Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The Schoerke Foundation is an all-volunteer, unpaid board who are all dedicated to the mission of the Foundation.

Roy Ortman, Chairperson

Roy Ortman is a 1969 graduate of American University. He has spent the majority of his working career in the financial services industry primarily in the investment business in New York City. He is a founding partner of The Hampton Group, a strategy consulting firm, serving clients such as Bank of America, Fidelity Investments and Goldman Sachs. He joined Accenture, a large management consulting and technology firm, in 1995 when The Hampton Group was acquired, and retired in 2002.  Roy is currently the Strategic Plan Implementation Coordinator at Delaware Valley College. He and his partner of 40 years, Bill, live in Doylestown, PA.

Kwesi Koomson, Executive Director

Kwesi Koomosn holds a BA from Franklin & Marshall College and an MA in Mathematics from Villanova University. Kwesi has worked in schools in the United States and Ghana since 1997; and having been the beneficiary of various scholarships as a student, Kwesi returned to Ghana in 2004 with his wife, Melissa, to start two Heritage Academy schools. He is currently the head of the math department at Westtown School.

Melissa Koomson, Founder

Melissa Koomson holds a degree in Spanish from Chestnut Hill College. She has taught Spanish to middle and high school students in the United States, English to middle school students in Ghana, and worked as a PreK teacher at Plymouth Meeting Friends School. She is currently the coordinator of Work Program and Volunteer Service at Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in PA; and the director of the Schoerke Foundation. Melissa has done volunteer work in the United States, Latin America, and Africa.

Victoria Jones, Secretary

Victoria Jones received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College in 1990. She has since received a Master of Science in Library Science and a Master of Information Systems from Drexel University. After receiving her graduate degrees, Victoria worked at DuPont Pharmaceutical. In the fall of 2001, she returned to her high school alma mater, Westtown School to work as the Middle/Upper School Librarian. Victoria is currently the Director of Library Services at Westtown School.

Laura Craig

Laura Craig received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College and her Masters of Education from the University of Texas, specializing in Pervasive Developmental Disorders and Autism. She has worked as a special educator in both public and private settings, and is currently a Learning Specialist at The Crefeld School in Philadelphia, PA. Her teaching experience also includes a position at the English Speaking School of Lubumbashi in Zaire, where she was a volunteer through the Global Ministries program of the United Methodist Church. She served as a board member of The Big Backyard Preschool as Fundraising Chair and Secretary for two years. She is currently faculty liaison to The Crefeld School’s board during its strategic planning process. She is a member of the Specialists of Schools for the Delaware Valley, and The Council for Exceptional Children. She resides in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.

Sue Gold

Sue Gold, a graduate of Oberlin College and Duke University, has taught in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Colorado before moving to Pennsylvania, where she taught for 9 years at Media-Providence Friends School. Sue has been at Westtown School since 1997, working in the Advancement Office, teaching 6th grade history (where her students corresponded with the first students at Heritage Academy), and currently, serving as Director of Communications. Sue clerked Westtown's Multicultural Board for the first three years of its existence.

John Koenig

John Koenig is a teacher of US History and Philosophy at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, PA. He has taught in a number of educational settings including special education schools, a rural public high school, and in a private, New England Preparatory school. He holds a Master's degree in American History from the University of East Anglia and is currently working on a Master of Education from Cabrini College.  John has taught Philosophy, History, and Creativity and Problem Solving to Heritage Academy students and conducted Teacher Conferences in three summer trips to Ghana.

Michael Minnig

Micahel Minnig holds a masters degree in education from Lesley University where he studied conflict resolution and how to build peaceable schools. Over the last sixteen years Michael has worked in summer camp programs for Quaker organizations and children with severe medical problems, coached basket ball, taught English and Social Studies, been a dorm head and the director of service learning, and clerked various committees including the diversity committee at Atlanta Friends School where he helped create the middleschool program. Michael has been the clerk of the Martin Luther King Day Committee and the Kasemeyer Leadership Award Committee at Westtown School where he is currently the director of outdoor education. He is married to Linda Garretson and has two children, Sage and Terran.

Dan Grebb

Dan received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Multimedia from University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He has spent a number of years in the field of web design, development and strategy, and joined Schoerke Foundation in 2010 to bring our website to the next level. Dan continues to contribute his time on the Board of Directors as a technology consultant and webmaster. Dan currently works at Delaware Valley College as Manager of Web Communications, and lives in Lansdale, PA.

Ellis Manning

Ellis is a CPA who holds an MBA in Finance & Economics, a BS in Accounting, and a BA in Philosophy and History. He served as the Agency Administrator and Controller of a home health organization in Denver, Colorado before joining ING’s US Insurance where he works as a Senior Financial Analyst. Ellis also provides small business accounting services for a West Chester art gallery. He was born and raised in Washington, DC. He and his wife, Mary, have lived in Westtown since 2002.

Board Members Emeritus

Kim Brosnan-Myers

Kim teaches Kindergarten and lives in an old Quaker schoolhouse in London Grove, PA with her husband Doug Myers, and two children Hilary and Kevin. Hilary accompanied Kim on her first trip to Africa in 2002. They went on a Green Belt Movement Safari in Kenya, learning from Wangari Matthai and many others about the importance of trees to the prevention of environmental degradation. In 2007, Kim participated in a Senegal-America Project visit, going with other teachers, musicians and artists to Senegal to drum, dance, and connect with schoolchildren and teachers there. Kim joined the Schoerke Foundation Board because she shares Kwesi and Melissa's passion for supporting educational opportunities for children in Africa. She can't wait to visit schools there again.

Andrew C. Schoerke

Andrew C. Schoerke graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1956 with a BA in architecture. Immediately following graduation he enlisted in the Navy and, upon graduation from Officer Candidate School, was commissioned a reserve officer. Following his release from active duty in 1959, Andrew began a 39 year architectural career while remaining active in the Navy Ready Reserve program. In 1979, Andrew Schoerke retired from the Navy with the rank of Captain and in 1998 from KL Architects–Engineers as Senior Project Manager. In 1996 he and his wife moved to Shaftsbury, VT where he is active in the community and in his church where he has been Chair of the Trustees and is now Moderator.