Shane Laroia – Board President

Slaroia@stgacademy.org

Mr. Laroia has focused 20+ years of his career either working in, advising or selling to the Global 2000. As a curious problem solver, he focuses on creating/implementing transformative strategies and business architectures that deliver quantifiable results.

As an active, hands-on technology leader, Laroia has served as President of the Integration Consortium and co-chair of many industry advisory boards and panels. He chaired four acclaimed panels with industry leadership such as the CTO of the GSA (General Services Administration) as well as the former CIO of the Obama White House, and the CIO of Bombardier discussing the impacts of Digital Transformation and Machine Learning on the IT community. He performs pro-bono public service focused on ideating creative solutions to complex National Security and US Intelligence Community problems. Mr. Laroia is “Fully Cleared,” “Green Picture Badged,” TS/SCI (Poly) with access to 4 core compartments at two flagship US Intelligence Community Agencies.

Mr. Laroia holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Technology from the University of Houston and a Master of Science Degree in Economic Development & Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston Victoria.

Neil Walter – Board Member

nwalter@stgacademy.org

Neil has served on charter school boards for 11 years and written a book on charter school facility finance. He has also written a number of white papers on school and governmental finance. Neil is both partner and CEO for Brokers Holdings, which operates commercial and residential brokerages in Utah and Nevada as NAI Excel and ERA Brokers Consolidated. He taught economics and upper-division finance courses as an adjunct professor for nine years at Dixie State University. He is a CFA charter holder and earned his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Carol Vallejo – Governance Committee

cvallejo@stgacademy.org

Carol was born and raised in Utah and began living in Saint George in 1983. She has a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Nevada Reno. She is a licensed clinical social work therapist at S & S Counseling. Prior to getting her Master’s Degree, she worked as a paralegal for 18 years and has extensive legal and bookkeeping experience. Carol is a passionate advocate for special education programs and first started working with the SPED program as a volunteer in high school. She has two beautiful children, the youngest of which graduated from SGA in 2021.

Dee Wilson – Board Member, PR Chair & PTO

Dwilson@stgacademy.org

Dee has worked on other charter school boards and has two children currently attenting St George Academy. She is a USAF Veteran and was active duty during the first Gulf War.

Dee is a local businesswoman and received her degree at Dixie State University (now called Utah Tech University). She and her husband have lived in Southern Utah since 1995. She loves mountain biking, yoga, photography, painting, traveling, and attending concerts.

Carrie Willis – Board Member

cwillis@stgacademy.org

Carrie is a physician and has been practicing locally since 2014, including as the medical director of heart failure management for St. George Regional Hospital. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in psychology at the University of California, Davis and her Doctorate of Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine training in Philadelphia, her cardiology fellowship at Marshall University in West Virginia and her advanced heart Failure and transplant fellowship at the University of Utah.

She started the Southwest Cardiology heart failure multidisciplinary clinic in 2014 and has grown the clinic to serve patients of Washington County as well as those of regions as far east as Page, AZ and as far west as Las Vegas. Her building of the heart failure clinic has required both her clinical knowledge, and her health care administration and finance knowledge. She created and continues to serve on the hospital’s Heart Failure Guidance Council. Carrie provides education to fellow physicians as well as local nurse practitioners, nurses, home health providers and skilled nursing facility staff. She provides community education formally through community lectures. Carrie has always had a passion for education, believing education is the foundation of a successful society. She has 2 children, both of whom are attending charter schools in St. George, including St. George Academy.

Nancy Ross – Board Memeber

nross@stgacademy.org

Nancy Ross is an associate professor in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Department at Utah Tech University, where she has been teaching for 16 years. Her Ph D is in art history, but her current research focuses on the history and sociology of religion.

AmiJo Comeford, Ph.D. – Academic Committee

ajcomeford@stgacademy.org

Dr. Comeford is a professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dixie State University. She serves as a student mentor and advisor at DSU and was appointed as one of 3 Ombuds. She originally chartered the DSU Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the student English Honor Society in 2007, and has served as the adviser since then. She serves on the national board for this organization. Ami has been selected as Dixie State University’s Advisor of the Year multiple times and Teacher/Faculty Member of the Year for 2009-2010. She served on the board for Utah Humanities from 2011-2017. She is also currently serving on the board for Arts to Zion.

Al Pappas – Board Member, Audit and Finance Committee Chair

apappas@stgacademy.org

Al is an Executive Consultantand soleowner of The Canea Group and isa well-known technology veteran with many years of experience in the fields of information technology (IT), development engineering, marketing and business management. Al is an active Advisory Board memberand mentorfor several early stage technology based businesses. As the CIO for VMware, Al led the IT organization during their periodof hyper-growth. Al held CIO positions forHotwire, Portal Software, VeriFone andAdobe Systems. Prior to his CIO positions, Al was a VP of Engineering at Adobe Systems, a Test Engineering manager at Apple Computer, a Business Unit Director& VP of Engineering forSchlumberger Technologies, a Director of Software at MSI Data and held various technology and marketing positions with the Xerox Corporation, RCA Communications and theNCR Computer Division.