Mill Falls Charter School Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Foundation’s sole purpose is to raise funds for Mill Falls Charter School in support of the school’s long-term financial sustainability. The Foundation Board comprises individuals with vast professional, business and community leadership experience and a strong commitment to the mission and goals of Mill Falls Charter School. For more information, please contact us at: Foundation@millfalls.org.

Board of Directors

Maria H. Law (Chair) has been with the Concord-based law firm, Rath, Young Pignatelli since March of 2009 as Of Counsel. She is a member of the firm’s Business and Finance, Education and Non-profit, and Energy Law Practice Groups. Her practice focuses on counseling corporate and individual clients in real estate and corporate transactions as well as in support of Renewable Energy Projects. Maria also has extensive experience in counseling charitable trust and non-profit organizations in the areas of corporate governance, maintenance of 501(c)(3) status and collaboration of mission-driven non-profit organizations. Maria previously practiced law with Nixon, Peabody, LLP and McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, PA, both in Manchester. Maria has a deep commitment to community and has served on many boards over the years, including as Member and Former Chair of The Palace Theatre Trust Board of Trustees; Board Member at the VNA Foundation of Manchester & Southern NH; Former Member and Chair of Child Health Services Board of Directors; Former Member of the Board of Incorporators of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Manchester Region; Former Member of the Board of Trustees at The Derryfield School. Maria’s adult children attended the Bedford Montessori School as young students. Maria is an alumnus of the Leadership New Hampshire Class of 2000, and she graduated from Vassar College and Boston College Law School.  She recently relocated from Bedford to Manchester, NH.

David M. Sarvai (Vice Chair) is a lifelong Manchester New Hampshire resident, who served abroad in the US Air Force for 11 years. He is a veteran of the Gulf and Bosnian War, and Kosovo conflict. He is currently the Vice President of Application Engineering for DSCI, which is a regional internet/telephone service provider.  Prior to DSCI, he worked for DRC as a network security manager.  He completed undergraduate degrees from University of Maryland University College (Europe) in Computer Sciences and Italian Studies, and an Applied Science degree from the Community College of the Air Force. He earned numerous industry certifications in both Computer and Security standards. He is active with Make-A-Wish, Friends Of Jaclyn, and Flashes of Hope organizations. David lives in Manchester with his two children, both of whom attended Mill Falls.

William J. Kanteres (Treasurer) is a lifelong New Hampshire resident and the President of Kanteres Real Estate, Inc. where he has been involved in the real estate business for 39 years. He served as the MFCS Foundation’s Founding Board Chair from September 2012 through January 2016. From 2005 to 2011, Will was an incorporator and member of the Board of Trustees of Hellenic American University in Greece. He has served on many community service programs in his native Manchester, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Manchester United Way. He has been involved with the national hunger relief organization, Share Our Strength, since its inception, serving as a founding director for over 20 years. In addition to his business ventures, Will has been deeply involved in civic and political activities, which have spanned 30 years. In 1998 he served on a mission as an election observer in the first democratic Presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Will attended Northeastern University and the University of New Hampshire before entering the real estate business. Will resides in Manchester, NH with his wife, Meryl Levin and their son, Elias – a Mill Falls graduate – and returns to Greece annually to renew his Hellenic heritage.

Rachel A. Marziano (Secretary) works at NH Total Home Care in Manchester as the Operations Director and Bookkeeper. She attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, and later became an Initial Operations Instructor and lead flight attendant with Atlantic Coast Airlines while living and working out of Boston, DC and NYC. She and her husband, Nick, reside in Manchester and are involved in community work locally and state-wide. She also sits as the presiding Treasurer for the Manchester Hillside Middle School PTO. She and her family are active hikers and, to date, have hiked through 20 National Parks. She and her husband have three children; two attend Mill Falls and one has graduated and is now attending Bishop Guertin High School.

Dan Calegari has a long-time track record as an engaged New Hampshire citizen working on both the community level and in the world of electoral politics at home and abroad. Dan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small town in Northeast Iran during the late 1970′s, later returning to Iran as a Language Proficency Examiner for a private company. Once back in the states, he worked as a community organizer for Community Action establishing a 10-site food co-operative serving over 1000 families in rural NH. In 1988, Dan established Barwind Corporation in Manchester. He ran that small business, which specialized in home window replacement and siding, for nearly 20 years. During those years, Dan served as the Volunteer Development Director for the NH Autism Society, and has been a long-time volunteer for the Spaulding Youth Center in Tilton. Presently, he is serving as the Manchester Coordinator for Southern New Hampshire Services, working mostly with refugee-related programs. Dan worked on six presidential campaigns and virtually every congressional and gubernatorial race in NH since 1975. Before joining the Southern New Hampshire Services team, he served as Special Assistant for Constituent Services for Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Originally from western Massachusetts, Dan came to NH in the 1970s where he lived first in the north country, later relocating to Deerfield, where he and his wife, Libby, raised their two, now adult-aged, sons. Dan and Libby currently live in Manchester.

Maryclare Heffernan is a life-long educator with a passion for supporting successful student learning outcomes for all students, but particularly for students with an educational disability. She spent over 40 years as a Special Education Teacher, Administrator and Consultant guided her personal belief that students and adults are all life learners with an endless potential for discovery and growth. Maryclare has a BA in Psychology with a minor in Special Education from Salve Regina University and an M.Ed. in Education Administration and Supervision from the University of New Hampshire.  She holds an Experienced Educator Certificate from the State of NH and is certified in Specific Learning Disabilities, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and General Special Education. Maryclare served at Mill Falls’ Student Services Coordinator for three years before retiring from full-time education work. Maryclare is also an accomplished artist working in oils and watercolors. Her pieces are exhibited throughout NH. Maryclare lives in Candia, NH with her husband. They have four grown children and ten grandchildren.

Newton Kershaw, III is CEO of Elm Grove Companies, a vertically integrated real estate investment company. He is formally educated in Economics and Finance having graduated Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University and with honors from an overseas program of study in International Finance and Banking at Oxford University. He completed the Harvard Business School Real Estate Executive Seminar. His career started in the investment banking industry in New York City at Lehman Brothers where he worked in the mortgage trading group securitizing residential mortgage backed securities. He then spent a number of years in the commercial real estate brokerage with Stebbins Commercial Properties before focusing full time on the growth of Elm Grove Companies. Newton is former two-time Chairman of the Board of the Manchester Development Corporation and a Trustee of the Manchester Historic Association. He is a past board member of the Manchester Young Professionals Network, past Green Buildings Committee Chair at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and past Finance Committee Member at The Moore Center Services, Inc., the area non-profit agency supporting individuals with developmental disabilities and acquired brain disorders. Newton lives in Manchester; both of his children attended Mill Falls.

Non-Voting Member: Meryl Levin, (Executive Director of Mill Falls), is a founder of Mill Falls and served as the School’s Founding Board Chair from March of 2011 until February 2014 when the Board appointed her to serve as the Acting School Administrator. She later returned to the Board until being named as the School’s Executive Director in late December 2015. Meryl is an alumnus of the Leadership New Hampshire Class of 2013. For over 20 years, Meryl has worked as a social documentary photographer with a focus on health, social welfare and political engagement. Her work has been exhibited and published worldwide. She is the author of two monographs, editor of several publications, and curator of several group exhibitions. She has guest lectured at colleges and universities around the country, and has received several grants and fellowships in support of her work. She attended Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and completed her undergraduate degree, at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She taught at The School of Visual Arts in NYC for seven years, until moving to NH where she is an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University and has been deeply involved in the Service Learning Initiative there. She lives in Manchester, NH with her husband, Will Kanteres and their son who is a graduate of Mill Falls.