Board of Trustees
Montessori School of Northern Virginia
Board of Trustees
The MSNV Board of Trustees is made up of parents and community members committed to the mission and vision of MSNV. Trustees are elected after undergoing an application process and a vote during the May board meeting. Once elected, trustees may serve terms of up to three years. The Board is responsible for establishing and promoting MSNV’s mission, vision and strategic goals, and ensuring the long-term financial stewardship and governance of the school.
| Nicole Kaeding, President Executive Committee |
Nicole is a tax economist and has more than a decade of expertise in federal and state taxation. She currently works at Amazon advising the company on federal tax issues and has worked at several think tanks in Washington, D.C. Before moving to the area, Nicole managed retail bank locations in Illinois and Indiana. She’s the mother of two MSNV students, Noelle and Owen and lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, Jason, kids, and two dogs. |
| Tyler Martinez, Vice President Executive Committee |
| Tyler Martinez is the father of Theo and Tim, at Hillbrook and Valleybrook respectively. When not building magnatiles or fetching snacks, Tyler is a lawyer focusing on tax, administrative, and constitutional law in strategic litigation. He also founded nonprofit organizations and aided in nonprofit compliance. He graduated from the University of Colorado Law School and misses the mountains. |
| Lydia Kyohere, Secretary Executive Committee |
| Lydia and her husband Luke have two daughters at the Hillbrook and Sleepy Hollow campus, Linden and Leona. She is the Senior VP for the nonprofit Research Bridge Partners (RBP) with access to two balance sheets, a granting mechanism, and a venture capital group. RBP builds the commercial capacity of academic research labs in bringing their new therapies and tools to patients. She also has experience in science policy with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and acts as a coach for the NSF’s convergence accelerator program. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology focused on viruses from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Carleton College, a small liberal arts school in Northfield, Minnesota. |
| Christian Tansey, Treasurer Executive Committee |
| Christian holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Columbia University and currently works as a Product Manager in Global Finance at Capital One. He has years of experience across finance having worked in private equity and venture capital prior to Capital One and as a derivatives trader in Chicago and London prior to business school. Christian also works with companies committed to sustainable agriculture. Christian’s daughter Cara is currently a Upper Elementary student, his daughter Cora is a Lower Elementary student, and daughter Cala is a Primary student. |
| Kent Allen Member at Large |
| Kent is an MSNV alumnus, and his family was one of the founding families of the school. A career journalist, one time teacher and graduate of Stanford University, Kent has served on a number of local and regional nonprofit boards in the DC area over the past 30 years including the MSNV Board of Trustees. |
| Stacy King-Scanlon Member at Large |
| Stacy is the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Bar Association and Executive Director of its affiliated charitable foundation. A native Texan, Stacy moved to the D.C area 26 years ago after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. Stacy and her husband Matt have a son, Sammy, who is a Middle School student. In her spare time, she can be found hanging out with family and their two rescue dogs, Loki and Lila. |
| Devon Kuehne Member at Large |
| Devon is currently a Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships at UNICEF USA, where she works directly with private sector partners to maximize impact for children. She has a master’s in communication and has worked in the nonprofit sector for ten years. Devon has three daughters – Louisa, who is a tUpper Elementary student; Ingrid, who is a Lower Elementary student; and Vivian, who is a Primary student at Valleybrook. |
| Khaleaph Luis Member at Large |
| Khaleaph’s experience and interest are helping organizations improve their analysis of gender and race while working to expand opportunities for young men of color. A major focus of his work was the development of collaborative mentoring programs that aimed to prevent youth from returning to the juvenile justice system after being released. His practice has included advising formerly incarcerated and incarcerated adults seeking a second chance after incarceration. Furthermore, he has provided HIV/STI and drug counseling while contributing to longitudinal research studies in epidemiology. Currently, Khaleaph is a social worker providing resources and services to patients and their families in the field of adult mental and behavioral health. Khaleaph is a graduate of Fordham University and his hometown is St. Croix, U.S.V.I. |
| Rachel Pasternack Member at Large |
| Rachel is the Global Lead for Forests at The Nature Conservancy. Her team sits in the Global Climate Change team priority, promoting nature (i.e. forest restoration and avoided forest loss) as a tool for climate mitigation. She holds a Master in Public Administration from the London School of Economics, London, UK, and a BAS with honors from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Rachel has a wide array of experience working on equitable and sustainable development; building public, private partnerships; and developing and implementing environmental policy in the UK, the US, and Latin America. She has worked for organizations such as The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; The United States Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget; and various global charities, notably the World Bank. Rachel also does some independent strategy consulting with Altruist Partners, which supports non-governmental organizations develop business plans and strategies to solve for the biggest organizational challenges such as fundraising. She lives in Falls Church with her husband and daughter who attends the MSNV Hillbrook campus. |
| Jen Talley Member at Large |
| Jennifer is mom to MSNV students Alex and William and lives in Annandale with her husband, Justin. She is passionate about military spouse employment and wellness and making a Montessori education available to all. She is a practicing attorney in Federal service. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law and was awarded a Masters of Law in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General’s School, United States Army, Charlottesville, VA. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance Concentration) from The College of New Jersey. |
| Brent Tweddle Member at Large |
| Brent is a Systems Engineering Manager building autonomous cars at Ford Motor Company’s Latitude AI, and previously at Argo AI and Apple, where he focuses on statistical safety verifications of machine learned perception systems. Prior to that he worked as an Aerospace Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and MIT, where he has launched robots to the International Space Station, built software to land the Perseverance Rover, and led the navigation system development for the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity’s original prototype. Brent is the father of two MSNV students, Mackenzie and Gavin, and lives in Lake Barcroft where he loves to take the whole family canoeing as the loudest boat on the lake. Brent graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. and Masters in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. |
| Polina Tymoshenko Member at Large |
| Polina is a Ukrainian-born professional with a background in art and architecture. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1999, she built a 15-year career in construction, specializing in infrastructure projects. Recently, she transitioned into the data center industry. In 2020, Polina and her family moved from New York to Virginia, where she now resides in Occoquan with her husband and their young son. |
| Brian Wlcek Member at Large |
| Brian is a management consultant with McKinsey & Company where he advises public, private, and non-profit clients on strategy, operations, and organizational transformation efforts. He previously served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and led Marines on combat deployments and also served as a diplomatic advisor to the Middle East. He holds a masters degree from The George Washington University in DC, and a bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He has one daughter son two children enrolled in Elementary. |