Development Committee
New Family Mentor Coordinator, Gunston 2014-2016
Co-President Sho'men Swim Club, 2013-2014
President and VP of Kent School Parents, Teachers, Friends (PTF) Association, 2009-2012

Jill Caron, P’17 has served on Gunston's Development Committee since 2016, as well as serving as a new family mentor coordinator. Caron has worked at the Kent School in Chestertown, where she lives, in various roles since 2004. An avid swimmer, Caron has also served as the Co-President of the Sho’men Swim Club as well as President and VP of Kent School Parents, Teachers, Friends (PTF) Association.

Secretary
Governance Committee Member
 

Megan Cook, P’22,’24 serves as Gunston's Executive Committee as Secretary. Cook is President of the Easton Town Council, Co-founder of CarePacks of Talbot County, and the assistant coach for the Easton High School tennis teams. Cook has a B.S. from the University of Rochester, and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Vermont. She lives in Easton with her husband and three children. In addition, Cook serves on multiple boards including as the Finance Chair for the Neighborhood Service Center, the Secretary for Junior Achievement, and the board of the Salvation Army.

Rick de los Reyes is a portfolio manager for the Macro and Absolute Return Strategies and co-portfolio manager for the Multi-Strategy Total Return Fund in the Multi-Asset Division. Rick also is a member of the Investment Advisory Committees of the Global Natural Resources Equity, Global Real Assets Equity, Global Focused Growth Equity, Global Growth Equity, Global Value Equity, and International Value Equity Strategies. He is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.

Rick’s investment experience began in 1997, and he has been with T. Rowe Price since 2006, beginning in the Equity Division. Prior to his current position, he spent 10 years in the Equity Division as a portfolio manager for the firm's global metals and mining sector strategy and as an investment analyst following metals and mining companies. Prior to joining the firm, he spent four years as an equity analyst for Soros Fund Management, LLC, where he followed industrial cyclical and tech/telecom companies. Rick also worked as a senior analyst in mergers and acquisitions for Deutsche Bank in São Paulo, Brazil, and for BT Wolfensohn in New York.

Rick earned a B.A. in political science from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Fernando De Leon, P’22 is a pulmonologist with the University of Maryland Medical Center in Chestertown. Dr. De Leon received his medical degree from Boston University and completed his fellowship, residency and internship at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. He is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine and critical care. He also serves as a member of Gunston’s Health Advisory Team. 
 

Buildings & Grounds Committee Member

Greg Farley is the Director of University Sustainability for George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. He has held similar positions at Washington College (Chestertown, MD) and Chesapeake College (Wye Mills, MD). Before transitioning to sustainability, he also taught biology, environmental science, and related courses for Chesapeake College, where he was the Stuart M. Bounds Distinguished Teaching Chair. He also serves Gunston as an advisor to the Chesapeake Watershed Semester. A biologist by training, he holds an MS from Florida State University and a BS from Duke University.  He is co-editor, with Jennifer Chirico, of Thinking Like an Island:  navigating a sustainable future in Hawai'i. 

Jeff Frederick, P ’23 ’26 is the President of Fred Frederick Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-RAM in Easton, Md.  He lives in Grasonville with his wife Janell, and 4 children.  A graduate of the University of Maryland, he is also a member of Gunston’s Development Committee.

Isabel Junkin Hardesty is the Executive Director of ShoreRivers and is a member of the Board of Directors for Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology. She received a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, where she concentrated in coastal environment and management, and a B.S. from Bucknell University with a major in animal behavior. Hardesty has worked closely with Gunston for nearly a decade on various campus grant-funded research projects. 
 

Finance Committee Member

Joe Janney P’21 is retired after a 25 year career at Oracle Corporation, one of the world’s largest software and technology companies. Most recently at Oracle, Joe was Vice President of Application Sales. He is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying boating, fly fishing and hiking. Joe and his wife, Martha, and their son Carter, live on the South River in Annapolis. 

Buildings & Grounds Committee Member
Governance Committee Member
Board President for Kent School, 2010-2019 & Trustee Emeritus
Gunther & McClary Real Estate, owner

Born and raised on the Sassafras river, Chris McClary graduated from Muhlenberg College with a B.A. He enjoys all water sports as well as running, yoga, and basketball. 
 

Betsy McCown, P’11 is the Associate Director of Echo Hill Outdoor School in Worton, Md. She earned a B.S. in Community Leadership and Development from Springfield College, Springfield, MA. McCown is a former Gunston board member and a current Chesapeake Watershed Semester Advisory Committee member.
 

Chair of Governance Committee

Mrs. Patricia Parkhurst ’88, P ’18,’21,’23 currently teaches Art at The Country School and has served on several area boards including the Kent School Board of Trustees, RiverArts KidSpot, Gunston's Second Century Capital Campaign committee and Co-chaired the Strategic Planning committee. An alumna of Gunston, Pat lives in Centreville with her husband, Steve, and their three children, two of whom currently attend Gunston. She earned her M.A. in Art Education from the Art Education University, Certificate in Fundraising from George Washington University, and B.A. from Roanoke College.

Chair of Development Committee
Governance Committee Member

Mrs. Mara Schmittinger P ’16, is an Occupational Therapist at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. She serves as Vice President of the Occupational Therapy Board for the State of Delaware’s Division of Professional Regulation. Previously, Mara was a founding board member at St. Anne’s Episcopal School in Middletown, DE. She also serves on many committees for the Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware. Mara was a multi-year president of the Gunston Parents' Association and is the mother of two talented Gunston alums, Claire ’16 and Isabelle ’19.

Chair of the Board
Chair of Buildings & Grounds Committee
Finance Committee Member

Patrick Shoemaker joined the Board of Trustees in 2012. After graduating from Gunston in 2003, he went on to Bucknell University. He currently co-owns and manages PEAKE Technology Partners, an IT MSP for private healthcare organizations in the Mid-Atlantic. He is also the founder of Greensite, a company building a 100% renewable energy powered, grid-independent data center technology to sustainably address the mission-critical needs of environmentally conscious companies. Additionally, he founded and developed a facilities-based internet service provider for the Washington, DC metro area called Vector Data Systems, LLC, which is now a business unit of PEAKE Technology Partners. 

Jim is the Director of Product Development and Innovation at Dixon Valve in Chestertown. Jim has a BSME in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Jim resides in Chestertown, and he is the father of twin boys Henry & Charlie ‘21. Jim is currently a member of Gunston’s Building and Grounds Committee.