Board of Directors
Board of Directors
The school is governed by an active Board of Directors that works with the executive director to ensure that Mundo Verde delivers on its mission. The Board of Directors has an active committee structure that provides strategic guidance and oversight related to policy and program development, executive leadership, financial management, and overall structure.
The current board is well-connected in the community and committed to Mundo Verde’s mission. They reflect expertise in education, nonprofit management, law, architecture, and resource development, as well as deep roots in the District of Columbia.
Please click on the names below for brief biographies.
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Deidra Bailey
Board Member
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Deidra is currently the Senior Director of Program Implementation at CityTutor DC leading programs to support school teams as they work to integrate and implement high-impact tutoring in their schools.
She is the former High School Principal at DC International School (DCI), a dual-language and IB for ALL charter school in Ward 4. At DCI, she served first as a founding special education and math teacher in the middle school, and then went on to be the founding assistant principal for DCI High upon its opening in the fall of 2016. During her time at DCI, she supported the building of the high school programming and most importantly, supported the matriculation of DCI’s founding class of students.
She began her career in education in 2009 as a Teacher For America corps member in Washington DC as a special education teacher at Anacostia Senior High School. Committed to equitable learning environments for students and ensuring schools have strong teachers, she has served as both a Curriculum Specialist and Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness Facilitator for Teach For America. She served as a founding member of DC Education Coalition for Change, a community organizing group made up of families, students, educators, and friends of education that organizes around the needs of students in the District. Currently, she serves on the national program committee for PERIOD. - a global youth fueled non-profit which strives to eradicate period poverty and stigma through advocacy, education, and service and is a member of the board of directors at St. Philip's Child Development Center in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Deidra holds a B.A. in Government and International Politics with a minor in African and African American Studies and an M.Ed in Special Education, both from George Mason University. -
Katie Cole
Secretary
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Katie Cole serves as the Chief Legal Officer for the PECF, the foundation overseeing the work of the Washington National Cathedral, National Cathedral School, St. Alban's School, and the Beauvoir Elementary School. These institutions collectively provide education, leadership and support for a diverse set of communities and learners, including 900 employees, 1,500 students, and over 400,000 annual visitors.
Prior to joining the PECF, Katie served for seven years as the General Counsel of KIPP DC Public Charter Schools, a network of 22 schools located in DC that are committed to providing a high-quality education to students from diverse backgrounds. Katie also previously taught juniors in high school in Honolulu, Hawaii, which she highly recommends.
Katie holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BA from Yale University. Kaite is fairly certain that she is the first Yale freshman to test into Spanish 101 after taking Spanish for 4 years in high school.
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Anneliese Gegenheimer
Board Member
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Anneliese is a Manager in the Transaction Services group at K&M Advisors, where she advises on commercial, financial, and economic aspects of international energy projects in emerging markets. She is passionate about helping advance clean energy transitions around the world and creating a low-carbon future for all. Before working at K&M, she worked at IBM on IBM Watson AI and SAP projects, focused on business consulting, seller training, sales, and implementations.
Anneliese is a strong believer in the role of arts and innovation in education and has worked on related projects in Tanzania, India, China, and the US. In 2012, she founded the Chicago Student Invention Convention, which received national recognition for the 2015 STEM Mentoring Awards “Most Innovative Project.” The CSIC program was acquired by Chicago Innovation in June 2017 and has now expanded to serve the state of Illinois. Over 5 years, the CSIC served more than 8,000 Chicago students K-8, 100 schools, 150 teachers, and awarded over $20,000 to outstanding student inventors.
Anneliese is a graduate of Johns Hopkins SAIS with an M.A. in Energy, Resources, and the Environment, spending her first year at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China. While in Nanjing, she gave a TedxYouth talk on “Why Invention is Important for Youth.”
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Roman Goldstein
Treasurer
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Román Goldstein is an associate general counsel for Coinbase, where he advises the cryptocurrency company on compliance with banking and securities laws. He has been a banking lawyer in private practice and for the federal government since 2008. From 2010 to 2016, he was treasurer and board member of the Esperanza Education Fund, which offers college scholarships to DC-area students regardless of immigration status. Román graduated from Harvard Law School and Washington University in St. Louis, where he was an Annika Rodriguez Scholar.
Román’s wife, Erin, is the treasurer of Padres at Mundo Verde. They have three children at Mundo Verde and live on Capitol Hill with their hydrophobic water dog. Originally from Buenos Aires, Román used to tango and nearly lost his hair when Argentina won the World Cup.
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Peling Li
Board Member
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Dr. Peling Li is a Clinical Faculty with City Teaching alliance. As part of that role, she is a Senior Lecturer at American University and teaches graduate courses in special education and elementary education. She also coaches new teachers with the program. Peling is also an adjunct professor at JohnsHopkins University and consults for the World Bank. Prior to this role, Peling was the Director of Special Education at Mundo Verde PCS. She has also taught and served in leadership positions while working in London and New York. Peling graduated from New York University with a BA in Elementary and Special Education and Psychology. She then attended Teachers College, Columbia University for her master’s degree in International Education Development with a focus in Bilingual Education. She earned her EdD at Johns Hopkins University with a focus in Special Education.
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John Mahaffie
Board Member
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John is a writer, futurist, and beekeeper. As a futurist, he helps people and organizations interpret and respond to change they face, and to discover paths forward. He brings to his work two essential capabilities: a comprehensive knowledge of the future, and skill and experience at designing and leading processes to explore change and opportunity. Through his career, John has written, given keynotes, and consulted on topics including future consumers, work and worklife, science and technology, education, global economic change, and the environment. John serves on the Board of the Montgomery County Beekeeping Association, and is publicity chair for the Eastern Apicultural Society 2024 Conference. He previously served on the boards of the Northwest Washington Little League, the Urban Baseball Foundation, the Edmund Burke School, and Achievement Preparatory Academy PCS. John has a bachelor’s (University of Pennsylvania) and master’s (University of Arizona) degrees in anthropology and a master’s in international affairs (George Washington University). Born and raised in Maryland, he has been a DC resident since 1983.
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Ed Pauls
Board Chair
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Edward Pauls is a Senior Director of Real Estate for the National Housing Trust (NHT) and is responsible for performing financial feasibility analyses, evaluating due diligence materials, assessing financing options, preparing financing proposals and managing projects through the development period. He also provides development policy recommendations on affordable housing projects in DC and nationally. Prior to NHT, Ed was Senior Development Officer at the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency, managing over 30 bond and tax credit financed affordable housing deals in his eleven years there.
Ed was the Mundo Verde Board Treasurer from 2011 to 2018 and both of his children are Mundo Verde graduates.
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Richard Pohlman
Interim Executive Director
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Rich’s career blends a passion for education with a robust background in law and non-profit leadership. After beginning his career as a classroom teacher and outdoor educator, he pursued a legal education with the aim of integrating his expertise into educational reform. Rich has significantly impacted the DC education landscape through roles such as Executive Director at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School and Chief of Operations and Policy at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School. His work includes founding CityWorks DC to enhance postsecondary opportunities for DC youth and managing substantial educational initiatives as the Director of Race to the Top. Rich’s approach combines analytical problem-solving with collaborative leadership, emphasizing the importance of community and student development. He holds a Bachelor’s from Indiana University Bloomington and a Doctor of Law from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.
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Rashida Young
Board Member
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Rashida Young is Partner of Schools, Talent, & Racial Equity at Education Forward DC. Her team provides funding for organizations and schools that aim to improve school quality, develop educator pipelines, and address racial barriers to educational success. Her work blends grantmaking, technical assistance, and citywide coordination while providing thought partnership to various education stakeholders. Before Education Forward DC, Rashida was the Chief School Performance Officer at the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB). During her 12 years at PCSB, she led key oversight activities including accountability, school expansion, charter reviews, new school applications, school support, and monitoring of special populations. Rashida began her career as a high school teacher with Prince William County Schools in Virginia and Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in DC. She earned her BA in History and MA in Teaching from Hampton University. She grew up in Indiana but has called DC home for over 15 years. Rashida’s two children attend Mundo Verde and share her love of eating ice cream and exploring DC on a sunny day.
Meeting Calendar for SY24-25
February 20
6:30-8:30pm
Regular meeting
March 20
6:30-8:30pm
Regular meeting
May 15
6:30-8:30pm
Regular Meeting
June 12
6:30-8:30pm
Regular meeting
Board Business
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The board of directors meets for regular board meetings on a calendar established by the board at the beginning of every school year. There are at least six (6) regular board meetings scheduled during the school year. Notice of meetings is posted at the school’s facilities front desk, at least one (1) week before regular board meetings and forty-eight (48) hours before board special meetings. Board meetings are announced to families and staff via an electronic weekly newsletter and are also announced via parent association(s).
When necessary, special meetings may be called by the president or by one-third of the directors. All actions of a special meeting may be reconsidered at the next regular board meeting. In accordance with the Open Meeting Act (OMA), board meetings are open to the public, providing the opportunity for stakeholders to observe board operations.
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Board meeting minutes are posted on the school’s website in draft form within 30 days of the board meeting and in final form within 45 days of being formally approved via board vote. As per the Open Meeting Act, recorded meetings can be viewed upon request – send inquiries to board@mundoverdepcs.org.
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During any board meeting, a closed executive session may be held. In accordance with the OMA, the closed session requires a vote of the majority of the directors present. Only those persons invited by the board may be present. The board will not make final policy decisions, adopt any resolution, or take any other formal action during executive session. Matters discussed in executive sessions remain confidential.
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Board members also meet by committees and hold periodic retreats for purposes of training and development of the board. Per the OMA, these gatherings are not considered meetings.
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The board of directors maintains an archive of previous board meeting calendars, agendas, and minutes, available to the public for transparency and reference.
To access the archives, click here.
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Learn about the District of Columbia’s Open Meeting Act and its relevance to charter schools through this resource: Open Meeting Act Training for Public Charter Schools Boards of Trustees. For additional insights into Charter Schools, visit the About Charter Schools section of the National Alliance for Charter Schools website and What is a Charter School section of the DC Public Charter Schools Board.
Questions
To find out more about the board business, meeting calendar and minutes, or to RSVP to an upcoming board meeting, please email board@mundoverdepcs.org.