Mary Worch, Executive Director
Mary Worch is Executive Director at Independent Education, where she leads a team that provides professional development, networking, government relations, and other services to a diverse community of schools serving 33,000 students in the national capital region. Most recently, Mary served as Head of School at The Woods Academy, an Independent Education member school which she led for 16 years. In addition, Mary has extensive teaching and administrative experience in public, parochial, and independent schools in the Washington, D.C., area. After earning her B.A. in Elementary Education and her M.A. in Administration and Supervision from Trinity College, she served as an adjunct professor at Trinity. She has served on an advisory board to the Archdiocese of Washington and has chaired and been a member of evaluating teams for the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools. She lives in Rockville, Maryland.
Email Mary Worch: mworch@independenteducation.org
Patricia Mayo, Chief Operating Officer
Patricia Mayo is the chief operating officer at Independent Education, where she has strategic and operational responsibility for programs and services. She previously served as Independent Education's director of strategic initiatives, managing all non-dues, revenue-generating programs and services of the organization, and director of programs. Prior to joining Independent Education in 2006, Patricia worked for three years in development at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, as the Communications and Special Events Coordinator. She also owned an event planning business and was a professor of marketing for two years at Pellissippi State in Knoxville, TN. Patricia has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from the University of Central Arkansas, and a master’s of business administration from the University of Tennessee. She lives in Potomac, Maryland.
Email Patricia Mayo: pmayo@independenteducation.org
Christie Antoniewicz, Director of Programs
Christie Antoniewicz is Independent Education’s director of programs and manages the 30-40 programs and events on a wide range of issues that Independent Education sponsors annually for the administrators, teachers, and staff in its member schools in the Washington, D.C., region. Christie previously served as Independent Education’s director of operations, managing the annual collection of data on member schools and all office resources and systems, including technology, telecommunication and facilities. Prior to joining Independent Education in 2006, Christie was the program associate for Capital Partners for Education (CPE), a scholarship, mentoring and academic support program for low-income high school students in the Washington metropolitan area. During her three years at CPE, she managed the new student application process, maintained a donor database of more than 550 donors and potential donors, organized the annual fundraiser and planned approximately 14 annual academic support and enrichment programs. Christie is a magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she double-majored in art history and Spanish. She studied for a summer at Lorenzo di Medici Institute of Florence in Florence, Italy, and for a semester at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Email Christie Antoniewicz: cantoniewicz@independenteducation.org
Ann Brunk, Director of Finance
Ann Brunk is director of finance at Independent Education, where she is responsible for the accounting and human resources functions of the organization. Since 2008, she has been an independent accounting consultant and tax preparer. From 1998 until 2008, she was the controller for a public policy consulting firm in Washington, D.C. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Wake Forest University and has passed the CPA exam. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Email Ann Brunk:
abrunk@independenteducation.org
Aubrey Andre, Program Associate
Aubrey Andre is the program associate for website communications and statistics at Independent Education. She exercises editorial control of the website, builds and implements the organization’s social media strategy, writes web content and e-newletters, and prepares data of our member schools for analysis. She, in collaboration with the entire IE team, is responsible for the member relations and day-to-day office operations. Prior to IE, Aubrey worked as the middle school sports scheduler and assistant at St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School. She continues as the lead art and communications editor at American Lacrosse, LLC, where she writes and edits publications for the organization’s programs. She has a bachelor’s degree in Art Studies and English from Ursinus College, and a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. Concurrently, she is the head lacrosse coach at Georgetown Visitation School and lives in Washington, D.C.
Email Aubrey Andre: aandre@independenteducation.org