Foundation Board of Trustees 2023-2024
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Chair (2021-23)
Adriana Koenig
Continental Automotive Systems
Business: Adriana is a Sr. Purchasing Manager at Continental Automotive Systems, she’s been working with strategic sourcing and purchasing in companies such as Motorola Inc and Sears Holding. Adriana also has an Executive MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and speaks German, Spanish and Portuguese.
Volunteering: Adriana was part of the Motorola Women Business Council and part of the board of Sears Holdings WILD (Women In Leadership Development) group. Most recently Adriana helped to create and was part of the board of the Continental Deer Park Women Forum. Besides volunteering in diversity network groups, Adriana is a supportive Room Parent at her son's school.
Personal: Adriana has a son attending D15 and when she isn't chauffeuring him to ice hockey practices and games, she enjoys reading, adventure traveling (skiing, ice skating, hiking and biking) and spending time with family and friends.
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Vice Chair (2023-25)
Sara Poss
@Properties
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Business: Sara is a full time realtor with @properties. Sara always puts her client's family and values first. Sara's passion, industry knowledge, and kitchen, bath and design experience helps her to find your perfect home. Sara has built strong relationships within the residential real estate market with contractors, custom home builders, and multi-unit developers. Sara 's clients become her life long friends. Sara achieved a childhood dream of hers to own a business in 2001. Sara co-owned Shapes Supply with her husband, Mike, for over 16 years. Shapes Supply is a premium kitchen and bath distributor located in Arlington Heights. Sara grew her passion for design, construction and strong financial management at Shapes Supply. Sara often refers to Shapes Supply as her 3rd kid. After 16 years Sara decided it was time to apply her expertise elsewhere and became a full time realtor 7 years ago.
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Volunteering: Sara feels very fortunate to accidentally find Second City Canine Rescue (SCCR). She volunteers at SCCR regularly at their adoption center, has volunteered at adoption shows, is part of their dog dash team, and will do just about anything that is needed at SCCR for the dogs. Sara has been a proud member of the Entrepreneur and Family Business Council (EFBC) through Depaul University for the past 17 years. She is a passionate entrepreneur herself and wants to empower and help other family businesses and entrepreneurs by sharing her experiences regularly to achieve their success. She is the past treasure of the EFBC's executive board that she served on.
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Personal: Sara Poss is a loving wife (to her Chicago Cubs crazed husband, Mike) and a mom to two beautiful daughters, M.J. and Anna. M.J. and Anna both attended district 15 schools. Sara has seen first hand how the teachers and staff at Central Road Elementary School prepared her girls to attend Fremd High School as well as currently attending Saint Louis University and University of Iowa from a very early age. Sara and her family have called Palatine and Rolling Meadows home for over 23 years. In Sara's free time, she can be found cuddling her dogs, Fozzie and Ernie, volunteering at Second City Canine Rescue, binge-watching Ted Lasso or HGTV and visiting M.J. and Anna at their colleges.
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Treasurer (2022-2024)
Valeria Acquarone
Tate & Lyle
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Business: Valeria is the Vice President of Research and Development at Tate & Lyle, in Hoffman Estates. Her background has primarily been in the food and ingredients industries, including Mars, Inc. and PepsiCo. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and English.
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Volunteering: Over the years Valeria has served in many volunteer roles within the realm of technical education, diversity, and leadership development, such as with Toastmasters Club, the American Chemical Society, the Institute of Food Technologists, and Employee Resource Groups.
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Personal: Valeria has been living in Palatine since 2007, and has a child attending Pleasant Hill Elementary. She enjoys backyard farming, world traveling, watching documentaries, and strolling through the Palatine Farmers Market on weekends.
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Secretary (2023-25)
Kerri Schlenker
Cottage Door Press
Business: Kerri is a Marketing Product Manager for Cottage Door Press, a children's book publisher in the Northwest Suburbs. Kerri has been marketing consumer products for 20+ years, 12 years being in publishing, and her passion is bringing new products to life. Kerri earned her bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Volunteering: Kerri is a member of the Pleasant Hill PTA currently serving on the yearbook committee. She also sits on the board of the Northwest Travelers travel baseball program and is team parent for one of the 11U boys travel baseball teams. She has previously managed summer internship programs and has been part of the inaugural Women's Committee at her previous employer.
Personal: Kerri and her husband, K.C., have two children. Their son is a 5th grader at Pleasant Hill and their 4-year-old daughter attends preschool at daycare. They have lived in Palatine for 9 years and love participating in community events and activities. They are big sports enthusiasts and enjoy watching their kids play sports and activities as well as spending time with their family and friends.
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Immediate Past Chair
Mary Zarr
Illinois State University Professional Development School
Business: Mary retired from Community Consolidated School District 15 in 2014 after spending close to 40 years as a teacher and school administrator both in Palatine and Community Unit School District 95 in Lake Zurich. She now works as an Educational Consultant and Coordinator of the Illinois State University Professional Development School for Palatine.
Volunteering: Mary is a long time supporter of the Foundation and Palatine Opportunity Center. She voluntarily serves as a scholarship judge for various awarding organizations.
Personal: Mary has been married to John for 41 years and they have 4 children and two grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, fishing, boating, golfing and especially treasure any time spent with their grandchildren. Mary holds a BA, MA and Doctor of Education degree.
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Trustees
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Christine Akdeniz
Northwestern University
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Business: Christine is a project coordinator at Northwestern University. She is responsible for coordinating education and outreach efforts and works closely with faculty, staff, students, and local businesses. She is also a certified teacher and taught for over 10 years in K-5 schools. Prior to teaching, she worked in the IT field for several years managing software implementations. She holds an MA in Elementary Education with an endorsement in English as a Second Language and a BS in Information and Decision Sciences.
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Volunteering: Christine is an active PTA/PTSA member for both of her children’s schools. You can also find her at the local rinks when she volunteers her time with the Rolling Meadows Renegades. She is also a board member of MBOSS, a staff organization at Northwestern University for multiracial, mixed-race, or biracial staff members to foster a sense of individual belonging, build community, and contribute to the pursuit of social justice.
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Personal: Christine and her husband have two children in D15. She is a proud hockey mom and when she’s not at the rink, she loves to cook, read, cycle, and travel the world with her family.
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Krys Lindberg
Blush Events & Co.
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Business: Krys is a Co-Founder at Blush Events & Co. Blush is a resident party planning and rental business. After a long career in accounting she decided to switch careers to help families make many happy memories. Together with her partners they use their skills to provide full service events to the local area.
Volunteering: Krys is an avid member of the District 15 Community. Helping the PTA at Kimball Hill Elementary as well as Carl Sandburg Junior High. She coached for the Rolling Meadows Baseball and Basketball teams. Krys also provides free daycare to local families in need for after school care, breaks and summer.
Personal: Krys and her husband have two children, 13 and 10. Their daughter is in 8th grade at Carl Sandburg and their son is in 5th grade at Kimball Hill. They enjoy taking care of their homestead which includes many fruits, vegetables, native pollinator gardens, and of course, chickens! Her children are ice skates so they spend a lot of time at the local rinks.
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Mary Catherine Oerkfitz
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Business: Mary Catherine is currently a stay at home mother. In her previous roles, she was an office manager and diversity/inclusion assistant. She recently worked in senior care where she became a Certified Dementia Practitioner. She holds an MBA in Management and a BA in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Dominican University.
Volunteering: Before her move to the northwest suburbs, Mary Catherine spent most of her time volunteering in the Chicago Public School system. She participated in all events, held a community representative position on the local school counsel, and assisted in special education classes.
Personal: Mary Catherine and her husband have two children, 5 and 2. Her son is entering D15 for its first year of full day kindergarten. He loves all things sports related and is part of the hockey program in Rolling Meadows. Mary Catherine is a baseball fan and will be assistant coaching for the upcoming T-Ball season for her son’s team. Her family loves doing DIY projects around the house, taking care of their dogs, frequently visiting the library, having outdoor movie nights, and hanging out with friends for game nights.
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Dr. Laurie Heinz
CCSD15 Superintendent
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The superintendent of schools serves as the district's chief executive officer and is responsible for administering and supervising all district activities to achieve the goals established by the Board of Education. The superintendent is responsible for making recommendations to the Board concerning all functions of the school district and its daily operation, which include business and auxiliary services, instructional and special services, personnel and human services, and administrative services.
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Board of Education Liaison
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Foundation Coordinator
Nancy Aguirre
Community Consolidated School District 15
* Non-Voting Liaison
