The CWS Board of Trustees

Matt Curreri serves as the faculty liaison to the Board of Trustees. He has been teaching middle school math at Charlottesville Waldorf School since 2016, where he has also taught music, movement, middle school computer technology, and coached soccer. He also serves on the Pedagogical Leadership Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee.

Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in Literature from the University of Notre Dame and has been teaching math at the middle and high school levels since 2001. He began his teaching career in New York City, later taught in San Diego, and returned to Virginia in 2015.

Outside of CWS, Matt is an active musician, soccer player, and father.

Priya Curtis joined the local Waldorf community as a student in CWS co-founder Sharifa Oppenheimer’s kindergarten class. She went on to graduate from Tandem Friends School, and earn a BA (Sociology) and MA (Bioethics) from the University of Virginia, before becoming a mother herself and training as a professional birth doula.

Both of Priya’s children attended the early childhood programs at CWS, with the younger child staying through 8th grade and graduating in 2023.

Outside of the Board of Trustees and raising her last teenager, Priya works in ethics enforcement for a global finance education organization, volunteers with her local botanical garden, and enjoys writing, community service, and spending time outdoors.   

Karen began working at CWS in 2008. During her long career at the school, she has held positions of Grade 4 through Grade 8 class teacher and more recently the role of Academic Director.

Karen has a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Virginia and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Hollins University. She has completed the Leadership Development course through the Center for Anthroposophy and many years of Grade School teacher workshops at Sunbridge Institute.

Karen enjoys most forms of exercise (running, cycling, yoga, hiking), and occasionally still pops into a local 5k or 10k race. She has published two books, one for young adults and one memoir for adults. She is working on a goal of trying to visit every National Park in the USA. When not at work, she can be found spending time with her family and with her adorable Corgi named Gus.

Karen and her daughter are members of the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline.

Born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany, Barbara Gehrung is an alumna of Freie Waldorfschule Uhlandshöhe, the “mother school”, which was founded in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner and Emil Molt. Moving to Charlottesville with her husband to start a family, she was excited to find Charlottesville Waldorf School to educate her children and to volunteer for, deeply appreciating the love for learning and the world which was instilled in her through her education. Barbara is a current parent of a rising CWS middle schooler and of an alumna who is attending Charlottesville High School, and she has served on the CWS Board of Trustees since 2019.

Professionally, Barbara is partner in an architecture firm, Gehrung + Graham llc, specializing in energy-positive and net-zero energy design. Prior to moving to Charlottesville, she was faculty and project manager for her alma mater TU Darmstadt’s contribution to the U.S. Department of Solar Decathlon 2007, which both shaped her approach to architecture, and her love for the pioneer spirit of the United States. Barbara is one of the first certified passive house designers in the U.S and has won several awards for her passive house consulting projects, including affordable multi-family buildings for Habitat for Humanity in Washington D.C. and the ecoMOD South project for the University of Virginia.

In her spare time, Barbara enjoys listening to and making music, traveling, and spending time with friends, her family, and her dog.

Lewis has lived in Charlottesville for over 15 years, with three college-age children in school in Virginia. He is a 2000 graduate (BA History) from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN, where he was a football player and threw javelin on the track & field team. He’s also a 2017 MBA graduate of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. A US Army combat veteran and former federal civilian employee, Lewis is now a global director for Enerpac Tool Group and also the owner of a local small business, Bodhisattva Trading Company, where he imports and sells authentic, hand-made Himalayan singing bowls, gongs, and mala prayer beads. Lewis currently chairs the CWS Development Committee and has experience in nonprofit management, global marketing, sales operations, and product management. He also serves on the Augsburg University alumni board and as a Darden class agent.

www.linkedin.com/in/lewisnelson | @lewisnelson on instagram

Amanda Tipton is an educational leader with more than fifteen years of experience in school administration, community engagement, and organizational leadership. She currently serves as School Director at the Charlottesville Waldorf School, where she works closely with faculty, families, and the Board of Trustees to support the school’s mission of educating the whole human being and fostering thoughtful, engaged citizenship.

Throughout her career, Amanda has focused on building educational communities that nurture resilience, curiosity, and moral courage in young people. Her work emphasizes the importance of helping children develop the inner resources needed to navigate an increasingly complex and anxious world, while cultivating empathy, responsibility, and a sense of connection to others and to the natural world.

Amanda’s experience also includes international education leadership. She was the founding director of Casa Stella Waldorf School in Ibarra, Ecuador, where she helped build a growing educational initiative through teacher training, parent education, and community partnerships. This work strengthened her belief that education has the power to bridge cultures and build understanding across differences.

Originally from Greenbrier County, West Virginia, Amanda holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art and Philosophy from Ferrum College. In addition to her work in education, she is passionate about community building, environmental stewardship, and supporting the development of courageous, compassionate young people.

Vishal Tiwari is Board Chair of the Charlottesville Waldorf School and serves on the Senior Leadership Team at 3E as Director of Quality Assurance. He holds a Master’s degree in Management of Information Technology from the UVA McIntire School of Commerce and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and Engineering Management from the University of Arizona. Vishal brings extensive experience in leadership, strategy, and quality engineering, along with a strong commitment to service, education, and community.

His connection to CWS is deeply personal: his daughter is a CWS alum, and his wife, Shilpi Bajpai, is currently a faculty member at the school. He currently tutors Math and Hindi to students of all ages, something he has been doing since 2004.

Vishal has served in a number of leadership and community roles, including as a current board member of his Home Owners Association (HOA), a board member of the Indian Association of Charlottesville, a volunteer with Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA), a former president and former member of Blue Ridge Toastmasters in Charlottesville, a former guest lecturer at George Mason University, and an Advisory Council Member at Seton Hall University.

Outside of work and volunteer service, Vishal enjoys playing pickleball both socially and competitively and is passionate about teaching, mentoring, and building strong, connected communities.

LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/vishal-tiwari-msmit