Alison Suffet Diaz

- ECHS Founder and Executive Director -

Mrs. Suffet Diaz is the Founder of Environmental Charter High School, and Executive Director of Environmental Charter Schools.   She is responsible for driving strategic development, as well as fundraising, fiscal and capital budgeting and planning, and oversight of administrative operations.  This includes driving the Environmental Charter Schools (ECS) plan, which calls for establishing a network of charter schools including elementary, middle, and high schools to serve under-resourced communities in southern Los Angeles.

Suffet Diaz started her career as an education attorney, representing school districts in labor negotiations, and with personnel concerns and student issues.    She decided to pursue her passion for education and become an educator.  Never dreaming she would found a school, she earned her teaching credentials from Cal State Dominguez Hills, and landed a full-time teaching social science at Leuzinger High School, where she taught for eight years.    While there, she created a school within a school; a California Partnership Academy called Environmental Careers Academy (ECA).

The performance of the students who were in ECA soared and in 1999, she began her path toward opening a Charter School, Environmental Charter High School.  During the next period, she worked part-time as a faculty member in the teaching credential program at Cal State Dominguez Hills and as an Education Specialist at TreePeople while she assembled a team of parents, teachers and business partners to support her during the process of petitioning to establish a new charter school. The Lawndale Elementary School District approved the charter in 2000 and Environmental Charter High School was born.  Originally starting with a 100 ninth grade students on a temporary, shared campus, ECHS now serves over 430 students in ninth through twelfth grades from own campus in Lawndale, California, and has become an award-winning educational institution recognized nationally for its innovative programs.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from State University of New York, Albany, and Juris Doctorate from Temple University Law School, where she participated in a program called LEAP, teaching inner city youth about their constitutional rights. 

Jenni Taylor

- Principal -

Jenni Taylor has been a part of the ECHS community since the first year of the school’s inception in 2002. She has worn many hats at ECHS, including several years of service as a math and science teacher and three years as the assistant principal. Jenni obtained her Administrative Services Credential and Masters in Educational Administration from Pepperdine University, where she is currently working on her Doctorate in Educational Leadership Administration and Policy.

Jenni is a National Board Certified Teacher and received her Teaching Credential from Cal State University Long Beach. Her background in science and education began at UC Santa Cruz, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies. Prior to her years at ECHS, Jenni was an instructor with Naturalists at Large, where she led students on adventure trips throughout California while teaching environmental principles. She also coordinated the Life Lab program for an elementary school in Santa Cruz, California.

Mandy Breuer

- Student Services Director -

Ms. Breuer is responsible for school-wide student leadership development, 9-12 college preparation program development, counseling and parent outreach. She joined ECHS in 2006 and previously served as a Counselor and 11th Grade College Preparation Instructor.  

She holds an M.A. in Counseling from Loyola Marymount University, where she received the Dean’s Award for her work in social justice. 

Earlier in her professional career, she worked in television marketing at FOX Broadcasting Company.  She also holds a B.A. in Public Relations from Texas Tech University.

Kami Cotler

- Principal, Environmental Charter Middle School -

Kami Cotler will serve as the Principal and main site administrator of Environmental Charter Middle School. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kami Cotler attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with a degree in Social Sciences and then received her teaching credential. Ms. Cotler began her teaching career in a small, rural district near Charlottesville, Virginia where she taught in ALPHA, an interdisciplinary, alternative program for at-risk high school students. When she returned to California she took a position as ninth grade team leader at Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale, California. While exploring education options for her own children, Ms. Cotler learned about Ocean Charter School and worked on various committees in the year before the school’s opening. In August 2004, she accepted the job as co-director at the Ocean Charter School. After serving as co-director for three years, Ms. Cotler began an educational consulting business, working with developing charters and homeschooling families.

Her experiences outside education include running a boutique travel company, an internship at IBM, managing a café in San Francisco, and as a child, acting on the television series “The Waltons”. She has been a member of the Board of the American Montessori Society and currently is Vice-Chairperson on the Ocean Charter School board of trustees.

Sara Laimon

- Director, Founder, Green Ambassadors Program -

Sara Laimon is founder of Environmental Charter High School's Green Ambassadors, (www.Greenambassadors.org), an academic program and  exemplifies the school's service-learning philosophy by creating opportunities for youth to build leadership skills and address critical environmental issues facing our planet.

For her passionate commitment to inspiring students, and her outstanding leadership in environmentally-themed teaching, Laimon received the Educator of the Year Award at Green Technology's Green California Schools Summit in 2008. A National Board Certified Teacher, Laimon is a frequent speaker at educational conferences, public events, on the radio and television, and has led national workshops for educators on how to create and implement Green principles in secondary education.

At just 17 years, Laimon ran for the City Board with a platform for greening her hometown of Pewaukee, WI, losing by only three votes. At 20, she started a dairy farm in Zimbabwe, which was the green spark that led her to understand how the United States systems needed to change in order for the rest of the world to have a sustainable model to follow.  Since that time she has spent her life educating youth about the importance of actively contributing and being a steward of this planet

Suzanna Martinez

- Projects Coordinator -

Suzanna Martinez is responsible for state-data, assessments, student scheduling, and internships. She joined ECHS in 2004 as a math teacher and returned in 2009. She has previously served in Administration at schools and district-level as well as responsible for Federal & State-funded Programs. She holds an M.A. in Organizational Leadership as well as an Administrative Credential. Earlier in her professional career, she worked as a teacher from Elementary- Adult education.

Dawn Pellerin

- Special Education Coordinator -

Dawn Pellerin is the Special Education Director for ECHS/ECMS.  She has been teaching in special education since 2001.  She has worked for several districts in Southern California and has been at ECHS since 2007. She graduated from USC with a degree in Fine Art, then earned her credential and Masters Degree in Special Education.  She used her art experience to develop an art therapy program at a school in San Gabriel for students with behavioral problems. She also created a sports program that incorporated occupational therapy with yoga.  She currently serves on the South West SELPA Transition Committee to help design transition services for all local schools within the SELPA.  Dawn has also served as the Assistant Girls Basketball Coach at ECHS. 

Quynh Tran

- Operations Manager -

For the past 9 years, Quynh Tran has played an integral role to the development of ECHS, and helped found the school.    Mr. Tran is responsible for ongoing supervision of grounds, facilities, Systems Administrator/Network Administrator, Human Resources, office administration, Security, and Emergency Preparedness.  He recently managed the school’s transition to its new campus and is responsible for various projects such as plans to build more classrooms and convert facilities to “Green” buildings.  As a member of the Facility Committee, he also works on the future developments of ECHS.   This includes plans to create Environmental Charter Schools (ECS), a new network of Charter Schools, for which he will be responsible for ensuring school sites are fully functional.

Bruce Greenspon

- Board Director, Current President -

Bruce Greenspon has been a Board Director of ECHS since 2002.  He is a Manager for Raytheon, a leading aerospace firm, where has worked since 2002 in various contract management positions.   Earlier in his career he worked at Hughes Aircraft Company, where he was responsible for negotiation and administration of Defense Department contracts, and involved in security programs for the company.

He has been an active volunteer, leader and member of numerous local civic and non-profit organizations including Big Brothers, Junior Achievement, and the Raytheon Management Club.   He serves on the Hermosa Beach City Counsel/School Board Project Forward Committee, a civic advisory group involved in planning for the Hermosa Beach City School district.  He holds an M.A. Honors in Conflict Management and Negotiation from CSU Dominguez Hills, and a B.S. from Western Illinois University.

Steve McCray

- Board Member -

Mr. McCray Brings over 20 years of educational leadership experience to ECHS’ Board, an expertise in educational best practices and teacher training, use of data and assessment, school governance and systems, current issues in education and budgeting and fiscal management, schools and academic excellence for historically underachieving schools

The Principal of William Green School, a K-6 public school in the Lawndale School District of California since 1998, Mr. McCray manages 80 Full and part-time employees.  Under his leadership the school has increased student achievement as evidenced by API scores and District performance assessments.  He is also an Adjunct Faculty member of the Graduate School of Education at National University, where he teaches courses required for California credentials.  He is a Los Angeles County Office of Education AB 430 Trainer.  McCray also serves on the Board of Directors, P.S. Arts Santa Monica, CA, a non-profit.

From 1995 to 1998 he worked for The California Department of Education in provided administrative andmanagement assistance to historically underachieving schools.  From 1993 to 1988 at the School of Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills, he designed and taught courses in math, science, social science, and multiculturalism for the multiple subject credential, coordinated off-campus credentialing and intern programs.   Earlier in his career, as Assistant Principal, Lennox Middle School, he developed and coordinated numerous programs such as Adopt-a-Student Mentoring, parent-based gang intervention and Career Days.

He holds an Ed.D in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, and M.Ed. in Administration and Policy Studies in Education from UCLA, and a B.A. in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara, and is proficient in Spanish and Portuguese.

John Quiter

- Board Member -

John E. Quiter is the former President of the Board of ECHS.  He is Chairman of the Board of Cuningham Group Architecture P.A., an internationally recognized architecture firm serving education, entertainment, gaming, hospitality, retail, and corporate and other markets.  
Under his leadership since 1998 the Cuningham Group grew to nearly 200 employees and 7 locations worldwide.   His architectural passion is seeking Green design applications, and he leads the firm’s efforts in pursuing Green or Sustainable practices, such as LEED® standards developed by the Green Building Council.   

He is a former Committee Chair of Urban Planning for the Urban Land Institute, and has numerous professional architecture and planning certifications.   Quiter holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Iowa State University.

Ken Deemer

- Board Member -

Ken Deemer is a founding partner and Chairman of Los Angeles Social Venture Partners a group of business professionals who contribute their time, money, and expertise to promote philanthropy in L.A., and to help nonprofits expand their capacity and effectiveness. The organization currently focuses on organizations addressing the environment and education, especially charter schools.  Mr. Deemer was also a co-founder and former Chairman and President of the Tech Coast Angels, (www.techcoastangels.com), one of the largest and most active angel investor groups in the country.

Mr. Deemer is an active private investor and has over twenty years of venture capital experience as a General Partner of InterVen Partners, a firm that he co-founded in 1985.   He has invested in and served on the boards of numerous public and private companies in technology, manufacturing and specialty retailing. Earlier in his career, he was a co-founder of a direct marketing company, My Favorite Charities, marketing manager of a computer peripherals company and a systems engineer with Hughes Aircraft Company.

Mr. Deemer holds BS degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MBA, with distinction, from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a Certified Director by the Directors Institute at UCLA.

Tom Feegel

- Board Member -

ECHS recently welcomed Tom Feegel to its Board of Directors. Feegel is the founder of GreenMyParents - a youth movement to seed the green economy, earn over $100 at home and save the Planet.  Feegel is also CEO of Brand Neutral, an eco-consulting firm advising business leaders on brand strategy, content creation, and revenue growth.

As Chief of Staff for Al Gore's Global Concert Event in 2007, Tom oversaw sponsorship, and worldwide marketing. He created a popular consumer handbook on surviving the climate crisis and championed an on-the-road greening guide for celebrities and artists. Other organizations Tom has worked with include Disney, NBC, Dell, Ford, Phillips, Smart Car, Pepsi, National Geographic, Healthy Child Healthy World, Girl Scouts of the USA, Kiva.org, National Wildlife Federation, Energy Star, and the Vatican.