Board of Directors
Nikki Moffit
Secretary
Nikki is a parent in a neurodiverse family. Her children have schooled across 6 countries on 5 continents, attending 9 schools and 1 university, starting 20 years ago in Hong Kong and continuing, having recently repatriated to Australia. Each school had different supports, different approaches, and different outcomes for each of her children. Each country had different approaches to diagnoses, supporting therapies and medication, which shaped how the school systems provided support. Frustrated with looking for ‘how other’s manage’ and seeking support across schools, medical professionals and countries, she founded the Facebook group Expat Kids Learning Differently, in an attempt to provide globally mobile families a community to source local and other supports in their own attempts at providing schooling and support to their families. Nikki is also co-founder of a broader globally mobile Facebook group and podcast – Two Fat Expats.
Jon Springer
Executive Facilitator
Jon is an at-home dad of 2 moderate needs autistic boys. He has been the supporting partner of an international school educator for 10 years. He became an Associate Director of SENIA in December 2022. Jon started a parent-to-parent support group at his school in December 2020 with 70+ parents forming a Parents Association of Learning Support Students (PALSS). Jon was one of a 3 person team that launched School Closure Group for Online Learning on Facebook in February 2020 to network Covid closure impacted educators (the group had 100,000 members in 22 days; today it is called Global Educator Collective). Jon has a Masters of Teaching (2011) and a journalism career covering emerging markets (2011 to 2015) in his past experiences.
Christina Sharkey
Treasurer
Christina is a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer focused on trade and investment issues. She has served in Beijing, China; Cairo, Egypt; San Francisco, California; Munich, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic and now currently lives and works in the Washington, DC metro area. She has learned 6 foreign languages, and holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School and a BA in International Affairs and Russian Language from James Madison University. She is the mother of two neurodivergent kids who have been educated in both U.S. public schools and private international schools. Her son is severely dyslexic, and having come to the difficult conclusion that appropriate services were not available to him to continue serving overseas, she and her family moved back to the U.S. to enroll him at the Lab School of Washington, a specialized school for dyslexic children and children with ADHD.
Katrina Daniels-Samasa
Katrina has over 20 years experience in education and leadership working in suburban & inner city schools in the USA, rural & city areas in the United Arab Emirates, an IB British international school in Jeju, South Korea, and is currently the Director of Community & Belonging at an international IB school in Atlanta. She is the parent of four children (26, 20, 8, 7) who have been diagnosed with ADHD and is currently embarking on the journey to properly diagnose her 7 year old son in partnership with his school as he displays characteristics of dyslexia and ADHD. The intersectionality of parent, global educator, & DEIJB practitioner allows her to note the current issues related to the availability of services for neurodiverse children in a variety of contexts. Because of this, she looks forward to creating solutions to close the current gaps in the services provided by international schools globally.
Donna Bracewell
Donna leads the elementary Life Centered Education (LCE) intensive needs program at the International School of Kenya. She has over 40 years’ experience both in teaching and parenting children with neurodiverse learning needs. Her passion for creating inclusive programs has led her from teaching for 28 years in Canada to working for the last 15 years within international schools, in both Vietnam and Kenya, to broaden their inclusive programming. Over the years she has led numerous teacher trainings and parent workshops in inclusive education and has worked with many school boards in Canada and internationally, to develop programs for children with intensive needs, within inclusive school settings.
Lisa Biasillo
Lisa is an educator and lifelong learner. Spending most of her career at international schools, Lisa taught English and primary school in South Korea and Cambodia before becoming a school administrator. She served as a Director/Head of School in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Austria. Passionate about sustainability and environmental education, she now serves as the Vice President of Education at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which delivers environmental programming to more than 50,000 students each year. Lisa has two master’s degrees, one in education and one in poverty reduction and development management. She is also a licensed primary school teacher.
Sarah Garner
Sarah is a parent educator, advocacy trainer and certified ADHD coach. A former lawyer & law librarian, she taught LL.M. students and trained lawyers to strengthen their advocacy skills using client-centered approaches. From 2008-2015, she served on the UNIS Hanoi Board of Directors, and was instrumental in setting up GALTI, the governance as leadership training institute for intl school boards. In 2017, she co-founded the first English language support group in Vietnam for parents of neurodivergent children, and also currently volunteers as chair of the Vietnam chapter of SENIA International. She is a neurodivergent parent of neurodivergent children, two of whom have already graduated with IBDP diplomas and one who will finish the IBDP in 2025.
Dave Pantos
Dave has been a licensed attorney for over 27 years, and has 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and education sectors, including leadership roles at an autism nonprofit and as Vice Chairperson of a community college board.
Jenny Moberg
Jenny is a public health physician and mother of three boys, one with epilepsy and some moderate learning challenges. She is a member of the Board of the International School of Geneva (Ecolint) where she advocates for equity, a culture of belonging and gold standard school inclusion in and outside the classroom. As part of this work, she is also a member of the International Schools Anti-Discrimination Task Force. With a local NGO, All Special Kids, Jenny ran parent support groups during the Covid pandemic for English-speaking parents of children with differences. She is now 1 of 3 parents setting up a parents’ network for families with children with exceptionalities at Ecolint. Jenny has worked as a family physician and in health services research, specializing in improving evidence-informed decision making. She has lived and worked in the UK, Mozambique, Norway and Switzerland.
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Please contact us at facilitators@parentsallianceforinclusion.com or use one of our forms.