Left to Right – Top Row: Kristin Dietz and Donna Marie Sergi,
Bottom Row: Erendira Tarax, Paul Khoury and Lori Nahra.
Kristin Dietz, CPA
Kristin has had the pleasure of working with California charter schools for more than 15 years. She has an extensive background in the training and management of accounting systems and procedures. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge in 1992, Kristin spent 10 years in public accounting. As a partner of a local accounting firm, she planned and performed audits and provided financial reporting and planning services for small businesses, charter schools and nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles. Her accounting firm was one of the first to participate in the audits of charter schools in Southern California.
Paul Khoury, Vice President of Finance
Paul brings real world business experience to the charter school world. Having graduated from St. Mary’s college with a B.S. in Business and a B.A. in Liberal Arts/Economics, Paul set out to change the world for the better. After dabbling in several personal endeavors during his early 20′s, Paul eventually settled down into the business world starting as a financial manager for Graybar Electric Co. Here he managed the credit activities through north eastern California and North West Nevada. After 4 years he had an opportunity to join Princess Cruises in their Accounting Department, moving from A/R manager to Revenue Accounting manager and on to General Accounting Manager. It was at Princess Cruises where he met Kristin Dietz, which would later lead to his rewarding work at CharterWorks. After Princess Cruises, Paul became the Director of Accounting at Warner Music Group, a division of Time Warner. Deciding he wanted to make more of a contribution to the “real work” being done in America, he left Time Warner to become the controller at InterPrint LLC, a $16 million commercial printing company with 100 employees. Having helped manage InterPrint through the current economic downturn and managing their cash flow in a challenging environment, Paul left to join Kristin at CharterWorks. In their discussions, both Paul and Kristin agreed that this real world, common sense business experience would be very valuable in helping Charter Schools manage their way through challenging economic times. Moreover, they would be able to relieve them of the day to day rigors of managing their cash and maintaining finance and accounting activities, thereby allowing them to concentrate on what was most important to them – Educating the future of America!
Lori Nahra, Account Manager
Cynthia Thomas, Account Manager
Cynthia is no stranger to the Charter School / Non-Profit arena of Accounting as she has garnered more than 6 years of experience before joining the CharterWorks team. At PUC (Partnership to Uplift Communities), where she worked under Kristin, she managed the accounting for ten different schools before moving on to ExEd where she continued her work as a Senior Accounting Associate. Prior to that, Cynthia proved her excellence in Budget Analysis with Non-Profit organization Neighborhood Centers, Inc., which helped the community flourish! She earned her Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Houston. Also, in her home town of Houston, she holds her Real Estate license. She is the proud mother of a teenage son.
Erendira Casillas-Tarax, Accounting Clerk
Erendira has been a part of the charter school world for the past eight years. She began working as a regular Teacher’s Assistant at Fenton Avenue Charter School. After working for only one year at Fenton, she was given the opportunity to work with the pre-kindergarten School Readiness Language Development Program (SRLDP). Erendira graduated from California State University, Northridge with a B.A. in Liberal Studies in 2008. She left Fenton when she was appointed as Parent Advocate to a relatively new pre-school program, called Even Start, where the main goal was to encourage parents’ involvement in their children’s education. The program was closed after just one year of due to budget cuts. Erendira returned to work at Fenton and had the opportunity to work in several positions, including Nurse Assistant, Office Assistant, Opportunity Room Assistant, Teacher Assistant, and English LanguageDevelopment (ELD) Aid. While at Fenton, she realized that even though she liked working in the classroom she enjoyed administrative work and assisting parents, students, and teachers in a different way. While working at Fenton, she met Kristin and Paul, and was offered the opportunity to join CharterWorks. Erendira believes that through CharterWorks, she is able to assist and support charter school success and therefore assist in improving the quality of education for those children in need of a change. Erendira has also been married for nine years and has three young children. Whenever she has time for herself she likes to read mystery, sci-fi and romance novels.
Sarah Hahn, Accounting Clerk
Sarah has an extensive background in the fields of both education and accounting. She taught preschool for 8 years. Her first 4 years were at the First Lutheran Preschool in the San Fernando Valley. The next 4 years she spent at Bright Horizons’ Amgen campus in Thousand Oaks in a variety of capacities: teacher, lead teacher, and finally as a floating teacher throughout the 450 student campus (ages 0-5). She proceeded to work for Kristin as her Office Manager / Accounting Clerk for 1 ½ years before joining the realm of charter schools and Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), first as Assistant to the CFO (Kristin), then as Accounts Payable, and finally as Accounts Payable/ Purchasing Administrator for all 12 schools. She spent a total of 6 years at PUC prior to joining the CharterWorks team.
Having worked in the most privileged and under-privileged schools, Sarah understands the struggle to provide quality supplies to the students, and the difference it makes. She really loves helping the schools utilize their money to the utmost in order to provide the best resources possible. Saving money through local vendors and helping find new options for purchasing supplies is something in which she is always on the watch. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys jewelry making, home improvement, decorating and antiquing.
Jose Burger, Accounting Clerk
Jose was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he graduated from Bennett University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture. He furthered his studies with 2 years in Business Administration. Straight out of college, his first job was as Office Manager for a boutique construction company that catered for the big names of the music industry in Brazil. His next eight year journey was literally in the travel business. In 1989, he moved to America, and worked for 19 years in the food industry of which his last position was Director of Operations and Catering Events. In 2008, he began in accounting in the food and movie industries. His friend and neighbor Paul Khoury introduced him to the charter school world of accounting, which he finds new and exciting! Jose has a tremendous passion for theater as well as both interior and set design.
Donna Marie Sergi, Administrative Assistant
Donna has been assisting business professionals for more than 12 years in a variety of capacities from entertainment in casting and film production to marketing and sales to education. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Northridge. She began her work as a personal assistant to Irene Gilbert at The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles after her first term studying acting and singing there. She continued to help keep the Academy’s President organized at both the academy and Ms. Gilbert’s home office, including logging her receipts for taxes annually, for almost 9 years. Shortly afterwards, meeting up with former classmate Kristin, it seemed a natural progression to join the CharterWorks family. She has also enjoyed working in Sales for more than 11 years in the fields of advertising, skincare, dental alloys and film investments. Donna is happily married to husband Brad, and lives in Los Angeles, California, where she enjoys hiking, yoga, movies, singing, scrapbooking and collaborating on theatre and film projects. Here at CharterWorks, she takes great pride in knowing she is contributing to the quality of education!
Joe Lucente
Board Chair
Joe Lucente is a pioneer in the charter school movement and recognized as one of the state’s leading experts in charter school finance. In 1993, Joe led one of the first charter school conversions in California. Once considered one of the worst elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Fenton Avenue Charter School has become a California Distinguished School and is a national model of a successful conversion charter school honored by the White House, U.S. Congress and California Legislature. A fearless warrior for charter school student equity and past president of the California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC), Joe was a driving force in creating the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). Now retired from Fenton, Joe taps into 45 years of experience in both the private sector and public education to advise current charter school operators and serves on several boards of organizations benefiting charter school students.
Vahe Markarian
Board Member
Director, Santa Monica Blvd. Community Charter School
Vahe graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and later received his Master’s degree in Educational Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. Vahe holds California Teaching, an Administrative and Bilingual Cross Cultural Credentials, and has been an educator for 17 years. Vahe started his career in education as a teaching assistant while working on his teaching credential. He has taught kindergarten through 5th grade, is experienced as a categorical programs coordinator and adult education teacher, as well as both assistant principal and principal at Santa Monica Blvd. Elementary School. In 2002, Santa Monica Blvd. Elementary School became the largest conversion charter school within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Vahe has served as the director of operations and finance since then. Vahe also serves on the executive committee of the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs (ASCIP). Before it converted to a charter school, Santa Monica Blvd. Elementary School was placed on the LAUSD’s one hundred worst schools list. Since its conversion, it has been recognized as a California Distinguished School and renewed its charter under the leadership of Vahe and his co-director; has made a 224 point gain in state standardized testing; has received NAEYC accreditation for its pre-school program; and has become a professional development school for Pepperdine University’s Student Teacher program.
Irene Sumida
Board member
Director, Fenton Avenue Charter School
Irene is a graduate of California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s degree in Education. She holds California credentials in Elementary Education, Reading and Administration, and has been an educator for over 37 years. Before joining Fenton Avenue Charter School, Irene served the Los Angeles Unified School District for 27 years in a variety of capacities. These included assistant principal of Sylmar Elementary, Canterbury Avenue Elementary and Gifted/High Ability Center and Fenton Avenue Elementary, as well as classroom teacher, mentor teacher, and school improvement/bilingual coordinator at Herrick Elementary. In July 1993, the year Fenton was authorized by the Los Angeles Unified School District to convert to charter status, Irene became the director of instruction, and served in that capacity until executive director Joe Lucente’s retirement in June 2005, when she was appointed director. In 1997, Irene received the Hart Vision Award from CANEC (California Network of Educational Charters) and Fenton Avenue Charter School was named a California Distinguished School. She has served as a Commissioner (Environmental Affairs) for the City of Los Angeles, and on numerous committees including the Joint Legislative Committee for the Development of the Master Plan for Kindergarten through University Education, State of California, and the California State Superintendent for Public Instruction’s Public School Accountability Advisory Committee. Irene currently serves on the executive committee of the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs (ASCIP) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). Learn more About Us Discover Our Services