Board of Trustees

The Phoenix Network Board of Trustees is responsible for ensuring the overall success of all Phoenix schools. Like all charter school Boards, our Trustees ensure that each school within the Network is

  1. Faithful to the terms of its charter,
  2. Creating programs that provide students with academic success, and
  3. Maintaining viability as an organization

In addition to meeting quarterly as a group, the Board has developed subcommittees to advance particular aspects of the Network and schools’ successes.

  • John Connors

    Chair

    Founder & CEO of Boathouse Group Inc.

    A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, John Connors founded Boathouse Group Inc., an independent marketing and communications agency in Waltham, MA, in 2001. Starting his career at Hill Holliday, John worked there until its sale in 1998. Soon after, John joined Interpublic as the CEO of Zentropy Partners, where he led the roll up of 13 separate Internet service businesses across six countries. In 2001, after seeing the global agency business and riding the Internet bubble while working for the largest agency in the world, John decided to start his company and build his family in Boston. John currently lives in Westwood, MA, with his wife and their three children.

  • Colette L. Stanzler

    Vice Chair

    MBA, MPA, Board Vice Chair, Director of Social Impact Research (SIR) at Root Cause

    Colette is part of the founding team of SIR responsible for developing and refining the research methodology and leading the development of report products and services. Prior to her current position, Colette had more than seven years of experience in product development and internal strategy consulting experience at financial service firms, most recently as a Vice President in Equity Research at Deutsche Bank. As a graduate student, she focused on business strategy and social sector entrepreneurship, specifically how to measure organizational effectiveness to improve social impact. Colette has served on the boards of both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and consulted numerous others. She holds an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a B.A. from the University of Rochester.

  • Patrick Monkiewicz

    Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer

    Chief Financial Officer at Kayem Foods

    Patrick is a senior executive responsible for directing and managing the organization's overall financial policies. He maintains banking relationships and reports financials to the board of directors. He oversees all financial functions including accounting, budgets, cash, credit, insurance, tax, treasury, legal and contracts. He designs and coordinates a wide variety of accounting and statistical data and reports. He is involved with creating and executing the company’s overall strategic plans working with all departments of the organization. He also manages a staff of customer service representatives and ensures that customers are retained, satisfied, and that their needs are fulfilled. He is responsible for designing and implementing improved process or operational policies and recommends changes to products or services to fulfill customer needs. He also manages all planning, operational, technical support, and administrative aspects of the integrated information technology services for Kayem Foods, Inc. He oversees and coordinates such activities as network administration, system design and support, applications development, user support, and computer operations. He has lead the implementation of an ERP computer system which encompasses areas such as receiving, shop floor controls, warehousing, finance, sales and marketing. As a 4th generation family member in a family owned and operated business, Patrick has worked in just about every department including IT, sales, marketing, production and distribution. Patrick earned a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from Bentley College. Patrick also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Northeastern University. He resides in Boxford with his wife Jessica and son’s Luke and Zack.

  • Isis Ortiz

    Clerk (At-Large)

    Vice President, Commercial Banking, Eastern Bank

    Isis Ortiz-Belton is a financial services and banking professional with over 14 years of credit risk, corporate finance, and underwriting experience. She is a Vice President, Portfolio Manager at Eastern Bank where she manages a portfolio of commercial banking relationships with a broad array of middle market and security alarm companies. Prior to joining Eastern, Isis was Vice President, Portfolio Manager at Citizens Bank and previously held positions at Santander Bank and at John Hancock Financial Services.

    Isis is an active community leader and diversity, equity and inclusion champion. She’s a strong advocate for the education and financial literacy of minority students and the rights of women, BIPOC and those identifying as LGBTQ+. Notably, Isis is the President for the Boston chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (“ALPFA”), the first and largest Latino professional association serving over 100,000 professional and student members across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. She sits on the Board of Trustees for Phoenix Charter Academy Network, is a member of the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club Advisory Council, and a Committee Member of the Cummings Foundation.

    Isis holds a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Business Management from Emmanuel College, a Master of Science in Finance from the New England Institute of Business at Cambridge College, and a Master of Business Administration from Bentley University. She’s a 2018 Latinos for Education Board Fellow, a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce 2021 Boston Future Leaders Fellow, and a 2021 LEADS Lawrence Fellow. Most recently, Isis was recognized as a 2021 Latinx Amplifier, a 2021 Latina Rising Star by the Association of Latino Professionals for America, and co-authored her first book, Extraordinary Latinas. She has also been identified as a 2023 Leading Women Award recipient by the Girls Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.

    Isis was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and raised with significant Dominican influence. She currently resides with her wife in Lawrence, MA and identifies with the pronouns she, her, and hers.

  • Jed Webber

    Webber Restaurant Group

    Jed started his career in management consulting, working for both The Wilkerson Group and Booz Allen and Hamilton before earning his MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. In 2004, he, his siblings, and wife Asia founded the Webber Restaurant Group on his family's 500 acre farm in Groton, MA by opening the Gibbet Hill Grill. Today, Webber Restaurant Group consists of four restaurants, five exclusive private event venues, an offsite catering company, and a working farm that provides all the businesses with fresh, local, sustainably grown produce and meat. It is widely considered the preeminent farm to table restaurant group in Massachusetts.

  • Sally W. Currier

    Sally Currier is an independent education management professional who is deeply dedicated to youth, education, and social justice work. In addition to serving on Phoenix’s Board of Trustees, she serves on the Board of Directors for Inversant (formerly Families United for Educational Leadership) and the Board of Overseers for WGBH and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She is a New England Advisory Board member for Facing History and Ourselves, and is a member of the Grants Committee for Hestia Boston, a non-profit whose mission is to expand the number of low-income students who obtain degrees from post-secondary educations. Sally formerly volunteered as Board Chair and Development Chair for Schools for Children, Inc., as Chair for the Weston Special Education Parent Advisory Council, and at the League of Women Voters of Weston. She also served on the Marine Biology Laboratories Capital Campaign Advisory Committee, and the Dearborn Academy Advisory Board. A longtime Boston resident, Sally is a graduate of Smith College and earned her M.A. in Economics from Boston University, where she was a research assistant and a teaching fellow.

  • Joan Gallant

    Joan earned her BA from Providence College in 1994 and her JD from St. John’s University in 1999. After graduating from St. John’s University, she worked in both the corporate and the trust estates departments as an attorney at Dunnington, Bartholow and Miller, LLP in New York City. In 2001 Joan joined the Robin Hood Foundation of New York where she launched and managed the Archer Legacy, their planned giving program, as well as managed Robin Hood’s individual giving department. Currently, Joan resides in Newton and is at home raising her three children.

  • Kathy McHugh

    Executive Director, Cabot Family Charitable Trust

    Kathy McHugh, retired philanthropy executive

    After spending the first half of her career as a civil trial lawyer, Kathy migrated to the nonprofit sector, serving as executive director of two family foundations, most recently the Cabot Family Charitable Trust. She was a founding director of EdVestors, a Boston K-12 school improvement nonprofit, on whose board she still serves, and also serves on the boards of Nurtury and The Basics, both focused on early education and care. She is a past chair of Associated Grant Makers and the Boston Education Funders group and served as a trustee of Northeastern University for 36 years.

  • Saritin Rizzuto

    Vice President of Community Relations and Latino Marketing Manager at Metro Credit Union

    With a background in non-profit management and banking administration Saritin Rizzuto began a distinguished career in the not for profit sector over twenty five years ago, when as a teen, she worked as a peer leader for the department of public health. Her goal was to go into communities with at-risk youth and educate them about violence prevention, substance abuse and teen pregnancy. Saritin found her path then, and has spent what seems like every waking moment “doing for others”.

    She has worked in a variety of settings that reflect her passion and commitment to improving the lives of others- as a teen health educator, an advocate for the disabled, in support of AIDS advocacy, creating awareness about mental health and addiction and combating domestic violence. Saritin’s work has been as tireless as it has been compassionate, working both out in the community and in-house in program administration. Her broad interest, knowledge and effectiveness have benefited local, regional and national organizations and all the people they serve.

    Even now, working at Metro Credit Union as Vice President of Emerging Populations & Community Relations, Saritin takes on the traditional role of her job as only she can, finding the time to incorporate community organizing and building partnerships to benefit low income and emerging populations. She is the leading force behind an effort to create effective solutions and address challenges facing members in different stages of the financial spectrum under the Metro Credit Union umbrella. The Latino Economic Advancement Advisory Council engages community leaders in the development and execution of ideas designed to help individuals with wealth creation.

    Saritin’s many accomplishments have her in high demand as a leader and champion of many causes. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Immigrant Learning Center, Phoenix Academy Charter School, Casa Myrna, North Suffolk Mental Health, The East Boston Social Center, The Newmarket Business Association and The Governor’s Public Education Nominating Council. She served as past President of North Suffolk Mental Health Board of Director and also as past President of the Rotary Club of Chelsea where during her presidency she was instrumental in an effort to raise funds and execute a plan to build a hospital facility in an indigenous village in Colombia .

    During her eight years as a member of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, Saritin led the annual Pot-O-Gold planning committee as chairman and increased revenue for the Chamber’s major source of funding by 40%. She played a leading role in coordinating the Taste of Chelsea during its inception over 10 years ago by establishing a partnership between the members of the business community and HarborCOV, a non-profit Organization that serves people affected by domestic violence. Saritin was the driving force in organizing a series of seminars to further develop the members of the business community in topics that would help expand their businesses. Her effort to organize Latino businesses to join and have a voice in the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and City Government has proven highly successful.

    Saritin has received many accolades throughout her career and is a well- rounded individual that is seen as a trailblazer across the commonwealth and the Latino community.

  • Vetto Casado

    Assistant Director, Community Grantmaking at The Boston Foundation

    Vetto Casado serves as Assistant Director, Programs at The Boston Foundation. In his role, Vetto oversees and co-leads existing elements of the Social Justice Ecology framework, which aims to support the conditions for social justice to thrive in Greater Boston by providing access to resources and support for people, movements and nonprofit organizations working to disrupt persistent structural and institutional inequity in our region. Vetto is a native of the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six, settling with his family in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He served previously as Executive Director of Small Can Be Big Inc. During his tenure, SCBB grew its regional profile, provided vital flexible funding resources to over 450 families and averted hundreds of evictions throughout the Greater Boston Area via online crowd-funded initiatives. Vetto holds a B.A. in Political Science from UMass Boston, and is an alum of Harvard Kennedy School’s Latino Leadership Initiative, and Tufts University’s Institute of Nonprofit Practice. In the summer of 2017, Vetto was nominated to serve for a five-year term on Governor Baker’s Massachusetts Latino Advisory Commission.

  • Ryan Joyce

    Relationship Manager CIBC Private Wealth

    Ryan is a relationship manager in CIBC Private Wealth’s Boston office, with over 10 years of industry experience. In this role, he collaborates with CIBC’s team of experts to implement the full breadth of services and solutions based on the specific needs of each client. In addition, Ryan specializes in counseling companies, non-profits, and executives on critical topics including investment advisory oversight, expense analysis and fiduciary governance as it relates to their retirement programs.

    Prior to joining CIBC, Ryan served in senior roles at SVB Private, Boston Private Wealth, and Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group, where he acquired extensive knowledge to develop powerful and lasting relationships with businesses, families, and individuals.

    Outside of the office, much of his free time is spent with his family and friends. He and his wife, Pamela, reside in Weston with their three young children.

    Ryan has a passion for supporting non-profit organizations and serves as member of the Board of Trustees for the Phoenix Charter Academy Network.

    Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History and human development from Connecticut College. He also holds an Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation and a Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor credential.