Candidates to the GISSV Board of Directors Election • May 2016 Rachel Beckert Christian Cramer Wael Ghandour Frank Harder Cay Horstmann Dr. Manfred Müller Rufus Pichler Kathrin Randall Sparky Robert Rhode Supriya Solbach Kareen Weissenberg 1 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Rachel Beckert Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (4th & 7th grade) Committee Interests​
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Facilities, Risk Management, Development Board Experience 2013 – 2016: GISSV Board. Presently head of Facilities Mountain View Committee. Previously head of Development and Facilities Committees. 2010 – 2016: Butano Country Club Treasurer Rachel Beckert has been an attorney since 1995. After completing her bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she taught English in Japan for two years, then returned to the U.S. to attend law school. She worked as a litigator for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company before taking time off to raise her children. Rachel and her husband, ​
Jörg, joi​
ned the GISSV Mountain View community when their oldest daughter started Kindergarten in 2008, this same daughter will be in eighth grade next year. Their younger daughter will enter middle school. Rachel has been on the GISSV board of directors for three years and was a PA for some years before that. Additionally, she has been the co­chair of the German Holiday Market for three years. As a parent, as a board member, as a fundraiser, Rachel has witnessed the evolution of GISSV from a small school with modest offerings to a thriving, robust program on three campuses with a wide range of activities during the school day, in the afternoons, in the evenings and on weekends. With this growth come challenges which Rachel has worked hard as a parent and a board member to address, including finding and improving permanent facilities for all three campuses. While some may not immediately appreciate the personalities of each campus, Rachel has lived eight years in Mountain View, lived thirteen years in San Francisco and grew up in Berkeley. Rachel's respect for the distinct cultures in these cities allows her to better understand the needs of each campus. Rachel has seen her children thrive academically and socially at GISSV and she is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the school. Serving as a member of the board of directors for the last German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 2 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate three years has been an honor. Rachel would like to continue the work already underway and asks for your vote to have her serve another three year term as a director. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 3 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Christian Cramer Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (4th & 9th grade) Committee Interests​
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Finance/Treasurer Board Experience ​
none My six word memoirs: Hamburger, exploring the world with 3 ladies. The three ladies who have been flexible enough to move from our hometown Hamburg to the Bay Area 4 years ago, although we (in fact it was really my wife) had just finished building a house, are my wife Eva­Maria, and my daughters Johanna and Frieda. Johanna (9A) and Frieda (4B) have been at GISSV for 4 years now. Based on our and their experience I really value the education and community that GISSV offers and would like to contribute my experience and time to the school to support the future development. The school has been growing a lot and will do so in the future. From my perspective this is also necessary to further improve the variety and quality of course offerings. For example in Sports, Music and Arts the course offerings are limited even in MTV, not to mention San Francisco or Berkeley. In order to take the school to the next level we will require a strong vision as well as sound long­term planning and significant investments. In talking to board members, I learned that my professional experience in Finance may be valuable for the board in order to create and execute against an ambitious long­term plan. Grown up in Hamburg, I studied Chemical Engineering in Munich, later I did my Master in Business Administration at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. After starting my career in consulting at Bain & Company, I worked in Finance and Corporate Development Functions at Bertelsmann for 6 years and for the last 8 years at Google. At Google I have been a Finance Director with focus on Financial Planning and Analysis, creating annual plans, tracking of business performance, deal modelling and approvals, investment management. Currently I am responsible for Finance for Google’s Apps and Cloud businesses. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 4 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Wael Ghandour Campus​
Mountain View​
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Children at GISSV​
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one (KiBiLi) Committee Interests​
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Risk Management, Development Board Experience ​
Experience on customer advisory boards for a few start­ups in the valley My history with the German school starts with my own schooling in Beirut at the DSB (Deutsche Schule Beirut). After graduating from the American University of Beirut in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, I moved to the U.A.E. where I worked in various network engineering roles for four years. Following that, I moved to Toronto, Canada, with my wife where I worked for Intercall and managed our global production network. When an opportunity with Cisco arose, we moved to the valley and have been living here with our 2 children since 2010. Our 5­year old son is finishing his year in Kindergarten at GISSV and is looking forward to 1st grade. We are planning for his sister to follow suit in due time. My wife decided to get involved at GISSV and has been a PA for the Hippos class, an experience that has brought her much closer to the school community. After spending 5 years at Cisco leading network and security engineering for the collaboration technology group in a variety of positions, I moved to Medallia in Palo Alto where I'm currently the principal security engineer, responsible for the security engineering and operations teams. In the various roles I've undertaken over the last 14 years in multiple operational theaters around the world, my responsibilities included managing global­scale distributed infrastructure projects, budgeting, and general vendor management including due diligence and negotiations. Also, customer RFPs/RFIs were a routine part of my job due to my team's involvements in compliance initiatives which had us interface with 3rd­party auditors. I’m also the co­founder of a startup focused on enterprise­grade learning management systems based on the Open edX platform. These technologies hold a lot of promise for the future and I’m quite excited to play a role in their evolution. Over two decades ago, Deutsche Schule Beirut, with a very similar if not identical mission to GISSV, left an indelible mark on my formation. For that reason and more, I can think of no better way to honor the enduring spirit of that mission than by serving on the GISSV Board of Directors to help further and cement that vision of the safe, nurturing haven that is GISSV. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 5 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Frank Harder Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (2nd & 10th grade) Committee Interests​
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Outreach, Strategy, Communication, Fundraising, Organizational Development Board Experience ​
Several Boards of companies that I or Samsung has invested in Frank Harder and his wife Beate Harder have two children at the GISSV and one adult daughter at college in Europe. Originally from Germany, the family calls California home for 10 years now. They live and work in San Jose. The two younger children were born in Germany (Melissa 16) and Santa Clara (Myles 8) and are attending GISSV’s Elementary and High School Campus in Mountain View. Both from 1st grade or pre­school respectively. Beate has been several times appointed to PA to classes of both Melissa and Myles. In addition she teaches in the afternoon club German as well as spends voluntarily time to entertain with games. Frank is Vice President at Samsung Electronics. He is responsible for driving growth and innovation through Samsung’s IoT strategy for system on module and cloud based portfolio development, as well as early customer deployment strategy for Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. He comes to Samsung with more than 15 years of experience having held key management roles in the areas of general illumination, automotive and consumer market verticals and has developed and grown multiple large scale businesses with major global OEMs and brands. In addition he is an experienced venture capitalist and invests into technology startup companies as well as assists in raising venture money. Frank holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Düsseldorf and graduated from Philips’ Octagon executive management program at Wharton University. Frank is holding university and college lectures to Master Classes of Engineering or MBA in change management, technology paradigm shifts and future technology trends. He loves working in cross­functional global teams and enjoys the diversity of Silicon Valley. By applying to the Board of Directors, Frank wants to give back to GISSV. For the past ten years, the school has been like a safe village where his children grew up in. Frank wants to ensure that GISSV will continue to be that safe village for many more generations to come. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 6 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Cay Horstmann Campus​
San Francisco Children at GISSV​
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two (4th grade) Committee Interests​
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Finance, Facilities Board Experience ​
GISSV board 2011 ­ 2013 I am the father of Charlotte and Emily in the San Francisco 4th grade who have been with GISSV since it started in San Francisco in 2011. (Before coming to GISSV, Charlotte and Emily were in preschool in the German school in Saigon.) I teach computer science at San Jose State University, am an author of many computer science books, worked in software startups, and owned a software company. I have experience in educational governance, management, and finance. I served on the GISSV board for two years. I grew up in Germany but have lived in the U.S. for 30 years, which gives me both a German and American perspective. My particular interest is in making GISSV an even more welcoming place for children and parents from all cultural backgrounds. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 7 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Dr. Manfred Müller Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (1st & 4th grade) Committee Interests Finance, Development, Facilities Board Experience ​
none Dr. Manfred Mueller and his wife Petra moved with their two sons from Bavaria into the Bay Area in summer 2015. Manfred works out of the US headquarters for the company which he had joined 16 years ago. Since then he had numerous trips to the US and in particular into the Silicon Valley so that California feels like home for him for a long time. Manfred holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Regensburg University in Germany and an M.B.A. from the Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. As business professional working in executive postitions for international IT and technology companies for over nearly two decades he will be able to bring a lot of experience to the table that involve dealing with people that have most different backgrounds, applying a high amount of diplomacy and decision making techniques based on data, input and facts on hand. Budgeting, finance, marketing, sales and corporate communication are further areas of his broad background. Being part of multi­national and cross­functional teams is what he is living and breathing all day. Despite him being part of the GISSV community for only less than a year, he had a chance to deeply dive into the society both as a caring parent and a fairly dedicated parent representative. He was able to show his full commitment in multiple occasions including the Christmas Market, parent association meetings and various other events. What really made him consider running for the GISSV board was the fact that with all dedication and commitment he still had a lot of fun in doing what he was involved in so far which in particularly did involve interacting with so many parents, teachers and staff members. Manfred does not expect things at GISSV to be run like in a company. As adjunct lecturer at various universities in Bavaria he had learned to bridge the gap from real life into educational science or theory and he knows that he will bring the right amount of expertise, sensitivity and common sense to the table. Manfred would be delighted to become part of the GISSV board and help to shape the future of our school. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 8 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Rufus Pichler Campus​
Berkeley Children at GISSV​
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one (1st grade) Committee Interests Risk Management, Facilities, Development Board Experience I have experience advising boards of companies in my capacity as an attorney. I am not currently on the GISSV board. I moved to the U.S. from Germany in 1999 and have lived in the Bay Area and New York City for the past 16 years. We have two children, Nuri, who is in first grade at GISSV in Berkeley, and Jem, who will join GISSV soon. When we relocated back to the Bay Area from New York we were thrilled about GISSV and that our children – and we as parents – would have the chance to become part of the GISSV community. We are grateful for the efforts others have put into building and growing the school. We see ourselves being part of the GISSV community for many years to come, and want to contribute to the school’s continued growth and development. I believe I can effectively support the school through participation on the board. I am an attorney by profession and studied law in Germany and at Stanford University. I am a partner at Morrison & Foerster, a leading international law firm, where I advise clients in the technology industry on commercial transactions and intellectual property matters. I also serve as one of the integration partners for my firm’s Berlin office and have professional connections to Silicon Valley and German companies in the technology industry. I am excited about the potential opportunity to serve on the board and bring to bear my professional experience, industry connections, and enthusiasm about GISSV. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 9 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Kathrin Randall Campus​
Berkeley​
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Children at GISSV​
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two (6th & 8th) Committee Interests​
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Governance and school development, Fundraising, Marketing, Facilities, Board Development Board Experience ​
GISSV Board of Directors, 2013 – 2016​
: Chair of HR Committee, Chair of Strategic Planning Committee. Member of Development, Facilities, as well as Berkeley/San Francisco Principal Search and Head of School Search Committee. Served on Mission, Tuition Support and CAIS Ad Hoc Committees. Liaison to Berkeley Campus. Represented GISSV at board member workshop at German Foreign Ministry (2015). ​
Staff member on Board of SFMOMA Docent Council (2009 – 2015)​
: Fundraising, strategic planning, governance, board development, change management. My reasons for the Board Candidacy are many. The first is gratitude and my wish to give back to the school. In the last 8 years since my children have started at GISSV, they have benefitted immensely from GISSV and its multi­cultural community, and fabulous teachers. Maintaining the quality, and continuing what is so great at our school in a time of leadership change will be a top priority. My professional background is in law and education. As a lawyer from Germany, I know how the German system and bureaucracies work, which is crucial for navigating the German administration, which provides so much funding for our school. Further, having worked for California non­profits since 2002 (first for California Lawyers for the Arts, then for SFMOMA), I understand well the context that GISSV operates in ­ which differs in important ways from commercial enterprises. As I am currently not working, I have the time and flexibility to use these skills for GISSV. Our future facilities needs will demand an increased amount of fundraising and development. Over my professional career, I gained experience in grant writing both at California Lawyers for the Arts and SFMOMA, and managed the annual fundraising drive of the SFMOMA Docent Council (2009­2015, including capital campaign initiatives). At GISSV, I supported the annual fund drive since its inception, initiated the Hillside 90 Celebrations, and co­organized the first ever GISSV Fundraising Gala. I treat my board responsibilities with the utmost seriousness and commitment. I served on the HR committee, the Development committee, and the school’s Strategic Planning committee. I joined the board to help build a vibrant, sustainable, multi­campus, multi­cultural future for GISSV. We have achieved a lot, but there remains much to do. I would be honored to be elected for another term. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 10 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Sparky Robert Rhode Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (KiBiLi & 1st grade) Committee Interests​
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Finance; Site Acquisition; CAIS Board Experience ​
Served on HOA board 1 year (3 months as president); served as officer in a few social clubs. Currently Dolphin KiBiLi Parent Association representative. You may have seen Sparky’s long hair waving in the wind as he shuttles his kids to GISSV in the front of their crazy 3­wheeled bike. Read on to learn more about the sensible man behind the splendid moustache. Age: 47 ; Spouse: Pam Greene ; Kids: Sara (1st grade), Abby (KiBiLi) ; Years in Germany: 5 ; Favorite German literary character: Conni Klawitter. Sparky has a B.A. in French and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and has worked for 20 years in tech, at both start­ups and well­known larger firms like Nortel, AMD, Palm, and Google. He has been an officer in a number of community organizations, including serving as president of the board of his Homeowners’ Association. Sparky and his family moved to Munich in 2010. Abby was born there, while Sara is from California, and both enjoyed bilingual preschool in Germany. Recognizing that multiculturalism is a gift, Sparky and Pam found GISSV a perfect fit for them and their kids upon returning to the USA in 2015. Sparky asks for your confidence to elect him to the GISSV board. As an engineer, he is always seeking an optimal solution. As a parent of young kids, he is planning for the long term. As an American, he can help bring a local perspective to our community. Together, we can evolve and improve GISSV as a place for our children to grow up in. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 11 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Supriya Solbach Campus​
Mountain View Children at GISSV​
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two (KiBiLi) Committee Interests Development, CAIS, Facilities, ​
Risk Management Board Experience Interaction with Board members in the Parents Association and Strategic Planning Workshop Supriya is mother to two daughters who are currently in the K­class and Preschool at the Mountain View campus. Having graduated from a nationally­accredited independent school (PK – 12) in Ohio, she knows first­hand what the benefits of an independent school education are and how the quality of the pedagogical approach prepares a student for future success in life and career. This is primarily why she and her husband, Ludger, send their daughters to GISSV. As a German­Indian­American family living in the Bay area, they also appreciate and benefit from the German language and cultural instruction that the school provides. After participating in the recent Strategic Workshop, Supriya is convinced of the tremendous opportunity GISSV has to expand on developing the “one school, three campuses” vision. With the facilities enhancements that are needed in all locations, particularly the Mountain View campus, there is no shortage of opportunity to build on relationships within the business and local communities to establish a foundation for GISSV’s expansion. As a Parent Representative, she’s effectively used her business acumen to clarify communication between staff and parents. As a Board member, she looks forward to expanding on this to build the strategic foundation on which GISSV will grow for years to come. Supriya’s nearly 20­year career is in the high­tech sector, as a Sales and Marketing Director focused on international business development and strategy with channels and alliances. She also has non­profit experience working with the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford in their annual fundraising committee and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
Page 12 of 13 2016 GISSV Board Candidate Kareen Weissenberg Campus​
San Francisco Children at GISSV​
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one (2nd grade) Committee Interests​
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Finance Committee, Treasurer Board Experience ​
I served on the board of directors of Centro Las Olas, a Spanish immersion preschool in San Francisco, from 2010 to November 2012. I was born and raised in Mexico City where I graduated from Universidad Tecnologica de Mexico and Universidad Anahuac with a BS in Business Administration and a master’s degree. I moved to Boston, Massachusetts where I completed my Finance Certification from Harvard University. I have an extensive background in corporate finance, having held a number of senior finance positions in the CPG sector, including 6 years with The Gillette Company in Mexico City and Boston, and 15 years with The Clorox Company in the Bay Area. My skill set can have a significant impact on the financial health and long term viability of the School. Also, I am a parent of a non­native German speaker which is a market that represents future growth for GISSV. I have a perspective that will resonate to future families interested in joining our community. Having served as a board member in a previous school, I find it to be a great honor to be selected by the community to help guide the education experience of our children, one that must be earned with constant effort and a strong commitment to serve. German International School of Silicon Valley www.gissv.org
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