Board of Trustees

JENNIFER ZELL earned a BA in Economics from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Washington Business School.  After graduate school, she worked for Moss Adams Advisory Services as a financial analyst performing valuations of privately held companies and earned her CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation. She retired after the birth of her first child. Jennifer served on the Meridian School Board for six years as a regular trustee, and was Treasurer for two years and Chair for three. She was also an Emeritus Trustee for two years and continues to serve on the Finance Committee.  Jennifer served as the Co-President of Parent Council, where she has previously served two years as a Sports Booster and one as Treasurer. She is a Parent Ambassador and also volunteered for two years as a Class Agent for the Puma Fund. She has been on the Finance Committee for three years. She currently serves as president of the Board of Trustees.  She and her husband, Mike, have three children. Courtney ’19, Mitchell ’21, and Trevor ’23.

As Chief Operating Officer, JULI COOK oversees NBBJ’s global operations across 12 offices and manages the firm’s administrative, financial, legal, information technology and human resources functions. Cook is widely credited with introducing innovative new business models across a range of professional services and creative industries. Prior to joining NBBJ, she served as executive vice president of Corbis Images managing media products & global operations. Prior to her role at Corbis, she was vice president of product management at Washington Mutual, where she was responsible for developing new products and services for retail bank customers, and also held management roles at Deloitte Consulting and Sotheby’s. Juli holds a BA in Art History and a BFA in Painting from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of King County, where she serves on the Executive Committee, and previously served on the Board of Directors for Artist Trust, and Artist Trust’s Executive and Finance Committees. Juli and her husband, Andy, have two children – Max ‘26 and Zander ‘28.

ELIZABETH (LIFFY) FRANKLIN’s career has spanned both the private and public sectors. She was Vice President of Product Management at Wall Data, where she also held leadership roles in marketing and service sales. Prior to Wall Data she had marketing roles and was a systems analyst at Digital Systems. She was Chief of Staff to the Chancellor at Indiana University/Purdue University Fort Wayne and for five years led the largest community arts festival in the state. Liffy has served on the Boards of the Seattle Public Library Foundation and non-profit affordable housing developer, Common Ground. Recently, she has been an active member of the University Prep Parent Council. She chairs UPrep’s Trusteeship & Governance Committee and sits on the Executive Committee. Liffy received her B.A. from Duke University and her M.B.A. from Indiana University. Liffy and her wife, Jennifer Cast, have twin sons, Will and Carter Cast ’23.

MICHELLE J GOLDBERG is a venture investor and board member for both startups and established public companies.  As a partner at Ignition since 2000 she invested in consumer and enterprise software technology companies.  She is now a Venture Partner at SoGal Ventures investing in how the next generation works, plays and stays healthy.  Michelle has sat on public, private, and not for profit boards and has expertise in audit, risk management, activism, ESG and M&A.  Michelle has been a public board member for Legg Mason, Taubman and Plum Creek, all of which completed M&A transactions.  Michelle is a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and is an advocate and fundraiser for women in tech. Michelle was awarded a Master’s degree from Harvard University, and holds an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.  Michelle is chair of the Investment committee at UPrep and a member of the Finance Committee.  

VAN KATZMAN is the co-founder of Ascent Law Partners, LLP and Ascent Investments, LLC, advising technology start-ups and other businesses on their life-cycle decisions from inception to exit. He currently serves on the UPrep Strategic Plan design team at UPrep, and he teaches an Intensive course at UPrep on Entrepreneurship. Van is also a member of the Board of Trustees of UCDS. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in History, earned his law degree from the University of Virginia, and holds a Master’s in Environmental Policy from George Washington University. Van is the vice president of UPrep’s Board of Trustees. He and his wife Wendy have a son, Jack, who graduated from UPrep in 2017 and a daughter, Carly ‘25.

NINEVAH LOWERY worked in the computer software industry for 15 years as a technology consultant, sales engineer, and marketing communications leader. Taking time off to care for her children as a stay-home mom, she has been a consistent school volunteer, having served in various parent leadership roles. During this time, she has also held numerous executive board seats and served on regional and national committees in member-based community organizations. She is committed to excellence and approaches her work with passion. Ninevah holds a BS from The University of Alabama, with a major in Management Information Systems, and an MBA from University of Detroit Mercy. She and her husband Bryant have two children, Bryant, II ’24 and Neva-Nataia ‘26.

RUSSELL NORMANN ’86 owns and operates a private commercial real estate company in the Puget Sound region. Prior to working into real estate, he worked in the technology industry for more than a decade. Russ graduated with degrees in philosophy and mathematics from the University of Washington. He has participated on the UPrep Alumni Board, serving on the finance committee for several years. Russ and his wife, Heather, are the parents of Ben ’21.

TIM RICHEY is a designer and project architect at SRG Partnership with a focus on 21^st century learning environments. A graduate of the Syracuse University School of Architecture, Tim spent seven years living and working in Europe before settling in Seattle. He is currently the co-chair of the American Institute of Architects Honor Awards program and serves on the UPrep Building Committee. Tim and his wife Charlotte are parents of Jacob ’17 and Aida ’24.

ANDREW SELBY spent 20 years working in investment banking at companies based in Hong Kong, London, and Johannesburg, with a culminating stint at Barclays Capital, setting up the Africa Investment Banking operations. After retiring from banking, Andrew founded a sporting events company. The Selby family moved from Cape Town to Seattle in August 2018, with Aleksandr ’22 and Matthew ’24 settling in at UPrep. At the children’s previous school, Andrew chaired its finance committee, launched a major fundraising campaign for capital expansion, and founded the Extra Term initiative, which provided an opportunity for current parents to sponsor and mentor children who needed financial assistance. He currently serves on the Advancement, Finance, and Investment Committees at UPrep.

BLAKE TITCOMB ’09 graduated from University of Puget Sound in 2013 with a B.S. in Geology and minor in Economics. Blake served as President of the UPrep Alumni Board for four years and currently sits on a Foundation for their Sustainable Forests & Communities Initiative Committee and Financial Committee. Blake is a Senior Account Manager at PitchBook, a financial software company. While he and his wife, Brittany, do not have any little Pumas, they are very fond of their German shepherd, Maya.

JEREMY WACKSMAN is the chief operating officer at Zillow Group. He previously served as president and chief marketing officer of Zillow. He has also led marketing and product management efforts at Microsoft and Trilogy Software. He has served as a board director for Rover.com and Room77, as well as an advisor to companies including Dollar Shave Club and GoFundMe. Jeremy earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife, Lucy, are the parents of Eli ’25 and Miles ’29.

URSULA PHELAN is the president of the UPrep Parent Guardian Association, where she previously served five years as past exec, treasurer, and grade level parent representative. She also co-chaired the Puma Fund for two years and has served as co-chair for UPrep’s Open House. Ursula is from Ireland and received her B.S. in computer science and psychology from University College Dublin. Her professional career started in Ireland, where she was project manager at IBM. With her move to Seattle, Ursula consulted with both public and private companies with full responsibility for sales and delivery. She managed software development consulting teams for Microsoft, Boeing, and other Pacific Northwest companies. She retired after the birth of her first child. She and her husband, Fergal, are the parents of Ciaran ’22 and Fiachra ’24.

CHRISTINA ZEMBRUSKI received her BA from Fordham University and previously taught math at The School At Columbia in New York City. She has been a math teacher at UPrep since 2015.