Leadership

Head of School William Moseley joined St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in 2013. Mr. Moseley possesses a wealth of independent school leadership experience, deep passion for the education of young people, strong connection to the Episcopal Church, and depth of personal character and integrity that align perfectly with St. Margaret’s mission, values and community.

 

Throughout his 30-year career in independent school education, Mr. Moseley has held numerous leadership positions including 12 years as headmaster of The Ensworth School, a K-12 independent school located in Nashville, Tenn.  Prior to Ensworth, he served as head of Middle School at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla for 5 years, and at The Browning School in New York for 3 years, as director of admissions, head of Middle School and later as assistant headmaster. Mr. Moseley began his career as a science teacher at The Portledge School in Locust Valley, New York. He joined St. Margaret’s after serving as interim head of at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Fla.

 

An independent school graduate of Westminster School in Connecticut, Mr. Moseley holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lake Forest College in Illinois and a Master of Arts in Independent School Leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University Teachers College. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Nashville Symphony Association, Nashville Symphony Concert Hall Education Committee and Education Council, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and was a long-standing member of the downtown Rotary Club of Nashville. Mr. Moseley currently serves on the National Association of Episcopal Schools Governing Board and the Diocesan Commission on Schools of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

 

He and his wife, Jenny, have three children, Tyler and Megan, two college graduates, and daughter Brady, a St. Margaret’s student.

Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Ryan Dahlem joined St. Margaret’s in 2006. Mr. Dahlem has held leadership positions across the academic and business sides of the school, serving four years as Director of Admission and Financial Aid and six years as Upper School Assistant Principal where he also taught Advanced Placement Statistics and served as Interim Mathematics Department Chair. Mr. Dahlem played a key role in advancing St. Margaret’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity by leading the Tartan Scholars Program, an outreach initiative for high-achieving, low-income students, chairing the Diversity and Inclusivity Task Force, and leading the school’s strategic efforts around cultural competency development. Mr. Dahlem also served on the Academic Task Force and 2008 Strategic Plan Committee and implementation team. Mr. Dahlem consistently leverages his extraordinary passion for St. Margaret’s and academic and administrative expertise to bring the community together and move forward important school priorities.

 

Prior to St. Margaret’s, Mr. Dahlem served as Associate Director of Admission at Stanford University where he oversaw admission for Stanford Athletics and partnered with the mathematics faculty to recruit exceptional mathematics talent from around the world. His territories also included New England, the Pacific Northwest, Asia and Orange County for which he read applications from St. Margaret’s students. Previously, Mr. Dahlem taught mathematics at University High School in Irvine and Fenway High School in Boston. 

 

Mr. Dahlem holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Stanford University and a Master of Education in teaching and curriculum from Harvard University.

 

Mr. Dahlem is also a highly experienced mountaineer and climbed the fabled Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, including reaching the summit of Mt. Everest in 2010. Mr. Dahlem and his wife Anne have three children, Peter, Ella and Colin, all of whom attend St. Margaret’s. 

Mrs. Jennifer Blount has been a professional member of St. Margaret’s Lower School since 2012, prior to that she spent 20 years teaching in both Central and Southern California. She has taught grades 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. She has served as assistant principal to a school of 1,200 students in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District as well as a classroom teacher, teacher on special assignment, district coordinator, peer coach and activities director.

 

Mrs. Blount has received the Who's Who Among Teachers Award, Los Alisos Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2007 and 2012, as well as Saddleback Valley Unified School District's Teacher of the Year in 2012. She has been trained in positive behavior support, guided language acquisition development, and Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD). She has served as a University of California, Irvine mentor teacher, literacy coach, secondary teacher peer coach for Saddleback Valley Unified School District, English language development district coordinator and Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) support provider.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Spanish from the University of San Diego and a Master of Science in educational administration from National University in Costa Mesa, Calif. She also holds a California State Teaching Credential and Tier II Clear Educational Administrative Credential.

 

Mrs. Blount is a graduate of St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Class of 1987. She and her husband, Lance, have two children, Isabella, who is a current St. Margaret's student, and Beau who is in Preschool.

Mrs. Jeannine Clarke has been a professional member of the St. Margaret’s Episcopal Middle School for 25 years. She has been a history teacher, student activities director, assistant principal and has served as Middle School principal since 2004.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Civilizations from Wellesley College and a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from Pepperdine University. She also holds a California State Teaching Credential.

 

Mrs. Clarke is a graduate of St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Class of 1987. She and her husband, Todd, have two children, Gavin and Avery, who are current St. Margaret's students.

In addition to her work at St. Margaret’s, Dr. Graham has collaborated with edX, a provider of high quality online learning opportunities governed by MIT and Harvard, to develop the first ever high school MOOCs. She is also an active member of the CAIS Assessment Task force.

 

Dr. Graham began her career in independent schools in South Florida as the Assistant Director of Admission at St. Andrew’s School. After relocating to Southern California, she began her doctoral studies in the UCI/UCLA Ed.D. program and graduated in the summer of 2011. She joined the staff of the then-Department of Education at UC Irvine first as the project manager for ST Math and then became the Assistant Director of the Center for Research on Cognition and Learning. She was also an independent consultant supporting a longitudinal research project in Geriatrics at the UCI School of Medicine.

 

Dr. Graham holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Spanish from Dartmouth College. Her Ed.D in Educational Leadership is from a joint program between UCI and UCLA.

Early Childhood School Director, Dr. Cris Lozon, joined St. Margaret’s in the summer of 2016. Dr. Cris spent 22 years teaching at international schools in the Philippines, Japan, Italy, and South Korea and recently joined us from Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California. Dr. Cris has taught students from 3-year-olds to university level serving as adjunct professor at Pacific Oaks College and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

 

Dr. Cris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Northern Arizona University, and a Doctorate in Instructional Leadership with a Minor in Early Childhood from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Cris recently moved to Dana Point from West Los Angeles where her parents, brothers and sisters, and 10 nieces and nephews reside.

Mr. Roland Allen has been the Director of College Counseling at St. Margaret's Episcopal School since 2004. In addition, he teaches Wealth, Poverty and Ethics in the Upper School, and is a faculty advisor.

 

Mr. Allen has over 30 years of previous college counseling and college admissions experience, and has built a national reputation in the field of College Counseling. He has admissions experience at Westmont College, Colby College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University, and has directed the college counseling offices at The Branson School and Sidwell Friends School. He actively participates in professional organizations, including the College Board, National Association for College Admission Counseling, Western Association for College Admission Counseling and the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools.

 

Mr. Allen serves on the review committee for the White House Commission and is a frequent panelist at national conferences, Mr. Allen is particularly concerned with college access and ethics in college admissions.

 

Mr. Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Loyola University and a Master of Science in Counselor Education from The University of Scranton.

Dr. Janice Avalone serves the St. Margaret's Episcopal School community as All-School Counselor. In this role, she works with all four division principals, the Learning Center and individual teachers and advisors serving the emotional and psychological needs of students.

 

Dr. Avalone has been a member of the St. Margaret's Episcopal School community for 19 years. She has filled a number of leadership positions and has continually taken on additional responsibilities, including leadership of Lower School after school clubs and extended day programs, as well as summer sports programs for the Lower and Middle Schools, teaching Christian Life Skills in the Lower School and mentoring high school peer counselors.

 

She has also served as a leader on various committees within the Lower School as well as with the school’s nurses, the Upper School Counselor and the Learning Center Psychologists working in support of our students’ overall health. She is the coordinator of health and wellness on campus, initiating wellness education and programming for students, faculty and parents.

 

Dr. Avalone has a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University. She also earned her Doctorate of Psychology from The Chicago School of Psychology.

Mr. Bendzick serves as the Director of Athletics and Physical Education, in addition to being the head coach of the cross Country and track programs.

 

Mr. Bendzick previously was at Canyon High School in Anaheim, where he has served as the athletic director for seven years and as head coach of track and field and cross country. He began coaching at the college level in 2001 for the University of San Francisco, and began teaching physical education and sports medicine at the high school level that same year.

 

Mr. Bendzick holds a Bachelor of Arts in kinesiology from California State University, Long Beach and a Master of Education from National University. He is a former Division 1 collegiate distance runner.

Mr. David Bush joined St. Margaret's Episcopal School in July 2004 as the Director of Finance and Operations, with over 30 years of business experience. His career has included management positions in manufacturing, engineering and finance. He has held the positions of Chief Financial Officer at MetPath Inc., Chief Operating Officer at McGaw, Inc., and Chief Executive Officer at MetWest Inc. and at Sechrist Industries, Inc.

 

He has broad responsibility for the business operations of the school including accounting, finance, insurance, legal, campus maintenance, security and custodial, building construction, student transportation and campus support services.

 

Mr. Bush holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bristol, a post-graduate Diploma in Management Studies from the University of Northumbria; he is a Chartered Management Accountant, and a Fellow and former Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

 

Mr. Bush brings the added perspective of a long-time member of the school's community. He and his wife, Linda, are the parents of three St. Margaret's alumni.

Victor Cota was named Director of Equity and Inclusion at St. Margaret’s in 2018, after previously serving as director of St. Margaret’s Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano program for three years.

A native of Orange County, Victor attended the University of Southern California and earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and religion. In 2007, he moved to Houston as a member of Teach for America. He taught math for three years and was a middle school principal for five years at YES Prep Public Schools. In 2012, Victor earned his MBA from Rice University and his principal certification through the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program. During Victor’s time in Houston, he fell in love with the mission of empowering those in the community to capitalize on opportunities that may not otherwise exist.

Victor and his wife are driven by their faith, taught Sunday school for five years, and have two children.

Mrs. Anne Dahlem has been with St. Margaret’s Episcopal School as Director of Communications and Marketing since 2007. In this role, Mrs. Dahlem oversees all school marketing, internal communications, including the school website and the Highlander magazine, Tartan Today online newsletter, media relations, community and government relations. She oversees the St. Margaret’s Editorial Board, is a student advisor in the Upper School, and serves as an executive officer on the San Juan Capistrano Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Mrs. Dahlem has over 20 years of marketing and communications experience. She worked for six years as Director of Communications and Marketing for The Art Institute of California—Orange County. At The Art Institute, she worked closely with the corporate communications office of Education Management Corporation, The Art Institutes’ parent company, to create and execute national initiatives across the 32-school system, manage and consult on crisis communications issues and direct regional communications for the State of California. She served on the EDMC Communications Leadership Council, was selected to lead the communications for EDMC’s participation at the launch of Apple’s OSX operating system with Quark at Apple’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., designed and produced The Art Institutes 2004 Best Teen Chef in America Finals held in Orange County, partnered with U.S. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez to host her annual Congressional Art Show and was the first communicator in the company to be selected for the elite EDMC Presidential Leadership Institute training program.

Previously, Mrs. Dahlem served as Corporate Public Relations Manager for iGate Corporation where she traveled internationally for the company’s subsidiaries providing communications strategy, positioning and analyst and media relations consultation. She also served as company spokesperson and supported corporate quarterly and annual earnings report media relations. Mrs. Dahlem also worked as Account Manager for advertising and public relations agency Dymun+Company where she led the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and the National Science Foundation accounts. With the NSF, she handled national communications and media relations for its national, middle school science competition, The Bayer/NSF Award for Community Innovation.

She has secured national media placements with The New York Times, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The TODAY Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Her work has received regional and national advertising, design and communications awards including ADDY Awards and Telly Awards. Mrs. Dahlem has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Duquesne University. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America. She and her husband Ryan have three children, Peter, Ella and Colin, who attend St. Margaret's.

The Reverend Canon Edwards was the first Chaplain of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. After three years, he left to become Rector of Christ Church in Redondo Beach, Calif. He returned to St. Margaret’s in 1999 and was made Rector in 2000. In 2004, Father Edwards was made an Honorary Canon to the Cathedral by The Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

 

Father Edwards regularly leads Lower School and Preschool Chapels, and teaches Upper School summer classes. He has coached girls’ varsity basketball, Middle School softball, basketball and flag football, and was a coach for the first St. Margaret’s CIF 8-man Championship football team.

 

He has served on the St. Margaret’s Board of Trustees for over 15 years. He has served the Diocese of Los Angeles on the Commission on Ministry for six years and has mentored two separate classes of newly ordained deacons.

 

Father Edwards earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from California State University, Chico and a Masters of Divinity from The General Seminary, New York City.

 

He and his wife, Michele, have four children, all St. Margaret’s alumni--Christina (class of 2007), Josiah (2009) Davis (2011) and Jameson (2014).

Mrs. Carol Keith has been School Nurse at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for over a decade. Prior to her employment with St. Margaret’s, she had an extensive background in health care, including being a clinical case manager with Mission Hospital, a home care coordinator, Director of Liaison Services with Lifeline Homecare Enterprises and Patient Care Coordinator/Supervisor with Goldenwest Home Health Care.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with a minor in Psychology and a Public Health Certificate from Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. She is an active member of the National Charity League and is the nurse for Special Camp for Special Kids every summer. She is a member of the National Association of School Nurses and of the Orange County School Nurse Organization.

Ms. Phoebe F. Larson has over 20 years of experience in independent school admission and financial aid. Prior to joining St. Margaret’s Episcopal School she served as Director of Financial Aid and Admission Operations at The Thacher School in Ojai, Calif. She has extensive experience in managing highly successful admissions programs, and an impressive track record of increasing admission selectivity and developing outreach programs in diverse communities. Previously she served in the admission and financial aid offices at The Webb Schools in Claremont, Calif. and Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota.

Ms. Larson has been actively involved in a wide range of admission and student support organizations including Ivy League Readiness, The Teak Fellowship, Daniel Murphy Scholars, A Better Chance and The Alliance for Minority Affairs. She also served as Thacher’s Director of the Olympus Scholar Program similar to the St. Margaret’s Tartan Support Program.

She is a graduate of the Pomfret School in Connecticut and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University. She and her husband, Marc, have two children, Gordon and Audrey, who are St. Margaret’s Upper School students.

Mrs. Lynn Ozonian has provided strategic direction, leadership, and management for technology services as Director of Academic and Information Technology since 1993. She manages a staff responsible for developing and supporting the school-wide campus network of approximately 1200 computers. Mrs. Ozonian oversees development of the 21st century teaching and learning plan that includes the use of wireless technologies and smart classrooms.

 

As an instructional leader, Mrs. Ozonian established the Computer Science department at St. Margaret's Episcopal School and significantly expanded the course offerings. She has presented the St. Margaret’s technology vision to various groups, including the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and has hosted many schools interested in replicating the effective ways in which St. Margaret’s has brought technology into the classroom. She is a member of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

 

She is currently the Computer Science Department Chair, teaches Video Game Programming in the Middle School, teaches Introduction to Programming in the Upper School, and is the coach for the girls JV Golf team.

 

Mrs. Ozonian has more than 30 years of information technology experience. Prior to her career at St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Mrs. Ozonian was Vice President Information Systems and Operations Support for CPI Pension Service, Inc., a subsidiary of Continental Corporation. As a consultant in Chicago, she provided leadership and managed critical business system initiatives for many Fortune 500 companies such as McDonald’s, Allstate, Kemper Insurance, A. C. Nielsen, and Baxter Travenol.

 

Mrs. Ozonian earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from The University of Maryland.

 

Lynn and her husband Steve have two sons who are both St. Margaret’s alumni.

Mr. Darcy Rice is the Director of the Arts at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. He oversees the Performing and Visual Arts and directs theater productions across all three divisions. He has directed 43 mainstage theater productions at St. Margaret’s.

Mr. Rice is the author of several plays as well as more than 150 short stories and nonfiction articles. His work has appeared in regional, national and international publications, including Troika, Los Angeles Times Magazine and London’s Sun. He wrote the book for the musical Yearbook, published by Dramatic Publishing, which has received more than one hundred educational theatre productions across the United States and received its European premier at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival. Other works for the theatre include Trophies (Attic Theatre, Hollywood); Loving Fitzgerald (Ensemble Studio Theatre, Los Angeles & New York; Attic Theatre) and Not Me/Not You (California State Thespian Festival.)

He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Southern California and is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild, Inc.

 

 

Terri Shams joined St. Margaret’s Episcopal School as the Director of Finance in July 2015.  In her role, she manages the transparency and accuracy of our internal and external financial reporting, the annual budgeting process and the day-to-day fiscal operations, including internal controls and process implementation.  Additionally, Terri is responsible for managing Campus Services departments, which includes Transportation, Facilities, Tartan Store and Student Services.  

 

Terri is an inactive CPA with over 15 years of experience in the finance and accounting field, with significant emphasis on operational accounting and financial reporting.  Prior to joining St. Margaret’s, Terri has successfully built and implemented strategic accounting and reporting policies, procedures and controls for a privately held company, which led to a major acquisition by a fortune-100 publicly traded Corporation.  Her career portfolio began at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC and spans mid to large size companies, publicly and privately traded, across multiple industries such as real estate, finance and entertainment. 

 

She graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting and a minor in Spanish literature. 

 

Terri and her husband, Saman, have two children, Gavin and Alexis, who are currently St. Margaret’s students.

Mr. Jonathan Tufo joined the St. Margaret’s community in June 2014 as the Executive Director of Advancement. He has more than 15 years of advancement and fundraising experience with private schools including Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana) and Chadwick School (Palos Verdes).

He holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of Project Management from the Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University, Fullerton.

In addition to his roles in advancement, Jonathan has taught high school English, coached basketball and served as an upper school advisor.

Mrs. Lindsay Stump Eres is the Executive Director of Special Camp for Special Kids, and also serves the school community in a number of roles. Mrs. Eres is the 9th and 10th grade Dean of Girls, an Advisor for students in grade 11, teaches a grade 8 enrichment course, and is the Assistant Coach for Varsity Girls Basketball.

 

Previously, she worked for Best Buddies International as the Program Supervisor for Los Angeles County and Orange County where she directly managed Best Buddies chapters at two private high schools.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Southern California. Mrs. Eres was President of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority as well as New Member Educator. She was a member of Order of Omega, an honor society encouraging student leadership and a member of Lambda Pi Eta, a Communication honor society.

 

Mrs. Eres is a graduate of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, Class of 2000.

As Director of Extensions and Special Projects, Mr. Andrew Hammond serves as the director of summer school, while also overseeing the after-school clubs and extension programs during the school year.

 

He also has been an Upper School Math Teacher at St. Margaret’s since 2011, teaching Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus and Math for Financial Markets.

 

In addition, Mr. Hammond is the head junior varsity baseball coach and an assistant varsity baseball coach.

 

Mr. Hammond is a 2005 graduate of Clemson University.