Our People

Javier Estrella serves as the Chair of the Board for High Meadows School & Camp. His family has been a part of the High Meadows community for the past five years. Isabel is in 6th grade and Ariana is in 4rd grade. Before becoming Chair of the Board, Javier was Co-chair of the Head of School & Camp Search Committee.

Javier works for McKinsey & Company as a facilitator, consultant, and coach with a passion for helping individuals and organizations achieve their full potential.

Javier was born and raised in Puerto Rico and holds a Bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He lives with his family in Marietta.

Amy Jewett currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board and a member of the Executive Committee. She is also Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force and a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Her family has been a part of the High Meadows community since 2004. Her 3 daughters are High Meadows School alumni, who attended from preschool through 8th grade.

Amy is an Epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and since 2009 has worked in Viral Hepatitis, Global Migration and Quarantine, Injury Prevention, and Reproductive Health. Prior to joining the CDC, Amy was a social worker, commercial real estate appraiser, and owned and operated a reproductive clinic.

Amy currently lives in Roswell and is a Georgia native. She has bachelor’s degrees in social work and biology, and a master’s degree in public health from Georgia State University.

Lisa Tilt is past Board chair and currently serves as Treasurer. She is on the Executive Committee, Committee on Trustees, and Finance Committee. She is a High Meadows camp alum with a younger brother and sister who attended both school and camp. She rejoined the High Meadows community in 2011 with her husband Mike and two daughters.

Lisa is CEO of Full Tilt Consulting, a marketing communications firm she founded in 2006. She also sits on the boards of Public Relations Society of America (Georgia chapter) and Georgia Ensemble Theatre. Lisa is an Atlanta native and graduated from Florida State University. She and her family currently reside in Historic Roswell.

Theresa is an Information Security executive, most recently serving as the VP of Security (Information Security Officer) at InVision App, where she led Information Security, Compliance, and Risk. Prior to joining InVision App, Theresa served as the Information Security Officer at Liaison Technologies, where she ran the security team for five years, and assisted in acquisition planning, due diligence, and transition planning post acquisition of the company.

Theresa graduated from Virginia Tech with BS and MS degrees in Computer Engineering, with an emphasis on networks and network security. Additionally, Theresa is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and HealthCare Information Security and Privacy Professional (HCISPP). She resides in Sandy Springs with her husband and children.

Lisa Baker joined High Meadows as the Head of School & Camp in 2020. As Head of School & Camp, Lisa leads planning and programming, community building, financial management, attracting and developing faculty and staff, stewardship of our campus, and carrying out our mission.

Lisa joins us after serving as Head of Upper School at Bancroft School in Worchester, Mass where she was a visionary and charismatic leader. Recently she co-chaired on the Strategic Planning Team and launched the Social Justice and Equity Task Force. Additionally, she has collaborated closely with the Board. Baker began her career in education as a middle school teacher and coach and did the practicum for her counseling degree in a middle school setting. She began her path to educational leadership as the Camp Director at Camp Greenway at The Madeira School in McLean, Va.

Joe Crowley currently serves as a Trustee on the Board of Trustees. The Crowley-Mack family joined the High Meadows community in 2019 when they relocated back home to Sandy Springs from Hong Kong. Joe and his husband Phil have one daughter who is in 3rd grade. Joe is the Global Head of Learning and Head of HR for the Atlanta Innovation Hub at BlackRock where he’s worked for over 12 years. In this capacity, Joe leads the Learning team, with responsibilities for the strategy, governance, and execution of the BlackRock Academies, Instructional Design, and Professional Development for the firm. As Head of HR for the Atlanta iHub, Joe is responsible for embedding BlackRock’s culture and driving the firm’s talent and diversity agenda.

Joe grew up in Sandy Springs and earned BA degrees in Economics and Fine Arts from Vanderbilt University.

Erica Davis currently serves in her 7th year as a member of the Board of Trustee. She has 2 children who enjoy both High Meadows School & Camp. They are entering the 5th and 7th grades for the 2022-23 school year. Erica is a content strategist at Epsilon, and has worked in digital marketing and strategy for 20 years. Her husband, Luke, works in Finance and during their COVID-19 quarantine, they became really dorky and tried to teach their kids pivot tables in excel. (It unfortunately didn’t catch.)

In her spare time, she likes to coach soccer and basketball through the Roswell Recreational leagues. She is an avid reader, and has been known to run a fantastic book fair for the school to benefit the library and the overall love of reading for the children. She grew up in Kentucky (GO CATS!) and graduated from Miami University (in Ohio).

Derek Deskey has served on High Meadows School’s Finance Committee for several years. His family has been a part of the High Meadows School and Camp community since 2005. He has two children who attended High Meadows School from preschool through 8th grade, graduating in 2016 and 2017. Derek currently works in Finance at Verizon supporting pricing for wireline U.S. Government customers. Prior to joining Verizon in 2003, he had worked in various Finance positions at Nortel Networks and TBS.

Derek grew up in Los Angeles, CA as well as Oak Harbor, WA and graduated with a BA in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He also has an MBA in international business finance from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Derek and his wife, Barbara currently reside in Marietta. Derek has an adventurous and competitive spirit as evidenced by sailing in several long distance races, playing ALTA tennis, and enjoying the outdoors.

Jody Holden is a member of the original four who incorporated High Meadows Camp and School in 1973. She was responsible for the establishment of a preschool and kindergarten which, over time, grew to include the primary and early elementary years of school. She continued in that position until 1993 when the school was sold to a Non-profit board of parents and friends. In 2001, Jody began thirteen years of teaching with the City Schools of Decatur and is now retired.

Jody completed undergraduate work at Duke University and a Master of Education at Georgia State University.

Katie Johnson is the mom of a High Meadows Day Camper. Katie currently serves as a Senior Consultant for The Redwoods Group. In this role, she provides risk management services and guidance for youth serving organizations such as YMCAs, Camps, Boys & Girls Clubs, and Jewish Community Centers. Prior to joining Redwoods 4 years ago, Katie worked at the American Camp Association for 8 years. Before this, Katie worked at resident and day camps as a director throughout Washington, Oregon, and California.

Katie grew up in Oregon and has a heart for the outdoors, youth development, and keeping kids and families safe in organized settings. She has a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and a M.S. from Aurora University. Katie lives in East Cobb with her family and a houseful of pets.

Geoff Knapp has served on the Board for four years and his family has been a part of the High Meadows community for nine years. He has one child entering 6th grade and another entering 11th grade. Geoff is the General Manager of the Payments Division at 2checkout where he has worked for the past three years. Prior to joining the company in 2017, Geoff spent 14 years in various positions with Fiserv.

Geoff grew up near Ft. Lauderdale, FL and graduated from Florida State University. He also has an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Geoff and his family currently reside in Roswell.

Margaret has been a member of the High Meadows community since 2014 when her son Frank started first grade. Frank graduated HMS in 2022, so Margaret enters the board as a parent of an alumnus. Her career started in the study of evolutionary ecology, but her interest in education led her to a path of Instructional Design. She worked in higher education institutions from New Zealand to the northeastern United States designing innovative curriculum specifically using educational technology. Margaret took time at home to spend focusing on Frank, and is currently combining her love of nature and the outdoors with teaching at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell.

Margaret grew up in New Jersey and has a BS in Biology from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. She studied Zoology at the University of Rhode Island and moved to New Zealand when she was 24. After six years and a life changing experience, she decided it was time to come home in 2000. Margaret moved to Atlanta in 2010 to be closer to her family and enjoys the beautiful mountains, gardening (when it’s not hot!), fishing, progressive dinners on the Beltline, and all her pets.

Mital Patel was born and raised in Mississippi. She went to Louisiana State University for her bachelor of science, then moved to Chicago to complete her doctorate in optometry from Illinois College of Optometry. She moved to Atlanta where she finished a residency program in ocular disease. Mital bought her first practice in 2012 and has grown to 3 different locations. Being an entrepreneur has kept Mital on her feet and always learning and growing from new challenges.

Mital currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. Her family has been a part of High Meadows since 2018. Her son is in 3rd grade and her daughter is in 1st grade. She enjoys outdoor yoga, riding on her Peloton, traveling, and hiking with their dog (named ODi a goldendoodle). Her favorite guilty pleasure is chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. Mital and her husband enjoy the High Meadows approach to learning and the loving atmosphere.

Kate Pearson is a member of the Board of Trustees and she currently serves on the COVID-19 Task Force. Her family has been part of the High Meadows community for five years, with son Andrew entering 2nd grade and daughter Eleanor in pre-k this year. Kate is a Health Policy Analyst at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she gets to help Congress understand the importance of public health. She has served in various leadership roles on CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response since January 2020.

Kate is an avid distance runner, Disney fanatic, and beer drinker. She’s happiest when these three things are combined and would be happy to talk to you at length about any of them. She loves to spend time with her family and to explore new places. Kate holds a Masters Degree in International Development from the University of Denver and Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Berry College. She resides in Alpharetta with her husband Ben, their children, and four cats.