Board of Trustees

Though she was born and raised in NYC, she has spent most of the past 20 years in Vermont and in 2010 Louisa started Big Picture Farm in Townshend, VT with her husband Lucas Farrell. Big Picture Farm is a small hillside dairy and farmstead confectionery selling confections and cheese to thousands of stores across the country. In addition to being 100% solar powered they are very proud to be Animal Welfare Approved and practice sustainable and regenerative forms of agriculture. She graduated from Middlebury College and has an MFA from CalArts.

She is mom to Maisie who is in her 6th year at Hilltop as an middler in Lower El, and Minna who is in her 4th year at Hilltop as a middler in Children’s House. She loves how happy and confident her kids have become as Hilltop students and enjoys diving deeper into the Hilltop community by being on the board.

Avery joined the Brattleboro community in 2014 as a cofounder of Hermit Thrush Brewery. He met his wife Angela here, and their daughter Acacia is a Younger in Children’s House. Avery has been an active member of the Brattleboro Town Finance Committee, the Southern Vermont Economic Development Strategies board, and the Vermont Brewers Association. Prior to moving to Vermont, Avery studied Physics at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA , studied Music at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA, and worked as a Paramedic in Upper Darby, PA. Over two decades, he was also a participant, volunteer, and consultant for Destination Imagination, a global creative problem solving organization for kids pre-K through university. Avery currently spends his free time sharing his hobbies with his family and friends including vegetable fermentation, foraging, music, and kite flying.

Geneva Morse’s twin sons, Emery and Bennett, are in Children’s House, where the family has also happily taken on weekend and vacation care of the prized classroom rabbit, Cocoa Cinnamon Bun Bun. Geneva’s career has been built in the Human Resources and Recruitment field; after scoffing at a college career counselor who advised her to pursue HR based on a personality assessment, she has savored building, developing and engaging with teams of people throughout her career. She currently works for a renewable energy consultancy based out of Denmark, where she leads HR for the Americas region.

Geneva is a graduate of Smith College who has lived in Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston before moving to Vermont in 2017. Geneva and her family are residents of Guilford, where her husband, Skye, grew up. Her family enjoys biking, hiking, visiting much-loved bakeries and coffee purveyors, and reading many books. The Morse’s are proud to be part of the thriving Hilltop community!

Nancy Dickson is an alumna of Hilltop from its early Congregational Church and High Street days; a mother of three; a spouse to a Montessori-trained middle school teacher; and a daughter of Tonia and Whit Wheeler. Nancy joins the Hilltop board eager to contribute to a school that dominated her family’s dinner table conversation for most of her childhood.

In her professional life, Nancy serves as the Director of Professional Learning at the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, where she strives to provide responsive and relevant professional development opportunities to CAIS’s 90 member schools and over 6000 CAIS school employees. Prior to joining CAIS, Nancy worked at a number of independent schools in San Francisco, New York City, and Baltimore, serving in roles ranging from English teacher to Director of Admissions to Upper School Principal, and earned her MA in Private School Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia.

Nancy lives in Wallingford, Connecticut with her husband, Elliot, and their three elementary-aged children, but remains a Vermonter at heart. She returns to Brattleboro regularly to spend time with her parents and recharge. In good weather, she’s outside gardening or watching countless kids’ soccer games (in bad weather, too). She also loves DIY home improvement projects — when they run smoothly.

Juliette is the mother of two students at Hilltop, one in Children’s House and one in Lower Elementary. She works as a Family Nurse Practitioner in primary care and integrative medicine at Grace Cottage Family Health. She also writes and teaches nationally on topics related to herbalism and integrative medicine. She is involved in numerous social justice and professional organizations, most recently founding and coordinating West River Valley Mutual Aid and serving as Co-Chair of the Legislative Advocacy Committee of the American Nurses Association-Vermont, among others, and has earned awards for her advocacy work. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and skiing with her family.

Courtney Deal is the Director of Marketing at Dartmouth Health Children’s.  With experience at some of the world’s leading brands, Courtney has established herself as a strategic partner to organizations and businesses, leveraging her expertise to develop innovative marketing approaches that align with organizational goals and objectives.  Her strategic skill set has helped establish Dartmouth Health Children’s brand presence and extend its value to the community.  She is proud to be a part of the Dartmouth Health Children’s team and is dedicated to its goal of ensuring all children in the region live their happiest, healthiest lives.

Courtney and her wife, Tina, love raising their family in New England and are happy to have found such a wonderful school in Hilltop.  Courtney and Tina feel much gratitude for the teachers and staff at Hilltop – and the love of learning and community they are instilling in the students.

Doug is a father of two children: Eliza is a Middler in the children’s house, and David is in his first year of the Toddler Program. He moved to Brattleboro in 2016 where his wife, Sarah, grew up.

Doug holds degrees in biomedical engineering and biotechnology, and he is an associate director of applied technologies at Moderna. His interest is in strategic planning, finance, and continuing to enable Hilltop to deliver on its promise to develop caring, curious, and thoughtful students.

In his free time, Doug enjoys baking (and eating!) French patisserie as well as hiking with his family and dog Cleo.

Emily moved to Bratleboro two years ago, after a 15 year stint as Head of School at The Putney School. There she got to know Hilltop through its graduates. Before Putney she worked in schools in Botswana, Connecticut, Thailand and Portland, Oregon. In the Connecticut phase Emily’s daughter Alice attended a Montessori school; Alice is now herself a middle school teacher in Victoria BC. Emily’s trustee experience includes working on several other boards, as well as working with boards as an employee.

Joseph Lambert and his wife, Caroline, have two children at Hilltop in the Children’s House and Lower El. Joseph brings a diverse professional background in education, design, marketing, and student travel. He works as a creative director at an international organization focused on traveler safety and emergency rescue. His previous role as an Expedition Director with National Geographic involved designing and leading complex travel expeditions and crafting immersive educational experiences for high school students. Joseph has also designed and taught project-based curricula in photography and visual arts at New England independent schools. Additionally, Joseph is a passionate artist and craftsman who founded a leather goods brand featuring handcrafted products made in Vermont and loves participating in the local Putney farmers market. 

Joseph moved to Vermont twenty-one years ago and continues to be inspired by its landscape, seasons, and tight-knit local communities. He and his family enjoy being in nature, hiking, Nordic skiing, mountain biking, traveling, and playing music with friends. Joseph looks forward to collaborating with the school community and contributing to the ongoing success of the school.

Shelley is the owner of The Nutmeg, a hospitality business in Wilmington, VT. She is the mom of Harry who is in Upper Elementary and the wife of Paul. Before emigrating to the US in 2011 Shelley was general manager of a restaurant in London and prior to that was a journalist in South Africa.

Shelley’s interests are in equity and diversity. She loves Vermont and is grateful everyday that she has the privilege of living in this great little state.

Returning to her New England roots after a lengthy absence, Kate and her husband, Sergei, with their sons, Sig & Sasha, have settled here in Brattleboro and could not be happier. It is wonderfully serendipitous that Kate finds herself a neighbor of HMS! Montessori education has been ever present in and foundational to Kate’s life from the time she was a very young child. As an HMS board member, Kate brings the benefit of her deep understanding of and commitment to Montessori philosophy. She is thankful for the opportunity to work with the other HMS board members in support of the Hilltop Montessori School community. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, Kate worked professionally as an actor for thirty years, ultimately settling in Seattle, Washington where she and Sergei worked and raised their two sons. Currently, Kate focuses her energy (other than attempting to tame the wildly overgrown garden at her new home) on raising awareness about neurodivergent learners, with a focus on students with language based learning differences; a matter close to her heart.

Maya attended Hilltop starting in Lower Elementary. She graduated from the Middle School in 2010 and is excited to return to the Hilltop community as a board member.

She has worked for Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Legislature, and the Vermont Land Trust. She is currently the pro bono coordinator at Legal Services Vermont.

Maya lives in the Mad River Valley and loves to spend time outdoors skiing, hiking, running, and paddling.