Meet Our Staff

List of 13 members.

Jeffrey Berndt

Director of Advancement: Philanthropy, Governance, and Strategy

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Bio
Jeff joined Thacher in 2015 and serves as the School's director of advancement. He started his career at Middlesex School where he held roles in the annual fund and their record-setting capital campaign. In 2001, he joined the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA, as their director of development. Then, he became managing director of New Profit—one of the leading “venture-philanthropy” firms. Immediately preceding Thacher, Jeff was a managing director and the head of philanthropic services at Roundtable Investment Partners, which is a shared family office headquartered in NYC. Jeff and his wife Kristin live on campus with their three children, Tyler '20, Erik '21, and Kendall.
Sara Billings

Director of Advancement: Alumni and Development

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Bio
Sara Billings, a native to Los Angeles, joined Thacher in 2019 as director of development to oversee the Annual Fund, Lead Gifts, Alumni Relations, and Operations teams. Sara has worked in major gifts, development strategy, and team management since 2001. Before coming to Thacher, Sara was most recently the director of advancement at The Archer School for Girls and brings 12 years of independent school leadership experience to the role. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Campbell Hall High School, Sara is passionate about serving her team and Thacher’s community members. She lives in Ojai, and her two kids attend Thacher.
Aimee Brown-Nelson

Assistant Director of Community Engagement and Events

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Bio
Aimee Brown-Nelson is a native to Ventura County and joined the Thacher Alumni and Development team in August 2021. She is looking forward to connecting with alumni and families to provide experiences that reinforce Thachers’ mission and values. Prior to joining Thacher, she worked in constituent engagement, event production, and fundraising within the entertainment and political spheres. She is enthusiastic about jumping into Thacher ways and all things outdoors. In her spare time, you can find her hiking, camping, enjoying live music, and fostering animals looking for their forever homes.
Scott Cooper

Director of Alumni and Community Engagement

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Bio
Scott Cooper, a born and raised Midwesterner, came to Thacher in 2023 as the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement. Scott is looking forward to utilizing his professional experience in Alumni Engagement at an institution that educationally incorporates his favorite personal passion; horses. Scott previously served in alumni relations roles at The Webb Schools, Touro University California, and his alma mater, Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN. Also being a graduate of a boarding school in Michigan, Scott enjoys the community and culture of independent schools. Scott and his husband Craig live locally with their dogs, Chloe and Suggs, and horse, Chip. In his spare time, you can find Scott hiking with his dogs, competing on his horse, playing pickleball with his husband, or watching any college football game.
Adriana Gomez

Director of Reunion Giving and Alumni Impact

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Bio
Adriana Gomez is the director of alumni giving at Thacher, specifically working with Reunion and GOLD alums. After her seventh year working in development in independent schools, she learned about Thacher, and knew she wanted to work alongside Thacher alums one day and joined the team three years later in November of 2020.
When she isn’t in the alumni office or on the road meeting with alumni, she enjoys cooking overly complicated recipes, long car camping road trips along the coast.
Stuart Johnson

Assistant Director of Annual Giving

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Bio
Stuart is a native of New York City and joined Thacher in the summer of 2022. He previously worked at Trinity School in New York, where he served as alumni relations manager, admissions officer, and head coach of the varsity baseball team. After college, he worked as a broadcaster for the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets. A graduate of Trinity and Johns Hopkins University, Stuart is excited to join the Thacher community and lead the school’s baseball program.
Deesha Mohan

Advancement Associate

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Rebecca Samuelson Clark

Assistant Director of Alumni Giving

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Bio
Rebecca graduated from The Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles in 2013 and earned her BA from UCLA in 2016. Rebecca spent the next four years on Archer’s advancement team, cultivating a passion for alumni relations and fundraising. Eager to explore a new city and a new cause in 2020, Rebecca joined the philanthropy and outreach team at Santa Barbara Humane where she raised funds to support dogs and cats in need for nearly three years.

As assistant director of alumni giving, Rebecca connects recent Thacher graduates to Casa de Piedra through giving. Rebecca and her husband live in Santa Barbara.
Jillian Seaton

Assistant Director of Development Operations

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Bio
Jillian grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts and attended the University of Miami as a first-generation, Pell-eligible college student. Prior to joining Thacher in 2021, Jillian was a western Montanan and boomerang Vermonter: she served as the advancement and admissions operations project manager for Vermont Academy beginning in 2017, spent ten years managing databases and donor prospects for nonprofits including the University of Montana Foundation, and started her career in 2004 as an Art History teacher at Burke Mountain Academy in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Jillian brings her independent school, data analysis, and nonprofit management background to her role as Thacher’s manager of prospect research and assistant director of development operations. Jillian lives in Mira Monte with her husband, Jeff, young daughter, Sistine, and very old Boston terrier, Scout.
Jonnie Sutter

Director of Annual Giving and Parent Relations

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Malory Taylor

Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations

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Bio
Malory Taylor, born and raised in Santa Paula, CA, joined Thacher in 2022 as Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations. Malory comes to Thacher with experience as a small business owner (featured in Oprah Magazine), volunteer & event manager, and with over seven years of independent school experience. Prior to launching her business, Malory served as the Associate Director of Development and Alumni Relations for OVS. She has also provided event support for the Ojai Chamber of Commerce Gala and the Ojai Music Festival. A UCSB grad with a degree in sociology, Malory is passionate about education, design, and teamwork. She lives in Ojai with her husband Dan and their only daughter.
Theresa Vyhnal

Annual Fund Manager

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Bio
Theresa supports the Annual Fund as the annual fund manager. The Vynhal family moved to Thacher in 2004 when Doc V. joined the Science Department. Theresa worked in the Thacher library from 2006-2009, then she joined the development team. From 2009-2014 she devoted part of her time as the assistant secretary to the board, and from 2015-2019 she worked on The Next Peak campaign as the campaign manager. Theresa has a BA from Boston College and lives on campus with Doc V, their four kids, Nolan CdeP 2017, Meg, Katie CdeP 2021, Jack ‘25, and their dog Eddie.
Jillian Wade

Director of Development Operations

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Bio
As director of development operations, Jillian is responsible for the reporting of constituent activity, database and gift management, and development office operations for the Alumni and Development office. Prior to coming to Thacher in 2016, Jillian worked at Casa Pacifica, the Ojai Music Festival and at FOOD Share, Ventura County's food bank as the donor relations director. Jillian lives in Santa Paula with her husband, Josh, and two daughters.

Giving to Thacher

A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12

5025 Thacher Road
Ojai, California, 93023
Tel: 805-646-4377 Fax: 805-646-9490 Email: info@thacher.org

Notice of nondiscriminatory policy as to students: The Thacher School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs.