Kids Walking into School

Board of Directors

2023-2024

Resurrection Lutheran School is a mission of the Church.  The Resurrection Lutheran School Board (RLS Board) is made up of primarily congregational members of the Resurrection Church (RLC), some of whom may also be parents of children attending RLS.  The RLS Board consists of seven or eight voting members, RLC pastor in an advisory capacity, the principal and administrative team in a reporting capacity and a teacher representative.

The school board operates in an oversight capacity while the principal is responsible for the daily operations of the school.  An administrative team is in place to assist in various functions associated with a growing school. Click here for the Board Policy Manual.

The Board meets on the third Thursday of each month.  Individual board members can be reached by using their first and last names @rlscary.org or by emailing board@rlscary.org.  

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

MEET THE BOARD

Mackenzie Sottini, Chair

Mackenzie Sottini, a Florida native who earned her masters degree in education, moved to Cary  15 years ago along with her husband, Mike, and children Kyle and Abby. Both Kyle and Abby are alumni of Resurrection Lutheran School and Mackenzie was a teacher at Resurrection Lutheran School for 10 years.

Mackenzie has since pursued other passions but when the opportunity arose to be a part of the school board Mackenzie jumped at the chance. Her love for children and RLS holds steady!

John Heilman, Vice Chair

John and his wife,  joined RLC 5 years ago after moving here from Colorado. They have 3 adult children and 7 grandchildren. John retired from a career in the public and private sectors in Human Resources management with an emphasis in organization and staff development areas.  John had numerous extended experience teaching Chinese English teachers in China with a Christian organization.  His focus was teaching methods, American culture and ESL.  John and his wife have been volunteers with RLS before Covid as teacher assistants.  John hopes to faithfully contribute to the policy and future financial stability for RLS

Chris Alladin, Treasurer

Chris Alladin, his wife Gina, and their children are members of Resurrection Lutheran Church.  Avery is a recent graduate of Resurrection Lutheran School and is attending Cardinal-Gibbons High School.  Emily is currently in the RLS elementary program.

Chris brings a background filled with experiences from IT Management Consulting with Fortune 100 companies, partnering with startup organizations, and delivering business solutions for small and medium sized businesses that he hopes to apply to our school.  Through his leadership roles, he has helped organizations improve processes, gain efficiencies, and grow to meet their full potential.

Chris graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Management Information Systems.  He is also the coach of the RLS girls’ basketball team. 

Chris Johanson, Secretary

Chris Johanson and her husband moved from Wisconsin to Cary more than 30 years ago. They are members of RLC, their children were confirmed at RLC and their two daughters were married there. 

Chris graduated from Carroll College with a K-12 degree in Art Education. She began her career as a graphic artist and after moving to NC began teaching at RLP. As her children grew she worked in elementary education for the WCPSS. 

Asked by a board member to establish the first grade class at RLS, she loved being able to share her faith as well as having a strong academic program. 

Chris recently retired after teaching at RLS for 18 years and serving 2 terms as a teacher representative to the school board.

Larry Cameron, Member

Larry joined Resurrection Lutheran Church two years ago with his wife Marina.  A native Pennsylvanian, he spent thirty years in the field of education.  After earning a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Franklin & Marshall College, he began teaching English and Latin in a public high school.  After moving to Florida two years later, he began teaching high school English in a Christian School.  During that time he earned an M.S.Ed. from the University of Miami and became a school principal.  The highlight of his career in education was to convert a traditional junior high program to a modern middle school program.
Wanting to try a new challenge, he switched from academics to forensics when he became the Director of Operations of the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department.  While overseeing the work of eight of the department’s bureaus, he continued to enjoy teaching by giving lectures on various aspects of medico-legal death investigation to attorneys, police detectives, medical students and forensic science students in colleges and universities.  He also served as disaster preparedness liaison and media spokesperson.
Since joining RLC, he has been teaching some adult Sunday school classes.  Larry joined the board in 2023 and is grateful for the new opportunity to serve the children and families of Resurrection Lutheran School.
 

Fonda Ingram, Member

Fonda Ingram and her husband Curtis Ingram have twin girls, Savannah and Sky,  that currently attend Resurrection Lutheran School.  The twins have attended Resurrection Lutheran School since kindergarten.  Fonda’s husband Curtis, currently coaches the boys basketball team and has held middle school and elementary school basketball camps for the Resurrection Lutheran School student body. 

Fonda holds Computer Science (B.S.) and Computer Engineering (M.S. & Ph.D) degrees from North Carolina State University.  Fonda currently serves on the Town of Cary Parks and Recreation Athletic Committee and is employed with Voltrondata as the Director of Technical Program Management.  

Fonda joined the RLS Board in 2022 and hopes to be an advocate for parents that currently have children at the school.  

John Leuenberger, Member

John and his wife, Deanna, have been members of Resurrection Lutheran Church for several years, where he serves as a greeter and usher.  He is presently a member of the Men’s Bible Study Group..  His daughter, Sharon, served on the board when the school was organized.  His grandchildren graduated from RLS.

John comes to us with an abundance of school experience.  He has been a classroom teacher, high school principal, superintendent of schools, county superintendent of schools, professor at Penn State University and Edinboro University of PA.  He currently sits on several boards and continues to teach as a visiting professor.

John holds a B.S. degree from Thiel College (Lutheran College), M.S. University of Pittsburgh, PhD. Case Western Reserve University (Administration and History).

Pat Smith, Member

Pat Smith and her family moved to North Carolina from Florida.  They have been members of Resurrection Lutheran Church since 1992.

Prior to joining the faculty of Resurrection Lutheran School, Pat worked at Resurrection Lutheran Preschool, Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve and in Wake County Public Schools. She was involved with RLC’s school feasibility committee to open RLS.  In 2002, Pat was installed as the very first teacher at the School.  In 2004, Pat completed the LCMS colloquy program.  Upon completion of this program, she was called by RLC as a commissioned teacher. She taught kindergarten for 18 years at RLS and retired in 2020. 

Pat joined the board in 2023 and continues to be passionate about the school and looks forward to supporting RLS in her new role.

William Xenakis, Member

William (Bill) Xenakis  –  Bill was born in Greece, came to the States when he was 18-months old, grew up in Boston, and traveled the world with the US Army.  He retired from the Army after 26 years and began a second career in higher education, spending ten years with the University of Maryland and twelve years with the American Council on Education. He holds a BA from Boston University and an MS and EdD from the University of Southern California.  He has served on a public, K-12 school board in the past.  

 He met his wife, Fran, when he was stationed at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland and they have four children and seven grandchildren.  Bill and Fran moved to North Carolina and became RLC members about 12 years ago.  Impetus for the move, according to Bill, was that their youngest daughter, Anne Marie, promised them more grandchildren if they moved here.  Both parties kept their promise. Their youngest grandchildren (Fiona and Lliam Measmer) are currently students at RLS.

Bill and Fran have been very active with RLC. They serve in the Stephen Minister program, serve as greeters and ushers, and Bill has enjoyed serving as a lector and periodically teaching an adult Bible Study class.