- About the USC Rossier School of Education
- Leadership
- Board of Councilors
Board of Councilors
The USC Rossier Board of Councilors provides strategic advice, support and assistance to ensure USC Rossier’s role as a model education research and training institution for the 21st century. Board members help implement strategies to secure major gifts for the school’s priorities and act as advocates for the school’s mission to prepare leaders to achieve educational equity through practice, research and policy.
Meet Our Councilors

Mary James
Chair, Philanthropist, Executive Board Member, Prime Group, Los Angeles

Kenya Barris
TV & Film Writer, Actor, Producer

Austin Beutner
Former Superintendent Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)

Patricia Brent-Sanco, EdD ’16
Director of Equity, Access, & Instructional Services, Lynwood Unified School District

Jim Berk
CEO, Goodman Media Partners

Margaret (Maggie) Chidester, EdD ’95
Law Offices of Margaret A. Chidester & Associates

Gary Crisp
President, CEO and Founder of Crisp Imaging

Carol Fox, MS ’62
USC Trustee, Teacher Education Lecturer, Former President, USC Alumni Association Board of Governors

Elana Glasenberg, EdD ’21
Educational Consultant, U21 Education Foundation

Lynn Jacobson, BA ’77
Advisory Board Teach for America, Los Angeles

John Katzman
Founder, 2U, Inc.; Founder and CEO, Noodle Inc.

Melanie Lundquist, BA ’71, PhD ’73, Ex-Officio member
Activist, Philanthropist, Speech Pathologist (retired)

Noor Menai
President and CEO, CTBC Bank

Pedro A. Noguera
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean, USC Rossier School of Education

Artineh Samkian
Rossier Faculty Council Chair Associate Professor of Clinical Education, USC Rossier School of Education

Wesley Smith, EdD ’05
DSAG Chair Superintendent, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group Chair

Sheree T. Speakman
Founder and President, Talent First, PBC

Shamya Ullah
First Vice President—Financial Advisor, RBC Wealth Management

Peter Weil
Co-Managing Partner, Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLC