About

Board of Trustees

Curtis is governed by a Board of Trustees. Historically, the Board has been composed of parents, past parents, alumni, and friends of the school.

The board establishes policy and works closely with the Head of School and administration to ensure that these policies are implemented. New trustees are elected by the board and generally serve two or three 3-year terms. Trustees contribute a significant amount of time to ensure the strategic and financial health of the school. Collectively, Curtis trustees bring expertise and experience from a wide variety of fields and backgrounds to bear on the work of the board.

Organization

Standing committees of the board include the Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Finance Committee, Advancement Annual Fund Committee, Planning Committee, Committee on Trustees, and Buildings & Grounds Committee. The board also has special task forces that are created from time to time to make recommendations to the full board and, unless otherwise specifically authorized, final policy approval rests with the full board. Administrators, faculty members, and parents may be invited to serve on the committees at the pleasure of the board chair and the head of school. The head of school, chief operating and financial officer, president of the Parents Association, president of the Alumni Council, and other administrators regularly attend board meetings as non-members. Trustees serve on a volunteer basis without remuneration of any kind.

2025-26 Board of Trustees

List of 18 members.

Lee Chu , Chair
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Lee is Partner and Portfolio Manager at Capital Group, the world's largest active asset manager with over $3 trillion in assets under management. Capital offers a variety of investment solutions for institutional clients and individual investors globally. The company is known for its distinctive investment approach, focusing on fundamental research, long-term perspective, and diverse perspectives within its investment teams.

Lee has nearly 20 years of investment experience. During her time at Capital, Lee has held the position of Research Director as well as Investment Analyst, with research responsibilities across a variety of fixed-income sectors. Lee began her career at Capital as a participant in The Associates Program, a two-year series of global assignments in various areas of the organization.

Prior to joining Capital, Lee spent time in South Korea on a Fulbright Scholarship, awarded by the U.S. Department of State. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Brown University, graduating magna cum laude.

Lee has been an active participant in the Curtis community and a valuable member of the Board’s Executive, Finance, Advancement, and Committee on Trustees. She is also an active Parents Association volunteer.

Lee has a long standing commitment to education and the arts. Lee is also a Board of Directors of the Value Schools, where she is currently Finance Chair. She is a member of the Brown Annual Fund Leadership Council and has served on the Board of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Lee and her husband, Jongmin, are proud parents of three Curtis Cougars: Iris ‘28, Astrid ‘31, and Amias ‘33.
Harshith Ramesh , First Vice Chair
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Harshith Ramesh is a Curtis parent who brings extensive top-level executive business experience in finance, planning, and development to the Board of Trustees.

Harshith is Co-CEO at Episource, a leading healthcare services and technology company that specializes in data analytics for the nation’s largest health plans. Since 2011, Harshith has overseen the growth of Episource from fewer than 100 to more than 5,000 employees globally. In addition to leading the company’s overall strategy, Ramesh has direct responsibility for finance, global operations, technology, and new product development.

Prior to Episource, Harshith was at Moelis & Company, a global independent investment bank, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings. He has also held positions at AOL, Bear Stearns & Co., and Copal Partners (now Moody’s Analytics).

Harshith earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Tulane University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Harshith and his wife, Amita, are the parents of Curtis alum Milan ’23 and current students Misha ’26 and Mihir.
Marshall Cole , Second Vice Chair
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Marshall Cole '96 is an engaged Curtis alum and current parent.

Marshall is a highly skilled trial attorney and managing partner at Nemecek & Cole, known for handling complex and high-profile cases with success, Marshall has been repeatedly named by the Daily Journal as one of California's top professional liability attorneys in the state of California and is a sought-after speaker at legal seminars throughout the country.

Marshall holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a J.D. from the University of San Diego.

Marshall and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of Curtis students James ‘28, Caroline ‘30, and Margaux ‘32.
Steve Chang , Treasurer
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Steve Chang joined the board in 2018 after serving on the board’s investment committee as a parent member since 2015. He brings extensive experience and deep expertise in investment to the board.
Steve is the founder and managing partner of Allomer Capital Group, a private investment firm that provides long-term flexible capital to businesses in partnership with management. Prior to founding Allomer, Steve co-founded Clearlake Capital Group, a private equity firm, where he was a partner and a member of the investment committee. He was also formerly a partner and member of the investment committee at Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a principal at Barnard & Co., and an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Steve has been a member of the board of directors of a number of public and private companies including currently serving as a director of Alterian Software and CellControl.

Steve graduated from Stanford University with bachelor and master of science degrees in Biological Sciences and a bachelor of arts degree, with distinction, in Quantitative Economics.

Steve and his wife, Julia, are the proud parents of son Hunter ’23, Anabelle ’26, and Cody ’26.
Karla Sayles , Secretary
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A native of Los Angeles, Karla is an active member of the Curtis Community and joined the Curtis Board of Trustees in 2022. She currently serves on the Executive Committee as Secretary of the Board, as well as on the Committee on Trustees and the Buildings, Grounds, and Safety Committee.
Karla has previously contributed to the Strategic Alignment and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees. She is also a founding member of Somos Curtis, the Hispanic/Latino family affinity group at Curtis, and has been a dedicated volunteer in the Parents Association through various committee roles.

Karla is a seasoned government affairs executive with expertise in public policy, legislative advocacy, community engagement strategy, coalition building, and innovative problem solving at all levels of government. As Vice President of Local Public Affairs for Southern California Edison, she leads local government affairs for one of the country's largest electric utilities. Her work involves stakeholder engagement across Southern California to advance key priorities such as permit reform, grid modernization, and electrification, along with overseeing community initiatives for wildfire recovery and prevention.

Most recently, Karla served as Deputy Director of the California Film Commission, a part of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). Her previous roles include Director of Public Affairs at Warner Bros. Discovery, where she managed public affairs and stakeholder relations, and Health Deputy for Los Angeles County’s Second Supervisorial District, in addition to experience at numerous public affairs firms.
Sayles maintains her commitment to building strong communities through service on several nonprofit boards, including the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Zocalo Public Square and the Los Angeles Chamber, and Northwestern University’s Alumni Admissions Council. She is a member of the Junior League of Los Angeles (president 2018-2019) and is an alumna of the HOPE Leadership Institute.

Karla holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, International Studies, and Spanish Literature from Northwestern University. Together with her husband, Matt Sayles ’94, she is the proud parent of two Curtis Cougars, Matthew ’26 and Hunter ’28.
Dilip Bhavnani
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Born in Manchester, England, Dilip Bhavnani is the chief operating officer of Sunscope, one of the largest promotional products companies, where he started working while earning a bachelor of arts degree in economics from UCLA. Dilip holds more than 300 patents issued by the US Patent Office, and has another 100 pending.
In the last decade, Dilip started investing in new opportunities, including real estate development, mortgage banking, plastics manufacturing, and an Apparel Division.

Dilip and his wife, Kamila, are the extremely proud parents of Asher ('24), an 8th grader at Windward School; Jai ('14), USC’s Iovine & Young Academy (‘24); and Anika ('11), University of Miami (‘21).

Both Kamila and Dilip have been active participants in the Curtis community since 2004 and have enjoyed every moment. Dilip has served on the Board's Advancement, Executive, Finance, Audit, Buildings & Grounds and Committee on Trustees.

Dilip also sits on the executive committees for several Los Angeles based non-profit organizations, including the LAPD Youth Foundation, Arts District BID, Arts District Los Angeles, Central City East Association, and the Sadhu Vaswani Mission. He is especially proud of his work in helping establish the LAPD Youth Foundation, which provided four year high school scholarships to twenty incredibly talented youths from Watts.
Dana Coleman
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Dana Coleman is the Executive Director for the Independent School Alliance, a powerful coalition of Los Angeles schools that work to bridge access gaps and expand opportunities for talented students who are underrepresented in independent education.
Dana has a bold vision and a deep commitment to educational excellence, access, and diversity. For over 40 years, the Independent School Alliance has empowered the dreams of dynamic students, transforming schools and society along the way.

Dr. Dana Coleman is an inspiring educational leader and advocate who has dedicated her life to creating equitable learning environments for students. A native Angeleno and parent of a middle schooler, Dana has devoted her career to transforming the experiences of marginalized communities in education.

Moreover, she brings her passion for social justice to all her work, evident in her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from LMU and her dissertation, The Schooling Experiences of African American Males Attending Predominately White Independent Schools.

Outside of her career in education, Dr. Coleman and her husband keep busy traveling with their son, catching live music concerts and navigating two spoiled schnauzers.
Talib Fakhri
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Mr. Fakhri is a Curtis parent who has already been a valuable contributor to the board’s Advancement Committee. He brings extensive experience in finance, development, and corporate strategy to the work of the full board.
Born and raised in Southern California, Mr. Fakhri began his career in finance with UBS Investment Bank. He continued working in private equity with Apollo Management, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, with an investment focus in the consumer product and food retail industries. In 2010, Mr. Fakhri joined his family’s manufacturing business, International Trading Company, and utilized it as a platform to acquire distribution partners across the hospitality, healthcare, fitness, and auto care markets. These various entities merged to become A1 American, of which he is the CEO. He is also the Managing Director of his investment firm, ALTAA Investments, which invests in early growth-stage businesses and alternative projects within the real estate, technology, healthcare, and food retail markets. Mr. Fakhri’s commitment to philanthropy and community service began in his childhood when his cultural and family ties to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and East Africa gave him exposure to the importance of education and those in need. He and his family support a number of organizations, including Developments in Literacy, UNICEF, Newground, Miry’s List, and the Independent School Alliance. Outside of work, Mr. Fakhri enjoys pickleball, skiing, live music, modern art, the Lakers, interesting foods, and travel.

Mr. Fakhri holds a B.B.A. degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. He and his wife, Leena, have three amazing Cougar children: Alayna ’23, Ashar ’26, and Aydin ’29.
Ann Kono
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Curtis parent Ann Kono has been a dedicated member of the Curtis community, generously giving her time and expertise through service on the Board’s Finance and Campaign Advisory Committees. She is also an active Parents Association volunteer and has supported the school in meaningful ways over many years.
Ann is a seasoned C-suite executive with over 25 years of experience in driving enterprise value for management, operating, and portfolio companies. She is the CEO and founder of Leda Advisory Group, a firm focused on the asset management industry. In addition to her advisory work, she serves as an independent director for Cathay General Bancorp, Siepe LLC, and Sabra Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trust, where her board service draws on her deep expertise in risk management and digital transformation. Earlier in her career, she was the Chief Information and Risk Officer at Ares Management LLC, where she played a key role in transforming the firm from a private domestic credit platform into a global public asset manager.

A passionate advocate for inclusive and well-rounded education, Ann is the Co-Founder of TeachAAPI, a national education nonprofit, and a past Chair of Junior Achievement of Southern California. She earned her M.B.A. from the USC Marshall School of Business and holds a B.S. in Finance from Boston University.

Ann and her husband, Sean, are the proud parents of Blake ’27 and Curtis graduate Kyle ’24.
Nicholas Matus
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Nicholas Matus brings extensive experience in real estate, development, finance, and corporate strategy to the board and his role serving on the Finance and CLIC committees.
Nicholas is the Co-President and Chief Operating Officer of Benedict Canyon Equities, where he is responsible for developing and implementing corporate and investment strategies, as well as managing real estate funds and portfolios. With an impressive 18-year track record in the real estate investment industry, Nicholas is an expert in multifamily investment, asset management, and risk mitigation. Prior to his current role, he served as the Vice President of Global Assets, Real Estate Americas at J.P. Morgan. Besides his professional pursuits, Nicholas is an active participant in the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Chrysalis, UCLA Matel’s Children’s Hospital, and is a member of the National Multi-housing Council.

Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, concentrating on finance and real estate.

He and his wife, Amanda, are proud parents of two Curtis Cougars, Chase ‘29 and Sam ‘30.
Kevin Newman
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Dr. Kevin Newman '83 is Curtis alumnus and an educator with more than 20 years’ experience in independent schools. He is the Assistant Head of School and Collegiate Division Director at Windward School, where he has been since 2010.

Before Windward, Dr. Newman was a dean and the associate director of college counseling at Brentwood School for eight years. He also sat on the admissions committee at Brentwood and was director of the Summer Program for two years. Along with time spent at Crossroads, New Roads, and Menlo School, Dr. Newman was a lead consultant in change management for Accenture Consulting for three years.

In addition to being an administrator at Windward, Dr. Newman serves as the regional board chair and a member of the national board of trustees of NatureBridge, a nonprofit organization that provides multi-day environmental education programs in national parks to 30,000 children and teens each year. In the past, Dr. Newman also served as board chair for The Growing Place, a nonprofit early childhood development center in Santa Monica.

Dr. Newman holds a BA degree in history from Brown University, an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a doctorate in education leadership from UCLA. He is an alumnus of the Curtis 6th Grade Class of 1983 and of the Harvard School Class of 1989. Dr. Newman and his wife, Amy Weimer, have two children who attend local independent high schools.
Hannah Redfern
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Hannah Redfern is a dedicated Curtis parent and an active member of the Advancement Committee, where she also co-chairs the Advancement Ambassador Program. She brings extensive experience in entrepreneurship and strategic growth to the board.
Hannah is the founder and CEO of Kilte Collection, a digitally native knitwear brand known for its machine-washable cashmere. Prior to launching Kilte, she led strategic initiatives at Lucky Brand and worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Investment Banking and the Private Equity firm Sterling Partners.

She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Finance, cum laude, from the University of Southern California.

Hannah also serves on the Council for Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Center and is a member of the Irene Dunne Guild Foundation at St. John’s Health Center, where she previously served as Head of Public Relations.

Hannah and her husband are the proud parents of Curtis students: Rowan ’30, Hank ’32, and Bobby.
Sarah Shulkind
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Dr. Shulkind is an engaged Curtis parent who brings valuable experience as an educator and leader in independent school administration.
Dr. Shulkind is the Head of School at Milken Community School in Los Angeles, a nationally recognized independent Jewish community school with over 750 students in Grades 6-12. Before assuming her current position at Milken in 2019, Dr. Shulkind served as the Head of School at Sinai Akiba Academy for seven years and was the Middle School Director at Milken prior to that. She also helped to start Wildwood School’s secondary school campus and worked as a teacher and division leader there for five years.

Dr. Shulkind completed her undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s degree in teaching and curriculum at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and her doctoral degree in UCLA’s Educational Leadership Program. She received the National Association of Secondary Schools Dissertation Award for her research on Middle Level Advisory Programs. Dr. Shulkind has presented at local and national conferences on a wide variety of topics, including curricular integration, reading comprehension, student-led conferences, advisory programs, academic achievement, parent education, personalization, differentiation, and service learning. Her published work appears in Education Leadership, Principal Leadership, and The Middle School Journal. She is the incoming president of the Board of Directors of the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and serves on the board of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as well as on the advisory board of UCLA’s Women’s Executive Leadership Academy.

Dr. Shulkind and her husband, Andrew, have four adored children, Lucy, Olivia, Sadie, and Curtis Cougar Oscar ’28.
Craig Varnen
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Curtis alumni parent Craig Varnen is a partner at the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
Craig is an experienced trial attorney who has represented clients in a broad range of complex, “bet the company” disputes. Craig’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on defending companies and their boards of directors and corporate officers in securities-related lawsuits and regulatory proceedings. Craig is also regularly retained to provide advice on issues of fiduciary duty, conduct high profile internal investigations, and handle cases involving trade secrets and employment contracts. He is the Chair of Gibson Dunn’s national Securities Litigation Practice Group.

Craig graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, San Diego, where he received a B.A. in Economics. He attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor for the California Law Review. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Craig was a long time partner and member of the Executive Committee of Irell & Manella, and clerked for the Honorable Cynthia Holcomb Hall of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Craig supports a number of local and national charitable organizations and regularly volunteers at pro bono legal organizations and non-profit law firms that provide free legal services to people who live at or below the poverty level.

Craig and his wife, Ashley, are the proud parents of Curtis alumni twins Hunter ’24 and Luke ’24.
Leslie Vermut
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Leslie Vermut brings to the Board of Trustees extensive experience in financial investment in the private sector as well as working with non-profits.
Ms. Vermut was the founder of Weinberger Asset Management, Inc., an independent, private wealth management firm that specializes in investment management and financial and retirement planning. Prior to starting Weinberger Asset Management, Leslie was a securities analyst and portfolio manager at TIAA-CREF, an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Business, and a consultant to the hedge fund Victoria Partners.

Ms. Vermut was a member of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Board of Directors (CSMC) for 19 years. She served two terms as Vice Chair and two terms as Secretary. She is currently a Life Trustee. Leslie also served on the Cedars-Sinai Health System Board of Directors. At CSMC she held positions as Vice Chair of the Board’s Executive Committee and Executive Personnel Committee and Co-Vice Chair of the Investment Committee.

Leslie’s philanthropic efforts also include her past service to the Brentwood Homeowner’s Board, where she was treasurer for over 20 years. She is a current member of the Council of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and a member of the Blue Ribbon of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Ms. Vermut received her B.S. from New York University, her M.B.A. from City University of New York, and is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honorary Society.

Leslie and her husband, Tom Weinberger, are the proud grandparents of Curtis students Miri Weinberger ’28 and her little sister Brie ’31.
Jonathan Wimbish
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Jon Wimbish is the Head of the Middle School at Harvard-Westlake and has more than 25 years’ experience as an educator in independent schools.
A native Southern Californian, Jon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Princeton University and a Master of Arts degree in English from Middlebury College. Jon began his career at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire, returning later to California to take a job at Harvard-Westlake, where he taught English and public speaking and served as both a middle school dean and an upper school dean before assuming his current role.

Jon has had a lengthy parallel career in athletics. At Princeton, he played football and volleyball. Between Cardigan and Harvard-Westlake, Jon has coached teams in football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and golf.

As a Curtis parent and board member, Jon served on both the Advancement, Planning, and Building and Grounds committees of the board.

In addition to his service on the Board of Trustees, Jon was a member of Curtis's "Envision Our Future" Strategic Planning Committee, 2017-2019.

Jon has previously served on the Bel Air Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council and as a board member with Children Mending Hearts, a non-profit designed to teach empathy through art.programs.

Jon and his wife, Amanda, who teaches English and Creative Writing in Harvard-Westlake’s Middle School, are the proud parents of two Curtis alumni, Franklin ’19 and Lila ’20.
Thea Wolf
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Thea Andrews Wolf is a veteran television news journalist who has worked as a producer, national correspondent, and anchor for networks in the United States and Canada, including ESPN, ABC, CBS, and CTV.

While her sons attended Curtis, Thea was an active volunteer in the Curtis Parents Association and served three terms on the Executive Committee. She also led the Parents Group on Inclusivity (PGI) for two years, spearheading parent education initiatives and organizing forums for parents and faculty to support the school’s ongoing work in diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has been a dedicated member of the Advancement Committee for almost a decade and currently serves as the Co-Chair of Advancement.

Passionate about causes dedicated to helping at-risk women and children, Thea serves on the Executive Board of Visionary Women, a non-profit foundation dedicated to advancing the status of women by funding high-impact initiatives for women and girls.

Thea holds a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada. She and her husband, Jay, are the proud parents of Curtis alums Tucker ’24 (Brentwood School '30) and Jack '20 (Brentwood School '26).
Rachel Yang PhD
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Dr. Rachel Yang joined the board in 2017. An author and educator, Dr. Yang has a Ph.D. in Technology Management, a Master of Science degree in Decision Analysis, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics.
She has taught at UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and New York Institute of Technology, and she has been a guest professor at several other universities.

Dr. Yang has chaired national and regional boards and committees, including the International Leadership Foundation, and is a recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award. She uses her expertise in education, technology, and fundraising to serve local and global communities.

Dr. Yang is the parent of two Curtis alumni. During her years as as a parent at the school, she was an active participant in the Parents Association, in fundraising, and in the life of the school. She was an Auction Committee Chair and an International Lunch Day Chair, and she served on the school’s Audit, Strategic Planning, Advancement, Annual Fund, and Major Gifts Committees. In addition, Dr. Yang hosted graduation and grade parties and chaperoned class field trips and orchestra and choir trips.

Dr. Yang and her husband, Don Ho, are the proud parents of three children: Angel Hoyang (Harvard '22, HW '18), Joy (Harvard '26, HW '22, Curtis '16), and Glory (HW '24, Curtis '18).

Curtis School

15871 Mulholland Drive · Los Angeles CA 90049

310-476-1251

info@curtisschool.org