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Princeton Charter School is governed by a Board of Trustees whose ultimate responsibility is to uphold the mission of the school by providing for the well-being of the institution in the present as well as the future. The Board protects the public interest and upholds the public trust by applying the highest standards of service in governing the school according to its Charter, by-laws, and relevant state and federal statutes. It is the duty of the Board of Trustees to make plans, establish policies, and assess the performance of the school as a whole. The Board also bears ultimate responsibility for the school’s finances and physical plant. The Board must also identify, select, work with, support and evaluate the Princeton Charter School Head of School, who is the professional educational leader of the school as well as its administrator. In order to successfully undertake all these responsibilities, the Board must organize, manage, and assess itself in an efficient, business-like manner.
Board of Trustees 2022-2023: Biographies
Stefanos Damianakis, President
Stefanos Damianakis is the founder and president of Zaruko Advisors which provides strategic and operational expertise to enterprise B2B software companies. Previously, he was CEO and co-founder of Netrics, an enterprise software company based in Princeton that was acquired by Tibco Software in 2010. Stefanos joined the PCS Capital & Endowment Fund as a member of the investment committee in December 2013. In July 2014, he was elected to the Endowment’s Board and became the treasurer. He served as the treasurer until August 2018 when he was elected president of the Endowment. Stefanos earned a Ph.D. and a Master’s in Computer Science from Princeton University and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from McGill University in Montreal.
Roxanna Choe, Vice-president
Roxanna Choe is the archivist/librarian for the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation and is a former partner at Landman Corsi Ballaine & Ford PC where she practiced civil defense litigation for many years. She and her husband have three children, two of whom are Charter alumni as well as a seventh grader currently at the school. Prior to joining the Board, she served on Friends of Princeton Charter School as its president, vice-president and treasurer. She volunteers for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) of Mercer County where she advocates on behalf of a teenage foster child with special needs. Education: B.A. in Philosophy and English from St. Joseph’s University, M.I (formerly M.L.I.S.) from Rutgers University, and J.D. from Boston College Law School.
Irene Chiu
Irene Chiu, a parent of a 2nd grader and a 4th grader at PCS, has been an active supporter of the school since her 4th grader joined PCS in kindergarten. She has been on the Friends’ board since 2019 (including as an VP and an Officer, and co-chairing the 2020 gala which raised a record amount for PCS). Spinning over the finance/legal field for over 2 decades, she is currently an SVP, General Counsel of a multinational medical device company. Irene has been heavily involved with the school despite her work commitment and family challenges, and is very active within the community (such as supporting the Stop Asian Hate movement in 2021).
Jennifer Freedman, MD
Jennifer Freedman is an Emergency Medicine Physician at Penn Medicine Princeton Health. She graduated from Stanford University with honors in Human Biology, focusing on child development. She also spent undergraduate time at Oxford University focusing on the acquisition of speech in infants. She received her medical degree at New York University and went on to complete her residency in Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband have two children at Princeton Charter School.
Rupal Kothari
Rupal Kothari is an immigration attorney with her own practice, Kothari Law LLC. Her practice focuses on business immigration. Rupal has a J.D. from New York Law School and B.A. Political Science with a minor in Economics. She and her husband have 2 sons, both at PCS. Currently, she serves on the Friends Board as well as HRP for both her sons’ classes. Prior to joining the Board, Rupal served as Founder and Board member of a local non-profit called Princeton Society Foundation whose mission was to raise funds for organizations that work directly with women and children in need.
Rakesh Kumar
Rakesh Kumar is a senior partner at Ernst & Young where he manages its
Strategy & Transformation services for the Americas, currently a $2B+
business. In this role, he is responsible for driving the firm’s C-level agenda
for growth, digital, M&A, performance improvement, technology and regulatory
issues and transformative solutions around them. Previously he was a partner
at Deloitte for 15 years where he helped lead exponential growth of firm’s
Technology, Media and Telecom related consulting businesses globally,
including in areas of Low Earth Orbiting Satellites, 5G, Direct to Consumer,
As-A-Service Business Models, Digital Payments, Smart Cities and Digital
Enterprise. While at Deloitte, Rakesh co-founded the Deloitte Pratham
Institute, a non-profit organization between Deloitte and Pratham which is
focused on education for underprivileged girls in India. Prior to Deloitte
Rakesh was at Unisys and earlier a Director and Principal Consultant at PwC.
Rakesh earned his MBA in Finance at the University of Rochester and a BS in
Engineering from BIT, India. Rakesh and his wife have one son who is at PCS.
Olga Troyanskaya
Olga Troyanskaya is a professor of Computer Science and Genomics at Princeton University and Deputy Director for Genomics at the Flatiron Institute of the Simons Foundation. Her research is focused on developing AI-based technologies for human biology and medicine. She is also passionate about the role of science and mathematics in addressing challenging real-world problems and fostering the love of learning in young people. She has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University School of Medicine and B.S. in Computer Science and Biology from the University of Richmond. She and her husband have two children at Princeton Charter School.
John Weihe
John Weihe is a consultant and previously in-house counsel to Bristol Myers Squibb, where his focus was commercial and regulatory law. His experience includes policy development, compliance and international law, as well as volunteering in various environmental and community activities. John has a B.A. from Indiana University in philosophy and mathematics, a J.D. from Georgetown University, and a Diplôme from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He and his wife have two children at Princeton Charter School.
Board Terms
Board members at PCS are elected, and serve for a term of three years. Members may serve up to three terms.
Board elections occur in the spring.
Current terms:
| Stefanos Damianakis, President | 6/30/24 |
| Roxanna Choe, Vice-president | 6/30/23 |
| Irene Chiu | 6/30/25 |
| Jennifer Freedman, MD | 6/30/25 |
| Rupal Kothari | 6/30/24 |
| Rakesh Kumar | 6/30/24 |
| Anita Misri | 6/30/25 |
| Olga Troyanskaya | 6/30/23 |
| John Weihe | 6/30/23 |