The OMA Board consists of a chair or co-chairs, secretary, and treasurer, as well as committees for the Forza Vitale, Professional Development, Community Outreach, Annual Events, and Membership.  OMA also has Regional Liaisons, representing regions of Oregon and SW Washington.  If you would like to contact the board, please send us a message.

2012 | 2013 Board Members

Executive Committee:

Hilary Smith, President

Hilary holds A.M.I. diplomas at the Primary and Assistance to Infancy levels as well as a M.Ed and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Education from Loyola College, Maryland. Hilary taught for over ten years both in private and public sectors of the Montessori community in Oregon and New Zealand. Hilary founded and directed Cedar Montessori School from 2006-2012. Hilary cofounded the Portland Montessori Collaborative in 2012 and is currently the Administrative Director of pdxMC. Hilary and her husband Aaron have two boys, Hughett and Griffin. When she is not busy in the office or the classroom Hilary enjoys spending time with her family and walking her two crazy Jack Russell Terriers, Peanut and Pickle.

Mary Sahm Hicks, Vice-President

First a Montessori parent, next a primary guide, now a school administrator. A life-long student of cultures – ethnic, urban, organizational. Mary loves to travel, play in her garden and read contemporary fiction. Her next trip will be to climb Kilimanjaro.

Jessica Mallett, Secretary

Jessica Mallett grew up in Colorado and moved to Portland in 2004. She is a trained Primary guide who fondly remembers her own experience as a Montessori student. Jessica loves camping in the Rocky Mountains and experiencing the local art of Portland. This is her second year on the board.

David Cannon, Treasurer

David Cannon taught in the elementary Montessori classroom for eight years and was a school administrator for 20 years. He has recently opened a new school in the South Waterfront neighborhood.  Montessori Children’s House serves toddlers and primary aged children.  Also, he works part-time as a consultant in public affairs and education, and has several volunteer jobs. Besides the OMA board, David has served on the MINW Board, three Montessori school boards, and as a city planning commissioner.

Members at Large

Cathy Dorner

Cathy taught for 18 years at Childpeace Montessori School. She founded and guided a primary classroom with an intergenerational component in an assisted living facility called The Terrace. She enjoys hiking and archaeology in her free time. She also enjoys spending time in her vegetable garden and is fond of rutabagas.

Meredith Brown

Meredith Brown trained as a Montessori primary guide at the Maria Montessori Institute in London, England.  Meredith serves as the Outreach Committee chair and is mother to two boys under the age of three.  Meredith has traveled extensively, and enjoys playing the guitar and piano, as well as sewing, painting and cooking.

Kathleen Lloyd, PhD

Kathleen earned a PhD in Human Development and Family Science from Oregon State University in 2008. Her dissertation analyzed Montessori’s observation of normalization in relation to current theories on self-regulation. She received her AMI Primary Diploma in 1987 and a master’s of education in 1990. She has spent 13 years as a primary directress at both Marin Montessori School in California and Pacific Crest School in Seattle, Washington.  Kathleen currently teaches in the Early Childhood Education Department at Lane CommunitHily College (Eugene, OR), introducing Montessori’s wisdom to a broader audience while educating herself on statewide policy issues.

Andrea Ludlow

Andrea is a co-founder of Puddletown School. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing from Colorado State University. After graduating she headed a creative writing and arts program at a local Fort Collins, Colorado preschool. Andrea then moved to Portland where she began assisting and teaching at the Northwest Children’s Theater. She returned to school in 2001 to receive her Montessori certification from Montessori Institute Northwest and a Masters of Montessori Education from Loyola College. She has worked with many Portland public schools and local Montessori schools through outreach and other after school programs. In her free time Andrea enjoys baking, walking her dog, reading, and swimming in the ocean.

Cam Mountsier-Cole

Cam has been involved in Montessori Education since 1981 when she received her diploma from MECA – Seton in Hinsdale, Illinois.  She has taught at schools in Chicago, Portland and New Zealand for the past 30 years.  Cam owned her own school for 15 years in Wellington, New Zealand and will open a Toddler Community inn Port Northeast Portland September 0f 2012.  Cam has 2 teenage children and enjoys running and hiking.

Regional Board Liaisons

Julie Davis, SW Washington Representative

As OMA’s Southwest Washington Regional Representative Julie works to bring more opportunities for professional development and fellowship to Southwest Washington.  She is interested in promoting Montessori as a movement for peace/child welfare, encouraging schools to offer scholarships, and demystifying Montessori for the general public.  In addition to an AMI 0-3 diploma from MINW, Julie has a Masters in Public Administration.  Her husband, Jon, teaches public middle school, and they have two sons enrolled in Montessori elementary and one daughter in high school.  Julie attributes their passion for learning and work ethic to their Montessori education.  Julie owns and guides in her toddler community, A Peaceful Path, in Vancouver, WA.

Louise Wilson, Bend/Central Oregon Representative

Louise received her Primary certification from the Montessori Center of the Rockies in Boulder, CO, in 1993 and has worked in Montessori schools around the globe.  Since settling in Bend in 1999, she has worked to enhance collaboration and communication between their 6 Montessori programs, and has recently opened Sunnyside Montessori – an elementary program that began in the fall of 2012.  She looks forward to bringing the Central/Bend area schools together for workshops, pub nights, and tea events.