Margret Ellwanger

Margret Ellwanger relocated to Israel from the California Bay Area in 2005 when her husband Russell was appointed CEO of Tower Semiconductor. During her husband’s 27 year career they accepted expatriate positions in The Netherlands, Japan and Singapore interspersed with time in Utah, New Mexico and California. They are the parents of four children who have experienced international schools, home school and highly selective independent schools in the United States. Their oldest son and daughter have graduated from liberal arts colleges in Hawaii and Massachusetts and presently are at the University of California in San Francisco in Dental and Medical School. The second daughter is on leave of absence from Bowdoin College in Maine for an eighteen month Cantonese speaking service assignment in Hong Kong. Britta, the youngest daughter is in Grade 11 at AIS. Margret has been an active parent in every school community her children attended. Most recently she served on the Board of Trustees at York School in Monterey. Her emphasis was maintaining and increasing academic excellence and community service during a financially difficult phase in the life of the school that added extensive new facilities.

Margret holds a B.S. in physics with a minor in mathematics and a Master’s in physics. She has lived the first twenty five years of her life in Germany where she graduated from High School, attended the Technical University of Munich and investigated phase transitions at Siemens Research Laboratories. She taught physics as an assistant at Brigham Young University in the United States and German at Fuchu Shi Community College in Tokyo, Japan. She has held extensive volunteer positions in a variety of national, international and academic organizations and is a member of Zonta International. She is the co-founder and president of Pillows for Peace, a cottage industry and community development support service dedicated to permanent poverty elimination through economic self reliance.

School Board Participation

Margret believes in a school culture that aligns itself with and upholds uncompromising principles of academic excellence in an environment of compassionate learners. It cannot be legislated but must be lived and modeled by example. To achieve such a culture requires a board to carefully balance the needs of administrators, teachers and students with vision and funding to support such claims. Great schools develop hearts as well as minds and emphasize teacher development. They seek long term ties to corporate sponsors and the community they reside in. They are clear about who is held accountable for each puzzle piece in the overall picture. In short, the school board is responsible to ratify the vision and objectives set forth by the school administration, ensure that all tools, especially funding and staff, are available to enact the vision and hold the administration accountable to perform to the vision. Margret is currently serving on the Curriculum Board Sub-Committee.

E-mail: pfpcd@yahoo.com