Board of Trustees

 
 

Ian Mensher

Chair

Ian joined the Board of Trustees in 2023. A life-long Seattleite, Ian has two children at Perkins—1st and 4th grade—who delight in the rich educational environment the teachers and staff work tirelessly to create. Ian is an attorney and a career law clerk to a federal judge. When not trying to unwind complex problems, Ian delights in riding and racing bicycles, baking bread, and trying to keep up with his kids. Shani Delaney

 
 

Justin Brooks

Treasurer

Justin joined the Board of Trustees in 2023.  He is a Perkins parent - the father of two girls; one at Perkins, and the other just a few years behind.  Justin works at a small investment bank facilitating Mergers & Acquisitions for wineries and vineyards in the Northwest, and also owns and operates a hospitality business in Walla Walla and a financial consulting firm focused on wineries.  In his free time, Justin enjoys being outdoors with his wife and girls, reading, tending his tiny garden, and rooting for all the Seattle sports teams.

 
 

Sarah Clifton

Secretary

Sarah joined the Perkins Board of Trustees in August 2022.  She is a managing real estate broker with Windermere Real Estate and has wide-ranging experience in a variety of real estate disciplines, including real estate sales, portfolio management and maximization, development analysis and property management.  However, Sarah’s most treasured profession is mother to her two children (both Perkins students).  Sarah enjoys travelling, spending time with her husband and family, and learning about new things – she always has a mini research project in the works!

 
 

Jake Lindel

Jake joined the board of trustees in 2024. He is a father of two, both at Perkins. Jake is a Development Manager, working as an Owner’s Representative for a major local hospital. Jake has worked for local general contractors, hospitals, and commercial real estate and development firms. Jake began his career in custom single-family home building and later transitioned into commercial construction management, specializing in life science and medical projects. In his free time, Jake loves to travel with his family, jog around Greenlake, and explore the city. 

 
 

Chrissy Sinclair

Chrissy is an administrator at another local independent school. She earned her BA in Government from Colby College and her Masters in Elementary Education from Lesley University. She recently completed the Pathways to Leadership program for aspiring female school leaders. Chrissy spends as much time as possible outdoors with her husband and twin daughters, Soundview alumna, backpacking, biking, and playing Ultimate Frisbee.

 
 

David Coffey

David Coffey joined the Perkins Board of Trustees in 2023.  He is the Executive Director of Recovery Café which operates two sites in Seattle and supports the Recovery Café Network, with 60 sites around the country and in Canada. He also serves as the Chair of the Board of the Washington Recovery Alliance and as Board Secretary for Consejo Counseling and Referral Services.  He holds a BA from Colorado College and a master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University. David is profoundly grateful for the Perkins community. He is an avid rugby fan, cheering on the Seattle Seawolves whenever he has a chance, and he aspires to be an author of children's books. 

 
 

Jen Wichterman

Is the Executive Director of Enterprise Financial Planning at the Boeing Company. She oversees the deployment of the Company’s Long Range Business Plan and ongoing forecast process. She has been at Boeing for 14 years, where she has held a variety of leadership roles. Prior to Boeing, she spent several years performing financial statement audits at PwC. She relocated from Chicago to Seattle in 2014. 

Originally from Ohio, Jen graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance. She is currently an advisory board member for a student organization developing high-potential College of Business students at Ohio University. She holds a CPA license in the state of Illinois. She has two children, one currently attending Perkins and another in preschool. In her spare time, Jen enjoys being out on the water, traveling and hiking in the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest.

 
 

Christina Fogg

Christina joined the Perkins Board of Trustees in 2025. She is a policy advisor to King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski (District 1), focusing on the areas of youth services, homelessness, and the criminal legal system. Prior to her current role, Christina worked as a lawyer for more than 15 years in both private practice and public service, most recently as the Civil Rights Program Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. Christina also serves on the boards of the Center for Children and Youth Justice and the Joint Minority Bar Association Mentorship Program. Christina is a proud mom to two Perkins students and is hoping to become a dog mom during her board tenure.

 
 

Sonja Everson

Sonja joined the Board of Trustees in 2022. She is currently the Director of Admission and Enrollment Management at a local independent school. When beginning her professional life, she quickly realized a talent and passion for teaching at the elementary school level, which she proceeded to do for 15 years before moving into school administration. Her favorite activities include hiking through dense forests, coaxing green tomatoes to turn red, and along with her husband, maintaining an unending optimism for a Mariners' World Series championship.

 
 

Lisa Tripathi

Lisa joined the Perkins Board of Trustees in 2025. She is the proud mother of two Perkins students and loves being a part of the Perkins community, having most recently served as a co-chair of the Perkins Parent Association. Lisa is a human resources executive who has spent her 20-plus year career in people leadership roles at various companies; she currently consults for small companies in need of HR expertise. In her free time, Lisa also enjoys reading, traveling with her family and cheering from the sidelines at youth sporting events.

 
 

Christine Lu

Christine joined the Perkins Board of Trustees in 2024. She is a mother of two, one at Perkins and another joining next fall. Originally from Taiwan, she’s been a Seattlite for more than a decade and obtained her MBA at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. She has 14 years of combined finance experience across corporate finance and the investment banking industry. Currently she is a finance leader at Expedia where she focuses on financial planning, budgeting, investment reviews and commercial deal analyses for various business segments. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing and being silly with her two kids, quality personal time reading in a cafe, going to the movies and date nights out with her husband and is always planning where to travel next! 

 
 

The Board of an independent school has the ultimate responsibility for the institution.

School heads and trustees come and go: only the Board is permanent. The Board is responsible for the integrity of the school, the standing and reputation built by its founders and those who have labored over the years. The Board holds in trust the school’s future as well as its present; the Board’s collective judgment will affect how the institution can serve constituencies to come.

The Board has four principal responsibilities:

  • To organize and manage itself so as to fulfill its duties to the school

  • To plan, develop, and establish policy and to assess the school’s performance

  • To oversee the school’s financial condition and physical plant

  • To select the head of school and work cooperatively with that person

A guiding document of the Board is the Strategic Plan, which sets the long term direction for this work. In 2018, Perkins updated it’s Strategic Plan. You can see the full text of it by clicking: The Perkins School Strategic Plan

To contact the Board of Trustees with questions about governance or the Strategic Plan, email BOT@theperkinsschool.org