Board of Trustees
Parents are welcome to attend meetings of the Spruce Street School Board of Trustees. The Board is responsible for the strategic, financial, and legal well-being of the school. The Board includes current parents, alumni parents, staff, and community members. Board members are elected for three-year terms.
Download our Strategic Plan and Annual Report.
Aaron Spinks
Aaron is an alumnus of Spruce Street School and, with his wife Christine, is a parent to three current Spruce Street students. He has worked in technology in the Seattle area since 2006 and is currently the Head of Infrastructure for Stripe. Outside of work, Aaron enjoys running, cycling, and watching entirely too much children's soccer.
Barbara Frailey
Barbara and her husband Danny Kaufman have two Spruce Street School alum daughters, one in high school, one in college. Barbara has been an educator for over 25 years in both public and independent schools, and is currently Head of School at Explorer West Middle School in West Seattle. She is an avid reader, knitter, hiker, and (very slow) runner.
Chris Navas
Chris and his wife, Andrea McKinney, are the proud parents of Tristan, a Spruce Street School OL student. Chris has worked for various local Seattle biotech companies for over 20 years and has contributed to the discovery of several new approved medicines. Currently he spends time in cancer research, developing new technologies to lower manufacturing costs of CAR-T therapies. Chris loves spending time with his family surfing on the coast, snowboarding in the mountains, or relaxing at Lake Chelan.
Donna Cochener
Donna is mom to Spruce Street School alums Liam and Ewan. She has been practicing as a corporate lawyer in Seattle since 1999 and is currently General Counsel, SVP Legal at Neurogene, Inc., a New York-based biotech focused on gene therapy for rare neurological diseases. She is also Chairman of the Board of Cochener Garvey Capital Partners. Donna also serves as chair of the Seattle Repertory Theatre Board of Trustees. She is an avid swimmer, loves to hike, and also enjoys plays, concerts, traveling, and reading.
Erin Becker
Erin and her husband Jon are the parents of two Spruce Street School alum boys, Tristan and Colin. Erin has recently retired after a 26-year career as a prosecutor, where her work focused on violent crime. She now spends her time enjoying her family, volunteering, traveling, exploring the great outdoors, and finding new adventures.
Jessica Ross
Chair
Joshua Curtis
Joshua is the father of a ML student at Spruce Street School. He has a Masters in Urban Planning and has worked in various roles as a champion of civic spaces. Currently, he serves as the Executive Director of the Washington State Ballpark Public Facilities District. Born and raised in Hawaii, Joshua moved to Seattle in 2001 after serving in the Peace Corps Dominican Republic and is an avid cook, DIYer, and podcast enthusiast.
Marney Zellers
Treasurer
Marney is the parent of two, including one Spruce Street School alum. Marney studied Economics and is the Chief Financial Officer at Chihuly Studio. She is currently serving as a member of the Finance Committee at The Bush School. Marney rows with the Nationally Competitive Women’s Team at Lake Union Crew and enjoys many hobbies, including running, reading, water coloring, gardening, museums, and theater.
Meaghan Darling
Secretary
Meaghan is a parent to two alumni students after nine lovely years as a Spruce Street School parent. She most recently worked as an Associate Production Manager at ACT Theatre and is happy to be back for another year of serving on the Board of Trustees.
Paul Bruene
Paul is an alumnus of Spruce Street School, having attended 3rd to 5th grade here from 1998–2001. He is now a litigator for a multinational law firm where he primarily works on intellectual property and other complex commercial disputes, and he represents companies in various technology industries. Paul was born and raised in Seattle, and in his spare time he likes reading, old movies, and watching basketball and soccer.
Sam McIntosh
Ex Officio Family Association Representative
Sam and his wife Tania are parents to two children; the oldest is in the mid-level at Spruce Street School, while the youngest is a Spruce Street School student-in-waiting. Sam has extensive experience in program management/DevOps at growth SaaS companies focused on financial services, dynamic pricing, and accounting compliance. Currently he cares for his two children and owns a business focused on designing AI-powered parenting aids. He has been a singer his entire life, and periodically performs in chorales in Seattle.
Sharron is the parent of two Spruce Street School alums. One daughter is a 2013 grad of Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, and earned an MFA in Lighting Design from UW. The other is a 2015 grad of The Northwest School and a 2019 grad of Bennington College. Both attended Billings Middle School where her husband Stephen is a past board president. Sharron has worked in higher education for 35 years and is recently retired from her longtime role as the Director of Admission at Cornish College of the Arts.
Takao Yamada
Vice Chair
Takao and his wife have 3 children and are the parents of two YL students and an ML student at Spruce Street School. Takao is a Seattle-based attorney and entrepreneur currently focused on his own independent consulting firm. Takao has had his own start-up as well as co-founding the social justice organizations AirportLawyer.org and WIDEN. Prior to his work in tech, Takao has also spent time working in the hospitality industry, government affairs, and has clerked for Justice Mary Yu at King County Superior Court. Takao loves travel, reading, and the beach. Ideally all at once.
Tim Ford
Tim and his husband are parents to an oldest level child. Tim began his career as an urban planner, and for the last decade has played a much different role—President and CEO of LRG, a full-service public relations firm based in Washington, DC and Seattle that provides communication support to government and nonprofit organizations. A semi-recent transplant to Seattle, Tim also serves as the President of the Seattle Public Theater Board of Directors and in his spare time enjoys working on their Green Lake home and planning interesting travel adventures for the family.