Josette Ayers
Lorena, TX

Josette Ayres is President of PPS-Waco. Mrs. Ayres serves as member of the Waco Independent School District’s Advanced Academic Advisory Council, NCLB Parent Advisory Council, School Health Advisory Council, and the Student Safety Council. She has served as the PTA President at Hillcrest Elementary PDS and as a Parent Representative for the Campus Decision Making Committee at Hillcrest PDS and Tennyson Middle School. A native of Albany, Georgia, she is a graduate of the Dougherty County Public Schools and Spelman College. Mrs. Ayres and her husband, Sherman, are the proud parents of two daughters; Morgan, a graduate of Spelman College and the Lorena public schools, and Kennedy a rising Waco High School student.

Jim Berry
Cincinnati, OH

Jim Berry has been an active member of PPS-Greater Cincinnati, where he has served as treasurer. He has extensive private sector experience in information technology and data centers, including more than twenty years with Milacron, Inc., in Cincinnati. A graduate of Thomas More College, he has served as Treasurer of the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) Foundation, President of the Mt. Washington Cemetery Association, as well as on the board of the Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United, Human Services Advisory Commission - City of Cincinnati, and Budget Commission, Transportation Committee, Superintendent Search Committee for the Cincinnati Public School district.

Anne Buffington
Starkville, MS

Anne Cherry Buffington and her husband, Rex, are active members of the PPS-Starkville (MS) chapter. They are the parents of two children, John Gavin, a junior at Starkville High School and Catherine a 8th grader at Armstrong Middle School. Anne has served as the PTA president at Sudduth Elementary School, as well as an officer in the PTA at Ward Stewart Elementary and Armstrong Middle School. A graduate of Mississippi State University, where she has taught courses in public speaking, and public relations, Buffington served as US Senator Thad Cochran’s education advisor for the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, as well as Deputy Press Secretary. She has worked as news director at WOKK/WALT radio and as a reporter and anchor for WTOK-TV, both in Meridian, MS. From 2003 to 2008, Buffington served as a member of the Starkville School District’s Board of Trustees and was elected President for two years.

Alicia Edgar
Seattle, WA

Alicia Edgar is co-founder of the PPS chapter, Community & Parents for Public Schools of Seattle where she served for five years as a board member and past president. She received her Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington with a focus on non-profit management. Her experience includes 13 years at the University of Washington where she was a development director and major gifts officer. In addition to her work with PPS, Alicia serves on numerous non-profit boards in the Seattle area, works as a fundraising and special events consultant, and is an active amateur musician. She and her husband are the parents of a son who attends middle school in Seattle Public Schools.

Arnold F. Fege
Washington D.C.

Arnold F. Fege is Director of Public Engagement and Advocacy for the Public Education Network (PEN), and is co-author of the PEN Guide on NCLB Parental and Community Involvement. He has over 30 years of public education and child advocacy experience and has experience as a public school teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and desegregation director. As a staff person for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, he helped draft provisions in the original ESEA legislation and was present when President Lyndon Johnson signed the measure into law in March 1965 and has been involved in each reauthorization of ESEA. Fege is the recipient of numerous awards including the 1983 Roosevelt Center Congressional Child Advocacy Award, the 1998 National PTA President’s Recognition for Outstanding Child Advocacy, and the 2000 Nelson Mandela Award for International Education Leadership and Social Justice.

Violeta García
San Francisco, CA

Violeta is an active member of the PPS-San Francisco chapter. She is a former Mexico City journalist. She is the mother of two children. She has worked for seven years as the Parent Liaison at San Francisco public schools where she helps Spanish speaking families and works to bridge the cultural and economic gaps between the Anglo, Chinese and Latino parents in the school community. As a recognized advocate for immigrant families, Violeta has participated at the district level in the Bilingual Community Council and the Parent Advisory Committee and works to organize families in their school communities through the English Learner Advisory Committees.

Craig Gill
Jackson, MS

Craig Gill is the Vice President of the board for PPS-Jackson (MS). He and his wife, Liz, have been involved in the public school system and in PPS since moving to Jackson in 1998. They have three children in Jackson Public Schools. Craig is the Editor-in-Chief and Assistant Director of the University Press of Mississippi, a not-for-profit scholarly publisher affiliated with the eight state universities of Mississippi.

Doug McDurham Secretary/Treasurer
Waco, TX

Doug McDurham has served as president of the PPS-Waco chapter and in various leadership roles with the local, city and regional PTA, among other civic activities. He is executive director of Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas. In 2007, Doug was awarded a CIS National H.B. Baldwin Fellowship that allowed him to explore, write, and train on engaging the parents of students at risk of dropping out of school. Doug holds a BS in Education and Masters in Social Work and teaches in the Baylor University School of Social Work. He and his wife, Robin (a public school principal), are the parents of Dakota and Zane McDurham, students in Waco public schools.

Pamela Percival | Syracuse, NY

Pamela Percival is a founding member and past president of the PPS-Syracuse chapter. She currently serves on the Board of Directors and chairs the chapter’s Political Action Committee. She is a psychologist in private practice and worked for many years as Chief Psychologist at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, also in Syracuse. She and her husband, Richard O’Neill, are parents of two sons who graduated from the Syracuse City School District.

Brewster Rhoads
Distinguished Trustee
Cincinnati, OH

Brewster Rhoads is a co-founder of the Cincinnati Parents for Public Schools chapter. He served as National PPS Board President from 1999 to 2001. Rhoads is the SW Ohio Regional Director for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and has spent the past 30 years as a consultant for political candidates and ballot issues. He is married to Ann Lugbill, and they have two daughters (Elisabeth and Caroline) who both graduated from Cincinnati Public Schools.

Neal Robinson
Distinguished Trustee
Jackson, MS

Neal Robinson is an active member of the PPS-Jackson (MS) chapter. He graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Jackson State University and currently works with the US Department of Commerce. Formerly the Managing General Partner of an independent express freight contractor. He also is the founder of an entrepreneurial education project for middle and high school students and conducts marketing seminars/training for the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s rural transit system. He was a sales representative for 9 years with Warner Lambert, a fortune 500 company. He has experience in medical education, public relations, and volunteer recruitment with the American Cancer Society and Hinds County Health Department.

Lisa Schiff
2nd Vice President
San Francisco, CA

Lisa Schiff served on the board of the PPS-San Francisco chapter for four years, two years as President. She first became involved with PPS when investigating San Francisco's public schools for her twin daughters in 2002. In addition to her involvement with PPS, Lisa writes a weekly column on public education issues called "School Beat," which appears in the online paper BeyondChron. She works as a digital librarian in the California Digital Library at the University of California.

Vanessa White
Vice President
Cincinnati, OH

Vanessa White is Past President of the board of the PPS-Greater Cincinnati chapter. She is Director of Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives for the Fine Arts Fund in Cincinnati. In 2008, she was elected as a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education. Vanessa is a Walnut Hills High School graduate. She received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University. Vanessa and her husband Byron live in Cincinnati’s North Avondale neighborhood with their five children.

Doug Wells
President
Portland, OR

Doug Wells is President of the PPS National Board of Directors. He is currently a board member and formerly served as President of the PPS-Portland chapter. His other education involvement includes chairing the Portland citizen's budget review committee and as a member of the Mayor's education cabinet. Doug and his wife, Neeley, have a daughter in the 5th grade in the Portland Public Schools. They are actively involved in Stand for Children. He works as Chief Operating Office and Chief Financial Officer of the Oregon Ballet Theatre.

Deena Zacharin
San Francisco, CA

Deena Zacharin is co-founder and served as Executive Director of the PPS-San Francisco chapter from 1999 - 2001. After touring her local elementary school ten years ago, Deena observed that parents were not applying to the lower-performing schools in her community. Deena left her job as a lawyer and became PPS-SF’s Executive Director which she held for the next two years. Deena is currently the Director of the Office of School/Family Partnership for the San Francisco school district, where she recently drafted a district-wide Parent Engagement and Partnership Plan, and oversees 44 parent liaisons in the district’s lower-performing schools.