Mission, Vision, Board of Trustees
The VMS Board of Trustees actively supports and promotes our mission, vision, strategic goals, and policy positions. The Board sets policy and focuses on long-range and strategic issues while refraining from becoming involved directly in specific management, personnel, or curricular issues.
Board of Trustees Bios
- Liza Alrick
- David Bentley, Secretary
- David Campbell
- Charlene Chen
- Pepper Etters
- Amy Gish
- Mandy Jaffe, Vice Chairperson
- Susanne Johnson
- Sally Johnston
- Anne-Marie Keane, Treasurer
- Nicole Magistro
- Melissa Provencher
- Beth Richey
- Chris Rozzell
- Karen Spall
- Kristin Tang, Chairperson
Liza Alrick
Liza Alrick moved to Vail in 1997 from New York. She holds an AB in History from Harvard University, which served her well as a loan officer for nonprofits renovating aging facilities in New York City, then as Executive Director for the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, NY. She has been with J. Krueger and Company, a general contractor in the valley, for 21 years. In 2017, Liza opened Maker+Stitch, a yarn shop in Edwards, with another VMS parent. She has served on the boards and as treasurer of The Vail Valley Charitable Fund, Unity of the Mountains, and Mountain Montessori School. She has also served on the VMS Gala and Audit Committees. She has one child at VMS.
David Bentley, Secretary
David Bentley is a retired international captain for American Airlines. He has a degree in Advertising and Journalism from the University of Florida and is a member of the Mensa Society. He is a former U.S. Air Force pilot and veteran of the Vietnam War. He has lived in the Vail Valley since 1978 and is a past president of the Cordillera Property Owners Association and current president of the Cordillera Metro District. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Yankee Pacific, an aviation investment and business development company. David's son attends VMS.
David Campbell
David Campbell moved to Vail in 1993 and has had an extensive real estate career at Slifer, Smith & Frampton, encompassing trophy ranch and land sales throughout Colorado, receiverships, and residential development. He is presently a listing broker at The Lion, launching a new 65-residence condominium development in Lionshead. He serves on the Board of Directors at Holy Cross Energy and has previously served two terms on the Town of Vail Design Review Board. A graduate of both the University of Colorado and ArtCenter College of Design, he lives in East Vail with his wife and two children, one of whom currently attends VMS.
Charlene Chen
Pepper Etters
Pepper grew up in the Vail Valley and, along with his two siblings, attended VMS from Kindergarten through Senior Year ('98). He studied Cultural Anthropology and International Eco-tourism at Colorado State University before returning to the Valley where he met his wife, Jody, while they were working locally as whitewater raft guides. In addition to many years as a guide around the world, Pepper also ran a freelance photography company before attending PA school at The George Washington University. After several years in Minnesota working for the Mayo Clinic health system, Pepper returned to the Valley and currently works as a Physician Assistant with Vail Health and Colorado Mountain Medical. Pepper and Jody have two children at VMS, Bodhi '29 and Kayla '26. Pepper has been active on the VMS Strategic Planning Committee and Alumni Committees and looks forward to extending his service to the school as a member of the Board.
Amy Gish
Amy Gish has been a part of the VMS community since 1991 as both a member of the Lower School faculty and a substitute teacher. She holds a B.A. in Communications and a Masters in Elementary Education from University of Oregon. Amy has volunteered her time with Rocky Mountain CASA, The Literacy Project, and the Hope Center of Eagle River Valley. Amy has four daughters, two of whom are currently at VMS, and two are VMS alumnae.
Mandy Jaffe, Vice Chairperson
Mandy Jaffe is a graduate of Brown University and holds a B.A. in Biology that she put to use as a researcher for the Women and Infants’ Hospital in Providence, RI, and for the Pfizer Clinical Trial Development in Connecticut and New York City. Mandy met her husband, Tom, on a chairlift while vacationing in Vail and the two of them moved here in 2009 from New York City. Since then, Mandy has immersed herself in nonprofit fundraising and development, chairing the children’s annual preschool fundraiser from 2010 to 2012 and moving on to chair the VMS Gala in 2016 and 2017. She has two children at Vail Mountain School.
Susanne Johnson
Susanne Johnson and her husband Ted operate Vail Valley Waste and Edwards Excavating; family businesses serving the Vail Valley. She currently serves on the VMS Committee on Trustees, is a Co-Chair of the Advancement Committee, and a Co-Chair of VMS Parent Partners. Like so many others, Susanne came to the Vail Valley for “just one season” shortly after earning a degree in Marketing from Michigan State University. She enjoyed her work as Admissions Director for Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder, has served as the Marketing Director for the Vail Recreation District, and played a key role in the development of Chatfield Corners in Gypsum. Susanne and her husband are the proud parents of three VMS students.
Sally Johnston
Sally Johnston has deep roots in education. She has been involved with VMS since moving here in 1976 and prior to that held a diverse range of positions from kindergarten teacher to university professor. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree from the Crane School of Music, she went on to do graduate work at Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard. She served as the head of the Education Department of the Judge Baker Children’s Center (an arm of the Harvard Medical School) and taught in the Department of Child Psychiatry at University of Oklahoma. She is on the board of Third Way in Denver and is a mentor at the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Denver, which was founded by her son, former Colorado State Senator Michael Johnston. Sally is the owner and operator of the Christiania Lodge in Vail and has two sons, John and Michael, who both graduated from VMS.
Anne-Marie Keane, Treasurer
Anne-Marie Keande moved to Vail from Massachusetts where she held a number of executive positions at Staples including Vice President of Global Communications. Among many other things, she helped the company launch its first Ecommerce Website in 1998. An expert in marketing and strategy, she serves as a trustee of the Vail Valley Foundation in addition to being the Chair of the Board at VMS. Born and raised in Southern California, she studied geography at Dartmouth and was a competitive sailor. After completing her MBA at Harvard, she founded Harvard Business School’s Network of Women Alumnae and led the fund raising efforts of her Dartmouth Class to build Habitat for Humanity homes in New Hampshire. She lives in Vail and has two children at VMS and two who are alumni.
Nicole Magistro
Nicole Magistro is a reader, writer, mentor, journalist, consultant and community leader. She is the mother of Silas (Class of 2030) and lives in Wolcott with her husband, Zach Locke. Nicole moved to Vail in 2002 and owned The Bookworm of Edwards for 15 years, during which time she was the recipient of the ABA's Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, WNBA's Pannell Award and James Patterson indie bookseller grant. Magistro judged the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and has served various nonprofits including the American Booksellers' Association, The Literacy Project, and The Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers' Association. Her current role is publisher of Read Island, an upbeat brand of children's books and gifts.
Melissa Provencher
Melissa Provencher and her family moved to the Vail Valley in 2016 from Boston. She is a graduate of Cornell University and University of San Diego School of Law. Prior to moving to Vail, Melissa practiced complex business litigation in California for more than a decade. Melissa and her husband Matt have four children at Vail Mountain School. She chaired the VMS Gala in 2018 and 2019 and is on the board of the Vail Valley Lacrosse Club
Beth Richey
Beth Richey, a native Houstonian, moved to the Vail Valley in 2012. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center. She served as an Assistant District Attorney at the Harris County DA’s Office for several years and then worked for three different Houston firms specializing in toxic tort litigation. Beth and her husband John have four sons, the youngest of whom graduated from VMS in 2019. She is currently the Chairman of the Red Sky Metro District Board, and a member of the Advisory Council for the University of Texas Library System.
Chris Rozzell
Chris Rozzell is the Managing Partner of Cresta Energy Capital, a private equity company located in Dallas, TX. He majored in finance at Southern Methodist University and serves on the Board of Directors for multiple portfolio companies of Cresta’s funds. Chris has three sons, two of which are currently at VMS.
Karen Spall
Karen moved from upstate New York to the Vail Valley in the fall of 1998 to teach skiing for "just-one-winter," but she fell in love with the mountains and never left. Karen is a graduate of Bucknell University where she earned a BA in Mathematics. As a member of the VMS community since 2001, she has served in many roles over the years including Middle/Upper School math teacher, soccer coach, mentor, tutor, volunteer, and substitute teacher. She is currently serving as a Co-Coordinator for the VMS Homebase Parent Program for grades K-12 and is also a member of the Alumni Committee. Karen and her husband Greg Ciluzzi live in Edwards and have two boys attending VMS, Hudson '30 and Tyler '28.
Kristin Tang, Chairperson
Kristin Tang is the owner/director of Gore Range Montessori Preschool and a former kindergarten teacher at VMS. Born and raised in New York City, she majored in Asian Studies at Skidmore College and Special Education at NYU, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Vail Valley Foundation. She lives in East Vail and has two children at VMS and two alumni attending college.