- VELVETH SCHMITZ — CHAIR OF THE BOARD
- Glen Payne — VICE CHAIR
- Matthew C Wilson — Treasurer
- Saskia Subramanian — Secretary
- CHRISTINE BUCKLIN
- TY CHILDRESS
- Jennifer Chou
- ARMAND DAWKINS
- JARED FELT
- PAM FREER
- John O. Fukunaga
VELVETH SCHMITZ — CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Velveth Schmitz is Chair of the Roessler-Chadwick Foundation Board of Trustees. She and her husband Charles are the proud parents of two daughters, a sixth-grader who attends Chadwick, and a ninth-grader. Schmitz is an innovative entrepreneur and a Rolling Hills Estates City Councilwoman. Her versatile experience as a creative business owner, fundraiser and C-suite manager has been inspired by a deep desire to find answers to difficult questions. She also has been an active volunteer with the City of Rolling Hills Estates and with her alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Schmitz can be reached at pv-rcf-board-chair@chadwickschool.org
Glen Payne — VICE CHAIR
Glen Payne and his wife, Caroline, are the proud parents of a Chadwick eighth-grader and fourth-grader. As a senior high-yield debt trader at Capital Group Companies, Payne is responsible for overseeing the trading, portfolio construction and risk management for $35 billion in dedicated and discretionary investments. Payne has served with the environmental nonprofit Tree People and on Chadwick’s Development Committee and Golf Committee. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Economics and Asian Studies from Trinity University.
Matthew C Wilson — Treasurer
Matthew Wilson and his wife Sharla are the parents of a Chadwick first-grader, fourth-grader and seventh-grader. Wilson is a Managing Director of Oaktree Capital Management and serves as Co-Head and Co-Portfolio Manager of Oaktree's Special Situations Group, where he is responsible for management of the strategy and all of its investing activities. Wilson has more than 20 years of experience in private equity and investment management, including senior roles at H.I.G. Capital, LLC, where he was a founding member of Bayside Capital, Inc., at J.H. Whitney & Co. in its middle market leveraged buyout group, and in the Investment Banking division of Merrill Lynch & Co.
He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Agro Merchants Group, LLC and Boardriders, Inc., and as Lead Independent Director on the board of GlamSquad, Inc. He previously served on the boards of three publicly traded companies: AdvancePierre Foods (NYSE: APFH), Billabong International Ltd. (ASX: BBG), and Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND), in addition to serving on the boards of over a dozen private companies. Wilson is the previous Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles and currently serves on its Board of Directors where he leads the Finance and Investment Committee.
Wilson earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees with Distinction in Economics and History from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Saskia Subramanian — Secretary
Saskia Subramanian and her husband Marc Linden are the proud parents of a Chadwick alumnus and an eighth-grader. Subramanian earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her AB and MA degrees from Bryn Mawr College, where she is currently a trustee and the President of the College’s Alumnae Association. She has been a research Sociologist in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA since 1996 and served as a lecturer in the UCLA Gender Studies Department for over a decade. The body of her work has been on women and children with chronic medical conditions, and her findings on the post-treatment symptoms of breast-cancer survivors — sponsored largely through grants from the Susan G. Komen Foundation — have been featured in academic journals, a NYU Press book, and her widely screened documentary film. She has served Chadwick previously in many roles, including as the President of the Chadwick Parents Association, head of the Friends of the Library, and the Director of Ways and Means for the CPA.
CHRISTINE BUCKLIN
Christine Bucklin has a long track record of driving institutional performance as a board member, executive and consultant. She currently works part time with Gryphon Investors, a private equity firm. She previously held C-level positions with Sun Microsystems and Internet Brands and was a partner with McKinsey & Co.
She is married to Randy Bucklin, a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. They are the parents of three children, including a current Chadwick eleventh-grader and a Chadwick alumna.
Christine holds an MBA from Stanford and an AB in mathematics from Dartmouth. She served on the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and currently sits on the Board of Advisors for the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth.
TY CHILDRESS
Ty Childress and his wife, Kristin, are the proud parents of a Chadwick eleventh-grader and a Chadwick alumna (Chadwick ‘17 and Georgetown ‘21). Childress is a partner at Jones Day, an international law firm with more than 2,500 lawyers and 40 offices worldwide. As chair of the firm’s insurance recovery practice, he advises corporations facing high profile, significant liability exposures and has recovered billions in litigation against insurers relating to those losses. Childress earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia.
Jennifer Chou
Jennifer Chou is a proud 1996 Chadwick School alumna. Following her years at Chadwick, Chou graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 2000, a master’s degree in English in 2001 and a J.D. in 2005. Since 2008, she has served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, prosecuting violent crime. After clerking for the Honorable Barry G. Silverman on the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, she worked in Washington D.C. as a litigator with Latham & Watkins and as an attorney on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
Chou teaches trial advocacy at USC Gould School of Law and is a member of the Stanford Alumni Association’s Board of Directors in addition to the Board of Trustees for Chadwick School. Prior to attending law school, Chou taught seventh- and 11th-grade English at Chadwick. She also founded the Chadwick Improvisors, aka “ChImps,” which has been going strong for more than 15 years and counting. Jennifer lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Joe Webb, and their daughter.
ARMAND DAWKINS
Armand Dawkins ('96) and his wife, Dr. Manju Dawkins, are the proud parents of a Chadwick third-grader and a three-year-old daughter. Dawkins is the CEO of Palatum Group, a strategic advisory firm for food and beverage businesses, food-related social enterprises and urban agricultural projects. He is also the co-founder and COO of Achelon, an early stage health and wellness company based in Los Angeles. Dawkins has formerly held several executive roles at J.P. Morgan’s investment banking and asset management divisions. Dawkins attended Chadwick from kindergarten through 12th grade. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics-Philosophy from Columbia and his Master of Business Administration degree from Cornell.
JARED FELT
Jared Felt and his wife Lisa Toy M.D. are the proud parents of a Chadwick eleventh-grader. His 20 years of investment banking experience includes serving as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and working at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Houlihan Lokey. He served as a member of the board of Reichhold Acquisitions Holdings and as the Strategic Planner and Head of International Business for Taiko Refractories in Japan. Felt is currently the President of Taiko USA. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in economics, Summa Cum Laude, from Weber State University.
PAM FREER
Pam Freer and her husband Randy are the parents of twin daughters who are twelfth-graders at Chadwick. Freer is the founder of Swiftwater Consultants, a Rolling Hills Estates marketing consulting firm. After graduating from Dartmouth College with an AB in Government and Policy Studies, Freer began her career in advertising as an account manager, working on major global accounts like General Mills, Kellogg’s, Maybelline, Gillette and Motorola Cellular Products before being tapped to run the International Ad Sales Marketing Team for Time Warner/Turner (TWT). She eventually traded corporate life to privately consult in education, luxury, athletic apparel and television program development. During her time at Chadwick School, Freer served as a board member and president of the Friends of the Library, as well as a long-time member of the Chadwick Parents Association Board. She also assisted with the launch of the Delphinus Fund for Financial Aid.
John O. Fukunaga
John Fukunaga and his wife Cheryl Shojinaga are the proud parents of a Chadwick senior and Chadwick alumna Jennifer ('13). After working for several years as a corporate associate at a major law firm in Los Angeles, Fukunaga has spent nearly the last 25 years at Sony Pictures Entertainment, where he has served both as an attorney and international television executive. He currently serves as Deputy General Counsel and head of the Corporate Legal Department, overseeing worldwide legal matters for M&A and joint venture transactions, network operations and distribution in all media. Fukunaga earned his law degree from UCLA, where he also earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Business.
- Patrice Harmon
- TED HILL
- RUTH MACFARLANE
- NICK RICHARDSON
- Jason Ro
- Derek Roth
- RENITA SMITH
- WAYNE SONG
- BRIAN SWEENEY
- CHARLES E. TOUPS
- Eden Warner
Patrice Harmon
Patrice Harmon is a Dutch native, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Hospitality Management from the Netherlands. She was part of the pre-opening team for Disneyland Paris and worked there for five years in various operational management positions in the resort division. Harmon later moved from Paris to Munich to pursue a career in hospitality technology with Micros Inc. This saw her traveling around the world, working with international hotel chains in Madrid and London among other key markets. Micros Inc. facilitated her move to California in 1999, and she has been a Manhattan Beach resident since.
Together with her husband, Mike, Harmon is a current Chadwick parent to a twelfth-, tenth- and sixth-grader. During her 10 years at Chadwick, she has served as a room parent, an FOL board member, a Heart of the Village board member, a CPA board member and a Global Opportunities coordinator, among other parent leadership roles.
TED HILL
Frederick T. "Ted" Hill is currently President of the Roessler-Chadwick Foundation Group, which operates both Chadwick School in Palos Verdes and Chadwick International School in Songdo, South Korea. Previously, he served for 18 years as headmaster at Chadwick School. Hill oversaw the founding and growth of Chadwick International School (CI) in South Korea. Established in 2010, CI educates 1,200 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students and boasts a 500,000-square-foot campus covering 17 acres. Hill led this expansion of Chadwick into East Asia and was instrumental in fulfilling founder Margaret Chadwick's vision to bring the successful Chadwick education model to another country.
Hill has more than 30 years of educational and administration experience in K-12 and higher education at esteemed institutions such as Williston-Northampton School, Graham-Eckes Palm Beach Academy, St. Margaret’s School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Louisville Collegiate School. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Hill holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University, a master’s degree in French language and literature from Middlebury College, and a bachelor’s degree in French and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hill and his wife, marine biology teacher and lacrosse coach Amy Hill, are the parents of two Chadwick School alumnae Katharine '11 and Emma '15.
RUTH MACFARLANE
Ruth MacFarlane has been a longtime member of the Chadwick Board of Trustees. MacFarlane and her husband, Roger, established the MacFarlane Leadership Scholarship Fund at Chadwick School in 2007, which provides tuition assistance during the ninth- through twelfth-grade years to new students who demonstrate high academic achievement, exemplary character, leadership skills and financial need. MacFarlane taught English at the University of the Witwatersrand and Damelin College in Johannesburg, South Africa. She earned her bachelor’s and honors degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa and continued her graduate studies at the University of Kansas. The MacFarlanes are the parents of four Chadwick alumni: Taryn ’94, Alex ’95, Katherine ’05, and Jessica ’07.
NICK RICHARDSON
Nick Richardson is the president and chief executive officer of Solartis, LLC, a software and outsourcing company in the U.S. and India. Richardson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of London and an MBA from Harvard University. Richardson and his wife, Pamela, are the parents of Chadwick alumnae Katherine ’13, Emily '15 and Rebecca ’15.
Jason Ro
Jason Ro and his wife, Sarah (Chadwick ‘95), are the proud parents of a Chadwick sixth-grader and fourth-grader, and a five-year-old. Ro is a co-founding principal of RO ROCKETT DESIGN, a design-driven architectural firm with studios in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ro helps to lead all aspects of the firm’s involvements for projects across the country, in locations including New York, Aspen, Lake Tahoe and throughout California.
Ro earned a Bachelor of Arts in Design of the Environment and a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business. He also earned a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 2010.
Derek Roth
Derek Roth and his wife, Monique, are the proud parents of Chadwick a ninth-grader and sixth-grader. Roth is a partner at Paul Hastings LLP in the real estate department, where he represents public and private companies, private equity funds, pension funds and real estate investment trusts in all aspects of office, retail, hotel and resort property acquisition, disposition, financing, investment and development. Previously, he was the Director of Business and Legal Affairs at Frontera Corporation. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from The University of Texas. He enjoys basketball, hiking, golf and travel.
RENITA SMITH
Renita and her husband Garfield are proud parents of Caroline (Chadwick '17 and Dartmouth '21) and Caleb (Dartmouth '19) who also attended Chadwick from 2002-2013. Smith founded and manages a strategic marketing consultancy that specializes in healthcare and life science technology. She formerly marketed consumer brands at General Mills and financed leverage buyouts at Citicorp in New York. Smith earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and her Master of Business Administration from Stanford University. She serves as a Trustee of the Miller Foundation (supporter of organizations serving the Long Beach community, including the Long Beach Memorial Miller Children's Hospital) and SCS Noonan Scholars, a nonprofit organization enabling high-achieving underrepresented students to excel in college and career. She is also a former vice president of the Los Angeles Urban League.
WAYNE SONG
Wayne Song and his wife Grace are the parents of a Chadwick senior and sophomore. As a partner in the Corporate and Business Group at international law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Song is the co-leader of the firm’s Energy Initiative and practices law with a focus on project finance, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy sector. Prior to practicing law, Song served in multiple leadership and staff positions as an officer in the U.S. Army. He earned his juris doctor from USC Law School, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
BRIAN SWEENEY
Brian Sweeney and his wife Eva are the proud parents of a sixth-, seventh-, and ninth-grader at Chadwick. In addition to leading a private real estate development and investment company, Sweeney has purchased thousands of acres of local California coastal land, including the La Purisima Conservation Bank in Santa Barbara County. He graduated from Western University, Canada, with an Honors Business Administration Degree. Sweeney and his wife founded and constructed ESMoA, a nonprofit art laboratory in El Segundo whose free-to-the-public mission is to spark creativity through the exhibition of visual arts. Sweeney is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wende Museum, chair of the Getty Research Institute Council and is a member of the J. Paul Getty Museum Paintings Council and the J. Paul Getty Museum Disegno Group (Friends of Drawings). He also participated in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics in yachting and placed ninth in the Tornado Class.
CHARLES E. TOUPS
Charles Toups and his wife Leanna are the parents of Chadwick alumni Connor (‘18), Jason ('10) and Ryan ('10). Toups is an innovative engineering executive and results-driven leader with more than 30 years of high-level aerospace engineering and management experience at Boeing. Toups has extensive experience turning around troubled businesses, implementing major change initiatives, developing high-performance teams, and managing complex product development programs in both governmental and global commercial markets. As Boeing’s Vice President and General Manager of Research and Technology, he's currently leading a corporate-wide organization of 4,000 scientists and engineers developing the most advanced technology for the company. Toups received his Master of Business Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow, his Master of Science degree with a focus in engineering from M.I.T. and his Bachelor of Science degree with a focus in engineering from the University of California at Irvine.
Eden Warner
Eden Warner and his wife, Candy, are the proud parents of a Chadwick 10th-grader and fifth-grader. Warner is an independent consultant with a solid mix of Fortune 100, international and entrepreneurial leadership experience spanning operating, financial and revenue-generating areas of responsibility. Previously, Warner has served as the Chief Operating Officer and Founder of Payoff.com, a privately-held internet venture combining psychology and financial management to help people live happier lives. He has served as the founding Chief Financial Officer at Fandango, the online movie ticketer. His Fortune 100 experience includes financial and operational leadership at Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and R&D and special project engineering at Northrop Grumman. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA in Finance from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.
Warner has extensive volunteer experience at Chadwick School, where his roles have included auxiliary chair, room parent, Friends of the Library treasurer, Admissions ambassador, and STEM and Global Opportunities committee member.