Vikrant Batra, Parent Board Member & Board President
Vikrant is the Global Chief Marketing Officer for HP Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience in worldwide marketing and advertising across consumer packaged goods, utilities, finance, and technology. Vikrant is an award-winning creative and marketing strategist and has held a variety of marketing leadership roles since joining HP in 2010. Before taking over the role of CMO in 2018, he served as Global Head of Marketing for HP’s Printing business. Prior to that he was the global head of marketing for HP’s Personal Systems business.
Vikrant joined HP after a range of senior advertising and marketing agency roles supporting top global brands, He was a Senior Vice President responsible for managing strategic brand planning at TracyLocke. At the Integer Group, an Omnicom agency, he served as Group Director. He began his advertising career at J. Walter Thompson.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in marketing and advertising management from the University of Bombay and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Vikrant and his wife, Jennifer, live in Los Gatos with their son, Dante and daughter, Sahar, who are both students at WSP.
The family has been part of Waldorf schools and communities for over twelve years. Vikrant previously served on the Board of Sanderling Waldorf School in San Diego.
Marshall Brickeen, Parent Board Member
Marshall is a Bay Area native, born and raised in Vallejo and attending undergrad at Stanford. He later lived in Berlin, Indonesia, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, and out of a backpack for 2 years and 22 countries, before finding his way back to Mountain View in 2003. Professionally, Marshall has been in healthcare for two decades, from management consulting to founding and selling his own startup to leading the healthcare and life sciences partnership network for Amazon Web Services. Personally, Marshall has two daughters at WSP in the 8th and 10th grades, and in his free time he skis, writes humor and sci fi, and runs triathlons.
Marshall appreciates the many great friends he has made through the WSP community, and was inspired to join the board to help strengthen our external messaging, and parent and alumni community.
Suman Desai, Faculty Board Member
A teacher by calling and an engineer by education, Suman, a native of South India, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering. She started her career as a software engineer in India and continued to have a successful career in the Bay Area. A move back to India a decade later provided a chance meeting with Waldorf education. Suman subsequently served as a class teacher in a pioneering school in Bengaluru (Bangalore) for four years. Her quest to dive deeper into Anthroposophy led her to pursue formal training at the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training. Beyond her professional life, she finds joy in cooking, gardening, and spending time with her family. With over eight years of association with WSP, Suman is eager to continue her journey as a class teacher and contribute to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. She was inspired to join the board not only because of her deep appreciation for Waldorf education, but also to be a part of a diverse community dedicated to serving children.
Jennifer Dirking, Grandparent Board Member
Jennifer is a fundraising professional, currently raising major gifts for Stanford Medicine. Prior to Stanford, she led development efforts at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, De Anza Community College, and at the University of Washington in Seattle. In her various roles, she developed expertise in raising major and principal gifts, interdisciplinary partnerships, corporate and foundation support, and nonprofit board development.
She is an ardent proponent of habitat gardening to feed ecosystems. In her spare time she gathers and shares native plant seeds, gives public talks, and connects people with resources that can help them return their gardens or local public spaces to a wild landscape. Jennifer’s education included two years at Foothill Community College, after which she earned her bachelor’s degree in English from UC Santa Barbara, and her master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.
As the daughter of schoolteachers, and with a family history of schoolteachers dating back to the 1800s, Jennifer is inspired by the transformative powers of education at all levels. She has been involved with the Waldorf School of the Peninsula since 2017, serving on the Development Committee, which helps to raise funds for the school. Jennifer and her husband Brian live in San Carlos, and together they enjoy hiking, camping, golfing, and gardening with native plants – especially when joined by their daughter Kendra and grandsons, WSP students Trey and Charlie.
By volunteering, at first on field trips and later on the school’s Development Committee, Jennifer found herself even more connected to the WSP community and committed to the school’s mission. Now, as a WSP Board Member, she looks forward to leveraging her experience as a fundraiser and nonprofit manager to ensure that WSP has the resources and strategies in place to ensure its continued growth and success.
Bob Froelich, Community-at-Large Member
Bob grew up in small-town Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, where he remained until 1982 to complete his doctorate in Electrical. He then moved to California, working as a design engineer in high-frequency electronics for radio and radar. He has worked at companies large, small, long-established, and in start-ups; in roles ranging from entry-level engineer to team leader to senior mentor. He also teaches part-time for a technical education service. Bob became interested in the works of Rudolf Steiner while in graduate school, and joined the Anthroposophical Society in 1977. He has been a member of a local Steiner study group since 1991. Bob has been a friend of Waldorf School of the Peninsula for almost as long, having attended many festivals and lectures at the school and having often lent a hand at the Holiday Faire. Bob audited and thoroughly enjoyed the foundation year of Waldorf teacher training. Bob’s hobbies are bicycling, orchid-growing, and dreaming that someday he will catch up on his yard work.
Dr. Jon Herzenberg, School Director & Board Member
Dr.J is a Bay Area native, who grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Henry M. Gunn High School. Growing up he was a dedicated soccer player who played for the University of San Diego and UC Santa Cruz where he earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology and the history of world religions. During his college years, he studied abroad in Asia twice. This afforded him the opportunity to live in mainland China as well as travel to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as well as study in his mother’s city of birth in East Java, Indonesia at IKIP Malang. Dr.J earned his doctorate degree from the California School of Professional Psychology with an emphasis on child and family therapy after completing his Post Doctoral Internship at Palo Alto’s Mental Research Institute. Dr. J has worked in over fifteen schools, including public, private and international ones. Among his various roles in his almost thirty-year career, Dr.J was the Associate Head of School at Drew School in San Francisco, High School Principal at The American School in Japan, as well as the Associate Upper School Director at San Domenico in California. Dr.J earned a third degree black belt in Kung Fu San Soo. He likes spending his free time in his garden, taking his wife’s yoga class, or traveling with his wife and daughter.
Yasuko Inoue, Faculty Board Member
Yasuko grew up in Kobe, Japan and graduated from Osaka University of Foreign Studies with BS in German Studies, where she met Waldorf Education for the first time. This special meeting and her own educational experiences in Japan led her to the decision to come to the United States. She explored the different styles and possibilities in Education at Indiana University and received her Master of Science degree in Elementary Education. After working as a second grade teacher at a public language immersion school in Culver City, Yasuko moved to Northern California to start her family. Since then, she has been following her passion for Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy, and has been part of WSP community for many years, first as a parent, then an aide in Extended Care, and an assistant teacher in Rose Kindergarten. Yasuko received her Waldorf teaching certification from Rudolf Steiner College in 2010. She was inspired to join the Board of Trustees as she found it heartwarming to see people who hold so many different roles at WSP (grandparent, parent, community, alumna, teacher) all come together, and thoughtfully discuss what is best for the school.
Pierre Laurent, Alumni Parent Board Member & Board Vice President
Pierre was born and raised in France. He received an MS in Computer Science there, and an MBA from Kellogg, Northwestern University in Chicago. Having studied in France and after a brief work experience with a contractor for the European Space Agency, he joined a promising software start-up which had just gone through its IPO in Washington State. After several years in Washington working in various managerial and marketing capacities, he moved to the Bay Area with his family. His wife, Monica, is a class teacher who has completed one class journey from first to eighth and is just beginning her second. Pierre is serving on the board as President and is a long-time member of the Finance Committee and Strategic Planning Committee, among others.
Autumn Quinn, Parent Board Member
Autumn grew up in Santa Cruz California and attended the Santa Cruz Waldorf school from Kindergarten until eighth grade, where she picked up a passion for reading, handwork and group singing. After attending college on the East Coast, she returned to California and started her career in tech. She currently works as a Program Manager at Google, focusing on Android’s Continuous Integration infrastructure.
Autumn came back to Waldorf through attending the Parent Child Classes at WSP, and immediately connected with the warm and caring environment that she remembered from her own experience as a student. She began her more formal involvement with the school by serving on the Development Committee and is thrilled to expand her role with the school by joining the Board. She’s looking forward to bringing her perspectives from the Early Childhood program to the board and work to continue to grow our school community and expand our impact on the Peninsula to serve more families. Her hobbies include: knitting, cooking, reading and gardening, especially techniques for pruning fruit trees in the urban context. She lives with her family and two very friendly cats in Redwood City.
Amy Shimmick, Alumni Parent Board Member & Board Treasurer
Amy is a Silicon Valley native with a bachelor’s degree in International Policy Studies and an MBA in International Management. She lived in France for six years where she worked as a management consultant. She also spent several years as a clinical marketing manager in medical device start-ups.
For the past few years, however, Amy has made a novice (and generally comical) attempt at raising livestock and produce for her family’s consumption. When not herding cows and reclaiming piglets and turkeys from neighboring property, she enjoys yoga, hikes and her two children.
Sandra Welch, Parent Board Member & Board Secretary
Sandy was raised on a centennial farm in rural Michigan as the oldest of six children where she developed a deep connection for working with animals and nature. After graduating from Michigan State University with a BA in Interior Design, she started graduate work in Facilities Management. She held jobs in design and sales and completed studies in Advanced Screenwriting through the Professional Program at UCLA. She retired from work to raise her children, who attend WSP. Sandy has lead the Auction for the Spring Gala and enjoys finding ways for other parents to get involved and make a difference. Her other passions include writing, horseback riding, pilates, yoga, reading, Waldorf education, gardening, working with animals, and being a mother.
