LGEF Board, Staff, and Volunteers

LGEF succeeds due to the talent and effort of many dedicated individuals, including both school parents and community members. 

LGEF Board 2020-21

​President
​Selin Gurses-Acar
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​Selin is President of LGEF and is in her fifth year with the organization, having formerly served as Treasurer and as Daves Avenue Campus Captain. Selin and her husband Tolga have twin sons at Fisher Middle School. She is a financial consultant and is excited to work with LGEF to ensure all students get a well-rounded education that includes art, science, music and counseling.  
Perliamentarian and VP Major Donors
​Regina Barhydt             
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​Regina is in her sixth year as an LGEF stalwart, having served as President for the past two years. She is currently leading outreach to our Major Donors. Originally from Germany (near Lake Constance), Regina has an 8th grade boy at Fisher and two boys who graduated from Los Gatos High. A former Lexington Home & School Club President, Regina understands that it takes all of our parent organizations working together ​to reach our children's full potential.
Treasurer
Beth Jackson
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Beth is in her second year with LGEF and is currently serving as Treasurer. A mother of four, she has a seventh grader at Fisher as well as a fifth grader and twin third graders at Daves Avenue. Beth is a former Home & School Club Treasurer at Daves Avenue Elementary and is excited to get more involved with LGEF. Beth is also a CPA, who for many years worked for a large professional services firm.
​Secretary
Becky Tanner

Becky is now in her second year as LGEF as Board Secretary. She has a son in 7th grade at Fisher Middle School and a daughter in 5th grade at Daves Avenue. Becky has spent the past 20+ years in various leadership roles within Marketing organizations. She is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Wisk, an Urban Air Mobility company based in Mountain View. Although she loves her corporate side, she is excited to be more engaged with her community— a community that she has resided in since a young girl. In addition to her LGEF role, Becky is also on the Home & School Club Board for Daves Avenue.  
Blossom Hill Captain and Social Media Chair
​Eric Dunstan
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Eric is in his 5th year of leading the LGEF outreach at Blossom Hill, and has taken on the additional role of Social Media Campaign Chair.  He and his wife, Dee Dee, have one son enrolled in 3rd grade at Blossom Hill and a second son in 6th grade at Fisher. A fifth-generation CA native, Eric was born and raised in Saratoga. He is passionate about preserving a family oriented community and ensuring children receive a well-rounded education including theater arts, science and music. As a realtor, Eric focuses on helping families new to the area settle into a new home and integrate into the community. In addition to serving on the LGEF board, Eric is a founding member of the LGEF Dean's List of Realtors.  
Daves Avenue Co-Captain
Jessica Johnson
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This is Jessica's second year on the LGEF Board, and she is Co-Captain at Daves Avenue. Jessica has two energetic boys at Daves Avenue Elementary in 2nd and 5th grades and a third boy who is a future preschooler. She is CEO of a successful business and enjoys reading, traveling, and volunteering in the community. Jessica is a current Cub Scout Den Leader, a past Chair of the Daves Ave Home & School Club Auction, and a sustaining member of Junior League of San Jose.
Daves Avenue Co-Captain
Kristin Owens
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Kristin is an experienced LGEF board member, and former LGEF President.  She currently leads our efforts at Daves Avenue in partnership with her Co-Captain. Kristin and her husband, Erik, have five children ranging in age from 8 to 30 years old, including a 3rd grader at Daves Avenue and a 6th grader at Fisher. A Global Director of technology marketing at a professional services firm, she and her family enjoy walks to the park, bike riding, playing at the beach, and watching movies. Kristin says she joined LGEF “to become involved in making sure my child has the best education possible. And because my wonderful friend Frances had a captive audience for a 7-hour car ride, and spent the whole time telling me how wonderful LGEF was. And she was totally right!”
Fisher Captain
​Erik Iversen
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​A dedicated and long-serving board member, Erik is starting his ninth!! year with LGEF, where he is Fisher Captain.  He and his wife, Sarah, have one child at Fisher middle school and another now in High School. Erik, a Realtor, joined LGEF to continue to develop the partnership between LGEF and the Home & School Clubs, and to help parents understand how the two work together to support our kid’s education. ​In addition to serving on the LGEF board, Erik is a founding member of the LGEF Dean's List of Realtors.
Lexington Captain
Jessalyn Rizzi
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Jessalyn is excited to join the board this year to lead LGEF efforts at Lexington. Jessalyn and her husband, Vince, have three children in our district, a 2nd and 5th fifth grader at Lexington and a 7th grader at Fisher. Jessalyn also serves on the Lexington Home and School Club board where she has held a wide range of roles over the past six years, including two years as President. She looks forward to continuing the collaboration between all the Home and School Clubs and LGEF as we work towards a stronger Los Gatos school community. Jessalyn is a graduate student in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University.
Van Meter Co-Captain
​Matt Fondiller
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Matt is starting his fifth year as LGEF campus captain for Van Meter. He and his wife, Maureen, have a 7th grader at Fisher and a 4th grader at Van Meter. A senior marketing manager for a tech company, Matt says he joined LGEF because, “It’s a great way to get involved with my children’s education while giving back to the community.” His goal as captain is to bring more LGEF awareness to Van Meter and improve the parent participation rate.
Van Meter Co-Captain
​Mark Vantress
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Mark joined the LGEF board this year as Van Meter Co-Captain. He and his wife Tasmin have two daughters, a 3rd grader at Van Meter and a 6th grader at Fisher. A realtor with Sereno group, he joined LGEF to ensure every student gets the support they need and to encourage other parents to get more involved. Mark is heavily involved himself as a Soccer coach, Y-Guides parent, room parent, cornerstone reader and art docent. In addition, Mark somehow found the time to chair the 2019-20 Van Meter Home & School Club fundraising campaign.

LGEF Staff

LGEF Executive Director
​Deborah Weinstein
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Deborah is in her eighth year with LGEF and sixth as Executive Director; previously she was Daves Campus Captain and Co-Chair of the LGEF Major Donor Group.  She currently has a son at Fisher Middle School and a daughter at Los Gatos High. Deborah has been serving our town and raising funds for years, including: Co-Chair of Community Campaign for the Capital Campaign for the Los Gatos Library, Fundraising Chair for Los Gatos Parent Nursery School Board, Member of Los Gatos General Plan Update Committee, and Member of North 40 Specific Site Plan Committee.
LGEF Strategic Business Partner
​Coby Bennette
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Coby has been LGEF Strategic Operations Business Partner for five years. In this role she develops strategy for maximizing donor contributions, plans and implements LGEF technical systems, leads the annual matching grant campaign, processes donations, supports donors... and much more. She and her husband have two boys at Los Gatos High. Coby is an involved Los Gatos parent, and was formerly President of Van Meter Home & School Club and Board Secretary for Fisher Home & School Club.

LGEF Teacher Advisory Council

The ongoing advice and advocacy of the LGEF Teacher Advisory Council is essential to accomplishing our mission of supporting teachers and staff. We thank all our council members for their service.

Holly Benjamin
​Mark Fanderl
Shelley Gage
​Julia Lombardi
Fran Mastroianni
Julie Young

LGEF Volunteers

The LGEF board would like to thank the many volunteers who have chosen to help our students, contributing their valuable time to LGEF during the current school year.

These volunteers are parents, staff, and other community members.  They assist in a wide range of areas such as driving our vehicle in the holiday parade, business development, finance committee, developing video or photos, or representing LGEF to a grade level at a particular school.
​
Thank you LGEF Volunteers!  Your efforts are important and appreciated.
Karen Briones
Janette Canare
Carrie Dean 
Kate Ferguson
Andrew Ferguson
Jim Fredette
Maria Gerst
​Kate Gude
Chris Giordano​
Sarah Johnston
John Kuntzmann
Dorice Piraino-Sharp
Alex Potts
Kim Richman
Ryan Rosenberg
Kim Simon
Michelle Srachtan
Hillari Zighelboim​

LGUSD Board Liaisons to LGEF

Trustee, Los Gatos Union School District Board
​Peter Noymer
[email protected]​

A member of the LGUSD Board of Trustees, Peter has lived in Los Gatos with his family since 2003. He and his wife have three children and have had amazing experiences at Van Meter and Fisher. You can read more about Peter here.
Trustee, Los Gatos Union School District Board
​Courtney Monk
[email protected]​

A member of the LGUSD Board of Trustees, Courtney has focused her career on improving educational outcomes and opportunities for students from all backgrounds. She and her husband have two children at Lexington Elementary. You can read more about Courtney here.
Get involved and ​use your skills 
​to help your child's school.