(Columbia, Missouri) – The Columbia Public Schools Foundation, a private foundation established by community volunteers dedicated to the enrichment of public education through community giving, recently expanded its executive board. Board members are responsible for advancing the goals of the Foundation and will serve a 3-year term. These ten new volunteers will join the current board as the organization continues to fund curricular enhancements in every school in the district while growing the current endowment of more than $1 million. New board members include the following:

Lynda Baumgartner, a former educator and graduate of Hickman High School, now owns Image Technologies of Missouri with her husband, Steve. Baumgartner brings a wealth of experience in leading local organizations.

Patti Coffelt is the CEO and founder of Training and Financial Solutions (TFS), a training and consulting firm proving internal audit and compliance reviews for financial institutions. Patti and her husband, Terry, are actively involved in the community and the public schools, where they have two children currently attending.

Amelia Cottle is Managing Editor of DynaMed and former president of the Rock Bridge High School Bruin Booster Club, an organization supporting all student-athletes. She has a long history of volunteering, as a Rockbridge High School football team parent, Rockbridge High School Music booster and PTSA volunteer.

Barb Mayer has a total of more than 25 years of teaching experience, including 12 at Hickman High School. She brings to the CPSF Board a rich history of community involvement, including serving on the boards of Columbia Art League and Columbia Entertainment Company.

Lynn McIntosh brings her enthusiasm and passion for volunteering in Columbia Public Schools to the CPSF board. She has co-chaired the Hickman concession stand, the Hickman Hog Roast and is a long-time supporter of Hickman musicals.

Julie Middleton is a professor in the University of Missouri Extension program. As a longtime CPS volunteer, Middleton followed her three children through the Columbia Public Schools system. She now serves in many community capacities, including as the President-elect of Girls/Boys Town and on the Heart of Missouri Girl Scouts Council board.

Cindy Suich has been active in many schools in the CPS district, including Millcreek and Grant Elementary, Smithton Middle, West Junior, and Hickman High School. Suich pursued her post-graduate studies in Texas before moving to Columbia – partly because of the quality of education in the CPS district.

Brenda Walker, a 1983 graduate of Rock Bridge High, taught eighth-grade science at West Jr. for five years. She and her husband, David have three children in three levels of Columbia Public Schools, where Brenda has been very involved as a parent volunteer, and in PTA, and Columbia Council of PTA.

Sarah J. Read is the president of The Communications Center, Inc., which provides communications training and coaching for individuals and organizations. Read received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1978, and her Juris Doctor degree with the Order of the Coif from the University of Wisconsin in 1981. After relocating to Columbia, Read helped found Columbia Parents for Public Schools and is currently serving on the board of directors for the national Parents for Public Schools organization. Recently, Read was named as a co-facilitator for one of the citizen topic groups for Imagine Columbia’s Future, the city-wide visioning process.

Marcia Machens (photo included) worked in the public sector as a CPA until 2005, when she decided to dedicate herself full-time to her volunteer efforts. Machens is active in numerous community organizations, is on the board of Speaking of Women’s Health and is the co-chair of the King’s Daughters Holiday Festival.