Torrey Pines High School Foundation
Board of Directors

(TP Parent Volunteers)

Joe Austin

Executive Director

We want to welcome our new Foundation Director, Joe Austin, who recently retired from the Poway Unified School District, where he supported K-12 STEM and Career Technical Education pathway programs. Prior to coming to Poway Unified in 2017, he worked in San Diego Unified, where he was a principal for 15 years, and a technology coordinator and math teacher for another 10. He and his wife, Tami, are raising three children: Brooks (10), Parker (12), and Avery (17). Tami has taught in San Dieguito Union for over 20 years, and currently teaches Art and English at Earl Warren Middle School. They have lived in Solana Beach for the past 10 years.

Torrey Pines High School Foundation Staff

Angi Austin

Director of Operations

As a native San Diegan, Angi raised her family here in Carmel Valley-all three of her children are TPHS alumni. Angi’s background is in Operations & Project Management and after spending several years working as a liaison for the Dance Program it felt like a natural next step to join the Foundation staff.  Her main focus is on liaison support, donor recognition, family and staff connectedness as well as events and communication.  Angi thoroughly enjoys working with parent liaisons, volunteers, Foundation board members and the Foundation team.  When not at work, Angi loves spending time with family, good friends, being outside and working on updating her house.

Jan McDonald

Finance Manager

Working summer jobs at the San Diego Symphony SummerPops inspired Jan to get her degree in Accountancy at ASU. She has worked with several non-profits around the county and started her own company when hired at the DMSEF in 2005. Jan handles checks, deposits, reconciliations, preparing for the Audit and streamlining accounting functions. Her step-daughter graduated from CCA and is an undergrad at UW. When not at work Jan reads, hikes and bodysurfs at Torrey Pines beach. 

Paige Bezdek

Facilities

Paige joined the Foundation staff after years of volunteering in support of her three Falcon daughters — two current students and one alumna. Originally from the Midwest, she spent years pursuing her love of travel as an international flight attendant, which eventually led her here to San Diego. At the Foundation, she helps manage the scheduling and use of  TPHS facilities by internal and external groups, When not wearing her Foundation or mother hats, Paige is a dog mom to the world’s sweetest golden retriever.

Jaimy Clarkson

Office Assistant

Board of Directors

Recognized as one of the top high schools in California, Torrey Pines consistently excels in athletic, academic, visual/performing arts and other enrichment programs that offer students the opportunity to explore and develop interests on multiple platforms, including business, engineering, biotech, robotics, etc. The Board of Directors’ role is to ensure that continues.

Board-of-Directors_TraciAcers

Traci Acers - President

Traci has been a San Diego resident for over forty years and is a proud Falcon community member and parent. As a former teacher and school counselor she is passionate about working with school systems, community projects/support, and in the social-emotional learning realm.  Traci has been very involved in the Carmel Valley community as a Girl Scout Leader, Ocean Air PTA Board member, CVMS PTA Board member, PTMS PTSA Board member, and Teen Volunteers in Action Board member.  Traci is excited and honored to work with the TPHS Foundation to foster student and parent connectedness and support Torrey Pines High School staff with their educational goals. We are TP!

David Loseke

Past President (2021-2022)

David lives in Solana Beach with his wife, two daughters (one is a TP Alum and the other is an incoming senior) and two rescue dogs.  He is Managing Director of First Republic Bank with a long history of advising institutions and non-profits to meet their financial goals directly through banking and finance.  He was formerly on the board of the San Diego Police Foundation prior to joining the TPHS Foundation.  

Go Falcons! 

Delisa Deleo

VP – Finance

DeLisa moved to San Diego in 1993 and lives in Torrey Hills with her husband, Peter, daughter, MeLina (who is currently attending TPHS graduating in 2024) and foster fail pup Lillee.  For 16 years she’s owned and operated an accounting firm specializing in bookkeeping for small business owners.  She is also currently serving as a board member of the Torrey Hills Planning Board and assists on their Maintenance Area District committee. In the past she served as President/Treasurer of her HOA and as VP of Special Events with Scripps’s San Diego Parent Connection.  When she’s not working or volunteering, you can find her on a pickleball court, entertaining friends, drinking wine, and traveling the world with her family.

Stephanie McGuire

VP – Development

Stephanie is a veteran marketing executive with over thirty years of consumer  marketing, large-scale fund-raising and non-profit organizational leadership experience.  After starting a family, Stephanie turned her attention toward leading strategic planning, program development, marketing and fund-raising for several Non-Profit enterprises including The San Diego Zoo Global, The Junior League of San Diego, Teen Volunteers In Action, Girl Scouts USA, The Del Mar Pines Foundation for Education and National Charity League. She has served the San Diego community for almost twenty-five years as a volunteer leader and/or board member. Stephanie and her husband Don, a TPHS Class of ’84 alumni have three children, Max and Sam both TPHS alumni and a daughter Katie who is a rising senior.

Brian Kanig

Recording Secretary

Brian is proud to support Torrey Pines High School as a parent and Foundation Board member as we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2023-2024. Along with Aimee and their son Rex, who is a rising senior, Class of 2024 and a TP baseball team member, have been residing in Carmel Valley for the last 19 years. A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Brian moved out to the West Coast, where he graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Brian has previously been an inspired Board member of the Alzheimer’s Association, where he Co-Chaired an Alzheimer’s Memory Walk, was instrumental to the success of an annual Alzheimer’s Golf tournament and organized several Winemaker dinners and guest Bartending events to exceed fundraising goals. Brian is also quite proud of being a Manager and Coach for many years for the Del Mar Little League and has served as Chair of the Torrey Hills Elementary School Site Council. Brian is Sales Director, North America, for Eclipse Sports Events US, specializing in corporate hospitality experiences for the marquee sporting events. Brian’s focus is to continue working with the local business community to exceed fundraising goals that directly support student and classroom enrichment and teacher appreciation. Go Falcons! Become a TPHS Supporter!

Michelle Bailey

Board Member

Michelle is a proud Falcon parent as well as a graduate from the San Dieguito Unified High School District, LCC class of 1997. For the past 10 years, Michelle has dedicated her time to leading youth inside and outside of the classroom with her business and education experience.  She brings a passion for philanthropy, community projects, communication, and lots of Falcon spirit!  Michelle is excited to foster further student engagement and parent connectedness with what is happening at Torrey Pines High School.  

Michelle Baker

Board member

Michelle has lived in San Diego ever since attending University of San Diego, School of law.  She specializes in employment law.  Michelle is an active member of various employment law sections of the State Bar of California, American Bar Association and San Diego County Bar Association.  She has conducted numerous seminars for various business and professional organizations on business and employment law issues.  Over the past two decades Michelle has volunteered her time to nonprofit organizations that help children whether it was by providing after school activities or enhancing school programs to help provide children a well-rounded education in safe environments.

Nesli Ciner

Board Member

Nesli has been a PTA President in New York City both at PS 151 and Wagner Middle School as well as a board member at the Clinton School for over 8 years. She served as the VP of District 2 President’s. Once the Ciner family moved to San Diego, Nesli continued to serve as the School Site Council representative for CVMS at the district level as well as the PTSA president for CVMS. At TPHS as a board member Nesli served as the Teacher Appreciation committee chair along with Junior parent liaison. Equity in education is one of her top priorities and Nesli loves working to achieve the best possible outcome for all parties involved. Nesli co-runs a family real estate business as well as a high-end food and wine import and distribution company with her husband. For fun, Nesli loves to cook, entertain, attend their kids’ sports activities and travel with their family. Their son Kaya is a TP Alum and their daughter Lara is an incoming Senior at TPHS.

Kendra Farber

Board Member

Kendra has been involved in community outreach programs for over 20 years. At the beginning of her career, she worked at Amgen and Agouron Pharmaceuticals supporting the company’s Community Outreach Programs from American Cancer Society, Make a Wish Foundation, Mama’s Kitchen, San Diego Gay Pride Parade, AIDS Walk etc.  Once she started her family, she kept her passion for volunteering alive through the schools and programs her three children have been affiliated with.  She held numerous roles on the Ocean Air Elementary PTA board  from Ways and Means, Membership, Volunteers, and Programs.   

Alison Gaconnet

Board Member

A resident of San Diego for the past fifteen years, Alison Gaconnet joins the Torrey Pines Foundation board with a background in communications.  Prior to moving to San Diego, she worked in the US Senate for the Senate Judiciary Committee followed by the Motion Picture Association of America in the office of Legislative Affairs.  A mother of three, Alison has been extremely involved in the education community as PTA President and a Member of the School Site Council.  She cares deeply for issues that affect parents, students, and teachers.  Alison is honored to support our children’s education at Torrey Pines High School by serving on the Torrey Pines Foundation Board.

Silvia Greenbaum

Board Member

Silvia moved from South Brazil to California in 1997 for her Masters in Architecture. She and her husband, Dan have been living in the Torrey Pines community for over 10 years with their 3 kids.  She is currently involved with Teen Volunteers in Action, Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute, Starlings Volleyball Foundation, Scripps Cancer Nonprofit as well as other charities. She loves to be busy with her family, dog Wiley and crafts. Traveling with her family and friends is also one of her favorite things to do.  She also enjoys learning about other cultures and languages. 

Joanna Herman

Board Member

Joanna is a proud Falcon parent (classes of 2025 and 2027) and a graduate of Torrey Pines High School, class of 1994.  Joanna is a Partner with Major, Lindsey & Africa, an executive legal search firm.  She specializes in working with companies to build and strengthen in-house legal departments within Southern California and across the country.  Before joining Major, Lindsey & Africain 2013, Joanna spent over a decade working at law firms in San Diego, including Morrison & Foerster and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper), where she focused on product liability and commercial litigation, working with clients across various industries including pharmaceutical, medical device, toxic torts and aviation. Joanna has previously served on the Board of Directors and held various leadership roles, including that of President, at Congregation Beth Am.  Joanna has a law degree from Harvard Law School and received her undergraduate degree from Columbia College, Columbia University.  Go Falcons!

Doreen Hom

Board Member

Doreen is a native San Diegan whose profession is a biologist at Scripps Research. Her passion is volunteering in her children’s schools from elementary all the way through college. She has held (and currently holds) various leadership roles in unit, council, and district PTAs. She is also on the administration staff at San Diego North County Chinese School, as well as on the board for San Diego Chinese Cultural Association. As an alumni parent at TPHS (class of 2015 and 2017), she has been on the Foundation board since 2012, has and currently serves on various school/district committees including being the Badminton liaison (since its inception as a CIF sport at TPHS in 2015).

Pamela Marnell-McDevitt

Board Member

Pamela is a veteran marketing executive with over 25 years experience, most recently serving as Chief Marketing Officer & SVP, Strategy at one of the world’s largest privately held global software & services companies. Since her retirement and her family’s move to San Diego, Pamela has provided strategic consulting to technology companies, supported her family in their endeavors and become involved in the local community. Pamela and her husband Damien have three boys, Conor, Finn (both TPHS alumni) and Aran who is an incoming TPHS Sophomore. Pamela is also on the board of Teen Volunteers in Action, an organization for young men and their families committed to developing community leaders through volunteerism, philanthropy, and personal growth. She is honored to be able to support the TPHS community by serving on the board of the TPHS Foundation.

Kerily McEvoy

Board Member

Kerily joined the Torrey Pines HS Foundation in 2020 when her oldest daughter became a Falcon immediately putting her 30 years technical and software skills to use in helping to relaunch the Foundation website and select a new marketing and web design partner. Alongside her software product management career focused on startups, Kerily holds many volunteer positions including serving on the board of the Solana Beach Schools Foundation for the past 7 years and as philanthropy liaison for I Love a Clean San Diego and Meals on Wheels for National Charity League

Suzanne Miller

Board Member

Suzanne has lived in San Diego for the past 25 years.  She lives in the Torrey Pines HS community with her husband and 2 children.  She has one son who currently attends Torrey Pines High School who plays baseball and runs cross country, and her daughter will be an incoming Freshman this year.  Suzanne has been involved in many charitable organizations including Junior League of San Diego and volunteer coordinator for Touch a Truck.
She is currently involved with Teen Volunteers in Action helping young men to develop their leadership program and the National Charity League helping young women do the same.
In addition, she has served on the Solana Beach Schools Foundation as co-president and was active on the Solana Highlands Site Council.

Beth Munce

Board Member

After 11 years managing national and international large-scale advertising campaigns for clients like Apple, Toyota and Taco Bell, Beth turned her attention to recruiting for the advertising industry.  Since 2013 she has owned and managed her own recruiting firm, Beth Matthews Collective LLC, from her home office.  For the past 16 years Beth has dedicated her time and resources toward bringing excellence to public schools.  She has served on numerous Site Councils, PTA Boards, fundraising committees and more.  Her husband, Brian, a Torrey Pines alum, and she have 3 children:  one Torrey Pines grad now studying at UC Davis, one Junior at Torrey Pines, and a 6th grader in the Solana Beach School District.

Susan Polizzotto

Board Member

Susan is in her 5th year of TPHS Foundation board service and 3rd year as a parent liaison for the Torrey Pines Dance Team. She is employed at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. leading product marketing for industrial IoT (Internet of Things).  She also serves as a national vice president for Sigma Kappa Sorority and president of the NCL San Dieguito chapter. Previously she also served as president of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation. Susan is a graduate of University of Southern California. Married to Jeff, they have two daughters, a 2022 graduate and junior at TPHS who is on the dance team. When she’s not volunteering in her community, she loves to travel and discover new places to eat.

Brandon Roach

Board Member

An experienced business executive and private equity investor, Brandon is the founder and President of Global Ag Insurance Services. Prior to founding Global Ag, Brandon served as a Vice President at Summit Partners, a global private equity firm.  Prior to that he worked at McKinsey & Company and served as an officer in the United States Navy.  Brandon holds a BS with Distinction from the United States Naval Academy, an MA in Education from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He is honored to support the TPHS community by serving on the Torrey Pines Foundation Board.

Daphna Stewart

Board Member

Raymond Weale

Board Member

Ray has already had 2 sons graduate from TPHS with one at Harvey Mudd College the other at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and currently has a daughter at Torrey. Ray is also the former President of the CVMS Parent Teach Associate. He is a senior business/IT executive with more than 25 years of experience in innovative solution development, cyber security, enterprise architecture design, and digital transformation leadership. He has led international and multicultural teams throughout his career working with some of the most respected global companies in the airline, consumer packaged goods and banking services industries in the UK, USA, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

Ray is currently the COO for a global company based here in San Diego.

Join the Board

Without TPHSF Torrey Pines High School cannot remain great, because the school budget does not provide the funding to go from good to great. With  exceptional programs and an enriching immersive social and emotional experience students grow and achieve in exceptional ways. We are here to make sure that every student reaches their potential.