our board

The Board of Directors is a diverse group of parents and community members committed to meaningful educational experiences for children. Joanna Hastings serves as a member ex officio without vote as Head of School. The Board sets and oversees school policies, hires and oversees the Head of School, maintains financial oversight, and plans for the long term future of the school. Members serve three-year terms, with the potential of re-election for a second term. To inquire about serving on the board, click here.

Fran Loosen

Fran Loosen is a member of the Summers-Knoll Board, and is a former president of the Board. Fran works for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as the foundation's Knowledge Officer where she focuses on innovation practices and knowledge transfer. She has worked for 15 years in the social sector and recently completed a MBA/MPA from the University of Michigan. She currently chairs the Strategic Vision committee and works with school administration on a variety of projects related to branding, fundraising and strategy.

"My love for Summers-Knoll began when my son joined Kindergarten and has grown exponentially as I have gotten to know the community of parents, students, and staff. I am thrilled to watch the creative and inspiring work of the teachers and wish I could squeeze back into the small chairs to have the SK experience myself."

Matt Berg

Matt Berg is the Treasurer of the Board. He joined the SK Board in fall of 2010. He currently works as the Associate Director for Business Operations at the Wayne State University Office of Housing and Residential Life.

Matt has almost 30 years experience working as a financial manager for a variety of educational and non-profit organizations. Some of the organizations he has worked with include Cranbrook Schools, Frankel Academy and Marygrove College. Matt thas also worked with ISACS on school accreditation, the Midwest Business Managers and Survey Chair and The National Business Officers Association as a founding board member and Secretary.

“American education has reached a critical juncture. Traditional methods of teaching do not keep pace with the demands of an increasingly complex society. Summers-Knoll pushes the learning envelope in a positive direction. I am honored to help in this process.”

Karen Godwin

Karen Godwin is the Secretary of the board. She is currently heads up the B2B Markets U.S.sales team for Google with a deep focus on talent and leadership development as well as growing mid-market businesses through the power of Google's media platform. Karen has twenty years of experience with marketing, product management and sales primarily for global companies and brands such as Kodak, Excite@Home, Webcrawler, Midas and a handful of Silicon Valley startups. After a decade in San Francisco, Karen and her husband Michael, who is a native of southeast Michigan, moved to Ann Arbor to be near family as they raise their son, Oliver.

"Joining the Board of Summers Knoll will allow me to be more than just a consumer of the magic that this school weaves for my son and his classmates. There is no doubt that collaboration with this team will be a rich learning experience and I am honored to offer my talents and passion during this next phase of exciting growth for the Summers-Knoll community."

Mark Stranahan

Mark is the Vice-President of the Board. He has four children, one of whom is in Kindergarten at Summers-Knoll this year. He is an architect and urban planner with degrees from the University of Michigan. He has worked advocating sustainable design and green development with several organizations, and with Chinese development issues, design for the elderly, business planning and finance, and development economics. He has served on boards of several organizations relating to children and childhood and on private foundation boards.

"Cognitively distinctive kids –talented, creative, advanced, precocious, gifted ones– are especially at risk of being underserved. For some kids, this kind of school can be a developmental necessity. All kids deserve to be known, cared for and nurtured. I am smitten by Summers-Knoll because the community of teachers truly knows its way around each child, and responds to the particular gifts of each. Summers-Knoll genuinely delivers on this promise. It's a great little school and I love it."

Paul Schutt

Paul Schutt is the President of the Board and chair of the Executive Committee. He is the co-founder of Issue Media Group, a media company that has created online magazines in 19 regions in the US and Canada. In 2004 Paul sold the technology company he co-founded and led for 10 years, The Collective. Paul also co-founded the Cleveland-based technology firm "Easy2 Technologies" in 1999, and he continues to serve on the board of directors. Paul also serves on the board of trustees of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

"My wife Megan and I feel fortunate that our son Oliver wakes up each morning and attends Summers-Knoll. The school's emphasis on experiential learning with a community focus is a perfect fit for our son and our worldview. I am excited to be part of a team that is working to help the school grow and therefore allowing it to offer opportunities to more parents and families."

Nick Lewis

Nick is a second year MBA student at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and joins the Summers-Knoll community through the Ross Board Fellows program for the second year running. In this role, Nick serves as a non-voting member of the SK board and will help to grow its marketing and development efforts in the coming year. Prior to enrolling at UM, Nick worked at Google Inc. in San Francisco as a marketing and advertising strategist, and before that he taught 2nd and 3rd grade children in under-resourced schools throughout the San Francisco Bay area through Teach for America.

"As a classroom teacher in a public school I was required to teach within the confines of a state-mandated curriculum. This dramatically limited my students' creativity and ability to explore their own thoughts and ideas. I am tremendously excited to support the efforts of such a nurturing and creative educational community."