Board of Directors

Board of Directors for Sparrow Academy
Sparrow Academy's board of directors is comprised of committed professionals and community members who work tirelessly to uphold the school's mission, ensuring academic excellence and holistic development for all our students. Together, we strive to create a dynamic and inclusive community that prepares our learners for a bright and successful future.

Board President

Robin Keith
Chief Executive Officer at EcoLeaders, LLC
[email protected]

Bio

Robin Keith is Chief Executive Officer of EcoLeaders, a network-based consulting group. Robin specializes in facilitating transformative organizational change, and is passionate about using her expertise to help organizations and networks achieve their strategic goals, especially in the nonprofit community. Robin previously led the Vision, Innovation and Strategy team at the San Diego Zoo. She has extensive experience in guiding strategic planning processes, improving non-profit governance, leading collective impact initiatives, and designing advocacy campaigns. Her approach is to work with and through people to envision shared futures and co-create transformational, sustainable solutions. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Leadership at the University of San Diego.

Board Secretary

Lorien Ramirez, MSW, LCSW
Military and Family Life Counselor at Leidos, Inc.

[email protected]

Bio

Lorien Ramirez, MSW, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of California. She is a native San Diegan and a Military spouse. Lorien earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work, from the University of Southern California, with an emphasis in mental health and military studies. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, from San Diego State University. Lorien has worked in private practice providing empathetic therapy for a wide range of individuals and families, and has been the lead social worker in developing programs to improve the lives of the people within the programs and within the surrounding community. Lorien is currently a military family life counselor working with active-duty military members and their families. Lorien has one child at Sparrow with another to be starting soon.

Directors

Andrew Espiritu
Assistant Director of Admissions and Marketing at UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy
[email protected]

Bio

Andrew Alsoraimi-Espiritu is an experienced higher education professional with a passion for experiential pedagogy and positive change. He currently serves as an Assistant Director of Admissions and Marketing at UC San Diego.

Prior to working in higher education, Andrew was a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, where he collaborated with local teachers in developing English language learning curriculum. While completing his undergraduate education, he worked at a Montessori school, where he discovered the importance of experiential pedagogy in early childhood education. It comes to no surprise that he discovered and chose Waldorf education for his own children.

Andrew is a frequent participant in Group Relations Conferences. He believes that this experiential training methodology can help organizations better understand their social, political, and economic environment in navigating towards positive and sustainable change.

Vincent Martinez
Founder and Principal at Brown Bird Creative
[email protected]

Bio

Founder and Principal at Brown Bird Creative, Vince has served the arts and education nonprofit sector as a graphic design, marketing, and communications consultant for over 21 years, working with organizations such as The Balboa Park Cultural District, CoTA Collaborations, transcenDANCE, and Art of Elan. Vince is also the Communications Consultant for Sparrow Academy, a former president of Sparrow's PTO - Nurturing Exceptional Students and Teachers, and is particularly passionate about public Waldorf education, with both of his children recent alumni of Sparrow.

Stephen Yip, DO
Physician at Kaiser Permanente
[email protected]