We want you to get to know our Board of Directors better, since they are all here to serve you! Let’s meet our Vice President for Communications Heather Ippolito. 

Heather Ippolito has been involved for 20 years in PTA. Her favorite thing about PTA is her love of seeing the faces of children and families together during PTA events. “There is nothing better than seeing families having a wonderful time together!”

Heather is a teacher by trade who has been on a very extended leave while raising her daughter. She plans to return to substitute teaching this year while she works on obtaining her administrative credential. 

Heather is married to her high school sweetheart, Ron, who is a junior high school teacher. They have a musical theater-loving, clarinet-playing daughter named Libi who is in 7th grade. Their dog, Bella, enjoys barking at the neighbors and chasing bunnies out of the yard. 

Heather loves to travel with her family. They have visited all 1,111 California historical landmarks — so she has probably visited your neck of the woods during her travels. When the family is not traveling, you will find them using their annual pass at Disneyland. Her favorite quote is, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”  by Walt Disney. In her free time, Heather scrapbooks, collects Dopey memorabilia from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and spends time with her many friends.

If she could give one piece of advice, it would be to breathe! “In PTA things often don’t go as planned, so you need to be able to take a deep breath and go with Plan B.”

We want you to get to know our Board of Directors better, since they are all here to serve you!  Let’s meet our Executive Director Sherry Skelly Griffith.

Sherry Skelly Griffith has been involved in PTA for 19 years — 15 as PTA parent and 4 as the Executive Director of California State PTA. Her favorite thing about PTA is its mission: a commitment to all children and families.

Sherry has been married for 26 years and has three children: Connor, 25, Alison, 24, and Megan, 22. As the Executive Director, she ensures that California State PTA runs smoothly. Sherry represents PTA on on various state-wide committees and oversees all of the staff and operations at the state office. 

Sherry loves kayaking, camping, hiking, travel, volunteering with foster youth, gardening, flower arranging, cooking, music concerts, and spending time with family and friends. Her advice to others is to maintain balance in your life and be kind to yourself and others. “It has been a privilege to work with leaders advancing the needs of public education and the needs of the whole child for the last 35 plus years.”

We want you to get to know our Board of Directors better, since they are all here to serve you!  Let’s meet our President-Elect Carol Green.

Carol Green has been involved in PTA for 22 years. Her favorite thing about PTA is the people and the good things the association can do for children.

Carol is married to a middle school teacher and has three young adult children and a rescue dog. She works as a public health advocate communications/community relations director.

Carol loves to travel and work in the garden. She and her family loves to spend time at the beach (lots of beaches), Balboa Park, and hiking around San Diego.

Her advice to PTA leaders is to collaborate and invite people to work with you. “PTA is more fund with others and you never know when you’ll meet a great friend.” She has learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Carol is excited to work with everyone, share ideas, and make a difference for our children and all children in California.

We want you to get to know our Board of Directors better, since they are all here to serve you!  First up, let’s meet our President Celia Jaffe.

Celia Jaffe, President, has been involved with PTA for 27 years. Her favorite thing about PTA is making a difference for kids and working with people who want to do that too.

Celia and her husband, Harvey, have been together since they were 18. They have two grown children.Their daughter works for a tech start-up in San Francisco and their son works in sports statistics in Chicago. Her entire family loves games, trivia, musicals, Harry Potter, escape rooms and “other nerdy stuff.”

Celia is focused on her presidency right now which is a full time job. She has been a school board member, worked for various foundations and civic groups, and began her career as a high school English teacher.

Celia sees herself as a mixture of extrovert and introvert, “so please come up and say hi when you see me out and about.”

Her advice to others is to “appreciate the people you work with and help set them up for success.”  Her favorite quote is, “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” – Sitting Bull