Our Board of Trustees
The board is responsible for the legal and financial health of the school and its members actively support and promote the school’s mission, vision, strategic goals and policy positions. Board members serve on multiple committees with the collective goal of ensuring that our school continues to run effectively and to prosper and flourish now and into the future. Read our Orchard Valley Bylaws.
Feeling called to serve or to learn more about the work of our Board or its committees? Please contact Board Chair Annie Martin at annie.m@ovws.org for more information.
ANNIE MARTIN - Board Chair
Hailing from Gettysburg, PA, Annie Martin has been a resident of Vermont since fall 2013. Annie has been an investigator supporting federal government contracts across the East Coast for nearly 18 years and is currently employed by CACI.
Annie has been active with the Orchard Valley Waldorf School since fall 2016, when her now-6-year-old son, Keaton, entered the inaugural year of Sweet Clover Nursery (formerly known as Little Lambs). When Keaton moved on to the Grace Farm Campus for Farm and Forest Kindergarten in fall 2019 and her now 3-year-old daughter, Kellen, joined SCN, she became active in Parent Council and the Auction Committee for the school’s annual on-line fundraiser, which she co-led this year.
Annie received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) in 2004. In her spare time, Annie enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and traveling.
MICHAEL CHARTRAND - Secretary
My roots run deep in Vermont. I believe I am a 12th generation Vermonter, and my family founded the town of Berlin in 1791. I grew up on the family farm, with my parents, sister and identical twin brother and my sister and her husband are still running the farm. Early in my career, I was a professional caddie working at renowned golf courses along the East Coast. For the last 10 years, I have worked in the field of vocational rehabilitation where I assist injured workers and individuals with disabilities in returning to the workforce. I hold dual master’s degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling and International Education Administration. My wife and I have two young children who both attend Orchard Valley.
LISA MASE
I emigrated to the States from Italy as a pre-teen and moved to Vermont in 1997. I have lived in Montpelier for 22 years and feel so blessed to have found a community with similar values to the ones with which I was raised. I am a nutritionist and herbalist as well as a translator, poet, homesteader and parent.
Our daughter has been at the Child's Garden for 4 years and will enter first grade in the fall. When she started with Ms. Marianne at age 2.5, I could never have imagined that we would continue in the Waldorf community. Now, I cannot imagine it any other way. The connection to nature, reverence for the aliveness of all things, seasonal celebrations, whole foods, and the spiritual fortitude that our entire family gains from being part of this community permeates and enhances our daily lives in all the most meaningful ways.
Prior to opening my nutrition practice 13 years ago, I co-founded a federally funded business development non-profit where I served as a business advisor and grant writer (Vermont Women's Business Center). I then co-founded and operated a worker-owned cafe (Langdon Street Cafe). I went on to co-found and serve as apothecary manager and board-staff liaison for an educational non-profit (Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism). I have served on the justice team for the Farm to Plate Network and Food Solutions New England since 2011. I also help Marianne Perchlik offer the nutrition portion of the childbirth education programs she offers through OVWS.
I have experience in board governance, non-profit management, educational institutional management, business development, grant writing, fundraising, sustainable food systems, farming, herbalism, and health.
JAMIE RENNER
I live in East Montpelier with my spouse, Kristin, two girls (Anna, 6, and Emmy, 4), two dogs, cat, and occasional chickens. I grew up in New Hampshire, went to Middlebury College (’02), American University Law School (’07), and now work as an Assistant Attorney General at the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
My family loves all-things-outdoors—gardening, hiking, canoeing, biking, camping, apple and berry-picking, taking care of animals (chickens & horses), swimming, stargazing, skiing, skating, sledding, etc. On the indoor front, we like imaginary play, art, music/singing, cooking/baking, (play) wrestling around, laughing, and getting ready to go outside.
In my non-existent free time, I’m interested in philosophy, religion, science, writing, reading, the idea of living a meaningful life, concepts of death, and how it all fits together.
In 2012, I paused being a lawyer to perform a year of AmeriCorps Service at the Central Vermont Council on Aging. I now look forward to marrying volunteerism with maintaining and improving the world my children grow up in.
AMANDA CHURCHILL KIPP
Amanda is a licensed clinical social worker with over 20 years of working in child welfare and youth development (both in state government and non-profit settings) and nearly as many years of experience with program management. Amanda is a lifelong Vermonter, parent to a preschooler, and spouse to a Waldorf alum. Amanda and her family enjoy hiking, camping, skiing, skating, and gardening.
