TEACH Board of Directors

Board Members

Seven leaders make up the TEACH Board of Directors to help Mayan schoolchildren and their families reach self-sufficiency. Officers of the Board of Directors are elected by the Board for a two-year term. Here’s a look at who does what, and the knowledge they bring to TEACH—

Shari Zamarra is Chair of the TEACH Board. She presides over the Board meetings, helps set policy and plans, and is the key TEACH representative who meets with our strategic partners.  Shari also oversees TEACH work on the ground in Guatemala and maintains regular communication with our partners and personnel.

Shari has been involved with TEACH since its beginning in 2003. She is a graduate of Indiana University in Political Science. After finishing the Education for Parish Service program at Trinity College, she served as Family Life Minister at St. Mary of Sorrows in Fairfax for 12 years. Her passion to support families, network with others, and work for peace and justice have found a perfect combination in TEACH. She has fallen in love with the Guatemalan people.

Don Gantz is Vice Chair of the Board. He substitutes for the Board Chairman as required. He helps the Board evaluate needs and opportunities and set priorities for support. He assists in identifying fund raising opportunities and assists in providing logistical support for fund raising efforts.

Don retired after 41 years on the faculty of George Mason University and is currently Professor Emeritus. He graduated from Fordham University where he met his wife Beth. He served two years in the US Army after graduation and then completed a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Rochester before joining the faculty at George Mason. Don joined the TEACH Board in 2016.

Sharon Kourtz is Secretary of the Board. She writes, distributes, and maintains minutes of the TEACH Board meetings. Sharon earned a BS in home economics and management from Hood College. She held various management posts during her 20-year career with Marriott. Sharon is an administrative assistant for Fairfax County.  

Fred Walker is the Treasurer. As such, he has myriad responsibilities: He records donations and other sponsor-donor and sponsored-student data in a relational database. He handles all financial transactions, and prepares receipts and thank- you letters in response to donations from sponsors and other donors. In coordination with Pat Parr, TEACH’s accountant, Fred prepares monthly financial statements and analyses, and maintains a working budget. Finally, he prepares the required annual IRS reports, and ensures that an independent audit is conducted every two years.

Fred received a BA in accounting from the University of Massachusetts, and an MA in Slavic and Soviet Area Studies from Kansas University. After graduating from UMass, he served for 20 years in the U.S. Army — where he was a Soviet area specialist — and worked another 20 years as a contract manager for BDM, TRW, and Northrop Grumman, plus seven years as an independent contractor for the U.S. Government.

Karen Abraham is the acting Marketing Committee Chair. In this role, she and other volunteers use various venues to spread the word and work of TEACH to maintain and to increase potential and existing donors and sponsors. This is done by soliciting grant proposals and by fund raising, including special events and charity venues.  Other important functions include the publication and distribution of the TEACH Newsletter and brochure and maintenance of the TEACH website. Karen has been a TEACH sponsor for many years and recently retired from the Federal Government as a finance manager with 37 years of service.

Mary Walker is a Sponsor Relations Co-Chair.  She is responsible for coordinating the exchange of letters between TEACH sponsors and the sponsored students in our TEACH facilities in Guatemala.  She assigns sponsored students to new TEACH sponsors, as well as assigning sponsored students to current sponsors in the event the previously-sponsored student graduates, or leaves school for other reasons.  She also facilitates pen-pal relationships between local students and those in our TEACH-sponsored facilities in Guatemala.  Mary is a Registered Nurse, and retired after working at The Virginia Hospital Center for 25 years.

Sandy Chisholm leads TEACH’s information compilation and analysis of funded sites’ histories, profiles, objectives, and performances. She assists Vice Chairman Don Gatz with TEACH’s strategic planning. Sandy’s 42 year private, nonprofit and local government career included the assessment of federal human service programming, nonprofit program management, local government antipoverty program planning and evaluation, local government human service contract management and local government interfaith and community public relations and coordination. Sandy holds a BA in Sociology and Psychology and an MA in Rehabilitative Psychology from Appalachian State University. Sandy joined the TEACH Board of Directors in 2022.

Chris Zinner has recently joined the board in Fall of 2022 and is focusing on helping TEACH’s social media and digital presence and other marketing and outreach efforts. Chris recently visited Guatemala as part of the 2023 annual delegation and was touched deeply by the love and appreciation he felt from our partners at each of the sites. Chris is a Managing Director at Accenture where he has worked for over 25 years. He and his wife, Christine, live in Falls Church, Virginia with their 3 children: Kai (14), Mei (11), and Kam (7).