• The High Tech High Board will have governance and fiduciary level control over all HTH schools.  The board operates as a public agency and conducts its meetings in accordance with the Brown Act.
  
  
• HTH Learning is a private nonprofit overseeing the development and operation of the facilities that house High Tech High schools.  HTH Learning is also responsible for adult learning programs, including the teacher certification program and the residencies and institutes offered to network affiliates and the general public.
  
  
• The High Tech High Foundation is a private nonprofit responsible for securing the philanthropic support needed to develop High Tech High schools.

View recent board agendas

High Tech High Board
Gary Jacobs, Chair
Kay Davis, Secretary
Rod Dammeyer, Director
Michael McCraw, Director
Julie Umansky, Director


HTH Learning Board
Gary Jacobs, Chair
Kay Davis, Secretary
Richard Atkinson, Director
Lowell Potiker, Director
Jim Cahill, Director
Ron Simon, Director

High Tech High Foundation Board
Gary Jacobs, Chair
Dori Kaufman, Secretary
Greg Mauro, Director
Marina L. Marrelli, Director
Frank Ragen, Director



Correspondence to board members may be addressed to:

Board Member Name
c/o Cindy Kim
High Tech High
2861 Womble Road
San Diego, CA 92106-6025

...... Directors of the Boards of High Tech High ......

Richard C. Atkinson

President of the University, Emeritus  University of California
Director, High Tech High Learning

Richard C. Atkinson served from 1995-2003 as the seventeenth president of the University of California system.  His eight-year tenure was marked by innovative approaches to admissions and outreach, research initiatives to accelerate the University’s contributions to the state’s economy, and a challenge to the country’s most widely used admissions examination—the SAT 1—that paved the way to major changes in the way millions of America’s youth will be tested for college admissions.  Before becoming president of the UC System he served for fifteen years as chancellor of UC San Diego, where he led that campus’s emergence as one of the leading research universities in the nation.  He is a former director of the National Science Foundation, past president of the American Association of American Universities, and was a long-term member of the faculty at Stanford University.  His research in the field of cognitive science and psychology has been concerned with problems of memory and cognition.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Education, the American Philosophical Society, and a mountain in Antarctica has been named in his honor.
back to list of Board Members




James Cahill

Former CFO, Price Enterprises
Director, High Tech High Learning

Bio Pending



Kay Davis

Former Trustee, San Diego Unified School District
Board Secretary, High Tech High, HTH Learning and HTH Foundation

Ms. Davis served nine years as a San Diego Unified School Board Member, where one of her major accomplishments was establishing the Business-Education Partnership Program. For seven years, she was the Director of the Business Roundtable for Education of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce. She mobilized the business community on school-to-career programming, charter schools, standards, measurement, accountability, the selection of a new superintendent and passage of a $1.5 billion school bond.
back to list of Board Members




Gary Jacobs

Chairman and CEO, Jacobs Investment LLC
Chair, High Tech High, HTH Learning, and HTH Foundation

Mr. Gary Jacobs is the Managing Director of Jacobs Investment Company LLC (JIC). JIC was created in 1997 to participate in real estate development throughout the United States. In partnership with several developers, JIC has invested over sixty million dollars in projects ranging from government services to residential to commercial. Mr. Jacobs serves as Chairman of the Board of DermTech International, Ora Bio Ltd. and Nutrinia Ltd. Mr. Jacobs is also a director of Next Generation Technologies, GEO2 Technologies Inc., Flourinex Active Ltd. and Fallbrook Technologies.

In the community, Mr. Jacobs serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of High Tech High charter high schools, Graduate School of Education and national high school reform movement. HTH is founded on three design principles: personalization, adult-world connection, and a common intellectual mission. He also serves as Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Social Sciences at University of California at San Diego UCSD. He and his wife, Jerri-Ann, created the Gary and Jerri-Ann Graduate Fellowship in Social Sciences Endowment and the Jerri-Ann and Gary Jacobs Chair in Social Sciences.

In addition, Mr. Jacobs is a past president of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County. He and Jerri-Ann have endowed the Jerri-Ann and Gary Jacobs Teen Director position and created an endowment for the senior department at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus. Mr. Jacobs is also a board member of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, Jewish Community Foundation, The San Diego Foundation and the UCSD Board of Overseers.

In the summer of 2000, Mr. Jacobs created and funded the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs International Teen Leadership Institute. The institute brings together ten Jewish teenagers from San Diego, ten Jewish teenagers from the Shaar HarNegev region in Israel, ten Israeli Bedouin teenagers from Segev Shalom and ten Palestinian teenagers from Gaza for a year long program during which participants and staff travel together to San Diego, study historical Muslim/Jewish relations in Spain for a week and then in Israel for a week to study with a modern perspective.

Mr. Jacobs graduated in 1979 from the University of California at San Diego with a B.A. in Management Science. He worked as a Software Programmer and Engineer at Linkabit Inc. and QUALCOMM from 1979 through 1996, then as a Senior Education Specialist until 2000 working with K-12 educational institutions to enhance science and math studies.

Mr. Jacobs lives in Del Mar with his wife Jerri-Ann, son Adam, daughters Sara, Beth, and Mara, and their dogs, Jasmine and Goldie.
back to list of Board Members




Rod Dammeyer

President of CAC, llc
Director, High Tech High

Rod Dammeyer is president of CAC, llc, a private company offering capital investment and management advisory services. He is retired vice-chairman of Anixter International and retired managing partner of Equity Group Investments LLC (corporate investments).

Mr. Dammeyer is a trustee of Van Kampen Investments, Inc. Funds, a diversified asset management company. He is also a member of the boards of directors of: Stericycle, Inc., a provider of regulated medical waste management services; and Quidel Corporation, a leader in point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests. He also serves on the board of The Scripps Research Institute and several private companies..
back to list of Board Members




Greg Mauro

President and CEO, California Small Business Development Corporation
Director, High Tech High

Mr. McCraw is the President/CEO of California Southern Small Business Development Corporation, where he administers State of California loan guarantee programs, and underwrites and services small business development loans for municipalities in San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, and southern Orange counties.  Mr. McCraw is a member of the Board of The San Diego Foundation, serves as an instructor of microenterprise development for the San Diego State University Economic Development Certificate Program, and hosts the cable television show “Business to Business.”
back to list of Board Members




Lowell A. Potiker

Vice President, HSP Group
Director, HTH Learning

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Potiker graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 with a Bachelor’s degree in General Studies. He then moved to California to continue his education. He graduated from Pepperdine University with his Juris Doctor in 1986 and is a member of the California Bar.

Mr. Potiker has served in various executive roles including Vice President of Marketing for Entertainment Publications, Inc. of Troy, Michigan and Vice President of Acquisitions for HSP Group, Inc. a private venture group. He has also served on the boards of numerous organizations including The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, the United Jewish Federation of San Diego, the Maritime Museum, The Burnham Institute and San Diego Jewish Academy. Mr. Potiker lives in La Jolla with his wife, Julie and their three children.
back to list of Board Members

Ron Simon

Founder and CEO of RSI Home Products

Entrepreneur and humanitarian Ron Simon is the founding chairman of RSI Home Products and the Ronald Simon Family Foundation. Growing up in a poor family, he achieved financial success as a businessman through an inquisitive mind and determination. Today, RSI Home Products is the leading manufacturer of home cabinetry.

Mr. Simon founded the Ronald Simon Family Foundation to support the educational endeavors of underprivileged students. The organization aims to prepare and support deserving high school students overcome financial adversity to succeed in college by offering mentoring programs and scholarships. Mr. Simon was honored with the Horatio Alger Award in 2005 for his work with the foundation.

Mr. Simon also sits on the board of directors of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable, and the UCI Graduate School of Management Advisory Council.

Marina L. Marrelli

CEO, GlobeFlex Capital LP, San Diego
Director, HTH Foundation

Bio coming soon.

back to list of Board Members

Dori Kaufman

Owner, Bread & Cie.Bakery and Café, San Diego
Director, HTH Foundation

Bio coming soon.

back to list of Board Members

Frank Ragen

Investor/Consultant
Director, HTH Foundation

Bio coming soon.

back to list of Board Members

Julie Ashby Umansky

General Manager, California Charter School Association, San Diego
Director, High Tech High

Julie Ashby Umansky serves as the General Manager for the San Diego Region, including the counties of San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Imperial, San Bernardino. Julie brings with her over seven years of legal experience representing public agencies in the State of California, with a particular emphasis on the charter school community. As a senior counsel at the national law firm Foley & Lardner, Julie advised charter schools, school districts and charter school management organizations on the variety of issues facing the charter school movement. She represented schools in court, administrative hearings, and negotiations with charter authorizers. She counseled schools on matters pertaining to charter law, contracts, facilities, public records, public meetings, and governance, among other things. In 2001, she worked on the San Diego City Schools’ Charter School Policy and Guidelines as a member of Charter Policy Workgroup and in 2002 assisted in the development of the uniform memorandum of understanding between the San Diego City Schools and its charter schools.

Julie’s legal work for school districts also focused on school construction projects, helping districts navigate the regulatory and legal requirements for planning, designing, building and funding schools. She also represented water, sewer and health care agencies in a general counsel capacity. Before joining the law firm, Julie served as the first Director of Legal Affairs for CalOptima, Orange County’s Medi-Cal managed care program. In that capacity, she designed grievance and appeal processes, participated in health plan audits and reviews, and represented CalOptima in administrative hearings.

Julie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from UCLA and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane Law School. She is licensed to practice law in Texas and California. She lives in La Jolla with her husband and young son.



back to top