Discovery Charter School Board of Directors
Discovery Charter School Board Directors
Christopher Foisie – Discovery Charter Board of Directors Treasurer
Christopher has been a leader and financial professional for 15 years. He has spent a great deal of his professional career negotiating complex revenue contracts and managing expectations with sales teams, aligning corporate financial decisions, and working cross-functionally to manage growth goals. Education is in Chris’ blood – his mom was a teacher. Growing up in an educational environment instilled in him the value of good educators and the impact they make on children’s lives. Chris has two children enrolled at the Falcon campus. He and his family have an active lifestyle. They enjoy downhill skiing and many Tahoe winters.Glady Lee – Discovery Charter Board of Directors, Vice President
Toni Sindelar - Discovery Charter School Board of Directors
After teaching for 13 great years as a middle school teacher at Discovery Phoenix, Toni has started a new chapter as a board member. She graduated from San Jose State University’s College of Education in 2008. She participated in a dual credential/ Master’s program at the Critical Research Academy, specializing in curriculum and issues of social justice. She was recognized as a 2015-16 Hero of the Classroom by the San Francisco 49ers and Symetra. Toni has a particular interest in mild to moderate learning disabilities and researched teacher accommodations for children with writing disabilities in the mainstream classroom as part of her Master’s curriculum.
Prior to teaching, Toni was an active parent volunteer at her children’s school. In working in the classroom, it became clear that working with kids was far more rewarding than her previous career as a family law attorney. As her kids have grown, the desire to make a difference in the classroom became too persistent to ignore. Recently. Toni and her husband decided to start a new chapter of their lives in Vancouver, Washington. While her home base has changed, her passion for education and Discovery has not, and participation on the board represents a great opportunity to continue serving kids and the Discovery community. Toni frequently visits San Jose, as both her children continue to live in the area.
Toni received her undergraduate education at Georgetown University, majoring in Government with a minor in English. She attended law school at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.
She and her family enjoy movies, traveling, and hiking. Toni also loves reading and other creative endeavors.
Prior to teaching, Toni was an active parent volunteer at her children’s school. In working in the classroom, it became clear that working with kids was far more rewarding than her previous career as a family law attorney. As her kids have grown, the desire to make a difference in the classroom became too persistent to ignore. Recently. Toni and her husband decided to start a new chapter of their lives in Vancouver, Washington. While her home base has changed, her passion for education and Discovery has not, and participation on the board represents a great opportunity to continue serving kids and the Discovery community. Toni frequently visits San Jose, as both her children continue to live in the area.
Toni received her undergraduate education at Georgetown University, majoring in Government with a minor in English. She attended law school at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.
She and her family enjoy movies, traveling, and hiking. Toni also loves reading and other creative endeavors.
Ilan Spieler – Discovery Charter Board of Directors, President
Ilan is a staff attorney with the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara. He has worked extensively on civil litigation cases in a variety of areas. Ilan has had a lifelong interest in education, volunteering at schools long before he started his family, and at one point in his life’s journey, he considered becoming a teacher. Ilan has two children enrolled at the Phoenix campus. His interests include cooking, computers and technology, and playing guitar, and writing music.Autumn Talbott - Discovery Charter Board of Directors, Secretary
Since joining the Falcon community in 2018, Autumn has been an active volunteer and a proponent of the unique emotional and social developmental gifts that the Discovery Charter Schools provide to children. She spent her own childhood surrounded by hills and farm animals in rural Northern California, learning by experience how to identify poison oak and rattlesnakes. Autumn's love of numbers and logic earned her a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has brought her passion for data-driven solutions to rocket fuels, semiconductors, and a biomedical device start-up before pursuing new challenges as a lawyer for the World Intellectual Property Organization (a specialized agency of the United Nations) in Geneva, Switzerland. She has served on the board of several non-profits, where she has focused her efforts on long-term financial sustainability and growth.
Jennifer Walrod - Discovery Charter Board of Directors
Jennifer has worked in a variety of positions in schools around the world including South Korea, Thailand, Ethiopia, and San Jose, CA. She is passionate about developing educational programs and attended Columbia University, Teachers College, receiving an MA in International Educational Development. Jennifer has taught English as a Second Language and Social Studies to elementary and middle school students, written curricula, started school libraries, and developed summer and after-school programs, as well as, a variety of other activities related to assisting schools in reaching their optimal growth. She is employed at the Harker School as the Director of Global Education. Jennifer is very active and loves camping, hiking, and going to the beach with her two children, who both attend Discovery's Phoenix campus.