Senior Staff Biographies

Term Expires: March 31, 2026
Residence: Brea, California.
Background: Keri Kropke is an elected trustee for the Brea Olinda Unified School District. She is a public educator and speech language pathologist with experience in medical, occupational and public education settings. Keri was a professional baseball player on the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s baseball team. Keri is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she studied political economy and was an academic and athletic NCAA All American. She also holds two graduate degrees from Cal State Fullerton – an M.A. in History and an M.A. in Communications/Communicative Disorders. Keri is an active member of the California School Boards Association and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Residence: Pasadena
Background: Ms. Michelle Gastelum has been President and Owner at Summit Consulting & Engineering Inc. since 2001. She is also the Managing Partner for 1009-1013 N. Marguerita Ave LLC and 1133 Campbell St. LLC since 2006. Ms. Gastelum has held various positions from Science Teacher to Labor Compliance Officer and from Project Controls Manager to a small business owner. In addition, she was an Assistant Project Manager at LAUSD’s 9.6 Billion Dollar Construction Bond Program from 2000 to 2001 and a Senior Financial Analyst at Summit Financial Advisors Group from 1997 to 2000. Over her 20 year career span in the Design and Construction Industry, Ms. Gastelum has been involved in a wide variety of project types including institutional architecture, office buildings, higher education institutions, K-12, fire stations and real estate development projects. Some of her work at Summit includes projects for the Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles Community College District, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Ms. Gastelum earned a Bachelors of Science Degree in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, she successfully completed the Construction Management Certificate Program at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Organizations that Ms. Gastelum is professionally affiliated with include the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA), the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce (LALCC) and Women in Construction (WIC).

Residence: Richmond, California.
Background: Tony Thurmond was sworn in as the 28th California State Superintendent of Public Instruction on January 7, 2019. Superintendent Thurmond is an educator, social worker, and public school parent, who has served the people of California for more than ten years in elected office. Previously, Superintendent Thurmond served on the Richmond City Council, West Contra Costa Unified School Board, and in the California State Assembly, representing District 15. Education is at the core of Superintendent Thurmond’s legislative record. He authored legislation that successfully expanded the free lunch program, bilingual education, and the Chafee Grant college scholarship program for foster youth. Additionally, Superintendent Thurmond’s legislation guaranteed preferential voting rights for student school board members, improved access to families for early education and childcare, and shifted millions of dollars directly from prisons to schools. Superintendent Thurmond introduced legislation to expand STEM education, improve school conditions for LGBTQ youth, and tax private prisons to fund early education and afterschool programs.

Residence: Danville
Background: Heather Hooper is the Chief Retirement Officer and Fiduciary Plan Advisor at Retirement Wellness Group. A career retirement planning executive, Heather Hooper has more than 20 years of multi-faceted retirement plan expertise, including employer/employee matters, recordkeeping/administration, advisory, HR, and boards. She is passionate about being a fiduciary and about relating the education process back to the different phases of life, from being a new saver through transitioning into and through the various stages of retirement. Heather is a Member of the RWG/PHC Investment Committee and serves on the Advisory Panel for TD Ameritrade’s retirement plan offering. In 2013, she was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. as a Member of the Board of the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings/CalSavers Investment Program, where she still serves. Heather was a Philosophy major at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.