Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

The role of the Board of Trustees (hereafter referred to as the Board) is to adopt a clear statement of the school’s mission, vision, and strategic goals and to establish policies and plans consistent with this statement. The Board is the guardian of the school’s mission. It is the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the mission is relevant and vital to the Richmond Montessori School community and to monitor the success of the school in fulfilling its mission. The Board selects, supports, nurtures and evaluates, the head of school. As leader of the school community, the Board engages proactively with the head of school in cultivating and maintaining good relations with school constituents as well as the broader community and exhibits best practices relevant to equity and justice.

2022 – 2023 Board of Trustees

Officers
  • Chair: Peter Henderer
  • Vice-Chair: Thoko Lipato
  • Secretary: Kari-Lou Frank
  • Treasurer: P2 Sandhu
  • Head of School: Gráinne Murray
Board Members 
Contact the board at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peter L. Henderer, Chair

Peter L. Henderer is a native in Wilmington, Delaware. He was educated Wilmington Friends School, Bowdoin College, and The George Washington University Law School. Peter moved to Richmond in 1998 to marry his wife, Armistead Edmunds Henderer, whom he met at Bowdoin. Peter joined the law firm of McCandlish Holton, PC in 1998 and has been practicing law in Richmond for over 20 years. Peter and Armistead have two children, of whom William attended and graduated from RMS in 2022. Peter and Armistead value RMS for providing students with a positive environment for intellectual and personal growth.

Thokozeni Lipato, Vice Chair

Thokozeni Lipato is a physician at VCU Medical Center. He is a primary care provider who also specializes in sickle cell disease and addiction medicine. In addition to his clinical practice Dr. Lipato conducts clinical trials with new sickle cell drugs. He has devoted the balk of his medical career caring for patients who are generally underserved; first with Boston Healthcare for the Homeless in Boston, MA and then with a community healthcare center in Minneapolis, MN with a large immigrant patient population. In Boston he helped start two clinics that were the first of their kind in the area: one was for the treatment of opioid addiction in the homeless population, and the other was to deliver transgender healthcare to homeless transgendered individuals. Thokozeni was born and partly raised in Malawi, Africa. He and his wife have two children at RMS.

Kari-Lou Frank, Secretary

Kari Lou is a partner and head of the Workers’ Compensation practice group at PennStuart, and has been practicing law in Richmond for 19 years.  In addition to her work in the courtroom, she regularly advises clients on workplace safety and building cultures that prevent injuries and support recovery when they occur.  She enjoys being involved in the Richmond Montessori School community, and served for several years on the executive board of the RMPA.  Kari Lou loves spending time with her family and exploring all that Richmond has to offer.

P2 Sandhu, Treasurer

P2 Sandhu is President at The Sandhu Group LLC, a management company based in Richmond, VA.  TSG oversees a portfolio of businesses along with real estate investments and development.  P2 was educated at the Governor’s School (predecessor to Maggie Walker) followed by Virginia Commonwealth University.  He was previously a member of KFC’s Operations Excellence Committee and served as Board Chair of SFAFT, where the board oversaw local marketing initiatives for 120+ restaurants.  P2 and his wife, Henna, have two children attending RMS and have been members of this community since 2016.  This is P2’s 4th year serving on the RMS Board of Trustees and 3rd year as Treasurer.

Ryan Browning, Physical Facilities & Campus Infrastructure Committee

Ryan is the owner of a Richmond based engineering and drafting firm, Seaboard Services of Virginia. He and his wife Amanda, who he met when he lived in Utah, have been RMS parents since their son Chase joined the school as a P3. He previously served as Treasurer for the Richmond Montessori Parents Association for 2 years. For Ryan, any week that ends with he and Chase on the back 9 of a golf course is a good week.

Martha Callaghan, Chair: Advancement Committee

Martha Callaghan is Vice President for Advancement at the University of Richmond. She has 20 years of fundraising and management experience, mainly in higher education.  She began her career working in both program development and fundraising for museums in Virginia, Connecticut, and Kentucky. Martha is a native of Williamsburg, Virginia, and an alumna of Yale, where she is an active volunteer. Martha and her husband Brian joined the RMS community in 2017 when their son Ben was in Ms. Felicia's toddler class, and love the school, teachers, and community. 

Kelly del Campo Merricks, Committee on Trustees

Kelly del Campo Merricks is Vice President of Philanthropy with Sheltering Arms Foundation where she oversees the development efforts for Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Centers and for the future Sheltering Arms Rehab Institute: a Joint Venture with VCU Health System.  She has twenty years of experience in nonprofit management, development and public relations.  Kelly holds a BS in Biology from Washington and Lee University and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University.  She and her husband Jason joined the RMS family in 2012 when their daughter, Mary, was a P2.  Mary is now a graduate of RMS. In addition to the RMS Board, Kelly is a board member of the Virginia Gift Planning Council.    

Christen Courville, Committee on Trustees

Christen has been an RMS parent since 2013 and a member of the Board since 2017. With a background in public sector consulting at the intersection of technology and learning, she brings expertise in the areas of human capital development, marketing, partner and client relationships, and project management. Christen and her husband, Ryan, value the education RMS provided their children. She is committed to supporting current and future RMS students with thoughtful leadership that reflects a commitment to a strong academic focus, extracurricular growth, and a dynamic, collaborative RMS community.

Andrew Flint, Physical Facilities & Campus Infrastructure Committee

Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Andrew Flint has spent the last 20 years building and developing in Richmond, Virginia. He attended George Mason University followed by Rockingham Community College in North Carolina studying furniture design and period furniture reproduction. All three of his children attend Richmond Montessori School. He started Method Woodworking and Design 17 years ago, a custom design and fabrication shop developing work nationally. Combining several interests in design, real estate development and construction, he started Hive Salon Studios 5 years ago. Spare time is enjoyed with his wife Mosca and children, Amalia, Zoe and Sawyer.

Sonny Gupta, Chair: Head Support & Evaluation

Sonny is the co-owner of an Information Technology Consulting and Recruitment firm, Daybreak IT Solutions. They formed Daybreak in 2009 and have been fortunate to be recognized as one of the fastest growing firms in Richmond by RVA BizSense (twice) and have also been recognized by the INC5000 for growth (three times).  Sonny obtained his Bachelors Degree from Virginia Tech in 1997 in Business Management with a minor in Psychology and has been a part of the Richmond Technology community since graduating. He serves on the RVATech Board of Trustees to help attract and retain technology initiatives in our region. Sonny and his wife Harshna joined RMS in 2009 when their son, Avi, was in Miss Felicia’s Toddler class; he has since graduated from RMS and is now a 10th grader at St. Christopher’s.  Their daughter Aria also started at RMS as a toddler and is now in the Upper Elementary program.  

Bill Lane, Finance Committee

Bill Lane and his wife Kristi are parents of two former RMS students, Karen and Matthew.  He has previously served RMS as a Board Member, Treasurer, FC Member, and Head Search. He has a B.S.B.A University of Richmond, MBA Virginia Commonwealth University and an Associate in Applied Science in Wholesale Distribution. 

Ian Menear, Finance Committee

Ian Menear is an American-Canadian dual citizen from Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ian and his wife Karolyn (Kari) Graham share a passion for travel and culture having spent years living abroad in Japan, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.  The Menear family eventually moved to Richmond, VA in January 2018 with their two children, Kaia (13) and Kaden (9) both RMS students. Ian has held various Supply Chain leadership roles over the past 20 years, currently acting as COO for Richmond based Century Distribution Systems Inc., a leading global logistics and technology company. Ian and Kari (a certified Montessori and Orton-Gillingham teacher) are true advocates of the Montessori philosophy and cherish seeing children reach their full potential.

Rocco Tricarico, Advancement Committee

Rocco Tricarico is a husband and proud father of three girls who attend RMS. When not building science experiments, installing play equipment or painting fingernails, Rocco enjoys an eclectic mix of activities including photography, tinkering with his Jeep and studying theoretical physics. Rocco and his family are native Virginians with family roots in Richmond. Professionally, Rocco is a Chief Executive for Sfara, a multi-national artificial intelligence company, managing their product strategy, marketing and sales. Through his career he has developed a track record of success by applying vision, best practices, and novel approaches to problem solving and change management. He's well known for turning creativity, energy and innovation into strategies that create differentiation and influence buying behaviors. Over the last 30 years, Rocco has built revenue, maximized profit, captured market share and enhanced brand value in multiple languages, cultures and currencies for scores of Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.

 

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