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."
Ally White
Chair Emeritus
Ally White is a 5 year member of the BHMS Board of Directors, starting off as secretary and then serving the past 3 years as Chairwoman of the Board. Ally is a full time Realtor for Gibson Sotheby's International Realty and focuses much of her time on her clients buying and selling in the greater Boston area. When she is not working, she adores being a mom to her 8 year old son (2020 graduate of BHMS) and her 5 year old daughter (current Kindergartener at BHMS) - they keep her busy with all things soccer, baseball, gymnastics, and no less than 500 questions a day! Ally genuinely loves spending her time with family and friends whenever possible and is also a volunteer member of the Board at the Ponkapoag Civic Association in Canton.
Katie McAuliffe
Board Chair
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.
Amy Beaudoin
Vice Chair
Amy Beaudoin is a returning member of the Blue Hill Montessori Board, transactional attorney and proud girl-mom. Amy worked in private practice in New York City for nearly a decade before taking an in-house counsel role at John Hancock supporting their Infrastructure Team in executing private equity and debt transactions.
A Montessori alumni herself, Amy has a daughter (Bridgette) in the Upstairs Classroom and plans to start her younger daughter (Paige) in the Toddler House. When not spending time with her family or computer, Amy enjoys running, golf, reading books of zero literary value and the New England Patriots.
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.
Courtney Wason
General Board Member
Courtney comes to the Bhms community after settling here in Canton a few years ago. She grew up in the area and then spent some time away, including nannying in Italy and a few interesting years down south. The pull to be close to family again led her back to MA to raise her family here.
Courtney has a background in pharmaceutical research at several startup biotech companies and held a position in emergency medicine research at a naval hospital. She decided to hang up her lab coat and switched to her most challenging role yet, stay at home parent. Her passion for research led her to thoroughly investigate options for her children’s education and the Montessori method was a clear winner. Courtney has two children, her older son is a 2021 BHMS graduate and her younger son will be completing the kindergarten program this year.
Iris Banoey
General Board Member
Iris is the mom of Aaryan who recently graduated from BHMS kindergarten and Rohan who is in his second year in the downstairs class. They joined BHMS in 2017. She used to be a commissioner for the Commission on Disability for the town of Milton from 2017-2019. She currently works as a nurse practitioner for Steward Health Care.
Brian Buoniconti
General Board Member
Brian Buoniconti lives with his wife, Lauren, in Randolph, MA and is a parent of two students at Blue Hill Montessori School - the oldest entering their final Kindergarten year and the younger moving into the Children's House program after spending last year in Toddler House. In the three years since sending his oldest to BHMS for the first time, he has seen the incredible benefits of a Montessori educational environment during such important developmental years and is looking forward to helping to grow this wonderful community.
Professionally, Brian works for a Boston-based investment manager where he focuses his time on proxy voting and ESG integration & oversight. Outside of work, Brian enjoys spending time at the golf course, traveling, or gathered around the bar-b-que or in the kitchen cooking for family and friends.
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.
Katie Sykes
General Board Member
Katie Sykes is a VP of Private Equity Operations at Bain Capital. Prior to joining Bain Capital in 2008, Katie worked at KPMG in their transactions group and Ernst & Young in the audit practice. She was delighted to join the BHMS Board in the fall of 2022. Katie, a native Ohioan stayed in Boston after attending Boston College. She and her husband, Rob, live in Canton and strive to instill in their daughter—a second-year student at BHMS—an appreciation for family, friends, live music, and skiing! They thoroughly enjoyed their first-year experience at BHMS. Katie is committed to making the BHMS community the best it can be.
Tom Wehr
General Board Member
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.
