Board & Advisors

Board of Directors

Yu Ming Charter School is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization governed by a board of directors. Our current board is composed of founding family members who bring deep expertise and a broad set of skills from their education, non-profit management, healthcare and business backgrounds.

Click the names below to read bios of our board, or learn more about our charter and governance.

 

Advisory Board

The Yu Ming Advisory Board – consisting of experts in dual language education, charter school development, teacher and curriculum development, finance, legal, facilities, business and international relations – provides guidance and input to the Principal, Board of Directors, and staff on the latest research, best practices in the field and the strategic direction of the school. The Advisory Board has no formal governance role, but provides a sounding board and wealth of expertise for the successful development of Yu Ming Charter School.

Current advisory board members include:

  • Sue Campbell, English teacher, École Bilingue
  • Maria Chedid, Attorney at Arnold & Porter
  • Vincent Chao, Principal and Founder of first Chinese program in San Francisco, served in San Francisco Unified School District for 30 years (retired)
  • Elise Darwish, Chief Academic Officer, Aspire Public Schools
  • Nick Driver, Vice President, Northern California California Charter Schools Association
  • Twig Gallemore, architect and web designer
  • Julia Kassissieh, educational consultant and former director, North Oakland Community Charter School
  • David Pearson, PhD, former Dean of School of Education, University of California at Berkeley
  • Don Shalvey, Deputy Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Co-founder and Board Co-chair, Aspire Public Schools
  • Jenna Stauffer, Director of Strategic Development, Lighthouse Community Charter School
  • Minh Tsai, Founder, Hodo Soy Beanery
  • Jiun Chou Young, Chinese Department Chair, Chinese American International School
  • Greta Wu, Principal, Greta Wu Consulting, providing accounting, financial, and strategic consulting services to corporations and non-profits
  • Gary Zehrbach, PhD, Author, “Two-Way Immersion Charter School”

 

Founders

The initial founding group of five families includes professionals in healthcare, business and education (preK-16), who came together with a common vision for an academically rigorous public Mandarin immersion program in the East Bay.  Some have international experience from growing up, living, studying and working in other countries.  Half are bilingual in English and Mandarin themselves.  All are passionately committed to creating a lasting institution that will serve families in the East Bay with a high-quality, college-preparatory, dual language public education.