Board of Trustees

A distinguished bankruptcy lawyer with    over three decades of experience which    began with her clerkship for the                  Honorable Bertram Goldwater at the        United States Bankruptcy Court for the  District of Nevada, Reno Division, Sallie    Armstrong represents clients throughout Nevada in all areas of bankruptcy, financial restructuring, corporate reorganization, creditor rights, debtor rights, insolvency counseling, receiverships, and related litigation.

Sallie practices regularly in the United States Bankruptcy Court in both Reno and Las Vegas, as well as in state court. Her insolvency practice includes the representation of a wide range of stakeholders, including debtors in complex Chapter 11 cases, equity security holders, secured and unsecured creditors, including financial institutions, lenders, committees, purchasers, and adversary litigation defendants, parties to executory contracts, receivers, and commercial litigants. Sallie often serves as local counsel to national firms with clients in Nevada, and, as a result, has been able to participate in some of the largest and most significant Chapter 11 cases filed in Nevada.

Working with various stakeholders, Sallie helps navigate the complexities of business insolvencies whether in formal bankruptcy proceedings, litigation, receiverships, or informal out-of-court workouts.  Whatever the nature of her representation, Sallie works closely with her clients to help them find and develop the most appropriate business solution.

Known for her thoroughness and insight, Sallie is recognized as one of Nevada’s leading bankruptcy lawyers.  Sallie has had an AV Preeminent® peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell for many years, and in 2013 she was selected as a 2013 Top Rated Lawyer in Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell. Sallie has been elected by her peers to U. S. News – Best Lawyers every year since 1989, and, in 2012, she was chosen as Best Lawyers’ Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Lawyer of the Year.

Thomas Burnham moved to Reno in
2006 after receiving an investment from
a local company to help grow the company he co-founded that manufactured solar-powered,
wirelessly-activated crosswalk warning light systems. After his company was sold, Thomas joined the Marketing Department faculty at UNR in 2014.
rior to joining UNR, Thomas taught at Santa Clara University, worked in executive performance reporting for MCI Telecommunications and consulted with the management of an agricultural cooperative in rural Paraguay as a Peace Corps volunteer. He speaks fluent Spanish and a smattering of Guarani.

Thomas is actively engaged in the Reno entrepreneurship community, having worked for two local technology startups, served as the Metro Director for the CleanTech Open accelerator program and been a board member for the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NCET). He coaches students developing business plans and enjoys helping judge business plan competitions including the Pack Pitch, the Sontag Competition, and Nevada Future Business Leaders of America competitions. 

Thomas graduated with honors from Rice University in 1988 (B.A. Managerial Studies) and received his Ph.D. in Marketing Strategy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998. He and his wife, Lori, who is a veterinarian at Mt. Rose Veterinary Clinic, have two children; Lucy, who attends Reno High School, and Daniel, who attends Caughlin Ranch Elementary.

JP Clausen is VP of Engineering - Data Center Advanced Technology Innovation (ATI), and leads global technology, product, and process innovation for Google Data Centers. His responsibilities include Google’s data center ten-year technology outlook, modular system design, global data center product roadmap, new product introduction, industry-best lead time for data center deployment, and automation. JP’s ATI team is focusing on industrial leadership based on innovation, time to market, business flexibility, and total cost of ownership (TCO).

Prior to joining Google, JP held executive roles in manufacturing, engineering, and operations at LEGO Group, Tesla, and Zymergen. He has planned, given design input, and built sites while leading large operations teams in Hungary, Mexico, and the US. Career highlights include co-creating the manufacturing network strategy at LEGO, building the manufacturing at Gigafactory 1 from the ground up and leading powertrain manufacturing at Tesla, and creating impossible and advanced materials based on genetically engineered microbiology at Zymergen.  

JP holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering with a diploma in leadership from Aarhus University. He also holds a master’s degree in MMT innovation and technology from Aalborg University.

Mr. Gangloff graduated Magna Cum Laude and second in his class from Villanova University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.  He then joined General Electric Aerospace as a member of their Edison Engineering Program (EEP), a world-renowned technical management training program.  He subsequently received Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Management in Manufacturing (MMM) degrees from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, both at Northwestern University, in 1994.  

Mr. Gangloff currently serves as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Summit Consumer Receivables Acquisitions, AmeriFirst Home Improvement Finance and SAF Holdings, which together comprise one of the nation’s leading home improvement lenders, consumer loan servicers and acquirers of existing portfolios of performing consumer loans. 

Mr. Gangloff has served as a finalist Judge for the Nevada Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, the Reynolds Tri-State Collegiate Business Plan Competition in 2011 and 2015, and the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards. 

On July 1, 2014, Eric became a member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Board of Directors, a nine-person board serving the needs of EO and its 12,000+ members in more than 140 chapters worldwide and served a three-year term which involved frequent international travel. 

On July 1, 2019, Mr. Gangloff completed a two-year term as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Reno Philharmonic Association, and completed his service with the Phil after serving as the Chairman of its Governance Committee and Past Chairman on July 1, 2021.  Eric served on the Strategy, Audience Development, Artistic, Finance and Endowment Trust Committees since 2013.  As Chairman in its 50^th season, Eric helped formulate an updated Mission, Vision and Values for the Phil, and helped the Board, CEO and staff guide the Reno Phil towards its Mission—which is to produce inspirational orchestral performances of the highest quality for diverse audiences, and support exceptional educational, outreach and engagement programs. 

On July 1, 2019, Eric joined the Sage Ridge School Board of Trustees.  On his first day as a Trustee, Eric proposed bringing a third grade class to the school.  Over the next two weeks this initiative succeeded in bringing in 17 new third grade students to Sage Ridge.  Mr. Gangloff currently serves as Vice President and Secretary of the Board.  He previously chaired the Leadership Committee.  Mr. Gangloff is also currently a member of the Sage Ridge Head Support committee, Leadership Committee and Executive Committee. 

Karl Hutter is the President & CEO of Click Bond, Inc. in Carson City,

Nevada. A family-owned company of 475 employees in Carson City and Watertown, Connecticut, Click Bond designs and manufactures mechanical assembly solutions for the global aerospace industry and its technology and products enable the efficient production and maintenance of high-performance aircraft, spacecraft, and defense vehicles. Karl has literally grown up in the business, which his parents founded in 1987, and has formally been with Click Bond since graduating college in 2000. Since then, he has held multiple roles including Asia-Pacific Sales Manager, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, COO & CFO, and for the past seven years President & CEO. 

A graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and Wharton School of Business, Karl holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Systems Engineering and Operations Management. He is active in leadership of key industry organizations, serving currently on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM); the Board of the non-profit Manufacturing Institute, a national workforce development engine; and the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association, where he previously also served on the Executive Committee.

Additionally, Karl is serving his second term on the Carson City Airport Authority, which he previously Chaired. And, he is a long-time Trustee and current Development Chair at his middle school alma mater, Cardigan Mountain School, a boarding school for boys grades 6-9 in Canaan, New Hampshire. Karl is eager to connect his personal experience and leadership learnings from Cardigan to serve Sage Ridge School.

Karl is an ATP-certificated pilot and enjoys backcountry airplane exploration, skiing, adventure travel, and photography. Karl and his wife Jen, the co-founder of The Center Foundation, a local non-profit devoted to enhancing personal and community wellness, have been Reno residents since 2011 and are the proud parents of Sage Ridge  Hannah (Class of 2030) and Marley (Class of 2031).

AJ Jennings is a technology industry executive skilled in startup structuring, fundraising, buy and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiation, and business management productivity. AJ maintains a deep technical acumen in storage and software-defined infrastructure, cyber intelligence and data security, virtualization, and converged infrastructure markets.

AJ is currently the Chief Operating Officer and serves on the Board of Directors at Approyo, Inc. – a leading global managed services provider in comprehensive data center management, database security, and cloud services.

At Approyo, AJ is responsible for worldwide business management and growth, customer satisfaction, and overall market engagement strategy. Additionally, AJ runs market investment, data center analytics strategy, and mergers and acquisitions for Approyo.

AJ currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for ShieldIO, a cyber security software company based on homomorphic encryption, which he co-founded and was CEO.

Previously, AJ was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Tegile, which he helped transact to Western Digital; CTO and Director of Business Development for Cisco’s compute systems product group; and Chief Operating Officer at Whiptail, which he helped transact to Cisco. AJ has held several C-suite and executive roles at Citrix, Brocade, Gadget Software, Data Robotics, and others.

He has led, advised, and fundraised for several non-profit organizations and programs, including Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. AJ is a former competitive ski racer and coach, high alpine mountaineer, and aerobatic pilot.

AJ is married to Rebecca Jennings. Their daughter Caroline attends Sage Ridge as Class of 2027.

Vivian Leal has two decades of history volunteering at independent schools throughout the education of five children. Most recently she co-chaired the Menlo School Parent Education Conference on technology and the brain, which featured world class researchers and a Pulitzer Prize winner. The conference examined how being wired 24/7 affects the learning, thinking and lives of our young adults, and was attended by nearly 500 parents and professionals. Vivian was also Director of Programming at Kepler’s Books, overseeing not-for-profit Community Partnerships, Youth and Parenting Programs, and over 250 author events per year. In 2008 her team won the prestigious Pannell Award given nationally to “booksellers who stimulate, promote and encourage children’s and young people’s interest in books." Vivian holds a BS in International Politics from Georgetown University and both an MFA in Creative Writing and a Masters in Literature and Composition from UMass, Amherst. Her family joined the Sage Ridge community in fall of 2003 when they moved to Reno, and she was named to the board in March 2004. Vivian's youngest daughter is currently a student at Sage Ridge School.

Cathy received her bachelor of science degree in accounting from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1991. She passed
the CPA exam in May of 1991 and spent 12 years in public accounting working
for Ernst & Young LLP and Deloitte and Touche with a focus in insurance, healthcare and not for profit industries. During her tenure with Ernst & Young she spent 3 years on an international assignment in Moscow, Russia. Having worked in finance before and after college as Controller and Chief Financial Officer for various businesses she has over 25 years of experience in Accounting.

Cathy has had many years of experience volunteering and serving on Parent Associations Boards in schools her children have attended. Serving as Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, Fundraising Chair and Class Parent. She is currently serving as Treasurer of the Sage Ridge Parent Association having been a board member for 3 years.

Cathy and her husband Mark have a son Jackson a student at Sage Ridge since 5th grade that is currently in the 10th grade. His older brother attends college in San Francisco at the Arts Academy University, majoring in sound design for visual media.

Cheenu Sandhu has a bachelor's in computer science and has been a full-time Real Estate professional since 2009, assisting clients in buying, selling, and investing. Her commitment to offering the most comprehensive and professional marketing, technology, and expert market knowledge, and supporting the highest standards of service and representation has made her a market leader in our community. 

“I was recently asked what my greatest asset is and it didn't take long to answer. Besides having knowledge about the real estate market/business, negotiation skills, and sales experience, my main asset is my people skills. Being able to converse with any individuals, blending in, and making people feel comfortable are my greatest strengths."

Cheenu co-chaired the spirit wear program from 2020-2022 and leads the Parent Ambassador program at Sage Ridge. Cheenu and her husband Angad have two daughters at Sage Ridge,  Nanki Sandhu (Class of 2025), and Nimmer Sandhu (Class of 2030).

Elizabeth (Beth) Schuler and her
husband Mike are the owners/partners
of Venturacci Schuler Partners, a local, ranch-raised beef business and the president of the Monroe-Schuler foundation, a private foundation that funds community development projects, youth at risk endeavors and conservation.

Beth graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in accounting. Experienced in strategic planning, operations, marketing, and fundraising, Beth helped found MicroMash with her Mother.  MicroMash,  was the first computerized CPA Review and Bar Review on the market.  Additionally, they developed over 1000 continuing education courses for the accounting profession.   After selling MicroMash to a large publisher Beth left the corporate world and started a consulting firm for entrepreneurs. 

Since relocating to Nevada, Beth has focused her energy on her family and assisting nonprofit entities. She and her husband Mike have 3 children - who all attend Sage Ridge School and is actively involved with the Sage Ridge AIM Campaign. Beth currently serves as the Membership chair of the Women’s Giving Circle, and as a Trustee of the Community Foundation of Western Nevada. 

She served previously on the board of Animal Ark and The Eddy House.  Beth has been integrally involved with foster youth who are aging out, writing course curriculum and personally teaching life skill courses to help ensure a positive outcome.

When time permits, Beth and her family enjoy time out on the water at Lake Almanor, hiking and reading.

Michelle is the President of WETLAB- Western Environmental Testing Laboratory, an Environmental Testing Laboratory headquartered in Sparks, Nevada.

Michelle earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science (with a concentration in water resources) and Public Policy from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA in 1996. After college, she started her laboratory career in Phoenix, AZ. In 1998, her company moved her to Reno/ Sparks to manage one of their laboratories which she did until she ultimately had an opportunity to buy it in 2002.

Along with her commitment to her company, Michelle is committed to giving back to her local community. She volunteers regularly at the Food Bank of Norther Nevada; sits on the boards of Girls on the Run – Sierras, a youth development program for girls in the 3rd-8th grades and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Reno-Tahoe, an organization dedicated to “engage leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow”.

 Michelle joined the Sage Ridge Community during the 2018-19 school year and currently has two children attending the school.

Robin Soran has been a proud member
of the Reno community for 6 years and has two daughters at Sage Ridge
School. She received her undergraduate degree from Duke University, followed
by an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Robin has extensive experience in the business arena, working with both large corporate organizations such as Gap Inc. and Accenture as well as small business start-ups. At Gap Inc., she held various roles managing capital budgets of $400M for the corporate construction and architecture for Gap Inc’s fleet of stores to managing teams of 20+ employees and $200M in operating expenses for Gap Inc’s supply chain and all of its North American distribution centers. She excels at developing new processes and operations for organizations and has worked in various capacities developing the infrastructure for small business startups. Currently, she is the practice director of Reno Tahoe Anesthesia. 

Robin is passionate about education and parent education. In the Bay, she led Parent Education for the Menlo Park City School district. In Reno, she has spearheaded an entire program of guest speakers from multiple disciplines as a way to enrich the Reno-Tahoe community and provide support for parents and kids. She is the past President of the Parents Association and also extremely active in the Sage Ridge Community as a member of the school’s Challenge Success team, an initiative through the Stanford School of Education. 

When she is not working, she’s likely to be found exploring the mountains of Northern Nevada and California with her family and dogs either hiking or participating in winter sports.

Appointed: 1998, Founding Member. Currently, CEO Chargerback, leader in lost and found solutions for the hospitality and travel industry Founder, Ex-Chairman & CEO Computing Resources, Inc. Managing Member, Evergreen Capital LLC Mr. Webster founded Computing Resources, Inc. (CRI) on April 1, 1978 as a general purpose data processing service bureau specializing in automating accounting functions, with a primary focus on payroll processing for small businesses. Forming strategic marketing alliances with financial institutions in Nevada, California and the mid-west, CRI gained momentum in the 1980s by providing unparalleled customer service and investing in cutting-edge technology. CRI developed several innovations during the 1980’s including: phone-in payroll, automatic payroll, and around the clock 24/7 customer support. Mr. Webster’s continued vision allowed CRI to gain national recognition as the nation’s fourth largest quality payroll services provider, servicing over 100,000 businesses nationwide. During CRI’s 21 years as a privately held company it enjoyed record revenue and net income growth compounded annually of 22.9% and 30.5% respectively. CRI established itself as an industry leader in generating the highest profit margin per payroll transaction processed. In 1997, CRI embarked on an exciting new payroll services venture with Intuit—the makers of QuickBooks and Quicken financial software. CRI successfully integrated its proprietary tax and electronic direct deposit processing systems with QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro. In March of 1999, CRI announced it had agreed to a merger with Intuit. Mr. Webster served as Chairman and CEO of Intuit’s payroll division (CRI) until March 2000. Mr. Webster has extensive experience developing; implementing and marketing technology based transaction-processing systems. Areas of expertise include: accounting, credit authorization, ACH payments, payroll and payroll tax systems. Mr. Webster formed Evergreen Capital LLC during 1998. Evergreen Capital is an early stage investment company that focuses and invests in start-up Internet, service oriented and biotech companies. Mr. Webster currently serves as board Chairman of Inzap Inc and Capital Resources, Inc. Mr. Webster is also a founder, Vice Chairman and director of Heritage Bank of Commerce (HTBK) located in San Jose, California. A resident of Reno, Nevada since 1972, Mr. Webster is currently Chairman of the Board for the National Automobile Museum, The Harrah Collection, and Chairman of the Board for the Nevada Policy Research Institute and past Chairman of the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Reno. Other civic affiliations include Vice Chairman, Sage Ridge School board, the Rotary Club of Reno, and Executive Board member of the Nevada Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America.
 

Steven Welch (Steve), his wife Robin and children Jordan and Madeleine, relocated from London to Reno in 2011. A key factor in this decision to relocate to Reno was the belief that Sage Ridge offered an outstanding educational option. Jordan graduated from Sage Ridge in 2014 and from Purdue University in 2018. Madeleine graduated from Sage Ridge in 2016 and attends Georgetown University.

Steve worked for 35 years at BP PLC in leadership positions in a variety of its downstream businesses, including natural gas, petroleum products and petrochemicals. He had the opportunity to lead businesses of up to 35,000 employees, up to $95 billion in sales revenues, and up to $25 billion in Capital Employed operating in up to 100 countries. He had direct oversight responsibility for numerous large, complex overseas construction projects ranging from $50 million up to $5 billion.  His leadership positions included serving in such positions as CFO Gas, Power & Renewables; COO US Refining and Marketing; CEO Petrochemicals; and Deputy CEO of the Refining and Marketing Division.

Many of these positions were posted overseas; Steve lived more than 16 years in Taipei, Taiwan; Sao Paolo, Brazil; London and Hong Kong. In each of these postings his children attended international schools where Steve had the opportunity to interact and observe the efficacy of a variety of school structures, approaches and curricula, and it is his learnings from those experiences he hopes to share in his work on the Sage Ridge Board.

Steve is active in advising and investing in a number of early development companies in the US and overseas. Most importantly, he loves spending time with his four children and three granddaughters.
 

Richard Welcome (Rick) has been a Sage Ridge parent since the 2005-2006 school year. He and his wife Mary Ann have seen both of their sons attend from lower school through graduation at Sage Ridge. Their older son, Andrew, class of 2012, is a Junior at Duke University with double major in Political Science and Global Health with a minor in Entrepreneurship. The younger son Brandon, recent graduate of class of 2014, will begin his Freshman year this fall at the University of San Diego. Rick has been a practicing radiologist physician for 25 years, earned subspecialty board certification in Interventional Radiology in 1997, and is a 25-year member of the Society of Interventional Radiology. He has been a partner in Radiology Consultants at Saint Mary’s Hospital for 14 years. Rick has been active in the last 10 years in the growth of Women’s Imaging including breast mammography, ultrasound, breast MRI and interventions at Saint Mary’s. Prior to moving to Reno in 2000, he was a member of the Radiology faculty and staff at UCLA Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He serves as a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the large Medical Professionals Malpractice Insurance Company. He was active as a Den Leader and Assistant Scoutmaster with his sons in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and proudly saw both of his sons become third generation Eagle Scouts. Over the past four years his family and other families from Sage Ridge helped raise funds and then traveled to Central America and Africa to build schools in Nicaragua and Malawi. He has served on the Annual Fund Committee for the past three years and has served as a board member since 2012.