Board of Directors

Rev. Terry Charlton, SJ

Co-Founder & Chaplain

Rev. Terry Charlton, SJ

Co-Founder & Chaplain

Terry was a member of the first graduating class at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1976. He taught at Xavier University in Cincinnati before moving to East Africa in 1990 where he served as a professor of Theology at Hekima College and Catholic University. From 1990 to 2010, Terry was the National Chaplain of Christian Life Community (CLC- a movement of lay people rooted in the Jesuit tradition and dedicated to living their Catholic faith by serving those in need) in Nairobi, Kenya. Together they co-founded St. Aloysius Gonzaga High School in 2003, a Jesuit-model high school for AIDS orphans in the Kibera slum of Nairobi. He currently serves as the Director of Development and Chaplain at St. Aloysius Gonzaga and is the Director of Mwangaza Jesuit Spirituality Center.

Martha Swanson

President

Martha Swanson

President

Martha is from New Hartford, New York and graduated from Sweet Briar College and Colgate University. She worked in Student Affairs at Georgetown University for twenty-four years, retiring as Director of the Center for Student Programs. Her primary concerns were issues around periods of transition, particularly from college to the next experience, and women’s empowerment. Martha is married to late David Swanson, who retired from Georgetown after twenty years in finance and they have two children who both graduated from Georgetown. She is on the board of the Georgetown Association of Retired Faculty and Staff, and is a Co-Fund Agent for her class at Sweet Briar. They traveled together to St. Al's first in 2005 on an immersion program sponsored by Georgetown's Office of Mission and Ministry and the Center for Social Justice, and again in 2010 for the opening of the school with an immersion program sponsored by the Chicago Province. They co-chaired the Georgetown Friends of St. Al's.

Clare Brichler

Vice President

Clare Brichler

Vice President

Clare has been a licensed Occupational Therapy Assistant for 40 years and has practiced in both hospital and nursing home settings. Over the last than ten years, she has used her training in the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory learning technique to tutor those with dyslexia or other reading and language challenges. Clare has traveled to Panama with an Occupational Therapy Mission team to provide assistance to educators and students in rural communities. This experience, as well as her visit to Nairobi, Kenya, has sharpened her focus on the plight of third world youth.

Denise Hintze

Treasurer

Denise Hintze

Treasurer

Denise is a Managing Director in the Financial Services Tax Practice at Deloitte where she serves as a Leader in their Global Information Reporting Practice as well as their Foreign Account Tax Compliance and Common Reporting Standard Initiatives. In her role, Denise works closely with the Deloitte Member Firms as they deploy cross-functional talent to the global marketplace in response to the demanding requirements of the provisions of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the new Common Reporting Standard. Prior to joining Deloitte, Denise was a Managing Director and Tax Counsel at the Bank of New York Mellon (“BNYM”). At BNYM, Denise was the lead advisor to the Asset Servicing Division with regard to U.S. tax information reporting requirements and previously, was the lead advisor to all of BNYM’s business units relating to tax information reporting. Denise joined BNYM after spending six years at another international accounting firm where she led their US based qualified intermediary tax practice. She also made career stops at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Republic National Bank. Denise has over thirty years of experience advising clients and internal business units on the intricacies of the tax law and assisting organizations in their endeavor to implement the qualified intermediary requirements, FATCA, CRS and put into place best practices with regard to their tax withholding and reporting responsibilities. Denise has participated on numerous committees and working groups through-out her career, including the Accounting Industry/IRS working group addressing issues regarding the QI Audit procedures. She is a well know speaker on information reporting topics, including FATCA and CRS. And has authored several articles on these topics. Denise received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1980 and her J.D. from New York Law School and her LLM from Villanova. She is admitted to the NY and NJ Bars.

Jeff Smart

Secretary

Jeff Smart

Secretary

Jeff is the Executive Director of San Miguel School Chicago. He is a graduate of John Carroll. He worked with the Jesuits to raise funds for Catholic Jesuit Education for over 30 years including St. Ignatius College Prep, Loyola Academy and the Midwest Province. In his role at the Midwest Jesuits, he worked with the International Missions including the Jesuits of the Eastern Africa Province. Jeff worked closely with Fr. Terry Charlton in the beginning stages of planning and fundraising for the creation of St. Aloysius Gonzaga High School. He has led several donor trips and pilgrimages to Nairobi to share the great work of St. Als. Jeff and his wife Anne live in Oak Park and have 4 grown children and 2 grandchildren. Their four children and daughter-in-law are all products of Jesuit education.

Marjory S. Blumenthal

Board Member

Marjory S. Blumenthal

Board Member

Marjory is a connector of people and ideas. Her career has revolved around science and technology policy, with leadership, analyst, and mentoring roles in a variety of organizations. She learned about St. Al's when she was an associate provost at Georgetown University, during which time she visited the school, participating in the opening of its new school building, and oversaw diversity initiatives. She has served on numerous advisory bodies and received multiple awards over the course of her career.

Rev. Phil Boroughs SJ

Board Member

Rev. Phil Boroughs SJ

Board Member

Phil has been associated with St. Aloysius since its second year of operation when he first visited Kibera and the fledgling school with Terry Charlton, S.J. Three subsequent trips to Kenya confirmed his commitment to St. Als and its critically important work for the future of Kenya. He is pleased to be joining the Board of the School of Hope Foundation. For the past 32 years he has been involved in higher education as a professor at Gonzaga U and Seattle U, Vice President of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University and finally President of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. After retiring from Holy Cross, Phil returned to inner city parish ministry at St. Leo Parish in Tacoma, WA, his first assignment as a priest 44 years.

Kathy Kearns

Board Member

Kathy Kearns

Board Member

Ken Kobe

Board Member

Ken Kobe

Board Member

Ken retired after 26 years as Executive Director of Barnes & Thornburg, a 550-lawyer national law firm headquartered in Indianapolis. Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg, Ken was Indiana State Budget Director. He is a graduate of Denison University and Ohio State University. Between college and graduate school, Ken served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya and currently serves on several not-for-profit boards supporting education and health care programs in East Africa.

Khaliyah Legette

Board Member

Khaliyah Legette

Board Member

Khaliyah Legette, originally from Teaneck, NJ, is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business where she received her MBA and an alum of Georgetown University. While a student at Georgetown, she had the opportunity to travel to Kenya and visit St. Aloysius for the first time and has since been involved with the school and School of Hope Foundation. In her free time, Khaliyah enjoys running, reading, and cooking vegan meals. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia and works as a Consultant for Boston Consulting Group.

Mark Maxwell

Board Member

Mark Maxwell

Board Member

Mark is retired from the US Midwest Jesuits where he served the Cincinnati area as its Regional Director of Advancement. He’s a life-long Cincinnati resident, married to JoAnn, with three grown children and, currently, three grandchildren. In 2014, Mark was privileged to travel to Nairobi where he visited St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School and met students and staff. He believes that ‘St. Al’s is truly the School of Hope for the young men and women fortunate enough to participate in this wonderful experience.

Rev. Patrick M. Ng’ang’a, SJ

Board Member

Rev. Patrick M. Ng’ang’a, SJ

Board Member

Patrick, a Jesuit priest, is currently working at Mwangaza Retreat Center in Nairobi, Kenya, giving retreats and administrative work. Patrick has also been involved in secondary school education. During his two years of training as a Jesuit, he worked at Ocer Campion Jesuit College, a school that was started after the Civil War to fill the educational needs of students affected by the Civil War in Northern Uganda. Recently, he has been closely involved at St. Aloysius, working with Fr. Terry Charlton, SJ. Patrick has been keen to uplift the underprivileged. After his ordination, he worked in Airport Parish in Dodoma as assistant Pastor and then later as Pastor, where he closely worked with the youth, empowering girls from poor backgrounds to acquire tailoring skills and start their small businesses.

Rev. Daniel G. O’Hare, SJ

Board Member

Rev. Daniel G. O’Hare, SJ

Board Member

Dan, a Jesuit priest, currently lectures in Medical Ethics at New York Medical College and is is an adjunct professor in the Master of Anesthesia Education Program and the Master of Health Care Management in the Graduate School of Business Administration of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Dr. O’Hare also participates in the ACGME curriculum for medical residents in the Connecticut and regularly lectures to nurses, respiratory and physical therapists, and mortuary science students. He is the consultant ethicist to several hospitals and health care agencies and previously held the position as the first institutional ethicist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He has published in the areas of Ethics, AIDS, and Physician-Assisted Suicide. A frequent speaker, both nationally and internationally, Dr. O’Hare was awarded a Visiting Professorship in Ethics in Australia and was named a Harris Fellow by the American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China, lecturing extensively at medical and nursing schools in Asia. Most recently, he presented at an international congress on palliative care in Berlin, Germany. Serving on many boards, he was also invited to join that of the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, with over thirty years’ experience with terminally ill patients, their families, and loved ones, Dr. O’Hare has been involved in grief counseling and conducts a bereavement series through the auspices of a number of funeral homes in the New York area. Fr.Dan acts as the Spiritual Director for the annual pilgrimage to visit St. Aloysius.

Maureen Ojiambo

Board Member

Maureen Ojiambo

Board Member

Maureen is a journalist. She holds an associate degree from Multimedia University of Kenya, and is an alum of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, class of 2010. In Kenya, she worked with Qwetu Media Services, supporting the morning show team with reporting on local and international news and at the Royal media services as a business executive. She is now living in California with her husband, also a St. Al’s grad, completing her university studies, and is a contributor to Voice of America, English to Africa service.

Jenny Semaca

Board Member

Jenny Semaca

Board Member

Jenny Semaca is from Chicago, Illinois. She joins the board after a twenty seven year career as an English and special education teacher. Jenny is an avid traveler, and was fortunate to travel to Kenya in 2016. It was on this second trip to Africa, that Jenny visited St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School and met Father Terry. She was immediately drawn to both the mission and the students of the school. Combining both her love of education and travel, she is excited to use her energies and talents to support St. Al's and the School of Hope Foundation. Jenny is an avid figure skater and reader. She is a Special Olympic coach and volunteer, and lives with her husband, Nick, in Chicago, Illinois.

Cristine Pope

Director

Cristine Pope

Director

Cristine became the first Director of School of Hope Foundation when it was launched in 2017. Prior to this, she was a Community Organizer in the Chicago area for the past 20 years working to build local leadership and civic engagement. She has been working in Development for the last ten years for non-profits in Chicago. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.