2022-2023 Board Members
You are welcome to email the board or to speak with board members during the open session of a monthly board meeting.
Dustin Hindman, Board Chair, joined the AIS Board in 2021. He has a passion for education and has served in volunteer leadership roles for multiple international institutions since 2010. He currently lives in Austin, TX and has called Austin home for 28+ years; however, he has left multiple times to live in Europe. He earned his MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and he has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He currently works as a management consultant with a primary focus on mergers and acquisitions for the technology industry. Dustin is a proud AIS parent and impressed daily by the teaching staff, leadership team, and wonderful children and families that are the fabric of Austin International School.
Edward Kim, Vice-Chair, and his wife, Caroline, have been AIS parents since moving to the Austin area from Brooklyn in 2018. With family roots in South Korea, Switzerland, and France, they are passionate supporters of the Austin International School’s mission to promote global citizenship and cultural curiosity within a rigorous academic environment. He has a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Georgetown University. Edward is a technology and product management leader with experience in corporate finance, marketing, and business development across the financial services, travel, automotive, and publishing sectors.
Gary Miller, Treasurer, is a Certified Financial Planner and has been an advisor with Texas Asset Management since 2006. He has a BA in Psychology from Texas Tech University in 1975 and a Financial Planning Certificate from the University of Texas in 2006. Gary is also active in volunteer work and has been the facilitator for a divorce support group at his church since 2005 and manages a webpage for that group. Gary met his wife Miryam shortly after she moved to Texas from Mexico in 2007. Gary and Miryam have a daughter, Miryam Scarlett, (age 7) who has been an AIS student since 2018. Miryam and Miryam Scarlett speak to one another only in Spanish at home, so they have a multilingual household. Gary values and appreciates the benefit of multilingual and multicultural education in developing flexible cognitive skills. “When looking for schools that could continue to enhance Miryam Scarlett’s bilingual background we were particularly attracted to Austin International School with the benefit of French as an additional language and cultural perspective.”
Darcy Dement Pedetti is a native Austinite who spent 14 years living in France before returning to Austin in June 2021. With an Italian husband and twin daughters whose first language was French, finding an international and multilingual community in Austin was critical to her and her family. She was thrilled to find AIS to foster multilingual education as well as the values and mindset that that education cultivates. With a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University, her professional background is in technology general management and product management. She is currently VP of product management at NI (formerly National Instruments).
Mahya Farnia joined the AIS Board in 2022. She has been an AIS parent since 2018, and she is very passionate about creating well rounded global citizens. She is an orthodontist working more than 11 years in the Austin area. She has three dental practices and runs the daily operations of her business alongside her husband. Originally from Iran and married to her Mexican husband, their household has a multilingual dynamic. She holds a masters in biomedical engineering with a passion to enhance the use of technology in the health sector. She studied dentistry and then specialized in orthodontics. She is an advocate for her profession and is highly involved in the American Association of Orthodontics' Board of Women in Orthodontics. Her passion lies in helping women reach their potential and becoming well rounded leaders. Outside of AIS, she enjoys cooking, exploring Austin outdoors, and traveling.
Jon Sampson has had the privilege of living in the UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and now Austin, Texas. Throughout this journey, he has developed a passion for the benefits of an international education system and has firsthand experience through his completion of the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Together with his wife Kym, they are the parents of three children at AIS whom they strongly believe have benefited in their rounded development from the immersive multicultural and multilingual program that AIS delivers. Day-to-day, Jon is the regional head of the Latin American operations for the world’s leading specialist recruitment and workforce solutions business. This constant exposure to the world of work creates a unique understanding of the skills needed to prepare the talent of tomorrow and reinforces the need for us to support an empathetic, agile, and globally capable mindset in our children.
Jess Smith joined the AIS Board of Directors in August 2021. Jess was born in Tupelo, MS and is an HR executive with experience in the finance, retail, and tech industries. She is very passionate about international education and creating global citizens of the world. Her passion for international education began during her MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. After that experience, Jess moved to London to work in the financial services industry before returning to the US (New York) and later to Austin, now 7 years ago. She currently is Global Head of Talent Intelligence at AWS and is a proud AIS parent of two AIS students.
Veruna Stanescu has spent almost two decades leading global teams and strategic initiatives at Goldman Sachs. She is an active supporter and ally for diversity efforts, having served as to co-head of the America’s LGBTQ network at the firm. She currently serves as a Vice President in Financial Crime Compliance, overseeing broad based risk and regulatory initiatives, and serving in an advisory capacity to global FCC teams. Prior to this, Veruna served in a number of roles within the Operations Division at Goldman Sachs, including as the Global Head of Clearing Operations Income and Expense, the Chief of Staff to the Global Head of Prime Brokerage Operations, and the Americas Head for the Regulatory Operations Position Reporting and Monitoring Group. Veruna earned a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico, summa cum laude, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Utah. A native of Sibiu, Romania, Veruna first came to the United States as a high school exchange student. She speaks 4 languages and understands first-hand the importance of multi-cultural education, curiosity around diversity, and inquiry in the broader world surrounding us. Her unwavering belief in these principles fueled her and her family's decision to move to Austin from the New York/New Jersey area after the pandemic and to join the Austin International School. Veruna and her husband Minh are proud parents of two AIS students. Outside of their joint passion for the AIS school and community, they share a love for tennis, art, cooking, discovering the beautiful Austin area and reading a great book!