Board of Trustees
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Donn Merriam
President
Mr. Donn Merriam is a licensed architect with almost four decades of experience with the vast majority of that time working with public K-12 institutions and non-profit organizations. Projects ranging from campus health and wellness centers to an organizational headquarters providing services for high-risk youth, infants, families, and adults. Additionally, elected to the Board of Education with the Emeryville Unified School District. During his tenure served as President and oversaw the construction and opening of a new TK-12 facility known as the Emeryville Center of Community Life. These endeavors reflect the guiding principle of enriching the lives of anyone who experiences the created space.​
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Elizabeth Isono
Trustee
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Ms. Isono, MSOTR/L is an occupational therapist currently in private practice in the East Bay Area with an undergraduate degree in neuropsychology from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree from Stanford University. Currently, she provides service to children, adolescents, and young adults with varying diagnosis impacting their functional performance at school, home or in the workplace. She works privately and also contracts with multiple schools throughout the Bay Area. Ms. Isono has been practicing since 1980, and her experience has dealt with children and adults with varied diagnosis in acute care, rehabilitation, educational and outpatient services. Her philosophical approach is based on the understanding of the neurologic, physiologic, motoric, sensory, and social cognitive aspects of a client, collaborative work with the team is essential to the multidisciplinary approach that she feels best supports her clients’ development. Ms. Isono has spent time presenting at conferences, publishing papers and writing chapters in books specific to educating therapists. Her patient/client contact includes working at Stanford Hospital for over 10 years, as well as with individuals at multiple hospitals in Southern California.
Liz has taken this vast experience and applied its foundational knowledge to her current work, which primarily addresses students’ functional and educational needs. Liz has worked to educate teachers, staff and parents in surrounding communities about sensory processing and its impact on learning, execution and functional level of independence.
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Allan Chatman
Principal and Board Staff Representative
Mr. Chatman has been working at The Phillips Academy for 27 years. He began his career as a teaching assistant and became an active, contributing member to the high school program as a special education teacher shortly thereafter. In addition to providing instruction in English and the Social Sciences, Allan coaches football, co-leads the Student Council, and serves as a mentor to many of The Phillips Academy students.
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Taka Yokoyama
Treasurer
Taka is the operations leader at Safehub, a post-earthquake building-specific damage notification platform. His broad professional experience includes operations, B2B lead-to-revenue consulting, sales, structural engineering, and disaster response. He has been an advocate for diversity in the workplace, and specifically for neurodiversity while at Salesforce. He organized student visits to Salesforce for both The Phillips Academy and the CSU East Bay College Link Program for career mentoring and mock interviews. His work contributed to Salesforce receiving the UCSF Shriver Award in 2020, an award that is presented to an "organization that is making a difference in the disability community". He has a Master's and a Bachelor's degree in Architectural Engineering with a minor in Psychology from Cal Poly SLO, and an MBA from The Wharton School with majors in General Management and Finance.
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Liana Grossman
Board Secretary
Liana Grossman has 10+ years of executive search and corporate advisory experience within both retained search firms and high growth technology companies. She is passionate about building diverse, talented teams and most recently ran the executive recruiting function within Hopin, a global events and collaboration platform. Liana served as a member of Upwardly Global’s Leadership Council, which supports efforts to eliminate employment barriers for skilled immigrants and refugees. Earlier in her career, Liana worked as an attorney in New York for Goodwin Procter LLP, and in Washington, DC for Keller & Heckman LLP. Liana earned a B.A. in Biology from Colgate University and a JD from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She is passionate about supporting families and students through their academic journey.
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MaryAnn Pearson
Trustee
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MaryAnn Pearson has been with The Phillips Academy for over 25 years. She began her career as a head teacher in the Elementary Program, where she served for 15 years before transitioning to the Middle and High School programs. There, she took on roles as a Reading Specialist and later, Head of Learning Services and Fundraising. In addition to collaborating with teachers and teaching various English Intervention and Intensive classes, MaryAnn oversees the Sculpture and the Recycled Runway enrichment programs. She also serves as the Staff Liaison to the Board of Trustees, facilitating communication between the staff and the board. Outside of the school, she serves on the Board of Directors at Bishop O'Dowd High School.​​​​
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Yvonne Day-Rodriguez
Parent Representative
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Yvonne Day-Rodriguez is proud mom of three and self-employed graphic designer and communications consultant for nonprofit organizations that focus on the holistic health of underserved communities. Advocating for effective and accessible education began in high school when she was sent to the principal's office for arguing with her teacher that copying answers from one paper to another was not a test. When her first two children started school, she and her wife were actively involved in the local community, volunteering in classrooms, advocating for differentiated instruction for “gifted" students, bringing in programs and fundraising as a PTA leader, promoting practices and activities that celebrated family diversity, and helping organize parent education on challenging topics. When their youngest son was diagnosed as autistic at age three, the world of special education was revealed, there was so much to learn, and a new level of advocacy was required of their family. She looks forward to the opportunity to advocate at the school level again as a parent representative board member of the Phillips Academy.
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To contact the Board of Trustees directly, please email us at trustees@thephillipsacademy.org
For general school information and admissions inquiries, please go to Contact Us.
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