Two new trustees, an additional member of the board's strategic planning committee and a new vice chair are in place as Notre Dame begins its 2018-19 new school year. Board focused on total student experience and long-term growth.
From left, Mia Ambrose-Burbank, John W. Henke, Jr., Ph.D., Ann Stone and Noel Villajuan, J.D.
Mia Ambrose-Burbank, who is the mother of two alums and a 7th grader in Notre Dame's middle school, and John W. Henke, Jr., Ph.D., a 1958 alumnus of Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, were named new trustees of NDPMA. Noel Villajuan, J.D., who is the father of two students in Notre Dame's lower school, has accepted a position on the board's strategic planning committee. Ann Stone, an alum parent and the mother of a 10th grader in Notre Dame’s upper division, was named vice chair by the school's trustees, replacing board member Tim Knutson, whose term in that position had ended.
Notre Dame's board chair Steve Pangori is delighted with the latest changes.
“This school community has witnessed a tremendous amount of positive change over these past several years,” he said. "With such an impressive group of trustees now in place, we look forward to an even more exciting future of growth for our school. Mia and John bring a wealth of experience and expertise to our board and Noel will be a definite asset to our strategic planning committee. I am also pleased that Ann Stone, one of Notre Dame's most tireless advocates, will be taking on an even greater responsibility on the board. I also want to thank Tim Knutson for serving as vice chair over the past several years and look forward to his continuing presence on the board."
Burbank comes to the Notre Dame board with more than 20 years of business, finance and entrepreneurial experience as president and co-founder of Vendor Managed Solutions Inc. (VMS365 Inc.), a leading technology-driven maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) company based in Troy, Mich., providing total inventory and maintenance solutions to corporations across the country. Prior to VMS365 Inc., she served as a principal and co-founder at SDE Business Partnering (a joint venture with EDS/AT Kearney) focused on IT staffing and commodities with accounts in the automotive, manufacturing and educational markets. Before this, Burbank served in consulting and business development leadership roles with EDS and a Tier-1 automotive supplier. She holds a BA degree in finance from the University of Detroit Mercy and has participated in the Executive MBA Program sponsored by the Tuck School at Dartmouth University.
Henke currently is president of Birmingham, Mich.-based Planning Perspectives, Inc., which specializes in studying and reporting on buyer and supplier relations in the automotive and 17 other industries. Henke also is a professor emeritus of marketing at Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., and a research fellow at the Center for Supply Chain Management at Rutgers University. Previously, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn's School of Management; a visiting instructor at Oakland University's School of Economics and Management; and taught undergraduate courses in marketing, personal selling, and international marketing at Michigan State University's Department of Marketing and Transportation/College of Business. Prior to joining the academic community, Henke held sales and marketing management positions during a 15-year period with several firms, including IBM and the automotive division of General Automation, an international manufacturer of automated industrial systems. He holds a BA degree in physics from Eastern Michigan University; an MS degree in radiological physics from Cornell University; an MBA from Michigan State University; and a PhD in marketing, also from MSU.
Villajuan is a financial advisor with Troy, Mich.-based LJPR Financial Advisors, a financial-advisor and wealth-management firm that specializes in retirement planning, investment management, estate planning and tax planning. In addition to LJPR, Villajuan has more than 12 years of financial services experience working with companies such as Charles Schwab, Merrill Lynch, and Fidelity Investments. His post-secondary education includes a BA degree in English from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., and a law degree from Western Michigan University's Cooley Law School. Additionally, he is a Certified Financial Planner professional.
Stone has served as an NDPMA trustee since 2008 and board secretary since 2010. She brings more than 10 years of experience in business and the healthcare industry along with a total passion for the NDPMA mission and its community. Previously, Stone was a data analyst supervisor with Detroit-based The Wellness Plan, where she conducted data analysis to monitor employee performance, quality control and customer satisfaction and leveraged staff resources to help identify areas of opportunity for performance improvement. Prior to this, she was a contract administrator with Southfield, Mich.-based Arcadia Health Services, Inc., responsible for contract negotiations, contract management oversight and provider relations. She holds a BS degree in Health Services Management from the University of Detroit Mercy.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org