Faculty & Staff Directory

202.243.1818
SUZANNA.JEMSBY@wis.edu

Ms. Jemsby began her tenure at WIS after six years serving as Head of School at The Galloway School in Atlanta. At Galloway, she was recognized for strengthening the academic program and enrollment, and upgrading the school’s fundraising, marketing, and fiscal planning.

Prior to Galloway, Ms. Jemsby was Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education (CASIE), an educational non-profit that provides professional development training to independent and public schools across North America. Altogether, she has nearly three decades of experience at international and independent schools in the U.S. and Europe—including Frankfurt International School, Internationale Schule Frankfurt-Rhein-Main, and Atlanta International School—and deep knowledge of the IB program. In addition to her native English, she speaks Swedish, German, and French—and is now working on increasing her proficiency in Spanish.

Ms. Jemsby earned BA and MA degrees in Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge, U.K. In 2015, she became a Fellow in the Head of School Program of the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University. Suzanna also attended the London College of Music, and is an avid cellist. She and husband Bjoern have three daughters enrolled at WIS: Sophia '24, Tindra '26, Freja '28.

202.243.1703
natasha.bhalla@wis.edu

Ms. Bhalla attended WIS for her primary school years, after her family moved to the United States from India. She earned a BA in English education at Virginia Tech and an MEd in social foundations of education at the University of Virginia. Before returning to WIS in 1999 to teach English, Ms. Bhalla spent three years teaching English in the Alexandria City Public School system. She was the WIS Middle School Principal from 2010-2016, after serving as the Assistant Principal for several years.

202.495.7343
marisa.alford@wis.edu

Marisa Alford ‘01 joined the Advancement team in 2014. This alumna returned to WIS with nearly ten years of development experience, first at the Manhattan Theatre Club, then at New York City Center and most recently at Studio Theatre. She obtained her BA in American Studies from Yale University.

202.495.7332
randy.althaus@wis.edu

Mr. Althaus came to WIS in 2014, after seven years at Jefferson Middle School in Arlington, VA. He is a Spanish speaker and was chosen to be a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar in Ethiopia. His education credentials include a BA from University of California, Berkeley in Linguistics, and an MA from Georgetown University in Teaching English as a Second Language.

202.243.1811
MICHAELEN.BARSNESS@WIS.EDU

Prior to her arrival at WIS in 2022, Ms. Barsness worked at The Humane Society of the United States, where she held the role as Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting/Controller for seven years, and prior to that as the Vice President of Finance and Accounting/Controller of United Way Worldwide for four years. Her career has spanned the public and private sectors, including nine years at BDO USA, LLP in the audit and tax practice and ten years at Fannie Mae in the Multifamily Data Warehouse. Ms. Barsness received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the College of William & Mary and her Master of Accountancy from the George Washington University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in Virginia and Maryland. She has three children.

202.243.1810
kimberly.bennett@wis.edu

Ms. Bennett earned her BA with distinction in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and her MBA from Georgetown University. Prior to joining WIS in 2008, she worked in international education at the US-China Education Trust and in strategic communications at The Kamber Group. While employed by the U.S. Department of Defense, she lived in East and South Asia. Ms. Bennett is reasonably fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has also studied French, Hindi, Russian and Spanish.

202.243.1831
mary.hastings.moore@wis.edu

Ms. Hastings Moore holds a BA and MA in art history from George Washington University. Before joining the WIS staff in 2003, she worked for over 12 years in marketing and sales for two telecommunications service companies. She also worked for five years in the membership office of the American Association of Museums.

202.495.7335
ZARMINA.HOTAKI@WIS.EDU

Ms. Hotaki joined WIS as Upper School Principal in 2023. She grew up in Northern Virginia and has over two decades of experience in education and counseling. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership, a Postgraduate Certificate in Mind, Brain, and Teaching and a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction. Her doctoral research focused on a holistic approach to dual language learning. 

Ms. Hotaki served as a Secondary School Principal at the Qatar Leadership Academy and as Assistant Principal at The Saudi Academy of Washington, DC. She has held leadership and teaching roles at International Baccalaureate World Schools and has supported learners in an acute care psychiatric hospital in Northern VA.

202.495.7353
JAVID.MAJDI@wis.edu

Mr. Majdi earned his BS from George Mason University. Prior to joining WIS in 2017, he worked as a Cloud Support Engineer at Amazon Web Services. Previously, he worked in various positions at different IT firms as a Senior Network Engineer, Solutions Architect, and IT Manager. He holds numerous industry-standard IT certifications such as Microsoft, Cisco, AWS, IBM, and Jamf.

SARAH.MERIANOS@WIS.EDU

Ms. Merianos joined WIS as the Director of Extended Learning in 2023, with almost two decades of experience in educational program development and management. She previously served as the Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs at the Green Acres School in Maryland, and Director of Summer Programs at the Madeira School in Virginia. Prior to her work within the independent school community, Ms. Merianos designed, managed, and facilitated programs focused on intergenerational learning experiences at The National Building Museum, the Sam & Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts & Crafts, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From 2006-2013, Ms. Merianos directed a large sailing and watersports camp for Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, spending many adventurous summers on Cape Cod. She holds a BFA in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and a MA in Nonprofit Management from Claremont Graduate University. 

202.243.1703
LYNDA.MILLER@WIS.EDU

Mrs. Miller joined WIS in 2019 after four years as Lower Primary Principal at Atlanta International School. Prior to AIS, she was Deputy Primary Principal at Vienna International School in Austria for eight years and spent thirteen years teaching in public primary schools in her home country of Australia. 

Mrs. Miller earned a Diploma of Teaching and a Bachelor of Education from Charles Darwin University in Australia and a Masters of Education (Leadership and Management) from the Open University in the United Kingdom. She has also earned a Certificate in International School Leadership from the Principal's Training Centre and was awarded Teacher of Exemplary Practice in Australia. 

202.243.1684
FLOREAL.PEDRAZO@WIS.EDU

Mr. Pedrazo joined WIS in 2020 after two years as area manager at SoFive, Inc. where he established new business locations for indoor athletics facilities in Maryland. His responsibilities included fiscal planning, marketing, hiring, and implementing management teams at the new centers. 

Prior to that, he worked at several athletics organizations, including the German Soccer Association and numerous universities (as soccer and tennis coach).  He coached the James Madison University Men’s Soccer Team as the players participated in several NCAA tournaments, including the final eight appearances in 2018. Altogether he has over 10 years of experience in the sports industry. In addition to English, he is fluent in Spanish and a native German speaker.

Mr. Pedrazo earned his B.A. in Business Management at Birmingham Southern College and has a M.S. in Sports Management from Georgia State University, where he competed in D1 soccer as captain of both university teams. He and his fiancée, Catalina, have an infant daughter, Florentina.

202.243.1888
jim.reese@wis.edu

Dr. Reese earned his BA in English from Davidson College and his MEd in secondary English education from The George Washington University (GWU), where he also completed his PhD in curriculum and instruction. He is formerly the head of the English department at the International School of Brussels and has served since 2001 as a faculty member at the Project Zero Classroom summer institute, held annually in the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. He also serves as an adjunct instructor at George Washington University.

202.243.1828
dale.temple@wis.edu

Mr. Temple served as Facilities Director at the Seattle Country Day School from 1999-2010, where he supervised all aspects of the daily facility operations while also managing the school's large capital projects. Prior to his arrival at WIS in 2013, he became Facilities Director of the Association of American Medical College in Washington, DC. Earlier in his career, he worked for the IKEA N.A. Group and for the University of Idaho. He received his BS from West Chester University and his CFM from the University of Washington.

202.243.1878
CAROLINE.WOOD@WIS.EDU

Ms. Wood came to WIS in 2019 after more than four years at the Galloway School in Atlanta, GA, where she served as director of Human Resources. Ms. Wood previously worked at the City Schools of Decatur in Decatur, GA, where she managed all aspects of human resources for nine schools and more than 700 employees.

Ms. Wood began her career in education in the classroom as a second-grade teacher. She earned her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Rochester. Her work experience also includes working in investor services for Morgan Stanley in New York City and a firm in Washington, DC.

ALDAINE.WYNTER@WIS.EDU

Mr. Wynter joined WIS in 2023, taking on the responsibility of becoming the School's first-ever Director of International-Mindedness, Diversity, and Inclusion. Previously, Mr. Wynter served as the Assistant Head of Pastoral and Operations at Wetherby Senior School in London. His responsibilities also extended to managing Wetherby's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives.

His work with diversity and inclusion began during his tenure at Dwight School London (his post prior to Wetherby); from 2020–2022 he was the Global Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, developing and executing strategies and programs for Dwight campuses in London, New York, Shanghai, Dubai, and Seoul.

Prior to moving into leadership roles, Mr. Wynter was a mathematics teacher. He has served as a mathematics examiner for the IB's Diploma Exams, and has also spoken at an IB conference on the subject of developing anti-racist strategies. He received his BEng in Robotics from the University of Plymouth and his MA in Social Justice & Education from University College London.