The Board of Directors at Blue Hill Montessori
Who We Are
The Blue Hill Montessori Board is made up of parents, community members, and faculty/staff members. The role of the BHMS Board is to steer the school in a successful direction and provide oversight to it's operations. The Board works in collaboration with the Head of School and various subcommittees.
"The mission of Blue Hill Montessori School shall be to operate a not-for-profit organization to achieve and maintain an authentic Montessori curriculum and culture. At Blue Hill Montessori School, we honor the potential in every child, nurturing a child's individual spirit to reveal itself through hands on exploration thereby building a strong foundation for your child's life."
Katie McAuliffe
Chair Emeritus
Katie McAuliffe is entering into her 6th year on the Blue Hill’s Montessori Board, having served as Treasurer for her first three years, Vice Chair for the last two and is now excited to lead the Board for the 2022/23 Academic Year. She is a mom to two graduates and one current student and fell in love with Montessori when BHMS showed her the beauty of it and never looked back! Katie has more than 20 years of HR Leadership experience and is currently a Talent Acquisition Executive at Bank of America, where she leads a global team. Katie loves her family and her work and is passionate about leading in a way that sets the example that women can do both gracefully without sacrificing one for the other.
Tom Wehr
Board Chair
Tom Wehr is in his first year as a member of the BHMS board. He lives in Canton with his wife and two sons, the older of which is in the upstairs classroom for his second year. Having seen the positive impact on his own son and the great community of the school, joining the board seemed like an exciting way to be more involved at BHMS.
Tom is a Realtor with Compass, helping people with their real estate needs in the greater Boston area and suburbs, as well as coastal Rhode Island. Outside of family and work, Tom tries to play as much golf as he can.
John Ryniec
Vice Chair
Coming soon!
Kelli Pircio
Board Treasurer
Kelli Pircio is a mom of four, three of which have attended Blue Hill Montessori. As the mother of two BHMS alumni she credits the Montessori experience as having developed resourceful, independent thinkers and values the focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Blue Hill Montessori experience. In addition to participating on the Blue Hill Montessori board she has also volunteered in the public school system running committees and volunteering in the classroom.
Kelli’s professional experience is in technical project management, financial systems, and strategy development. In her free time she enjoys reading, exercising, walking with her three dogs and trying out new recipes for the family.
Meredith Frank McGinnis
Board Secretary
Meredith McGinnis has spent the past thirteen years working in secondary education at Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) in the admissions and athletic departments. She currently is the Chief Operating Officer at Achieve Lacrosse, LLC. Meredith serves as the Secretary for the Eastern Massachusetts Girls Lacrosse Coaches Association Board of Directors. Meredith earned her Master’s Degree in Athletic Administration and a BA in Political Science from Northwestern University. She has volunteered in various capacities at BHMS and values the principles of Montessori education. Her son, William, is a BHMS graduate and her two daughters, Maeve and Ellie, are students in the Children’s House and Toddler House, respectively.
Whitney Kinch
General Board Member
Whitney and her husband, Matt live in Easton with their two sons, Julian, a graduate of BHMS, and Riley, who moved up from the Toddler House to the Children's House this year, and their black Labrador, Brisbane. As a first year board member and second year class parent, Whitney is excited to be more involved in the BHMS community that has given so much to her two sons.
Whitney is the Assistant Director of Lower and Middle School Admission at a K-12 school. In her free time, Whitney enjoys hiking, cooking, exploring new places near and far, and cozying up with a cup of tea and a good book.
Courtney Shaughnessy
General Board Member
Coming soon!
Kate Khetarpal
General Board Member
Kate Khetarpal is a Project Management leader at Johnson & Johnson, focused on medical device labeling within New Product Development. As a Boston University graduate with a Manufacturing Engineering degree, she started her career at J&J in NPD Quality Engineering. After earning an MBA at Northeastern, she became a people leader at J&J – enabling her passion for mentoring to take flight. She loves helping employees discover their strengths and potential, which translates well into motherhood!
Kate loves to travel (and is excited to introduce the world to her daughter!), read, and run in her spare time.
Patti Ryan
General Board Member
Patti Ryan returns to BHMS board as a community member having previously served on BHMS board as staff representative during her time as Upstairs Classroom Lead teacher from 2016-2020. Patti's experience with BHMS spans many years as she started as an intern in 2008 and returned years later as a lead teacher and co-chair of the steering committee for AMS accreditation self study. As both a Montessori teacher and as a parent of Montessori students Patti has felt the powerful and long lasting effects gained from a strong Montessori education. Patti is currently a service dog trainer and curriculum developer with Golden Opportunities for Independence, a non-profit service dog organization.
