Board of Trustees
Walnut Farm Montessori School is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), non-stock education corporation governed by a Board of Trustees.
The WFMS Board meets each month and is guided by a set of bylaws that contains provisions dictated by law as well as the Board’s own procedures. The Board elects a President, a Vice President, and a Secretary and may elect other officers if it deems it appropriate to do so. All Trustees volunteer their time. Developing and overseeing the fulfillment of the school’s strategic plan, the board ensures that the school will continue to achieve its mission and continue to thrive in the areas of financial stewardship and momentum.
The Head of School is the chief executive officer of the School. The Head is charged with implementing the School’s long-range plan and overseeing the effective administration of all aspects of the School’s operation.
2022-2023 Board of Trustees
Lina Scroggins, President
Emma Pengelly, Vice President
Jannae White, Secretary
Sean D’Hoostelaere, Treasure
Chi Ibekwe
Peyton Sterns
Amanda Marsee
Callie Wohletz
Tabitha Tichenor-Turner
Stephen Pauzer
Nikki Tallman
Lina Scroggins
President
Lina Sestokas Scroggins is a Senior Program Manager at Google, where over the past 16 years, she has led initiatives to improve health outcomes using Google’s core products, guided the digital transformation journey of the largest healthcare system in the US, transformed a learning and development program for early career IT professionals, and founded and scaled the Chrome OS hardware operations team, which to this day underpins the development and testing of Google’s top-selling computer operating system. She is the President-Elect of the Board of Trustees of Walnut Farm Montessori School in Bentonville, Arkansas and a strategic advisor to FemHealth Founders, an organization dedicated to empowering women founders of companies working to solve the challenges facing women’s health today. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Psychology from the Mind, Brain and Behavior Honors Program, and a secondary field of Spanish Language and Literature, and holds advanced degrees in Clinical Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and Experimental Psychology from Cambridge University, which she attended as Gates Scholar.
Emma Pengelly
Vice-President
Emma Pengelly is the Vice President of Philanthropy at Ingeborg Initiatives, a philanthropy and impact platform founded by Olivia Walton that is focused on improving the lives of women in Arkansas. Ingeborg Initiatives supports efforts to improve maternal health outcomes and to empower mothers through access to economic opportunity and quality early education and care for their children using a variety of philanthropic and advocacy investment levers. Previously, Emma was the Deputy Director of the Home Region Program at the Walton Family Foundation, where she was responsible for strategy development and for managing a team focused on efforts to enhance the economic and cultural vibrancy of Northwest Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta regions of the state. Emma has also served as Senior Program Officer for the Walton Family Foundation’s K-12 education program, where her portfolio included grants focused on innovation in education and teacher workforce development.
Emma has over 15 years of direct teaching experience across all ages and stages of learner. Emma began her career in public schools as a teacher and a school leader in Brooklyn, New York. More recently, Emma served as an adjunct professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as teaching fellow at Bank Street College of Education, teaching classes in general education leadership and leading diverse classrooms and schools to both master’s degree students and doctoral candidates. Emma has a BA in Women’s Studies from Harvard College, a Master’s Degree in General Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education, and a Doctorate in Education Leadership (EdLD) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Sean D'Hoostelaere
Treasurer
Sean D’Hoostelaere brings the Walnut Farm board more than 25 years of Montessori experience. From attending Primary and Elementary and spending every summer working at his parent’s Montessori school in Arizona, to joining the board of that same school in 2010, Sean has been involved with the planning and strategy of Montessori schools for over a decade. Sean and his family joined Walnut Farm last year, with three daughters enrolled in Primary and Elementary.
Outside of Montessori, Sean currently works for Walmart and has spent the last several years in various finance and strategy roles. He will be bringing that experience to the WFMS board’s Finance and Growth Committees. Sean has a Bachelor’s in Finance & Accounting from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, where he currently serves on the board of the business school’s Student Association.
Jannae White
Secretary
Jannae White is a Director in Walmart’s Controllership organization and supports Walmart US Real Estate and Store Operations. She has an extensive auditing, accounting, and program management background. Through her work, she built a reputation for excellence in quality, relationship building, coaching, and project ownership. She has a bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas, a Masters in Accounting from Ohio State University, and is a CPA.
Jannae has been a Walnut Farm Montessori School parent since 2020 and joined the board in 2022. As an Arkansas native, she loves the outdoors and her favorite WFMS volunteer activities are the fall and spring campus clean ups.
