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Board of Trustees

Our world-class Board of Trustees is committed to helping Roycemore students succeed in and outside the classroom.

Our Board members voluntarily serve three-year terms in support of Roycemore School. Trustees provide fiduciary and strategic support as well as generative leadership. Together, the Head of School and the Board of Trustees ensure the school’s mission and vision is being pursued.

Trustees

  • ​Bunmi Durojaiye
  • Muqueeth Raheem
  • Judy Godinho
  • Marisa de la Torre
  • Deborah Pergament '87
  • Thomas J. Ellis
  • Edith Eisner
  • Candace Risen
  • Linda Reed '65
  • Bessie N. A. Mbadugha
  • Dr. Terry Gdoutos ’05
  • Victoria Fromm
  • Aleksandra Egelja-Maruszewski
  • Dr. Anita Shah
  • Barry Praeuner
  • Tim Costello
  • Michael D. Adams
  • Kevin Foote
  • Anthony Chambers

Aleksandra Egelja-Maruszewski

Trustee

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Aleksandra Egelja-Maruszewski is Vice President, North America, Ansys Customer Excellence at ANSYS, Inc. She received a Ph.D. in Computational Fluid Dynamics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. She and her husband, Joe, have two sons. One is currently in the Upper School and the other is a Roycemore alum currently attending Northwestern.

Anthony Chambers

Chair

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Anthony Chambers, Ph.D., ABPP, is the Chief Academic Officer, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, and a Board Certified Couple and Family Psychologist on staff at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. Chambers is also the Director of Northwestern University’s Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies and is a Clinical Professor of Psychology. Dr. Chambers is also the Former President for the American Psychological Association’s Society for Couple and Family Psychology, the Former President for the American Academy of Couple and Family Psychology, and recently served on the Board of Directors for the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Chambers received his B.A. in Psychology from Hampton University, his M.A. & Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Virginia, and completed his internship and residency at Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Chambers' clinical and academic works are focused on couple relationships as he is the author of numerous books, journal articles, book chapters, and national presentations devoted to translating the science behind common couple problems into best practices.

Dr. Chambers’ other main interest involves independent schools, where he is an avid reader of all things surrounding private school education. He and his younger brother are both lifers of a PK-12 independent day school (University School of Milwaukee). His most proud achievement is that he has been happily married for over 20 years and is a proud Roycemore parent who has a beautiful daughter that started in PK! In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, biking, watching movies and ESPN, watching reruns of Seinfeld and West Wing, and traveling.

Barry Praeuner

Trustee

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Barry is a Retail and Multi-Site Sector Project Manager with CBRE, a commercial real estate services, and investment firm. He provides on-site representation for his clients to deliver new and remodel construction projects. Prior to working at CBRE, Barry worked in the architectural profession for 17 years, working on everything from small retail remodel projects to multi-family residential high-rises.

He has served and will continue to serve on the Roycemore Facilities Committee along with a team of other volunteers who help address current building and future infrastructure challenges. He is also the proud parent of twin Roycemore middle school students. If there is free time, he enjoys watching movies, riding bikes along the lakefront, traveling, and family time.

Bessie N. A. Mbadugha

Vice Chair

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Bessie N. A. Mbadugha earned B.A.s in Chemistry and English at Lafayette College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Emory University. Her academic background includes a postdoctoral fellowship in the Drug Discovery Training Program at Northwestern University, and professorships at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to relocating to Skokie in 2019, she was a highly engaged community leader in Hillsborough, NC, serving on the boards of The Expedition School and The Orange County Historical Museum, advocating for local businesses as an Orange County Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, and leading numerous projects through grant-writing, fundraising and community organizing.

Bringing that same energy to the Roycemore School community, Dr. Mbadugha works on various committees including Admissions, Development, and the Scholarship Gala serves as the school’s Family Action Network liaison, and has organized many community-building events. Dr. Mbadugha lends her grant-writing skill to STEM School Evanston and is a member of the Evanston Reparations Education Subcommittee.

Bessie and her husband, Jason Keiper, have two students at Roycemore. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading, writing, gardening, volunteering, museums, foreign and indie films, running, and being a lifelong learner.

​Bunmi Durojaiye

Trustee

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Bunmi Durojaiye is a Communications professional who is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals thrive. With many years of experience in various organizational settings, Bunmi has developed a strong ability to manage change thoughtfully and connect with internal and external audiences. She is a Communications Director at a Nonprofit organization where she is committed to engaging stakeholders at every level and achieving meaningful results.

Bunmi believes that Communication is about building authentic relationships. She is passionate about uncovering the heart and soul of brands, employing her love of storytelling to forge meaningful connections between brands and their audiences.

She holds a Master of Science Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Roosevelt University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Media/Graphic Design from Columbia College Chicago.

Bunmi enjoyed her volunteer time with the Roycemore Family Association and currently serves as a member of the school's Marketing Committee.

Bunmi and her husband, Layi are parents of two Griffins who think the World of Roycemore school. She finds joy in intimate gatherings with family and close friends, cherishing those moments of genuine connection.

Candace Risen

Trustee

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Candace Risen is new to the Evanston community, having moved here from Cleveland, Ohio in July 2020 to be near her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed a long and satisfying career as a social worker/ psychotherapist and Co-Director of the Center for Marital & Sexual Health. She remains on the faculty at the medical school of Case Western Reserve University where she is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She has always had a passion for teaching, mentoring, and supervising psychotherapy trainees, particularly in the areas of sexual/gender identity and professional ethics.

Candace is the proud grandmother of two students at Roycemore; one in Upper School and one in Middle School. Since arriving in Evanston, Candace has immersed herself in home renovations, baking, gardening, and spending time with family while waiting for the pandemic to lift so that she can venture out more into the community at large.

Deborah Pergament '87

Trustee

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Deborah is an alumna of Roycemore School. She was the Distinguished Alumna in 2017. She is an attorney with Children’s Law Group, LLC. Deborah’s practice focuses on complex special education matters with a particular emphasis on representing children with cochlear implants, genetic disorders, and social-emotional disabilities. She has also taught special education law at DePaul University College of Law and disability law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Deborah credits her Roycemore education with instilling the importance of following Benjamin Franklin’s adage, “Do well by doing good.”

Dr. Anita Shah

Trustee

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Dr. Anita Shah is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at Northwest Pulmonary Associates in Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, with a Minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and her Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Downers Grove, Illinois. She was commissioned into the United States Army after her first year of medical school and completed her Residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the National Capital Consortium Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington D.C.

After graduation, she deployed to a trauma hospital in southern Afghanistan for 6 months, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, as a pulmonary critical physician and the medical director of the intensive care unit. Dr. Shah completed 11 years of active duty service and moved back to Chicago in 2016.

She is currently a partner in her medical practice at Northwest Pulmonary Associates. She is a member of the Health and Safety Taskforce that helped navigate Roycemore through the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Shah and her husband, Jeffrey, have two children at Roycemore. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, exercising, snowboarding, traveling, and shopping.

Dr. Terry Gdoutos ’05

Trustee

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Dr. Terry Gdoutos is a Principal Research Scientist in Aerospace at Caltech. He studies and develops novel technologies for deployable solar arrays, antennas, and integrated sunlight collection and power beaming arrays, enabling spacecraft to collect solar energy in space and wirelessly beam it to Earth, the Moon, or other planets. Terry is currently leading a multi-disciplinary team of research scientists, engineers, and graduate students on the design, procurement, fabrication, and integration and testing activities for the development of DOLCE, an on-orbit 50 kg technology demonstration of an ultralight deployable structure and deployment mechanism for space-based power stations in Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project.

He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics from Caltech and holds Bachelor of Science degrees from Northwestern University in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.

Edith Eisner

Life Trustee

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Edith served as a Latin and English teacher at Roycemore in 1956 and was an adviser to an award-winning yearbook staff for years. She also served as Roycemore’s Public Relations and Communications Coordinator and later the Director of Admissions. Mrs. Eisner retired from Roycemore in 1985 and in 1989 was elected to the Roycemore School Board of Trustees. She is the school’s longest-serving trustee, and after another 29 years as an active trustee, the board conferred Mrs. Eisner the status of Life Trustee.

Mrs. Eisner and her family have been steadfast benefactors of Roycemore through philanthropy and deed. Mrs. Eisner married the Chair of Roycemore’s Board of Trustees, Robert Eisner. Upon his passing, Mrs. Eisner established the Robert Eisner Distinguished Scholarship Program in his memory. This program provides students with tremendous benefits as it awards up to three new full-tuition scholarships annually to Roycemore students based on their academic achievement and outstanding leadership abilities.

Judy Godinho

Trustee

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Ms.Godinho serves as a Portfolio Manager for a number of multi-strategy portfolios and other specialized strategies and custom mandates at GCM Grosvenor. She leads activities related to the construction, implementation and monitoring of portfolios. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Ms. Godinho worked at various other global financial institutions such as Lombard Odier Asset Management, Fortress Investment Group and MAN FRM both in the US and London. Ms. Godinho received her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Arts in Economics in a dual program from Boston University. She is also on the Board of Trustees for Kids Above All.

At Roycemore, Judy was an active volunteer in the Roycemore Family Association and is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the school. She tries to spend all her free time with her husband, David, and her son, Franklin, as long as she is not playing tennis but as a family, they enjoy golf and skiing/snowboarding together.

Kevin Foote

Treasurer

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Kevin Foote is a former equities and derivatives trader with Goldman Sachs and the Hull Group, later co-managing an independent trading firm of his own. His focus has always been on managing people and situations with a clear statistical research discipline and establishing formal processes to ensure future success. He now devotes his time to a real estate investment business that he founded in 2011, parenting his teen, and serving in various nonprofit leadership capacities. Kevin has a history of work with youth-oriented philanthropic ventures including the Adoption Center of Illinois, Children’s Research Triangle, the Nettelhorst School, and the Chicago Yacht Club. He holds a degree in economics from Colgate University (1989) and lives in Chicago with his wife Diane, and their son Steven, a proud Roycemore student in the upper school.

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