Board of Directors
The Founding Board of Directors is an initiative group of parents and faculty who formed the new corporation, Eastside Community School. The intention of the initiative is to embody a three-fold structure, balancing cultures from the basis of the three-pillar model of Waldorf school governance.
Griffith Owen, President
Grif Owen is the President and one of the founding members of the ECS Board of Directors. Grif and his wife Sandie give their time and energy to the school because the contemporary Waldorf-inspired curriculum is in alignment with their observations of child development and they have been able to see the results in their 3rd grade son. Their motivation is for Grif’s mini-me to continue to be enriched by ECS and its superb faculty throughout his school years and to ensure the school’s continued innovative nature and sustainability for all children far into the future.
When Grif is not at the school greeting everyone at drop-off, fetching coffee for the Tuesday morning knitting bee, or helping improve some portion of the school, you might catch him as he swings by the eighth-grade room to sneak a taste of whatever country’s cuisine they are cooking and studying that day. Then he’s off to his other job as CEO and founder of CampusPoint Corporation which works with companies, in an ever-expanding list of geographies, as their on-campus college recruiting team.
Grif just kept going to school until he found what he wanted to do, so he has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, a MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Washington (UW), and an MBA from the UW’s Executive MBA program. He enjoys experiential education as well, visiting far-flung places from Antarctica to Vanuatu, flying real and model airplanes, scuba diving all over the world, and working their 20 acres east of Everett with his fleet of heavy equipment and other woodworking toys.
One thing we don’t know about Grif is why he inexplicably wears some form of orange shirt on Fridays.
Anneliese Johnson, Secretary
Anneliese is one of the Board’s founding Directors and has been a part of this community since the fall of 2016. Having watched her daughter thrive first in Kindergarten and then in the ECS grades program, Anneliese has been impressed by the school faculty and approach to education, which she believes is unique among Waldorf or Waldorf-inspired schools. The integration of language and fine arts coupled with the rigorous quest for understanding and appreciation of the natural world and a child’s innate potential is what makes ECS so special and is what inspires Anneliese to serve the school.
When she is not practicing law at Inslee Best in Bellevue or working on behalf of ECS, Anneliese enjoys sailing with her husband and young daughter, gardening, practicing yoga and singing with Choral Arts Northwest.
Dan Holsclaw, Treasurer
Dan has been a member of the ECS community for one year and is the proud father of his daughter Cora who is in the Apple Blossom Kindergarten class. Dan has 25 years of finance experience evenly split between Fortune 500 Enterprises and small to medium-sized technology start-ups in the Seattle area. Dan is passionate about helping organizations of various sizes construct and develop their operating and financial platforms to support their core mission.
Andy Hartpence
Andy has been a part of the ECS community for 6 years. He and his wife Elizabeth are the proud parents of William in grade four, and Leo in grade one. Andy has worked in the Entertainment industry for more than 20 years, with a focus on digital marketing. He worked for ten years at Nintendo of America, and is now Senior Director, Digital Marketing at The Pokémon Company International. Andy’s team is responsible for all consumer-facing marketing websites, social media, and email marketing. On the creative side, Andy is also an independent hip-hop artist contributing to projects such as Optimus Rhyme and Supercommuter.
“We were originally drawn to Waldorf-inspired education because of the unique approach to learning in its early childhood program. The focus on play and time outdoors has been a great fit for our boys. As we learned more about Waldorf-inspired education, we became convinced that it was the right choice for elementary school as well. I believe in the school’s practice of teaching kids to think and reason their way to solutions, rather than memorizing facts. The simple routine of students greeting their teacher each morning with an earnest handshake is just one example of a small thing that makes Waldorf-inspired education different in a wonderful way.”