community Chest. Scott also served as the Executive Director of the Martin County Healthy Start Coalition and, prior to that, Director of Planning and Evaluation for the Children’s Services Council of Martin County. Scott and his wife, Janice, have lived in Martin County since 2005. They have two children and live in Sewall’s Point.
Cris Branden
P'27
Joined Board 2012
Cris is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Huizenga Holdings, Inc., the personal investment and management vehicle for H. Wayne Huizenga, and has been with the firm since 1996. Cris previously practiced public accounting for 14 years with Arthur Andersen from 1982 to 1984 and with Machen, Powers & Disque, certified public accountants, from 1984 to 1996. He chairs both the South Florida Advisory Board of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the investment committee of the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County. Cris is a Certified Public Accountant and received his BA from Auburn University in 1982. Cris and his wife, Amy, reside in Stuart with their son.
Kimberly Crook
P'22, P'25, P'29, P'29
Joined Board 2019
Kimberly Crook was born in Vero Beach, Florida and raised in Fort Pierce. She attended St. Anastasia School and graduated from John Carroll High School. She went on to attend The University of Florida where she earned a Bachelor Of Science Degree in Education and a Masters in Special Education. After graduating, she worked in both Charleston, South Carolina and Miami, Florida teaching special education in elementary schools. Kimberly later went on to start Waterbugs Swim School, teaching ages birth to 6+ years of age to swim. Kimberly has four children - all of who attend The Pine School - and enjoys fitness, spending time with her family, and watching her children on the sports’ fields.
Tony Julian
P'26, P'28
Joined Board 2022
Tony is currently a Vice President at RGF Environmental Group, an innovative technology manufacturer based in Riviera Beach. Along with a degree in Information Technology, Tony has worked for over 15 years in the environmental fields of water and air treatment. Tony served in the Royal Australian Navy onboard H.M.A.S Melbourne, and continues to enjoy boating with his wife Devon and daughters Ivy and Maren.
Russell Katz
P'22, P'27, P'27, P'30
Joined Board 2019
Russell is General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer for DSM Capital Partners LLC. Before moving to Florida, Russell served as an elected official on the Board of Education of the Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut for two terms. He and his wife Marie have four children and live in Palm Beach Gardens.
Teresa Krastel
P'24, P'25
Joined Board in 2019
Teresa is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Jupiter, Florida for nine years. She holds a BA in Linguistics from Northwestern University, and an MA and PhD in Hispanic Literatures and Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Teresa has spent her entire career in education, most of it as a Spanish teacher and professor of Spanish and Hispanic Linguistics. She is currently the Spanish Solution Lead at NWEA, a not-for-profit educational assessment company based in Portland, Oregon. Her husband Matthias is from Germany, and they have two daughters. They also have a little dog named Louie. The Krastel family spends as much time as they can in Germany and Spain, and love to travel! Teresa’s hobbies include cooking, photography, languages, and tennis.
Ellen Koo
P'31
Joined Board 2022
Ellen Koo, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Miami, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Ellen is a Corneal specialist, with a research and clinical focus on corneal transplantation, eyebanking, as well as cataract and complex anterior segment surgeries. Ellen received her undergraduate degree at the Johns Hopkins University and her Medical Doctorate degree at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. She completed her medical internship and Ophthalmology Residency at Brown University, where she served as Chief Resident. Following residency, Ellen completed her Fellowship training in Cornea, Refractive Surgery and Anterior Segment Surgery at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Ellen moved to Florida with her husband and their son, upon her faculty appointment at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in 2014. Their son has been a student at the Pine school since Kindergarten. Ellen is involved with the teaching and training of Residents and Fellows at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and is deeply committed to the educational mission of the Pine school.
AJ Longmaid
P'31, P'34
Joined Board 2022
AJ Longmaid was born in Southwest Harbor Maine and attended Roger Williams University where he graduated with a business degree. This took him to Boston as a financial advisor. Always having a passion for sea, AJ then became a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain (U.S. Merchant Marine Officer). He then took an opportunity as a Captain on private yachts cruising from Maine to the Bahamas, including the Panama Canal and the great lakes. This fed his love for the water and cruising yachts. Eventually, the marine industry caused his relocation from the Northeast to Florida. AJ was integral to the design and opening of Burr Yacht Sales South and became Director of Operations where he oversees all sales and service. AJ and his family still spend summers on the coast of Maine where he is a Commodore of the Winter Harbor Yacht Club. AJ and his wife, Jaime have two children enrolled at The Pine School; Ava, class of 2031 and Holden, class of 2034. AJ’s interests include snow skiing, sailing, flying (private pilot) and travel.
Nadine Macon
P'30
Joined Board in 2019
Since graduating cum laude from Florida State University College of Law, Nadine C. Macon established the law firm Macon Law, P.A. and has concentrated her practice in the areas of commercial real estate and business transactions. She has extensive experience in a wide variety of complex legal transactions and serves as General Counsel for Index Investment Group. Nadine is an experienced trial attorney who has represented clients in commercial litigation matters pending before State and Federal Courts, as well as the American Arbitration Association. She has worked with a number of corporate clients ranging from middle market to Fortune 500 companies, as well as individual clients. Nadine lives in Palm City with her husband, Matt, and daughter.
Don Mader
P'19, P'22
Joined Board in 2012
Don’s first business venture included fine-art silk screening, and from there he formed Blue Water Graphics, a pre-press house that serviced both screen and lithographic printers. Don became President of Southeastern Printing in 2001. Under his leadership, the company has expanded their commercial printing facility headquartered in Miami, FL. Don has been a Vistage (TEC) member since 2004, the President of The Wild Dolphin Project, a founding board member of the Dolphin Ecology Project, and is a board member of the Martin County Chamber of Commerce. Originally from Buffalo, NY, he is a graduate of Bishop Timon High School and Hilbert College. He has two daughters and enjoys boating, reading, business, skiing and mountain climbing.
Tom McNicholas
P'30, P'32, P'33
Joined Board 2022
Tom McNicholas is the President of McNicholas & Associates, a Public Affairs and Public Relations Company he founded in 1999. Tom has assisted a wide variety of clients in gaining crucial community and governmental support for their projects-from city hall to the state house. Prior to starting the company, he has 15 years of television newsroom experience working as a producer and reporter in Ohio, West Palm Beach and Miami. Tom attended Morehead State University where he studied broadcast communications and political science. Tom and his wife, Kristina have two daughters and one son at The Pine School.
Grant Mortell
Pine School Graduate, Class of 2012
Joined Board 2022
Grant Mortell is a Pine School "lifer", attending from EL - 12th grade (2012 graduate). Grant and his family have been members of The Pine School community since 1997 - he has two younger brothers (TPS '14 / '17) and five cousins who attended The Pine School. All were members of the Blue team. While at PINE, Grant was a captain of the Varsity Soccer, Golf and Lacrosse teams and president of the student body. Grant graduated from Dartmouth College in 2016 with a B.A. in economics. Grant currently lives in New York City and works in corporate equity derivatives at Citigroup.
Michael Rhys
Pine School Graduate, Class of 2012
Joined the Board in 2019
Michael Rhys is a proud Upper & Middle School Alumnus of The Pine School, graduating in 2012. At PINE, Michael was active on the Varsity Cross-Country and Soccer teams, student government, and more. He was also a member of the Gold team. Michael then attended Dartmouth College, where he majored in economics, graduating with high honors. After graduation, he moved to New York City and worked in management consulting and private equity. He went on to earn a Master's degree with Distinction in economics from the University of Cambridge. He now leads growth strategy at a biotech startup, and lives in Brooklyn.
Chris Saia
P'20, P'26
Joined the Board in 2018
Chris graduated from University of Pennsylvania with two degrees; one from the Wharton Business School (Accounting and Finance) and the other as a Chemical Engineer. He worked at a small CPA firm (Fenzel & Co.) in Morristown, NJ for a number of years. He was subsequently hired by a client of Fenzel called Far West Federal Bank (Portland) to turn around a resort that they had lent money to in the Poconos called Tamiment Resort before entering the Law School at the University of Miami. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and was on the Law Review. After Law School, Chris worked for Bilizen Sumberg in Miami and then later began private practice. He generally retired from the practice of law in 2014. Chris resides in Jupiter with his wife and three children. He enjoys running, racketball, swimming, traveling, and listening to music from the 1970s and 1980s and is fluent in Spanish.
Tami Skelly
P'13, P'14, P'23
Joined the Board in 2020
Tami Skelly has been a part of The Pine School family for over 13 years. She has volunteered in myriad capacities, such as being one of the early members of the Booster Club. Her involvement led her to chair events such as the Golf Tournament, Athletic Banquet and Evening of Academic Excellence. For the past two years, Tami has chaired PINE’s Evening of Celebration, Bollywood Knights and The Golden Knights 50th Anniversary celebration. Tami has also been involved with the Parent's Association serving as Vice President, chairing the Picture Day Committee for several years, and participating as an Ambassador on the Parent Admission Committee. Professionally, Tami was a small business owner of a store called Simply Stated for 6 years and is currently a designer of homes and developer for Old Cypress Pointe in Tequesta, Florida. Tami is the mother of three children and fell in love with the South Florida area over 20 years ago and is still currently a Jupiter, Florida resident.
Amy Swan
P'26, P'28, P'31
Joined Board 2022
Amy Swan received her BFA with high honors in Dance Performance and Choreography from The University of Illinois @Urbana-Champaign. She went on to perform professionally with Malashock Dance and Company based in San Diego, CA and Transitions Dance Company based in London, England. While dancing in London, Amy also earned her MFA in Dance from Trinity Laban. She has taught dance to toddlers, children, teens, pre-professionals and professionals. From 2003-2007, Amy taught modern dance, dance composition and improvisation at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and served as Dean of Dance from 2006-2007. After leaving academia to focus on raising her three children all of whom attend The Pine School, she served on the Board of Directors for Ballet Palm Beach from 2016-2020. In addition to managing her home with husband Rob Swan, Amy has a keen interest in health and wellness through fitness, whole foods nutrition, and homeopathic medicine.
John E. Tranter
Joined Board in 2020
John holds a BSBA in banking and finance from the University of Florida, and he is a graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, the Graduate School of Commercial Lending at the University of Oklahoma, and the National School of Real Estate Finance at Ohio State University. John Tranter has over 40 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry and has served as a passionate advocate for the industry through his role as Chairman of the Florida Bankers Association, one of the largest state banking associations in the country. His leadership roles with the Florida Bankers Association included serving on the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, Government Relations Committee, and eventually Chairman-Elect (2013) and Chairman (2014-15). Additionally, John served on the Board and as Chairman of BancServ, the FBA for-profit corporation (2010-2014). John also served on the Board, Executive Committee and eventually its Chairman (2011-2013); Independent Bankers Bank of Florida: (2005-2014). John has three grown children.