LEV Foundation Board of Directors

• Janet Levinger, President
  Janet Levinger is an active community leader in the Seattle area. She is passionate about education, believing that investments in children improve their lives and have enormous positive community outcomes.

  Janet joined the LEVF board in 2009 and has served on the Early Learning Advisory and fund development committees. She is also the C-3 Board president.

  Janet also serves on the boards of United Way King County, Social Venture Partners, Thrive by Five Washington, Child Care Resources, and the Bellevue Schools Foundation. She is a founding board member of Eastside Pathways, a new initiative in Bellevue with the goal of all students graduating high school ready for a living wage job or post-secondary education. She is a founding board member of Eastside Prep, an independent secondary school in Kirkland. She and her husband co-chair the Brown University capital campaign in the Seattle Area. She previously served on the boards or committees of the the Children’s Alliance, Foundation for Early Learning, the Early Care and Education Coalition, and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

  Janet worked in high tech for 16 years in Boston and San Francisco. She has experience in marketing, communications, training and development, and fundraising. She has a BA in English with honors from Brown University.

  Janet lives in Bellevue with her husband, teen-age daughter, and two cats. Her son is at college. She likes to cook, travel, and SCUBA dive. She and her husband ride a tandem together.

• Roger Erskine, Vice President
  Roger Erskine is a the vice president and founding board member and of the League of Education Voters. He chairs the Center for Ethical Leadership and the Seattle Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform. A former teacher and assistant principal, Roger has held leadership positions with the Education Associations of Seattle, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, and he advises the Teacher Union Reform Network and School for Tomorrow.

• Jim Fridley, Secretary
  Jim Fridley is a professor in the College of Forest Resources and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. He also serves as the Deputy Faculty Legislative Representative for 2008-09. He is the secretary of the C-3 Board.

• Steve Miller, Treasurer
  Steve Miller, treasurer, is a founding board member of the League of Education Voters and wrote statewide Initiative 728 and 884. He is a lawyer, vice chair of the Board of Trustees for Bellevue Community College, and previously served for 10 years as a school board member for Bellevue School District.

• Kathy Binder
  Kathy Binder – Fund Development Chair

• Kristin Bailey-Fogarty
  Kristin taught for six years in the Lake Washington School District before moving closer to home and teaching in Seattle. In 2011, she transitioned back to middle school and is now at Eckstein. She has also taught Secondary English Methods at Seattle Pacific University, guest lectured on classroom management at Seattle University, supported her husband through the UW’s TEP program, enrolled her children in Seattle Public Schools, earned her National Boards, and seen seven student teachers become valuable members of the profession. She’s currently mentoring her eighth.

  The children she taught in 1996 are now parents, but she’s never stopped looking forward to Monday mornings. She’s never stopped stealing great ideas from her colleagues or critically examining public education and her own practice in an effort to better serve children.

• Gaurab Bansal

• Judy Bushnell
  Judy taught five years in elementary schools and worked ten years for the University of Washington observing and evaluating their student teachers. She then served nineteen years on the Board of Directors for Bellevue School District. Judy joined the Stand for Children advisory board in 2008 and LEV board in 2011.

• Nick Hanauer
  Nick Hanauer co-founded the League of Education Voters with Lisa Macfarlane in 2001. He created the Second Avenue Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital company. Nick serves on the boards of the Cascade Land Conservancy, the University of Washington Foundation, the Seattle Alliance for Education, and the University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter and Biosphere 2.

• Thelma Jackson
  Dr. Thelma A. Jackson is owner of Foresight Consultants, bringing over 30 years of experience in education change initiatives, restructuring and reform, equity and diversity, policy making, school boardsmanship, cultural competency, community mobilization, strategic planning, educational auditing, school improvement, systemic change, curriculum evaluation for bias and fairness, professional development, and educational transformation. Dr. Jackson served on Task Forces and Advisory Councils for five Governors of the State of Washington, including the Governor’s Council on Education Reform and Funding (G-CERF), which resulted in the state’s education reform law. Thelma served on the Advisory Council for the Implementation of HB 2722, the legislation dealing with “Closing the Achievement Gap for African American Students” in the state.

  Dr. Jackson has served in numerous leadership capacities over the years, such as President of the Washington State School Directors’ Association; for 20 years was a Member and five-time President of the North Thurston School Board; as Chair of the State Advisory Council on Vocational Education; as Chairperson of the Washington State Legislative Ethics Board; as Chair of the Commission on African American Affairs; and as President of the Board of Trustees of The Evergreen State College, where she later taught as an Adjunct Faculty in Urban Education. Dr. Jackson has participated as an education panelist, seminar leader, facilitator, workshop presenter, and keynote speaker at more than 175 education-related events during her career.

  Thelma has served on numerous Boards of community, civic, and service organizations, is listed in Who’s Who in America for 2006 and 2007, and is the recipient of a number of recognitions and awards for educational and community service. She is the Immediate Past President of the Washington Alliance of Black School Educators, serves on the Steering Committee of the Black Education Strategy Roundtable, and is a member of the Board of League of Education Voters. She continues to be a visionary and respected community leader in the state of Washington, as well as a Mentor to many outstanding and talented individuals.

  Thelma became a board member for LEV in 2010.

• Bob Roseth

  Bob is one of LEV’s founding board members. He became concerned about education in 1995, when a Seattle school levy failure raised the possibility that his son, a budding fifth-grade musician, would lose access to all school music programs. He’s stayed involved ever since. He served as secretary of SchoolsFirst, the organization that runs the Seattle school levy, for a number of years.

  Bob’s day job is at the University of Washington, where he has directed the Office of News and Information since 1984. He has been a Seattle resident since 1977. He currently served on the board of Seattle JazzED, a startup that provides after school ensemble instruction to young people who don’t have access through their schools. He also studies piano and has an outline in his head for a mystery/satire novel.

• Hope Teague-Bowling
  Hope Teague-Bowling is a National Board Certified teacher at Clover Park High School in Lakewood, WA. She teaches Humanities while advocating for education reform by serving as secretary for CPEA and participating as a member of Teachers United. She volunteered as coordinator for the Northwest Teachers of Social Justice Conference for three years.

  Tired of encountering small thinking around educational dilemmas, I wanted to join a dynamic organization that was grounded in social justice, focused on systemic issues, and worked for change from a variety of angles. I was drawn to LEV because of it’s sound education philosophy, the diversity of its members, and the emphasis on financial follow-through to support authentic change that puts students before adults.

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