French American School Of Puget Sound Board of Trustees The Leader in Harmonized Bilingual Education in the Pacific Northwest

FASPS Board of Trustees

Similar to other independent schools, FASPS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation governed by a self-selecting Board of Trustees whose duties include the long-term care and fiduciary health of our school. As such, the Board of Trustees, working closely with the Head of School (the Board's only employee), sets policy and monitors the results of the implementation of those policies as carried out by the Head of School. FASPS’s Board of Trustees bring a wealth of skills and experience to our community, providing strategic direction and oversight for the school.

FASPS’s Board of Trustees seeks to ensure that the mission of the school is being carried out, acts as fiduciaries of the school, and ensures that the Head of School position is filled and that this individual is nurtured. The Board is also responsible for the development of the school’s strategic plan and for the longevity of the school, ensuring that it has adequate resources to exist for future generations of students. Please find a list of our current Trustees to the right. Click here to send an email to the Board.

Executive Committee

List of 6 members.

Steve Dispensa
Bio
Chair

Steve has served on FASPS’s Board of Trustees for five years and has three children who are current or former FASPS students. He and his family moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2013 after growing up and living in Kansas City. By day, Steve works for Microsoft on enterprise management and Windows. As chair of the FASPS’s Board of Trustees, Steve formally sits on all Board committees, he leads the Board and Executive Committee, and, this year, Steve sits on the Strategic Planning Steering Committee.
Julien Hervet
Bio
Vice Chair
Member, Committee on Trustees

Julien Hervet is the founder of L’Expérience Paris and Cépaé. Originally from France, Julien moved to the United States to attend business school. After working in the technology industry in San Francisco and Seattle, Julien decided to launch his passion business in 2018. With three locations on the East Side and a new location opening soon on Capitol Hill, L’Expérience Paris and Cépaé offer Seattleites a slice of Paris and France in the Pacific Northwest. Julien holds a JD in tax and business law from the University of Paris Sorbonne-Assas and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Julien is married to Marie, and both their children have been attending FASPS since la maternelle.
Laura Mousseau
Bio
Trustee & Co-chair of Committee on Trustees

Laura is passionate about bilingual education and the way it changes how we look at and approach the world. Her family joined the school in 2004, and her three children are now all FASPS alumni. She first joined the board in 2008 as FPC president, then returned as a trustee in 2012, and later served as Board Chair, as well as chaired multiple committees. By day, she is a program manager at Microsoft in Mixed Reality. Laura met her husband while studying engineering at UC Berkeley, then spent the next four years in France. Laura and her family hold dual U.S. / French citizenship.
J.P. Kirby
Bio
Secretary
Vice President, FPC
Member, Real Estate Committee
Member, Engagement & Philanthropy (E&P) Committee

Currently, I am a stay-at-home dad. I volunteer at the Center for Wooden Boats and Bloodworks Northwest. My academic training is in chemistry, and, in the past, I have worked in astrobiology for NASA and participated in designing future science missions to explore Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In my free time, I enjoy gardening, walking on Mercer Island, and sailing the Puget Sound.
Jennifer Cue
Bio
Trustee, Treasurer, Chair of the Finance Committee

Jennifer Cue was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada and is passionate about learning from travel, having lived in multiple cities across Canada, as well as in Paris, Rome, San Francisco, and Seattle. She speaks French and Italian and has an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of British Columbia, an MBA (international business) from McGill University, and holds a CFA charter. Jennifer’s professional experience includes banking and venture capital, with most of her career spent building, growing, and financing a consumer beverage brand, Jones Soda, holding the positions of CFO, COO, and then CEO, as well as board member for a combined period of 20 years. In 2022, Jennifer launched her own advisory and investment firm, onCue Ventures, with a focus on early stage and primarily female-led or female-centric businesses. Jennifer is married to Antonio Tartaglione, and their daughter, Eleonora, graduated from FASPS in 2021.
Eric Thuau
Bio
Head of School

As a Head of School with more than 24 years of experience in international educational settings, Eric has managed plurilingual and multicultural schools in Cape Verde Islands, Turkey, and the United States. Prior to joining FASPS in August 2010, Eric led the Austin International School for six years, where he transformed it from a start-up school into a well-regarded institution. During his tenure there, he laid all of the groundwork necessary for the school to purchase its now permanent facilities. Under his leadership, FASPS continues to define itself as the leading French-American educational institution in the greater Seattle metropolitan area.

Eric has been an active community leader, taking responsibilities in several local, state, and international boards, such as the Alliance Française de Seattle, the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce, WFIS (Washington Federation of Independent Schools), AFSA (Association of French Schools in North America), and FISNA (French International Schools in North America).

Eric lives in Redmond with his wife, Joao, who is Portuguese, and his two daughters, Emma and Julie, who were both born in Turkey.

Honorary Trustees

List of 5 members.

Gérard Morisseau
Patricia Blaise-Caves
Bio
Honorary Trustee
Jack Cowan
Bio
Honorary Trustee
Jean-Francois Heitz
Bio
Honorary Trustee
Gérard Zytnicki
Bio
Honorary Trustee

Gérard is a native Parisian who moved to Seattle in 1987 when he joined Microsoft, where he worked until 2015. He served in a variety of capacities for the company, from global development to engineering and business functions. Gérard is an avid cook and a connoisseur of fine wines.

He lives in Seattle on Queen Anne Hill with his wife, Pamela, and daughter, Elena, a FASPS alumna.

Trustees

List of 15 members.

Matt Ayers
Bio
Trustee
Joan Beauregard
Bio
Trustee
Member, Real Estate Committee

Joan Beauregard served in the field of education for 44 years before joining Educators Collaborative, a nationally acclaimed comprehensive search firm. Joan’s experience in independent, public, and parochial schools (Roman Catholic and Episcopalian) first started as a middle school English teacher in Connecticut. She taught across several early childhood and elementary grades as she accompanied her husband, Jim, to Washington, DC, and Seattle, Washington, due to his military assignments in the U.S. Coast Guard.

For 26 years, Joan served as the head of five schools, including 13 years as the head of St. Thomas School (Washington); five years as the interim head at three schools, Giddens School (Washington), The Little School (Washington), and The Oaks School (California); and eight years as head of Hamlin Robinson School (Washington). While at Hamlin Robinson School, Joan established the award-winning HRS Learning Center and the Resident Teacher Training Program, completed the school’s first capital campaign, moved the school to a newly built campus, increased enrollment by 180%, strengthened the finances, and established several endowments.

Joan holds a BA in English and education from Annhurst College, an MAT in early childhood and elementary education from Federal City College (UDC), and earned her WA administrative credentials at Seattle Pacific University.

Joan has been very active in the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), serving as a trustee for over 15 years, and has held many leadership positions, such as Standards and Practices chair, treasurer and president. She was also president of the Washington Federation of Independent Schools (WFIS). She is a member of The Heads Network, Country Day School Headmaster’s Association, and Head Mistresses of the East. She has served on the boards of many independent schools and other organizations and also on over a dozen accreditation teams. Joan was a member of the NWAIS’s Accreditation Committee for the past 17 years. She is a founding faculty member of Pathways to Leadership, a two-year program for aspiring woman leaders, and has co-facilitated or presented at many regional governance workshops.

Presently, Joan serves on the boards of the Seattle Girls School, Seattle School for Boys, and the French American School of Puget Sound. Joan first joined the FASPS board in 2002. Traveling nationally and internationally with friends and Jim Woeppel, her husband of 47 years, her college sweetheart, is a priority leisure activity. Additionally, Joan especially enjoys walking with friends, particularly completing half marathons.
Michelle Carle
Bio
Trustee
Grégorie Clayes
Bio
Trustee
Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
Béatrice Coppens
Bio
Trustee
Shari Damphousse
Bio
Trustee
Rohan Deshpande
Peter Igel
Bio
Trustee
Alan "A.G." Lambert
Bio
Trustee
Candice McCoy
Bio
Trustee
Christiane Pein
Bio
Trustee
Member, Building Committee

Christiane was born and raised in Germany. After graduating from high school in Germany, she commenced her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College, followed by graduate work in architecture at MIT. Since 1997, she has made her home and career in Seattle both in architecture and in interior design. She founded her interior architecture firm, Lair Design, in 2009. In 2004, Christiane was the project architect for the first phase of the French American School of Puget Sound campus, designing the site, building, playground, and interiors and seeing through on all aspects of the complex permitting process with the City of Mercer Island. Over the years she has continued to be involved with the building issues of our school. Christiane’s two children, Anika and Anderson, are FASPS alumni. Her oldest, Anika, graduated from FASPS in 2013 and attended Lakeside School and the University of Pennsylvania. Anderson graduated from FASPS in 2019 and is a junior at Lakeside School.
Anne Pickering Morisseau
Bio
Trustee
Co-chair, Alumni Committee

A native of Haiti, Anne moved to the United States to pursue her undergraduate studies. She lived in New York for over a decade, where she started her career as a structural engineer prior to moving to the Eastside in 2007. Anne continued her engineering career after moving to the Puget Sound region, working for SNC Lavalin designing power plants worldwide. She later decided to apply her passion for design and architecture to a real estate career, where she brings her analytical and problem-solving abilities to serve her clients.

Anne lives in Bellevue with her husband and two daughters. She is a global citizen who loves to travel and values learning about different people and cultures. She is dedicated to her community and is past chair of the Bellevue Planning Commission and past board member and finance chair of Leadership Eastside. Anne also supports several organizations dedicated to providing access to education and healthcare to children. In her free time, Anne enjoys dancing, traveling, and entertaining family and friends. Anne speaks fluent English, French, and Haitian Creole.
Anne-Christine Poncelet
Heather Rock
Bio
Trustee
Jane Younge
Bio
Trustee

Jane has two FASPS alumni children and has volunteered at FASPS in various ways, ranging from pastry sales to serving on the Bylaws and Alumni committees. With a background in architecture, she has worked on building projects and campus master planning throughout the US and Canada. Following a passion for environmental resilience and adaptation planning, Jane has interviewed local scientists about climate change and sea level rise in the Cascadia bioregion. On weekends, Jane loves drawing, learning French, Italian, and hiking.