Board Member Roster

Email: board@novaclassical.org

This email is received by the Board Chair and may be distributed to all members of the Board of Directors. Contents received at this email address will not be included in the Public Comment section of the board packet.

Frank Ross fross@novaclassical.org

Director and parent, Frank Ross has two Nova students in the Lower and Upper schools. He serves on the Governance and Finance Committees. Frank leads the Cyber Security Operations team at General Mills which is responsible for their global Cyber Security infrastructure. He is responsible for the overall strategy, execution, and life-cycle management of the key platforms ensuring the organization’s business applications, enterprise systems, network assets, and data are safeguarded against current and emerging cybersecurity threats. Frank holds bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Sociology from Macalester College and a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from the University of Saint Thomas. He brings a strong background in governance, process improvement, and operations research from previous and current roles with numerous large corporations. Frank regularly volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, Prepare + Prosper, and is a member of the Cyber Security Summit Advisory Board.

Claudia Gumbiner Hungs chungs@novaclassical.org

Director and parent, Claudia Gumbiner Hungs is the parent of two Nova students. Claudia serves on the Academic Excellence Committee. She brings 20 years of management consulting, strategic planning, and project management experience in both for-profit and non-profit environments. Claudia has a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Melissa DeJesus Hernandez melhernandez@novaclassical.org

Melissa Hernandez and her husband, Juan, enrolled their daughter at Nova nine years ago. Since then, she has had the honor and joy to serve Nova as an active member of the PTO (2012-Present) and School Climate Committee (2014-2017), a Recess Teacher (2013-2014), as well as the Lower School (LS) Office Manager (2014-2019). Melissa’s background is in Organizational Management and prior to her work with Nova she was employed in the hospitality industry as a Restaurant Development Manager.

Divya Karan dkaran@novaclassical.org

Director and parent, Divya Karan has two children in Nova’s Upper School. She grew up in India and came to the US as an undergraduate student. She is an Information Technology professional who is currently an independent consultant on projects at two twin cities companies. She has worked in various roles for large companies like Target Corporation, Wells Fargo, MicroStrategy Inc, and First Data Corporation as well as public universities like the University of Minnesota, CUNY Graduate Center, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Divya has volunteered as a Hindi language teacher at School of India for Languages and Culture, served on its Board of Directors, and is a Director on the board of Ananya Dance Theatre. She also volunteers her time for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. She has a BS degree in Physics (Hons) from Kent State University and an MBA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Nicholas LaRusso nlarusso@novaclassical.org

Nicholas LaRusso, M.D. is am the Charles H. Weinman Endowed Professor of Medicine, the former Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation (CFI) and Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care, and a Distinguished Investigator of the Mayo Foundation. Nicholas co-authored a book entitled “Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast” describing the fusion method of innovation that is the hallmark of Mayo’s CFI with Barb Spurrier and Mayo Clinic CEO, Gianrico Farrugia. Besides being a member of the American Association of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, he is the former editor of GASTROENTEROLOGY and past president of both the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). Among other honors, he’s been a recipient of a MERIT Award and the Principle Investigator on two R01s and on a Silvio Conte Digestive Diseases Center grant, all from NIH. Nicholas has received Distinguished Achievement Awards from the Mayo Alumni Association and both the AGA and the AASLD, the Distinguished Mentor Award and the Julius Friedenwald Medal from the AGA, and is ranked in the top 1% of physicians in the country by US News and World Report.

Becky Lund blund@novaclassical.org

Director and 2nd-grade teacher, Becky has been at Nova since it opened its doors in 2003 and has served on several committees during her tenure here including the Curriculum Committee and the Governance Committee. Becky received her BA in Elementary Education from Augsburg College and her MA in Education from Hamline University. She also received an additional license in K-12 Reading from Hamline.

Sasha Ross sross@novaclassical.org

Director and teacher, Sasha Ross has been a mathematics teacher at Nova for six years. She teaches Algebra and Calculus in the Upper School. Sasha has been a member of Nova’s Governance Committee since the summer of 2018, helping review board policies and organize the board elections. Since 2015, she has been part of the Response to Intervention (RTI) team and is also a lead on the Data-Driven Instruction (DDI) team.  Sasha grew up right here in St. Paul and is passionate about the community. She still lives in the area with her partner, dog, and a 30-year-old tortoise who serves as the oldest class pet in Nova history.

Diane Ruday druday@novaclassical.org

Diane Ruday has been a teacher at Nova for 11 years. She teaches math in grades 1-5 and is the Math Lead in the Lower School. Diane has a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Hamline which she earned in 2011. Prior to coming to Nova, she was a math tutor for school district 833 and a long-term substitute math teacher at Lake Junior High School in Woodbury. Before that, Diane spent 20 years as a computer programmer. She worked at 3M in the Industrial Mineral division and was the computer programmer and the project manager on a system that was installed in the roofing granule plants. She was able to develop a new computer software system that she installed in all four of the roofing granule plants.

Jennie Winter jwinter@novaclassical.org

Director and treasurer, Jennie Winter has been a Nova parent since 2011 and has three children, all of whom attend Nova. Jennie was a founding partner at Winter Klein Communications, where she worked for fourteen years on a variety of strategic marketing and HR communications projects. Prior to starting Winter Klein Communications, Jennie worked in corporate finance at Medtronic, Inc., and was earlier employed in marketing at United Way. Jennie also taught English for two years to secondary school students in Vanuatu as a Peace Corps volunteer. Jennie has an MBA in strategic management, marketing, and finance from the University of Minnesota, where she received special honors in strategic management and a BA with honors from UW-Madison. Jennie served on a similar board alongside faculty and administrators at UW-Madison, and she enjoys serving in such a role again at Nova.