Board of Directors

Kris Zierhut – President

Kris Zierhut is a former public High School mathematics teacher who now works as a game designer in the video game industry. He and his wife met at Cornell University, where they both graduated.  He lives in Aliso Viejo with his family. His daughter Gwen attended New Vista School from 8th through 12th grade. His wife is a Speech Pathologist also active in services for the autism community.

Jim Readon – Vice President

Jim Reardon is Vice-President of Technology at One Stop Systems, Inc. He served eight years on the Board of Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District and four years on the College and Career Advantage Regional Occupational Program board, serving the Capistrano and Laguna Beach school districts.

Until 2018, Jim served 30 years as President and CEO of Concept Development, Inc., leading the design of aerospace and medical electronics.

Jim studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of California, Irvine.

Jim co-founded New Vista School and continues serving as Vice-President of the school’s Board of Directors. He resides in San Clemente.

Kimberly J. Striegl -Treasurer

Ms. Striegl is an Executive Director at Wells Fargo, helping mid-corporate companies manage their financing needs, offering capital-raising alternatives and risk management solutions. She has been with Wells Fargo since 2010 and held a similar role at JP Morgan for the previous 10 years.

Ms. Striegl has a Bachelor of Arts from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s JL Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Kim holds her FINRA Securities 79 and 63 licenses.

Ms. Striegl is Treasurer of the New Vista School Board of Directors, and she also serves on the Advisory Board for the Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center at CHOC. Kim lives in Southern California with her two children.

Matthew Kuhn – Secretary

With over 22 years of banking experience, Matt has supported has clients during good times and bad. He provides guidance, advise and expertise in the form of banking services to Companies, their owners and key executives. Matt’s clients are primarily privately held, well managed, and profitable companies headquartered in Southern California.

A graduate of San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration degree with a major in Finance in 2002. In 2023 he graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School’s Masters Level Extension Program & Executive Leadership at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Born and raised in Laguna Beach and currently resides in Corona Del Mar with his wife of 17 years, Candice, and their three daughters, Liliana, Willa and Callie.  He enjoys days at the beach with his family, traveling, playing acoustic guitar, golfing with friends and anything outdoors when the weather is nice.

Nancy Donnelly – Executive Emeritus

Mrs. Donnelly previously served as the Executive Director of New Vista School where she was instrumental in developing the school structure and programs. As well as currently serving on the New Vista School Board, Mrs. Donnelly serves on three non-profit Boards;The Irvine Community Land Trust where she is a founding member and served as Vice-President as well as Treasurer; Momentum Non Profit for Adults and Children, and Spirit League Special Needs Sport League. Mrs. Donnelly has also served on the UCI Medical Center Associates as President, and on CASA of Western Massachusetts.

Mrs. Donnelly has held the following professional positions in the field of Education/Developmental Disabilities: Executive Director Emeritus, New Vista School, Meadows Homes, Inc., Executive Director; Center for Human Development, Vice President; Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, Special Education Director and various teaching positions in middle and high school.

Susan Belenardo – Board Member

Dr. Susan Belenardo has at all levels of responsibility in several K-12 school districts and recently retired after serving 8 years as a school district superintendent. During her career in education, Dr. Belenardo has been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, administrative director, and Assistant Superintendent.

Susan currently teaches courses in Educational Administration at the graduate level at National University and the University of California, Irvine Division of Continuing Education and is the Program Director for their Preliminary Administrative Services Credential Program.

She is an active member of Educational Leadership and Community groups including ACSA where she served on several state committees in addition to serving as the Region ACSA State Board representative. She is a member of Rotary and has serve as President for both the La Habra and Orange Plaza Rotary Clubs.

Adrienne Silva –Board Member, M.S., BCBA

Adrienne, originally from Massachusetts, has been working with individuals facing challenging behaviors and various diagnoses since 2003. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, during which time she gained valuable experience at Melmark New England working with children displaying severe behavior. Leveraging this experience, she contributed to the creation of Positive Behavior Alternatives (PBA), a day program developed by Goodwill of Orange County to serve adults with severe behavioral challenges. During this time Adrienne obtained her Masters Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from California State University Los Angeles.

Currently residing in San Clemente with her husband and two children, Adrienne is deeply connected to her local community. She serves on the board of directors for the New Vista School in Laguna Hills specializing in guiding teenagers and adults with severe challenging behaviors toward brighter futures. When she’s not changing lives, she’s chasing after her two French bulldogs and living proof that a dash of grit, heart, and humor can transform challenges into evolution.

David Emerson – Board Member

David Emerson is a native Californian. He practices law in Orange County. Born in Long Beach, raised in Torrance and Palos Verdes, he attended high school in Rolling Hills.  After high school, he earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Riverside where he played Varsity baseball. After college, David worked in the aerospace and computer industries before retiring in 2003. In 2010, David decided to pursue a law degree. He planned to practice criminal defense, but at about the time he passed the California bar in 2016, he learned his grandson was Autistic.  Instead of criminal defense, he has focused his legal practice on helping families with developmentally disabled children.  David’s other interests include triathlon training (he completed 3 full Ironman competitions and many shorter triathlons), traveling, and playing the trumpet. In addition to his involvement with New Vista, for the past 7 years David has coached his grandson’s Spirit League soccer and basketball teams.

Katherine Contreras – Board Member

Katherine is a lawyer focusing on real estate and land use. She is also the founder of The Resourceful Lawyer, a consulting firm that works with law firms to achieve gender equity. She writes and speaks on designing fair and equitable workplaces. A life-long learner, Katherine is a certified facilitator, has a certificate in design thinking, and holds the PMP designation for project management.

Johnson King

Johnson was born and raised in Oklahoma City, OK, graduated from Pepperdine University in 2011 with a degree in Economics. After college, he began in sales at the Tuttle-Click Automotive Group and has been there ever since, currently serving as General Manager.