Mulberry’s Administative Staff (from left to right)
Deanna Haugaard – Admissions Director
When looking for a preschool for her then 18 month old daughter, Deanna happened upon Mulberry. It was a perfect fit, in more ways than one. After a number of years as a happy parent, Deanna became Mulberry’s Admissions Director. Her daughter, now in 2nd grade, still attends Mulberry.
Prior to working for the school, Deanna was a stay-at-home-mom for 5 years. Prior to that, she had a career in Operations for a few different Medical Device companies in the Bay Area.
“I love to come to work every day because I believe deeply in Mulberry’s philosophy. Talking to people about our school is a pleasure. My husband and I chose this school for our daughter; I live it as a parent every day, so showing prospective parents our amazing program is just a joy for me.”
Patti Wilczek – Head of School
A mom of three, Patti and her family moved from Southern California in 2008 in order to join the Mulberry School community. She and her husband, Jozef, have watched their two youngest children flourish as Mulberry students. With more than 20 years experience in education and a Ph.D. in Psychology, Patti’s knowledge of children, child development and education is vast. She has loved working beside Mulberry’s professional
educators to continually improve upon its strong academic program.
In addition to finding her professional life fulfilling and gratifying, Patti enjoys reading, cycling and taking long walks in the countryside. Her most favorite thing to do, however, remains spending time with her family.
Laurel Maguire – Accountant
Laurel worked for 13 years as an accountant and HR generalist for Mock/Coral Energy, a subsidiary of Shell Oil. She holds a business degree from University of San Francisco. In 2001 she moved to Massachusetts, where she worked as assistant controller for a small privately owned tennis club. While preparing for the arrival of her daughter Hannah, from China, Laurel continued her education and, in 2003, received her Master of Education degree from UMass Boston. She taught in Boston area schools for 2 years before
moved back to California in 2005.
Laurel enjoys working at Mulberry, and being a part of their community. She loves spending time with friends and family. On weekends, one favorite pastime is taking off with her daughter to explore new sights around Northern California. They also spend their time swimming, hiking, volunteering with community projects, and visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they are members.
Ray Keith – Administrative Assisstant
Starting in her fourth year at Mulberry School, Ray is the Administrative Assistant in the front office. She has lived in the Bay Area for 30+ years now and is originally from Hawaii. She started her career in Silicon Valley building printed circuit boards, eventually moving into Quality Control and Quality Assurance for companies like Schlumberger and Intel Corporation. After many years in the high tech industry, she decided to take time off to raise her three young children. Once her children got into high school she decided to return to the work force.
Ray says “coming to Mulberry School has been a joy for me.” I truly enjoy conversations with our Mulberry kids, they make me smile…and I smile a lot! ”
Ray is happily married and has three children. She cherishes time with family and friends and enjoys riding her motorcycle, traveling, cooking and baking just to name a few. Don’t hesitate to stop in Mulberry School’s front office to say “hi”.
Theresa Quigley – Business Director
Theresa has had quite a varied career; spending time in the military, working in industry and now in education. She holds a BS in Corporate Management. Both of her sons have attended Mulberry since preschool. Theresa loves all sports – but especially hockey and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Stacey Acton – Director of Development
Stacey has a 4-day preschooler and a second grader enrolled at Mulberry. She has enjoyed working as the Development Director at Mulberry since the summer of 2011 and is passionate about her work on the Friday Coffee committee!
Prior to coming to Mulberry, she worked in Market Research as a project manager mainly in the health care field. Much of her time was spent working directly in the HIV/AIDS community with risk prevention organizations, such as the needle exchange program in Santa Cruz.
When she and her kids are not at Mulberry, the whole family can usually be found around horses and watching or performing equestrian vaulting.
Rob Hitchcock – Facility Technician