Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board
Arambula was a member of Summit’s faculty for over a decade, before shifting his focus towards creating transformative change in his hometown of Fresno, CA. He joined Summit Preparatory Charter High School as a social science teacher at the beginning of its third year of operation and taught for six years. After stepping out of the classroom, Arambula helped launch Summit’s first high school that integrated a blended learning model, Summit Public School Rainier, in East San Jose. After a year as the founding Executive Director of Rainier, he moved into the role of Chief Growth & Innovation Officer, helping to expand Summit schools and infuse innovation throughout the organization. Prior to coming to Summit Public Schools, Arambula served as Communications Director for Congressman Cal Dooley, after serving as Deputy Campaign Manager. He holds a BA in government, with honors from Harvard University and a MA in education from Stanford University.

Prior to Pahara, Lizzie served as the Chief Program Officer at Summit Public Schools, where she led the Summit Learning Program. Under her leadership, the program grew from the founding cohort of 19 schools across ten states to 380 schools in 40 states serving over 65,000 students. Partnering with a diverse range of schools reinforced Lizzie’s commitment to equity and her appreciation for collaboration. Her time in the classroom as Summit Everest’s founding Algebra II teacher is where she discovered her passion for helping students and adults develop pathways to reach their full potential.

In addition, Lizzie partners with organizations through seasons of growth and scale and coaches senior leaders. She previously led sales and customer success for Desmos’ new middle school math curriculum, partnered with Moonshot edVentures, Prepared Parents, Strive, and Swing Education. She has also acted as an Advisor for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lizzie received her BA in public policy, with an emphasis on education policy, from Stanford University and her MA from the Stanford Teacher Education Program. In her free time, she enjoys the arts, spending time with family and friends, and discussing Enneagram.

Michele Hansen is an advocate in the education space and a former educator herself, who started as a first grade teacher in the Poway Unified School District and soon after became a First Grade Team Leader. For the next nine years, Michele spent her time at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, CA, leading marketing and engineering teams, forging external relationships, supported in defining joint goals, strategies and budgets for Hewlett Packard’s Executive Team.  Michele then joined California Charter Schools Association as the Vice President of Products and Services, while managing the public relations, marketing, data analytics, finance and strategic planning. Previously, Ms. Hansen served as the is currently the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Activate Instruction, which provides an enriched, personalized learning experience through playlists. Ms. Hansen presently serves in a volunteer capacity as the Vice-Chair of The Girard Foundation Board of Directors.

Michele received a Bachelor Degree in Government from Claremont McKenna College, a Masters in Education from Stanford University, an Elementary Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from the University of California, San Diego and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the the J.L Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Michele’s experience and knowledge about instruction, business management, finance, professional development, public relations and marketing as well as organizational leadership make Michele an exceptional nominee for the Summit Public Schools Board of Directors.

As a Portfolio Director at Transcend Education, Jimmy co-leads the Network Team’s strategy to expand access to community-driven school design by creating the conditions and coalitions necessary for schools to reimagine what is possible for students. To power this work, Jimmy focuses on equipping teams to achieve ambitious goals, fostering collaboration that drives innovation, and leveraging data to align priorities and measure progress. These efforts have strengthened Transcend’s ability to support communities around the country in creating extraordinary learning environments for every student.

Previously, at Panorama Education, Jimmy partnered with school and district leaders nationwide, coaching them to use whole-child data to drive meaningful school improvement. Earlier in his career, he spent eight years at Summit Public Schools, teaching high school English and later serving as Executive Director of Summit Everest. In that role, he led the school through critical transitions, including the rapid shift to virtual learning during the pandemic.

With the support of the Gates Millennium Scholarship, Jimmy earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Educational Studies from Tufts University, where he focused on systemic inequities in education. He also holds a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University, where he studied approaches like Complex Instruction to design inclusive, high-performing classrooms.

Before her work leading at Summit, Malia was an assistant school leader and teacher at the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, IL. She began her teaching career in the Bronx where the incredible young people in her classes taught her the magic that can happen in a classroom and the transformational possibility of school when we get it right.

Malia was born on Kauai and connects her deep belief in the power of diversity to growing up in a culturally rich and diverse community. Malia is an alum of Seattle University and Columbia University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two sweet, energetic sons. In her free time, you can find Malia watching the sunrise over Lake Washington with her rowing team or eating great food in friends’ homes or in Seattle’s great restaurants.

Ms.Gooneratne received her Bachelor of Science from Oklahoma State University in Business Administration and Management, and her Master’s in Business Administration and Organizational Leadership from Ashford University Graduate School of Business.

Mafara is the current Director of Communications at the Swedish Medical Center where she directs strategy, plans, executes internal communications and public affairs across five hospitals and seven campuses in the Seattle area. Mafara joined the Swedish Medical Center after more than two years as the Executive Communications Director at the City of Seattle. Mafara came to Seattle after serving an appointment in the Office of General Services in the Obama Administration.

Mafara has deep roots in public education advocacy and was a pivotal member of Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty’s team at a time of significant transformation within the DC public school district. Later Mafara joined forces with StudentsFirst a national non-profit organization in support of education reform based in Sacramento. As the Marketing and Communications Chief, she drove digital and social media strategies in creating a grassroot movement to attract and engage more than one million parents, students and public school advocates across the country to join forces with the movement. Mafara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Howard University.

Leslie received her Bachelor of Science, Double Major in Accounting and Finance from Portland State University, and a Master of Science in Financial Analysis from Portland State University. She is a CFA charterholder and a licensed CPA. She is a parent to two school-aged children and lives in Seattle.

Stefan received his B.A in Spanish and Sociology from the University of Washington and his master’s degree from Loyola Marymount University in Urban Public School Administration.