Pasadena Education Network Announces Board of Directors

The Pasadena Education Network (PEN) has named Altadena resident Larry O’Brien as the new Chair of their Board of Directors. O’Brien succeeds Dr. Christopher Brandow, who had been Chair of the nonprofit organization since 2010 and was previously the group’s first Executive Director.

O’Brien will lead the nonprofit organization that represents more than 1,000 parents who send their children to Pasadena Unified School District schools and support the school district. PEN provides programs and services to help parents transition to kindergarten and middle school, and engage more effectively with their public schools as well as representing a collective voice of parents with the Pasadena Unified School District.

Joining O’Brien as Board Members are: Immediate Past President Brandow; Treasurer Lisa Swan; Secretary Nury Arrivillaga; Amelia Chapman; Elizabeth Sanchez Jackson; Russ Meek; Emily Wood Mencken; Jerri Price-Gaines; Karen Tamis; and Kimberly Velazco.

O’Brien and his wife Christine were one of PEN’s founding families. They have a daughter at Pasadena Unified School District’s Blair International Baccalaureate Magnet, and two younger children who attend Willard Elementary School’s International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. O’Brien is the School Site Chairperson and co-chair of the Annual Fund Committee at Willard. He is a co-owner of Risk Solutions & Investigations, Inc., a corporate investigations firm in downtown Los Angeles.

PEN is an independent grass-roots nonprofit organization that promotes family participation in public education to benefit all students in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. Annually, PEN provides programs and services to more than 3,500 parents.

For more information about PEN, upcoming parent programs and school tours, visit www.penfamilies.org.