As the school’s governing body, the Board of Trustees plays a central role in overseeing the school’s operations and in planning Beaver’s future. The board’s responsibilities include setting and implementing strategic goals to fulfill the school’s mission and ensuring its financial health. While day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the management team, longer-term projects often originate and take shape at the board level.
Board Members (2023-2024)
President
Heeten Kalan P’21, ’23
Officers at Large
Charles Argyle P’18, ’19
Wendy Fischman ’89 P’25
Jennifer Skoler P’20, ’23
Joanna Travis P’23
Clerk
Jodi Walker P ’22, ’24
Treasurer
Steve Berg P’20, ’22, ’23
Head of School
Kim Samson
Trustees
Raymonde Alcindor P’21 ‘24 ‘25
Max Campion ’09
Heather Coughlin P ’22, ’26
Tamarra James-Todd P’26
Heidi Johnson P’22
Kristin Loranger P ‘26
Julie Marcus P’22, ’25 ‘28
Jess McLear P’20, ’23
Michelle Sanchez P’26, ’26
Conor Savoy ’01
Andre Vega P’18 ’20 ’23
Scott Yaphe P’23, ’25
Faculty Representative
Whitney Koch
Rachel Veto
Parent Representative
Lori Sidman P ’23, ’26
Kristina Westerling P’28
Student Representative
Priya DuBois ’25
Trustees Emeritus
Tomas Bergstrand P’19, ’21
Marian Terry Clouse ’58 P’88
Deborah Willard Coogan P’00
Edward Eskandarian P’90
Elizabeth Jick P’05, ’08
Nina Morse ’61 P’87, ’92
William R. O’Reilly, Jr. P’09
Jennifer Potter-Brotman ’71
Robert Riemer P’88, ’90, GP’16, ’18, ’21
Maria Walsh ’70
Meet Board President, Heeten Kalan P’21, ’23
Heeten Kalan and Jenny Dahlstein, along with their two sons, Ravi (’21) and Rohan (’23), live in Jamaica Plain and are very involved in the Beaver Community.
Heeten currently serves as the Director of Democracy & Climate Programs at the New World Foundation. In this capacity, he works on issues of democracy and civic engagement, human rights, and climate. The New World Foundation is a nimble and precedent-setting foundation that funds organizations that examine our society and empower those impacted to make the change. He is extremely passionate about the changing climate and the world we will leave for our grandkids. He works with like-minded individuals and philanthropies to creatively solve these problems through joint grant-making.
He chairs the Board of the South Africa Development Fund which supports community-based organizations committed to democratic practices which address human rights through health, education, economic development, environmental justice and democracy-building. He is the outgoing Board Chair of the Independent Media Institute and is a former Trustee of the Park School.
Born and raised under apartheid in South Africa, Heeten was not allowed to attend the local high school in his hometown as it was reserved for white South Africans. He ended up attending the country’s only fully multi-racial school five hours away from home. This opportunity led him to be one of three South African students chosen for a United World College Scholarship to attend a high school on Vancouver Island in Canada.
From Canada, he went on to complete his undergrad at Dartmouth College where he studied political science and history. After moving to Boston and starting a non-profit, he decided to complete his Masters in City Planning at MIT.
Heeten has many years of experience working on human rights issues in northern Ireland witnessing firsthand some of the bloody Orange marches of Drumcree along with elements of the peace process.
Heeten is a certified and licensed game ranger and loves nothing more than helping people plan their South African safaris. He and his family are self-drive and walking safari enthusiasts and can tell you many tales from the world-renowned Kruger National Park.
In early 2020, he started to roast coffee with his teenage son Ravi (’21) and they love experimenting with organic coffees from all over the world.