Board of Trustees

Overview

Board of Trustees

The members of the Board of Trustees are volunteers from the community who support the mission of Country Day. The Board is responsible for the hiring and support of the Head of School and for leadership in broad policy issues. The Board is accountable for the fiscal health of the school. Board members, who serve three-year renewable terms, meet regularly throughout each year of service. The process to recruit new Trustees is a comprehensive multi-year one, in order to ensure that a wide variety of skill sets and diverse professional backgrounds are at all times represented. If you are interested in learning more about the Board of Trustees, please contact the Board President or the Head of School.

The members of the Board of Trustees are volunteers from the community who support the mission of Country Day. The Board is responsible for the hiring and support of the Head of School and for leadership in broad policy issues. The Board is accountable for the fiscal health of the school. Board members, who serve three-year renewable terms, meet regularly throughout each year of service. The process to recruit new Trustees is a comprehensive multi-year one, in order to ensure that a wide variety of skill sets and diverse professional backgrounds are at all times represented. If you are interested in learning more about the Board of Trustees, please contact the Board President or the Head of School.

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Julie Sloat
President

Julie grew up in Sacramento, attended La Sierra High School and CSU Sacramento, and earned a law degree from McGeorge School of Law. She is a veteran of Desert Storm and operated a KC-135 boom for the 940th air refueling reserve unit. Julie’s work experience includes public relations for PG&E, law and public policy for the California Cable TV association, and general counsel for Nationwide Health Plans of California.

Julie joined the Country Day board in 2015-16 and started her term as president in 2017-18. She is a successful fundraiser for local non-profits and has served on many non-profit boards. She and husband, Kevin, have two children.

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Christopher Levermore
Vice President

Christopher Levermore a California transplant from Richmond, VA received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Howard University,  a Master of Science from DePaul University and Master of Business Administration from Drexel University. He is currently working with Sodexo as a District Manager responsible for the overall financial accountability for the food service program within schools located in the California Central Valley Region.

He and his wife Renee, have two children attending Country Day School. 

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Norman Colb
Secretary

Norm Colb received a BA from Brandeis University and his MAT degree from Harvard. He went on to teach English and then serve as the director of Language Arts and English, K-12, in Brookline, MA. Following his years in Brookline, he was the assistant superintendent for curriculum in Newton, MA, and then, for ten years, was the superintendent of schools in Mamaroneck, NY. From1993 until 2013 he was the head of Menlo School in Atherton and, before retiring, spent four years as the head of Reno’s Sage Ridge School.

He enjoys retirement more than he had expected, while his wife Susan, as busy as ever, spends much of her time supporting youngsters in the foster system.

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Melinda Levy
Treasurer

Melinda is a neutral attorney mediator with Finding Common Ground Mediation & Law Services® and brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to her role.

Before dedicating her career entirely to mediation, Melinda combined her passions for leadership, business and cars as in-house counsel for The Niello Company.

Melinda is a member of the Association of Professional Family Mediators and serves on its training verification committee. 

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Manish Aggarwal

Manish Aggarwal

Dr. Manish Aggarwal is a  Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, currently working in a private practice setting in Folsom. 

He completed his Child & Adolescent Psychiatry training at Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2013, where he also was the Chief Fellow in his second year of training. After graduation, he joined the Cleveland Clinic, Department of Child & Adolescent psychiatry as an attending where he worked in pediatric inpatient unit from 2013 to 2015 before moving to Sacramento.

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Billy Downing ‘98

Billy Downing is a proud Sacramento native who attended Sacramento Country Day School and Jesuit. After high school, Billy obtained his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his graduate degree from the University of San Francisco before returning back home. His extensive non-profit board experience includes working with Wind Youth Services, Positive Coaching Alliance, San Juan Education Foundation, and the YMCA of Superior California. Billy and his wife Jessaca have two children.

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Soyla Fernández

Soyla Fernández founded Fernández Government Solutions LLC in 2004 – now doing business as Fernández Cervantes Government Affairs (FCGA). Her successful firm is experienced in the development of political and legislative strategies to implement effective advocacy programs for corporate and public sector clients. As a former consultant to the legislature and the executive branch, Ms. Fernández is knowledgeable in a variety of political, policy, and budget issues.

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Randy Getz

We are excited to have Randy Getz rejoin the Board of Trustees. He and his wife, the artist Pat Mahony, reside in Carmichael and their daughter, Camille ‘12, was a Country Day Lifer.  Randy graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and the University of Pacific-McGeorge School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. Randy practiced law for a few years before seeing the light and has since been an investment broker for CBRE, Inc. He has served on the boards of directors of the Crocker Art Museum, LAI-Sacramento, the American River Parkway Foundation, and the Sacramento Literacy Foundation.  Randy previously served as an SCDS trustee for nine years, was a leader at the executive committee level, and participated in previous SCDS capital campaigns.

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Kristoffer Hall ‘91

Kristoffer Hall, a ‘91 alumnus, is the sole proprietor of Hall Valuation Consulting, a business valuation and litigation support firm in Sacramento.  He and his wife, Dr. Rachel Maney,  have two children, Wyatt ‘25 and Harry ‘27, that currently attend Country Day School.  Kristoffer graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelors in Finance with an English Minor.  In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees, Kristoffer also assists with the middle school cross country and golf teams.

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Amy L. Johnson ‘95

Amy Johnson is the Co-Founder and CFO of SkyLine Scaffold, Inc., a Sacramento-based family-owned scaffolding company.  Currently, she is President of the Scaffold and Access Industry Association Education Foundation, a 501c3, and a member of Vistage International, Inc., a CEO Peer Advisory Board.

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Kassia Kingsley

Kassia joins us after serving on the Board’s engagement committee and supporting the school’s fundraising drives.  Kassia and her husband, Reed Kingsley, run a furniture manufacturing business and have three children who attended Country Day School. Kassia previously volunteered her time serving on her children’s Bay Area school boards over the past 15 years, focusing on advancement projects and building awareness surrounding fundraising.  She was also active in her previous schools’ annual auctions, bond measures, and with large-scale community events. A native of Sacramento, Kassia is proud of her local roots and looks forward to continuing her connection with her hometown. Her daughter, Angela (Class of 2022), is now a proud alumna of Country Day.

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Steve Lesher

Steve joins us as a successful Country Day alumnus from the class of ‘92.  After graduation, Steve attended the University of Southern California and received a Master’s Degree from Saint Mary’s College. He and his wife Mackenzie reside in the Bay Area where he works  as Corporate and Government Relations Manager for Shell USA. His two children, Cameron and Griffin, continue the tradition of attending independent schools in the Bay Area, and his wife has previously served on the Board of Trustees for The Seven Hills School.  We are excited to have him back at Country Day.

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Jenna Magan

Jenna is a partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and specializes in municipal bond financings for public entities and 501(c)(3) organizations. She grew up in Visalia, California, where her family had a trucking and farming business, then moved to Southern California to attend UCLA.  She and spouse, Luke, have two children who attend Country Day.

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Emily Oliver Stephenson

Emily was born in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with a bachelor’s in sociology and a double minor in European history and physics/biology. She is retired from her position as a senior executive producer at the Intel Corporation. Both her son and daughter attended Country Day.

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Louay Owaidat

Mr. Owaidat is the President and CEO of Odin Construction Solutions, Inc., a national environmental and infrastructure construction company with headquarters in Rocklin, CA and offices in Atlanta, GA, Denver, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Charlotte, NC, and Bordentown, NJ. As President of Odin Construction Solutions, Inc., Mr. Owaidat oversees the planning, operations, development, marketing and finances of the company. Also, he provides input to design, planning, and execution of complex geotechnical and infrastructure projects at sites nationwide.

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Winnie Ward ‘81

Winnie Ward is a founding partner of the law firm of Stewart, Ward and Josephson, LLP.  She specializes in commercial real estate transactions.  Winnie represents institutional tenant clients throughout the United States, as well as real estate developers in Sacramento and the Bay Area. 

Winnie attended County Day from the 1st through 12th grades, graduating in 1981.  She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University, and her J.D. from UC Davis School of Law. Winnie previously served on the boards of The Friendship Club, a Nevada City-based nonprofit group dedicated to providing services for girls in sixth through twelfth grades, Sierra Forever Families (now Stanford Sierra Youth & Families) and ACRE (the Association of Commercial Real Estate). Winnie and her husband, Dale, own MindWinder Aviation, an aerial firefighting company based in Reno, Nevada. 

In their spare time, Winnie and Dale spend time with and serve at the beck and call of their animals – three cats and a dog.

General information

Honorary Trustees
In Memoriam

  • Baxter Geeting
  • Herbert H. Matthews
  • Nancy O’Neil
  • James O’Neil