INSIDE LAKESIDE
by Bronwyn Echols
WHO’S NEW ON THE BOARD Leadership on the Lakeside Board of Trustees shifted in June with the addition of new members and a new Board chair. Here’s more about each: Peter Polson ’91 is the new
Board chair, succeeding Connie Ballmer, who continues in an officer’s position as immediate past chair. Polson is CEO of Dashwire, a software company that develops solutions to make smartphones easier to use. He previously cofounded Junxion, later purchased by Sierra Wireless; and worked at J.P. Morgan in New York and Nextlink and Monet Mobile Networks in Seattle. He graduated summa Peter Polson ’91 cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Middlebury College, with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, and he received an MBA with high honors as a Tuck Scholar at Dartmouth College. He writes about why he’s a trustee and more about what the Board does in his first “From the Board chair” letter, on page 5. Polson is just beginning his second term as a trustee; the preceding three years he was an ex officio representative to the Board from the Lakeside/St. Nicholas Alumni Association. Carey Crutcher Smith ’77 was elected as a trustee by the Board at its May meeting and begins her first three-year term. Smith, a three-sport athlete at Lakeside, was an Alumni Board member from 1989 to 1992. The parent of two Lakesiders (’11 Carey Crutcher and ’14), she has Smith ’77
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served in many volunteer roles: Living Our Mission campaign, Parents Association, and Annual Fund. A committed donor to the Annual Fund over the years, she helped to spearhead her class’s endowed fund. Smith is director of marketing for Lease Crutcher Lewis, joining her father, Jim, and cousin, Bill, in the family firm. Her numerous Lakeside connections include her brother Jim ’75 and sister Page ’79, and a niece and three nephews (’08, ’09, and ’13). Another special connection is that Smith’s mother, Barbara Lease Crutcher ’50, received the Lakeside Board’s highest honor—the Willard J. Wright ’32 Distinguished Service Award—in the same spring as her daughter was elected as a trustee (see page 18 for a story about the award). Kelli Curtis
begins a two-year ex officio term on the Board as the president-elect of the Parents Association. A University of Washington Kelli Curtis graduate with a degree in journalism, Curtis worked in high tech as a product and project manager for more than 15 years before retiring and returning to school for a vocational degree in environmental horticulture. She has owned POTS2GO for eight years; the Seattle-based company specializes in creating containers with unusual and distinctive plant species. She has been a master gardener, as well, for 12 years. Her work has been recognized in magazine features, and she created a design display for
the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in 2008. She has two children at Lakeside, Gavin Blake ’14 and Anna Blake ’17. She’s been active in the Parents Association in many roles, including class representative, liaison to development, nominations chair, and logowear chair. Artemios (“Tim”) S. Panos ’85
begins a two year ex officio term in his role as president-elect of the Alumni Association. Panos is a principal of Panos Properties LLC, a family-owned investment company with interests in commercial real estate, public Artemios securities, and (“Tim”)Panos private equity. The company owns, develops, and invests in commercial retail properties in the Puget Sound region. Panos directs all aspects of the company’s investment, development and financing activities. From 1996 through 2002, Panos was an investment banker for Lehman Brothers in New York. He served as a vice president in the Global Leveraged Finance Group, arranging growth and acquisition financings for leveraged companies and financial sponsors. Panos holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in economics and philosophy from Trinity College. He also completed the General Course at the London School of Economics. He and his wife Rebecca live in Medina with a son, 9, and twin daughters, 7. He is an avid soccer fan and skier. ■ Bronwyn Echols is secretary of the Lakeside Board of Trustees. She can be reached at bechols@lakesideschool.org.
2012-2013
Board of Trustees Peter M. Polson ’91
Chair
Theiline (“Ty”) Wyckoff Cramer ’78
Vice Chair
Connie Ballmer
Immediate Past Chair Jill S. Ruckelshaus
Vice Chair/Secretary
Mark Klebanoff ’80
Treasurer
Christopher H. Ackerley ’87 Rodney A. Bench Samir Bodas Margaret Breen
Parents Association President Kelli Curtis
Parents Association President-Elect
Christopher J. Elias, MD, MPH Christian Fulghum ’77
Alumni Association President
Robert M. Helsell ’55 Lynn Hogan Natasha Smith Jones ’89 Henry L. (“Skip”) Kotkins Jr. ’66 Connie Mao, MD Artemios (“Tim”) S. Panos ’85
Alumni Association President-Elect
Elizabeth Anderson (“Wispy”) Runde ’77 Carey Crutcher Smith ’77 Charles Stevens Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J. Edward Taylor Bertrand Valdman
On leave 2012-2013 David W. Wiley ’71