Board of Trustees

List of 13 members.

• Mary Chinn 

  Bio

  Mary Chinn joined the board of trustees in 2018. Mary holds a BS from Duke University and an MEd from The College of William and Mary. After several years in student affairs roles at Virginia Wesleyan College, George Mason University, and Virginia Tech, Mary came to Charlottesville in 1994 to serve as the Director of Career Services at the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. She left the University four years later to become the first Human Resources Director for SNL Financial, where she launched the SNL Knowledge Center, an affiliate organization that delivers training to professionals in the financial services sector. Mary served as Managing Director of the Center until the arrival of her second child. Mary has served as a Director and Human Resources Chair on the boards of the AIDS/HIV Services Group and Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA. Mary’s children Austin (’21) and Lilly ('23) are Tandem Friends graduates.

• Eric Peifer 

  Bio

  Eric Peifer joined the board of trustees in 2021 after serving as a non-trustee on the finance committee. He has been the Treasurer of Augusta Mutual Insurance Company in Staunton, Virginia for a decade. Eric and the President of Augusta Mutual Insurance Company work together to determine the direction of the company, and Eric also manages the financial reporting of the agency. Eric is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and has held a CPA license since 1997. When he is not at work, Eric enjoys skiing, mountain biking, coaching soccer, and traveling with his family. Over the past year, Eric has indulged in a new hobby of cryptocurrency investing. Eric and his wife, Jennifer, have three children Dylan ('22), Mia ('23) and Emma ('25) are Tandem alums as well as a dog named Edith.

• Rachael Ayers 

  Bio

  Rachael Ayers joined the Board of Trustees in July 2025.  She holds a M.Ed. from the University of Richmond and a BA in philosophy from William and Mary. She has served as a co-chair for the Tandem Parent Community since 2022. Rachael is the Finance Manager at Carpet Plus in Charlottesville. Prior to this, she taught first grade in Richmond Public Schools and owned an insurance agency. Rachael’s daughter, Avery, is a current Tandem student (‘26).

• Sarah Davies 

  Bio

  Sarah Davies joined the Board of Trustees in July, 2023.  Sarah is a graduate of Westtown Friends School, the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Law. She is also the parent of a 2024 Tandem graduate. After practicing law for 23 years in Philadelphia, Sarah returned to Charlottesville in 2014 to become the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the University of Virginia School of Law. In that role, Sarah manages orientation and graduation, provides personal and academic support to law students, coordinates and implements disability accommodations, and serves as a senior administrator to the Dean. In her prior legal practice, Sarah was a commercial litigator handling complex class actions, construction matters and cases involving business disputes. Her pro bono work included death penalty representation and service as a child advocate in the Philadelphia Dependency Court. She was also heavily involved in firm administration, including serving as the Hiring Partner, the Diversity Committee Chair, and the Administrative Partner. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys being outside with her family and pets.

• Ephraim Firdyiwek 04

  Bio

  Ephraim Firdyiwek is 2004 Tandem Friends School graduate. While originally from Charlottesville, Ephraim spent most of the last two decades in Washington, DC establishing a career in financial services and starting a family. Most recently, as a senior liquidity analyst at Fannie Mae, Ephraim steered daily liquidity reporting and compliance across Fannie Mae’s retained portfolio during the tumultuous COVID and post-COVID pandemic period. Prior to Fannie, Ephraim worked as a corporate accountant for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards – helping grow the organization’s net assets by over $50million. Ephraim moved back to Charlottesville in 2023 with his family, where he enjoys nurturing his two children and his love of music. 

• Stephanie Gatewood 

  Bio

  Stephanie Gatewood joined the Board of Trustees in 2025. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the University of Richmond. She is the Director of Finance and Human Resources and co-owner of Foodservice Consultants Studio, a commercial kitchen design firm. Stephanie and her husband David are parents to Alex ('25), a Tandem graduate, and Claire ('26), a current Tandem student.

  
  Stephanie finds community work that supports children and families meaningful. She authored a handbook for parents of children newly diagnosed with peanut allergies and led a Richmond-based food allergy support group for over ten years. She also served on the board of the Yellow Door Foundation, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit organization.

  Although their home base is in Richmond, Charlottesville has always held special significance for Stephanie and David, who met at UVA. Tandem came into their lives at exactly the right time, and they immediately knew their children belonged there. Stephanie was drawn to serve on the Board of Trustees to show her gratitude and give back to the Tandem community that has meant so much to their family.
  
  

  In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys walking with friends and the family's rescue dog Tally, and dabbling in various interests including learning piano and Spanish, practicing yoga, and reading non-fiction.

• Isaac Halstead 03

  Bio

  Isaac Halstead is a 2003 Tandem graduate. Based in Earlysville, VA, Isaac co-owns and manages a design-build construction firm where he oversees 2-3 new construction, addition, or renovation projects annually. Previously, he served as a Field Office Coordinator at DPR Construction from 2010 to 2013, where he assembled and issued over 250 subcontracts for multiple projects exceeding $10 million each, ensured insurance compliance for over 80 subcontracts, and handled project submittal review, document management, and scheduling. At the University of Virginia Medical Center from 2008 to 2010, Isaac was a Project Coordinator, managing scheduling and RFP production for the Hospital Bed Expansion, ensuring the internal review and approval process stayed on track, coordinating with hospital staff and trades to minimize disruptions, and developing new processes to expedite procurement activities. From 2002 to 2008, he worked at I-Design Inc. as a Site Supervisor, overseeing the renovation of a home in Faber, VA, and performing skilled labor in carpentry and electrical work. In 2023, he joined the TFS Board Facilities Committee.

• Moira Kavanagh 

  Bio

  Moira Kavanagh joined the Board of Trustees in July, 2023. She is a Charlottesville native who graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield School and earned a B.A. in English from Tufts University with honors. During her undergraduate years, she held the position of President at Tufts Student Resources, which is the largest nonprofit student-run business in the country. Now, with  more than three decades of experience, Moira has built a successful career in nonprofit direct response fundraising. She initially started in Boston, where she managed strategic aspects of telemarketing campaigns for renowned national environmental and advocacy organizations like The Nature Conservancy, the Center for Marine Conservation, and the Sierra Club. Later, she became the Vice President of a direct marketing agency in New York, overseeing integrated direct response programs for progressive issue-based and social service organizations such as Human Rights Campaign, People For the American Way, and Broadway Cares-Equity Fights AIDS. In 1999, Moira returned to Charlottesville and founded MKDM, a multichannel direct marketing agency dedicated exclusively to working with nonprofits. MKDM specializes in engaging donors, motivating action, and inspiring philanthropy through direct mail, email, and digital/online donor development. They serve a diverse range of organizations including Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (the largest affiliate in the nation), Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Orbis International, and the High Line, among others. Moira has actively contributed to the nonprofit sector by serving on various industry association boards and committees. Locally, she has also been involved as a past Board Member of the Discovery Museum. She is a proud parent to her daughter Sabine ("Bean"), a 2025 Tandem graduate, and her stepdaughter Violet ("Alex").

• Louise Knabe 

  Bio

  Louise Knabe joined the board of trustees in 2024 after spending a year as a non-trustee on the Advancement Committee. Louise is an accomplished executive leader with extensive experience in healthcare, software, and global logistics. She holds a Master’s in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Middlebury College. Most recently Louise worked at Ariadne Labs (2013-2021), Atul Gawanda's research lab at the Harvard School of Public Health. Before Ariadne, Louise worked at Procter and Gamble/The Gillette Company (2002-2012) as a  Manager of Global Supply Chain Strategy and Analytics Manager.  Prior to her work at P&G, Knabe served as Director of Project Management at Basis Technology, Inc. (2000-2002) and as a project and product manager at Logistics.com (1994-2000). When she is not at work Louise enjoys learning foreign languages, volunteering as a math tutor,  and doing just about anything outside, particularly biking and cross-country skiing. She and her husband Fritz have traveled hundreds of miles on their tandem bike. And ten years ago, they brought their children, Jasper and Ginger, into the fold with a bicycle built for four! Ginger is Tandem Class of 2027.

• Laura Lockledge 

  Bio

  Laura Lockledge joined the board of trustees in July, 2025.  She holds a BS in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute(RPI) and an EMBA from Case Western Reserve University.  Her professional work has been in strategic planning, budgeting, and administration landing her at RPI, Cornell, and CWRU.  Moving to Charlottesville in 2012,  she works for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, an FFRDC funded by the NSF currently serving as their administrative officer. Laura is a member of Charlottesville Friends Meeting where she served as Clerk from 2023-2025.  She has served other Friends’ organizations as board and committee member. 

• Brian Massey 

  Bio

  Brian Massey is currently the Program Manager for BYM Camps, overseeing and managing all four of Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s summer camp programs which annually serve ~600 campers from ~500 families. Brian started attending Shiloh Quaker Camp as a 9-year-old in 1994, and then proceeded to spend 19 of the next 20 summers as either a camper or a staff member at Shiloh and Teen Adventure Quaker Camp. Before coming back to BYM, he spent a decade as an educator and urban farmer working with the youth and families of Washington, DC. Brian was a classroom teacher in the DC schools, did early childhood special education outreach for DCPS, and ran school garden, edible landscaping, and food security programs all over DC. He also taught at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa. Brian grew up attending Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting, and his parents were very involved in the life of the Monthly Meeting and the larger Yearly Meeting. Brian’s father, Frank Massey, was BYM’s General Secretary from 1988 through 2005. Brian met his wife, Ellie Walton, while working at Shiloh Quaker Camp in 2001, and they live with their two sons, Rye (9) and Cypress (6), in Mount Rainier, MD.

• John Pepper 

  Bio

  John Pepper joined the board of trustees in 2022. John holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a B.A. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University. He currently is the Merrill S. Bankard Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia. John has published widely in economics, as well as law, public health and vocational rehabilitation. In 2012, John was awarded the Outstanding Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy Article Award,  from the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, for “The Economics of Food Security in the United States.”  John's son Mario is a 2021 Tandem alumnus.

• Gabriel Perkinson 06

  Bio

  Gabe Perkinson joined the Board of Trustees in July 2025, after previously serving on Tandem’s Advancement Committee. Gabe graduated from Tandem Friends in 2006, then moved on to The College of William & Mary, where he earned a degree in Finance and Mathematics in 2010. Afterwards, Gabe spent ten years with consulting firms in Washington, D.C., where he assisted businesses, investors, and sovereign governments involved in cross-border investment disputes.  In 2020, Gabe and his family returned to Charlottesville, where he joined a boutique firm specializing in international arbitration.  Gabe currently serves as an expert witness on issues related to investment valuation, finance, and economics in both investor-state and commercial matters. He has advised clients on every non-Antarctic continent, and works in a variety of industries, including real estate, energy, mining, and financial services. Outside of work, Gabe enjoys traveling with his family, playing golf, cooking, and taking on ambitious home improvement projects.