Our Board
As an integral part of Odyssey Charter School, the Governing Board helps shape the learning and educational experience of our students. By providing guidance and oversight, the Board assists in ensuring compliance with the law, strategic planning for the future, and developing balanced and sound budgetary decisions.
We are currently seeking to grow our Governing Board! If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please read our Governing Board Position Description.
If interested in serving as a Governing Board Member, please contact Lauren O'Neill, Executive Director (laureno@ocsmail.org) to obtain more information.
Board Member Biographies
Steven Cogswell, Board Chair (Community Representative)
A product of the Los Angeles public school system and California State University at Los Angeles, Steve applied his business management degree to the creation of successful entrepreneurial enterprises in the motion picture production field and later in the creation of what became the nations second largest non-facilities-based cellular telephone service provider, a public utility having a presence in many Western states. He began his career as an advertising executive for a major international daily newspaper in New York City.
More recently, Steve has been engaged in offering management services to major private clients, in particular in the area of real estate investment portfolio management. This has included the oversight of hotel, national chain and local mall retail, and large-scale residential properties. In addition, Steve actively manages a specialized manufacturer of custom electronics used in motion picture production.
He has served on volunteer Boards of Trustees for over thirty-five years, often as President. His wife and he live in the Crescenta Valley area. Their two grown sons are following the family tradition in the entertainment business, one as a Vice President of MTV Networks in New York, the other as an active television director. Steves wife Michelle is on the staff of a small private school in San Gabriel.
Steven is pleased to participate at OCS because he supports the school's philosophy that with proper nurturing and sensitivity to individual talents, all children can attain learning success.
Tammy Godley, Vice Chair (Community Representative)
Tamerlin Godley is a partner in the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, handling complex business litigation matters and specializing in trademark and copyright litigation. She has handled intellectual property cases for many clients, including MGM, ABC, Warner Brothers and its affiliates, Universal, Artists Management Group and 1-800 Contacts. In the course of these representations, she has had the opportunity to work closely with some of the leading scholars in both the copyright and trademark arenas.
Ms. Godley graduated from UCLA with a double major in English and Political Science, obtained a Masters Degree in English from Cal State Northridge, and taught in South Central Los Angeles before going to law school. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California in 1996, Order of the Coif, where she was a notes editor of the Law Review and a writing instructor for first year law students. Prior to joining Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Ms. Godley clerked for Judge Harry L. Hupp in the federal district court, Central District of California.
Ms. Godley is actively involved in the community, having been elected to the South Pasadena School Board, on which she served for four years.. She previously served on the Primary Center Task Force for the Los Angeles Unified School District, which brought together the expertise of community members and district personnel to build the only school facilities completed by LAUSD in the 1990’s. She also served on the Rampart Independent Review Panel, which investigated and analyzed the Los Angeles Police Department’s discipline and oversight practices and put forth recommendations for improvement after the Rampart Division scandals. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Odyssey Charter School Governing Board, a member of the Development Committee for the Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts and involved with the Pasadena Educational Foundation.
Robert (Bob) Bravo, Board Member (Community Representative)
Bob is currently Coordinator in the Charter Schools Division of the Los Angeles Unified School District. In that role he is responsible for ensuring that 22 of the over 140 charter schools in Los Angeles are adhering to their charters and the law. Additionally, Bob assesses Proposition 39 requests for facilities. He is working on a doctoral degree in the UCLA Educational Leadership Program, returning to UCLA after obtaining his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees there in 1990 and 1991.
Prior to their move to Pasadena this year, Bob and his wife Mary Beth lived in the San Francisco Bay area where Bob has been a teacher, high school principal, and assistant superintendent.
Herb Canada, Board Member (Community Representative)
As one of the newest board members, Mr. Canada comes to Odyssey with an extensive background in real estate and finance. He currently works as a founding Partner at ADANAC Properties, a boutique commercial real estate investment firm. Prior to founding ADANAC Properties, Mr. Canada worked as a Senior Investment Manager for Fannie Mae’s Market Rate Equity division where he managed the west coast portion of a $1 billion portfolio of institutional multifamily projects. Mr. Canada also placed more than $1.9 billion in multifamily debt financings while at Fannie Mae.
Mr. Canada holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business with concentrations in real estate and finance as well as a BS in economics and history from UCLA. Mr. Canada is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker. He is actively involved in several professional and charitable organizations including the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center, the Robert F. Toigo Foundation, the UCLA Alumni Association, as well as Rebuilding Together.
Rhonda Graham, Board Member (Parent Representative)
Bio coming soon
Denise Martinez, Board Member (Faculty Representative)
Biography coming soon
Melinda LeMoine, Board Member (Community Representative)
Melinda LeMoine is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. Since joining the firm, she has handled a wide variety of complex business litigation — including both civil and criminal matters. She has represented clients in the entertainment and media industries, as well as clients facing purported class actions relating to consumer law issues. Ms. LeMoine has devoted much of her practice to pro bono work and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Action Committee for Women in Prison, a non-profit organization.
Immediately after graduating from Columbia University’s Barnard College with a degree in Theater and American History, Ms. LeMoine spent several years as a professional actress based in New York. She now lives in Altadena with her husband Robert, also a lawyer, and their two children.
Elizabeth Rainey, Board Member (Parent Representative)
Elizabeth has been a parent at Odyssey since 2006. She holds a BFA in Theatre from California Institute of the Arts and has performed and directed in theatres throughout the country. She is a founding Teaching Artist for the Will Power to Youth program, a highly acclaimed youth development program of the Shakespeare Center Los Angeles which combines academics, human relations, job training and art to create a unique employment opportunity for youth aged fourteen to nineteen. She has trained artists for the classroom and worked as a Teaching Artist and Dialogue Facilitator for L.A. area youth arts organizations including Encompass, About Productions and SCLA among others. She is currently designing and developing curriculum at an inner city charter high school for the performing arts.
Additionally, she has worked designing and performing sound effects as a Foley Artist in the film and television industry for fifteen years.
Elizabeth is the parent representative for the kindergarten through forth grade families at Odyssey Charter School for the 2010- 2011 school year.
Jessica Yee, Board Member (Community Representative)
Jessica earned a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. She had a successful career at American Express which culminated as Chief Operating Officer at American Express Bank. Most recently she was the Executive Director of The College-Ready Promise, a partnership created by five California charter management organizations to design and implement strategies to graduate all students college-ready through innovative teacher and principal effectiveness programs, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, she works as a consultant in the charter school sector.
Jessica’s personal interests center on education. She is active in the local community and schools and was elected President of the South Pasadena Chinese-American Club whose primary mission is to support the educational goals of the community. She serves on the Board of Directors at Odyssey Charter School and on Pasadena Community College President’s Asian Advisory Board. She is also an education columnist on South Pasadena Patch – a local news website owned by AOL.
