School Governance

BA Wesleyan University, Major American Studies

Ms. Bank was appointed as the new Head of School/Faculty Chair, effective July 1, 2024. Following a thorough search process conducted by the WWS Trustees Council in collaboration with the WWS College and Alma Partners, our DEIB consultant, Ms. Bank emerged as the unanimous choice. Her leadership will bring continued success and growth to our institution.

Ms. Bank was the director of the Tucson Waldorf School (TWS) for 14 years before relocating back to the East Coast. Her children (now young adults) attended TWS from playgroup through Grade 8.

Before coming to WWS, Ms. Bank was the Head of School at St. John’s Episcopal School in Olney, Maryland. Looking to reconnect with Waldorf education, she joined the WWS Trustees Council in 2023, bringing her experience and expertise to WWS.

Nick Hampton has 18 years’ experience leading IT budget and governance activities. He serves at the Department of Interior as Planning and Management Branch Chief. Nick resides in Cheltenham, Maryland with his wife Katrina and their ten-year-old daughter Skylar who is a student at WWS.  Nick is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and rock climbing.

Eben is father to Daphne and Levi Kaplan, both WWS students, and husband to Jennifer Robinson, a member of the WWS faculty. They live in Bethesda, having relocated after a decade in Capitol Hill. Eben is a cybersecurity consultant with a background in international relations, communications, and marketing. He enjoys cooking and gardening and is an avid volleyball player.

BA in Economics and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia.   MSc from the London School of Economics.

Clay serves as the Executive Vice President at the Institute of International Finance (IIF).  In this role, he is the deputy to the CEO and oversees the departments responsible for macroeconomic analysis, financial regulatory issues, digital finance, sustainable finance, and sovereign debt analysis.  He also leads the team who are responsible for membership relations and hosts a podcast called "Current Account".

Prior to his role with the IIF, Clay helped build and was Managing Director of the Rock Creek Global Advisors consulting firm for over eight years.  He also served in the U.S. Treasury Department for 16 years, rising from desk officer to being the head of the international affairs department where he managed a team of over 200 people responsible for economic and financial diplomacy, monetary and banking issues, currency strategy and trade and investment practices.  He served at the White House as National Security Council's Director of International Finance and was a founding Vice President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an economic development agency.

BA, Guilford College

After graduating from Guilford College, Taisto became a professional golfer. He worked at Indian Spring CC and Columbia CC as a teaching professional and he played professionally for four years. Taisto left the golf world to pursue a career in high school teaching and coaching. He became the varsity basketball coach for WWS for both the boys and girls in the 2002-2003 season. Taisto began teaching American History at WWS in 2003, along with becoming the school’s Athletic Director.

Jesse has two children with her husband Greg, Avalon and Larkin Heltzer, both WWS students since Early Childhood. Jesse has worked professionally as a securities litigation and enforcement attorney and a managing legal editor. She is active in the WWS community, leading the Parent Family Organization from 2021-24, chairing the Fall Bazaar, and serving as a class captain, PFO representative, and the kitchen administrator.

Anne Wotring is currently navigating from a multi-varied career -- as leadership coach, organization development professional, mother and wife, writing teacher and researcher – to new, open spaces for exploration.  Early on as a public-school educator, she admired Waldorf philosophy and pedagogy, so she and her husband Tom sent their two children, Katie and Alex, to WWS from 1985-99 (K-12) and 1988-97 (KG-8) Over the years Anne served as administrative faculty, and actively led parent-faculty initiatives including bazaar, parent organization and overall school organization development. She also was teaching faculty and board president for The Nova Institute.

Anne holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organization Development from The Union Institute, M.A. in English Education from George Mason University and B.A. in Literature from The American University. She earned a Sunbridge College certificate in Waldorf Administration and Community Development. She lives in Bethesda, where she’s an active tennis player, dog walker and grandma.