Board of Trustees

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Michelle Frame: President

Joined SWS Board in 2004, term ends in 2010
Michelle’s work as Director of Quality Assurance for an international pharmaceutical company combines her love of science and commitment to the public good. She attended UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University where she majored in Biochemistry with a minor in Women’s Studies. She has served SWS as co-chair of the Parent Council and member of the Festival Committee. Michelle attended policy governance training with Miriam Carver and completed two terms as President of the Board during its transition to Policy Governance. She and her family moved to Seattle in 2002 from the San Francisco Bay Area where her daughter, Raizel, attended Marin Waldorf School. Raizel is now a student at the Seattle Waldorf High School.

Richard Watkins: Vice President

Joined SWS Board in 2008
Richard is a Seattle native. He earned his B.A. from the University of Washington with a major in Chinese Language and Literature. He attended Seattle University Law School, passed the Washington bar in 1980, and has been a partner at several local firms. His core practice involved the representation of family-owned businesses. For the past seven years, Richard has managed a large estate that subsequently funded a private foundation that serves abused and neglected children. He serves on the board of the foundation, and is currently its President. Richard is married and has three children.

Kalika Robinson: Secretary

Joined SWS Board in 2007, tenure with high school Board 5 years
Kalika grew up in England where she studied violin at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She moved to the U.S. in 1983. She has completed the foundation year for Waldorf teacher training at Sound Circle and is a graduate of Port Townsend School of Massage. She is a student at Alexander Technique Center Seattle in their teacher training program. Her three oldest children attended SWS and graduated from the High School and she has three sons currently at SWS: Chetanya, eleventh grade, Kailash, ninth grade and Ravi, sixth grade. A fourth, Kabir, attends Olympic View Elementary.

Thomas Kayser

Joined SWS Board in 2007, tenure with high school Board 1 year
Tom is a graduate of the University of Washington and an architect. He sees a natural link between Steiner’s child development ideas and our evolving consciousness about our impact on the planet. Tom served on the High School Board where his daughter, Lydia, attended school for two years before graduating in 2004. These were pivotal years for Lydia and her experience was the best any parent could desire—she grew into a confident and hopeful young woman during her two years at the High School.

Norm Smith

Joined SWS Board in 2008
Norm Smith is a Seattle native with a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound and an MBA from Seattle University. He owns Hazel Point Company, LLC, a construction firm, and Point Monroe Company, LLC, an investment properties firm. Norm has a passion for Latin America where he and his wife lived for a year-and-a-half in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. There, they worked in an outreach program for economically disadvantaged youth. Norm was previously on the Board of Trustees of the Agros Foundation, a rural development organization operating in Central and South America. He has three children at SWS, two in middle school and one in high school.

Kate Golden

Joined SWS Board in 2009
Kate is a graduate of Kenyon College with a B.A. in Sociology. She received her teacher training at Antioch New England Graduate School and has been a Waldorf class teacher for 16 years. In addition to Waldorf teaching, Kate is interested in handcrafts, singing and world travels. She is married to Claude Golden and has two children, both fine examples of the benefits of a Waldorf education.

Chaya Keefe

Joined SWS Board in 2009
Chaya is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in French. She completed her M.A. in Education and Washington State Certification at Antioch University in Seattle. Chaya originally moved to Seattle from Long Island 15 years ago to be closer to the big green trees and beautiful mountains. She is drawn to the care for the heart, hands, and mind she sees embodied in Waldorf education as a whole. Chaya has been teaching French in a small independent school in Seattle since 2003, and enjoys spending time in nature with her husband and two children, good laughs with friends, learning languages, practicing yoga, and playing with paper.