Kate Burke Walsh – Head of School
Email:
kwalsh@willowschool.org Kate Burke Walsh comes to The Willow School from the Washington D.C. area with over 28 years of experience in teaching, school administration, leadership, curriculum development, teacher education and financial management and development. Her most recent position includes serving as Chief Administrative Officer at the French International School, Lycee Rochambeau in Bethesda, MD. Between 1995 and 2004, Ms. Walsh led international initiatives, first with Children’s Resources International and later with Georgetown University’s Child and Human Development Center, to design, develop, implement, and manage democratic teaching practices in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Prior to that, Ms Walsh served as Assistant Head of School at Beauvoir School, the Elementary School of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Ms. Walsh completed her undergraduate studies at The American University in Washington, D.C. and got her masters in Early Childhood Education in Maryland, from Antioch University. She has three grown daughters living in the Philadelphia area. Ms. Walsh became Head of School at The Willow School in 2007.
Mark Biedron – Director of Capital Campaign and Major Gifts
Mark is a co-founder of The Willow School and formerly served as treasurer on the Board of Trustees. He began his career in 1975 after he joined a family business, Con-Lux Coatings, Inc., an environmental and heavy duty manufacturer of low VOC paints and coatings. After he sold the company to Sherwin Williams in 1995, he founded Solid Wood Construction, LLC, a general contracting company specializing in green construction and historic renovation using salvaged and recycled materials. Solid Wood Construction was the general contractor for both of Willow’s LEED certified classroom buildings. As founder of Sustainable Growth Technologies, a green building and design company, Mark continues to play an active role in efforts to help businesses, educational institutions, and individuals design and implement strategies that reflect the principles of sustainability and place using integrated processes. Mark earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Vermont. In addition, he attended graduate school at the University of Colorado where he studied business administration. Mark has two children who currently attend The Willow School.
Judi Meighan – Director of Development
Email:
jmeighan@willowschool.org Judi is a graduate of Arizona State University where she received a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Computer Information Systems. For the past eleven years she has organized fundraising events for the Somerset Hills Learning Institute, a school for children with autism, in Bedminster. She has also done fundraising for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and other local charities. Prior to her fundraising work, she worked for 11 years at several large corporations designing software. Judi joined The Willow School in the fall of 2008. Judi lives in Far Hills with her husband and their two children.
Annette Worthington – Director of Admissions and Secondary School Placement
Email:
aworthington@willowschool.org Annette Worthington is a graduate of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she received a B.A. in psychology and of Montclair State University with an M.A. in Educational Psychology and a Certification as Teacher of the Handicapped. She has served as the President of the Parents’ Association at both The Peck School in Morristown, New Jersey and Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey. Annette has been a member of the Board of Trustees at Peck and Kent Place as well as The Junior League of Morristown. In addition, she has been actively involved as a volunteer at Colgate University, Yale and Lafayette University. Annette joined The Willow School in the fall of 2003. A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Annette lives in New Vernon with her husband, John, and has four grown daughters.
Emmett Kresge – Director of Facilities
Email:
ekresge@willowschool.org Prior to coming to The Willow School as Director of Facilities in 2011, Emmett was the lead carpenter for Solid Wood Construction, the construction company responsible to build The Willow School. Emmett has served as a Facilities Assistant for a residential camp and has eight years experience as a member of the maintenance department of the Tewksbury school district. Additionally, Emmett has taught Environmental Education at a local YMCA camp. Additionally, Emmett holds a NJ Black Seal License. Emmett is a life long NJ resident and presently lives in Hampton with his wife and two stepsons.
Linda Ritthaler – Director of Business and Finance
Email:
lritthaler@willowschool.org Linda brings to The Willow School over forty years of office administration experience. A native of New Jersey, Linda worked for Spector Freight Systems in Edison for ten years, after which she began working at Con-Lux Coatings Inc. She spent a total of eighteen years with Con-Lux in office management and executive secretarial positions. Linda was the first employee of the Willow School in 2000. Linda lives in Chester.
Dorian von Aulock – Director of Operations and Human Resources
Email:
dvonaulock@willowschool.org Dorian is a graduate of the University of Colorado where she received a BA in psychology with a minor in women’s studies. After moving to New Jersey in 1989, she began working with developmentally disabled adults at The Arc, Morris County Chapter. Her responsibilities at Arc included human resources, policy and procedural development, and program administration. In 2007, she came to The Willow School. Dorian lives in Long Valley with her husband and two daughters.
Robert Andolina – Director of Technology
Email:
randolina@willowschool.org Robert graduated from Seton Hall University in 2002 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. His coursework at Seton Hall included a wide variety of programming languages from Assembly Language to Java. Robert’s computer background includes, but is not limited to, technical support, web development, and system maintenance and support. Robert utilized these skills working for Creative Media Group as a web developer. Robert has also worked for New Jersey Multiple Listing Service as a system administrator. Rob joined The Willow School in 2009. He and his family live in Long Valley.
Deborah Kalish – Assistant to the Head of School
Email:
dkalish@willowschool.org Deborah graduated from Boston University with a BS in Education and the University of Southern California with a MS.Ed. in Elementary Education. After teaching one year in Compton, California, she attended a program to teach English as a Second Language in Tel Aviv University and taught on a kibbutz for two years. Upon returning to the States, she received funding to open an Adult Learning Center, teaching GED and Adult Basic Education. Deb spent the next twenty years in the corporate world working for Merrill Lynch where she was responsible for Human Resources and training for the Advanced Architecture Group. Upon leaving Merrill, she returned to education as Head of Residential Life at the Purnell School, followed by five years as Administrative Manager at Sage Day, a special education high school. Deb first came to Willow as a Guest Teacher in 2010 and is currently working with Kate Burke Walsh on Board tasks. In addition, Deb tutors reading and writing for SSAT and SAT. Deb lives with her daughter in Pottersville.
Gayle DiGioacchino – Administrative Assistant
Email:
gdigioacchino@willowschool.org Prior to the fall of 2007 when Gayle began working at The Willow School she worked for ten years at Scott Foresman Publishing Company as an Administrative Assistant in the Correlations Department. She also worked as an assistant preschool teacher at a local preschool. Gayle has been actively involved in organizing fundraising events and volunteering in her community. Gayle resides in Bernardsville with her husband and three children.
Susie Delaporte – Administrative Assistant to the Development and Admissions Offices
Email:
sdelaporte@willowschool.org Susie received her Bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in history with a minor in English. She was previously employed as a paralegal at both a litigation securities firm and at Merrill Lynch in NYC. Susie has been a substitute teacher at The Peck School as well as a teacher’s aide at The Children’s Corner in Liberty Corner. Susie began working at The Willow School in the summer of 2007. She and her children reside in Bernardsville.
Katherine Harris – Administrative Assistant to the Business Office
Email:
kharris@willowschool.org Katherine is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University where she obtained a BS in Finance & Economics and an MS Tax. After working in financial planning and reporting for Pfizer and Cadbury, Katherine obtained her NJ Teaching Certification in K-5. She has worked as a teaching assistant with disabled children and taught summer enrichment classes in Warren Township. Katherine also serves on the Boys Scouts of America Troop 53 Committee as Chairperson and is active on the Bedminster Parent Teacher Organization. Katherine began working at The Willow School in the summer of 2010. Katherine lives in Bedminster with her two children.
Janice Genetti – School Nurse
Email:
jgenetti@willowschool.org Janice is a graduate of Overlook Hospital School of Nursing where she earned her LPN and Somerset County College PNAD program where she received her AAS degree and attained her Registered Professional Nursing License. She brings thirty years of nursing experience to her position as School Nurse. Janice has two children and was very active in the PTA and Boy Scouts of America where she assisted her son in achieving his Eagle Scout award. She lives in Califon with her family.
Casey Cullen – Sustainability Intern
After earning her B.S. in Environmental Science and a minor in Green Building and Community Design from the University of Vermont, Casey returned to NJ as the sustainability intern and member of the design team working on the new Health, Wellness and Nutrition Center project. In her role as sustainability intern, Casey has helped Willow in the journey towards net zero waste by introducing the TerraCycle fundraising program and logging recycling, trash, and compost data into the EPA’s ReTRAC program. She worked with School Administration to purchase 100% of the school’s grid-drawn power from renewable sources and completed a new draft of the “Story of Our Place”, a document that describes the billions of years of history on the Willow site. Today, she is responsible for helping the new building project earn LEED Platinum Certification, and for coordinating the design team members under the guidance of Mark Biedron.
