Chair: Sid Voorakkara

This committee is the board's primary mechanism for financial oversight and accountability — not just of the numbers, but of the integrity of the systems that produce those numbers.

The Audit Committee oversees the school's relationship with its external auditors, reviews the annual audited financial statements, and ensures that any findings or management letters from auditors are taken seriously and addressed. Crucially, the committee provides a confidential channel — separate from school leadership — through which auditors can raise concerns directly with the board.

The Audit Committee also owns the school's risk management framework and internal controls, and often oversees compliance matters, including the IRS Form 990. Think of this committee as the board's independent check — it ensures that the school's financial representations are trustworthy, and that no single administrator or executive has unchecked control over financial processes.

Chair: Michael Feinman

Where the Audit Committee looks backward and independently, the Finance Committee is forward-looking and works in close partnership with school leadership. This is the committee that rolls up its sleeves on the school's budget, cash flow, investments, and long-range financial planning.

Each year, the Finance Committee reviews and recommends the annual operating budget to the full board. It monitors the school's financial performance throughout the year — comparing actual results to budget and flagging concerns early. It oversees the investment of the endowment and any reserve funds, in partnership with an investment advisor.

The Finance Committee also weighs in on major financial decisions: setting tuition, reviewing debt covenants, stress-testing financial scenarios, and assessing the school's long-term sustainability. A strong Finance Committee gives the full board confidence that the school's resources are being managed with discipline and foresight.

Chair: Marina Marrelli

The Philanthropy Committee is responsible for the school's culture and capacity for giving. Independent schools rely on philanthropic support to fund financial aid, faculty development, capital projects, and program innovation that tuition alone cannot cover. This committee helps make that possible.

The committee works closely with the head of school and the philanthropy office to set goals for annual giving, major gifts, and capital campaigns. It provides strategic oversight of fundraising programs and helps evaluate their effectiveness. But the Philanthropy Committee is also a working committee — trustees on this committee are expected to be active donors themselves, to make meaningful introductions, and to participate in donor cultivation and stewardship.

This committee also champions a culture of board giving — ensuring that the board achieves 100% trustee participation in the annual fund, which is a critical signal of board confidence to outside donors and foundations.

Chair: Angela Fukumura

The Buildings and Grounds Committee oversees the school's physical plant — its campus, facilities, and capital infrastructure. The physical campus is one of our most valuable assets and one of our largest long-term liabilities. This committee ensures it is maintained, improved, and aligned with the school's educational mission. The HUB is a great example of the work the Philanthropy and Buildings and Grounds Committees do.

The B&G committee works with the CFO and COO to review the maintenance budget, approve capital expenditures, and oversee major construction or renovation projects. It maintains and reviews a multi-year plan — a systematic look at what facilities need attention, on what timeline, and at what cost.

Beyond maintenance, this committee asks strategic questions: Does our campus support the kind of learning we aspire to? Are our spaces accessible and welcoming? Are we being responsible stewards of the environment? In this way, the Buildings and Grounds Committee connects the day-to-day work of facilities management to the school's long-term vision.

Chair: Lorri Sulpizio, Ph.D.

The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee reflects Country Day’s commitment to ensuring that every member of its community feels seen, valued, and genuinely included. While the work of creating an equitable and welcoming community belongs to the entire school, this committee ensures that the board is asking the right questions, holding leadership accountable, and modeling that commitment at the governance level.

At the board level, this committee reviews school-wide data on diversity — in enrollment, hiring, retention, and financial aid — and asks whether the school's demographics reflect its stated values and aspirations. It works with the head of school and the Director of Community, Culture, and Beloning, to evaluate the school's programs, and policies through an equity lens.

Importantly, the DEB Committee also turns its attention inward.  It plays a role in helping the full board develop its own fluency in equity-related conversations — creating space for trustees to learn, ask questions, and grow. The goal is not compliance, but genuine cultural change that starts at the top and flows throughout the institution.

Chair: Alexia Brown

The Committee on Trustees is, in many ways, the committee that makes all the other committees possible. It is responsible for the health, effectiveness, and integrity of the board itself — and that makes it one of the most consequential committees in the school's governance structure.

This committee leads trustee recruitment and nomination. It identifies gaps in board expertise, builds a pipeline of prospective trustees, conducts the vetting process, and recommends new members to the full board for election. It examines the composition of the board itself — ensuring that trustee recruitment actively seeks diverse perspectives, and that the board's culture is one where every voice is heard and respected. 

Just as importantly, it oversees trustee onboarding — ensuring that new board members understand their fiduciary duties, the school's mission and culture, and what effective governance actually looks like in practice.

The Committee also conducts and oversees board self-assessments — periodic evaluations of how the board is functioning as a whole and how individual trustees are contributing. This isn't about judgment; it's about continuous improvement. Effective boards regularly examine their own practices with the same rigor they apply to the school.

Beyond recruitment and evaluation, the Committee maintains the board's governing documents — bylaws, conflict of interest policies, committee charters, and board agreements — ensuring they remain current, clear, and actually followed. It also manages trustee succession and term limits, and often plays a central role in the succession planning process for board leadership.

Think of the Committee on Trustees as the board's steward of its own future — ensuring that the institution is always led by a board that is capable, committed, diverse, and well-prepared.

Chair: Jennifer O'Brien

The Executive Committee helps coordinate the work of the board between full board meetings. It works closely with the head of school and board leadership to shape agendas, identify emerging issues, and ensure that the board remains focused on its highest-level governance responsibilities.

This committee also plays a central role in the evaluation and support of the head of school, who is the board’s only employee. The Head’s Evaluation process gives the board a structured, confidential way to assess leadership in relation to the school’s mission, strategic priorities, annual goals, and overall institutional health.

A strong Executive Committee ensures clear communication, healthy alignment between the board and head of school, and a governance structure built on trust, focus, and accountability.