Anneli Harvey

BA, MA (Oxon), MA (USur), PGCE (Inst Ed)

Interim Head of School, Director of Teaching, Learning & Professional Growth

Having completed a master’s degree in French and German at Somerville College, Oxford, followed by a PGCE at the Institute of Education, Anneli Harvey taught for 13 years in inner London and began writing textbooks in French and German. She ran a large department in an inner London school which earned a grant to become a ‘Language College.’ Anneli was a regular presenter for the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research and was involved with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and various local authorities in the UK, consulting on best practice in language teaching.

In 2000, Anneli, who has over 30 publications to her name, left the classroom to focus specifically on writing and consultancy. She and her family moved to Los Angeles in 2008. After serving on the School’s Board of Trustees for several years, she became Burbank Campus Director in 2013. In 2023, Anneli assumed the position of Director of Teaching, Learning & Professional Growth. In 2024, she was appointed LILA’s interim Head of School, while continuing her commitment to serving as Director of Teaching, Learning & Professional Growth.

Anneli holds a second master’s in 20th century French cultural studies from the University of Surrey and a Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Mathieu Mondange

Licence géographie, science de l’éducation (Paris I), CAPE (Versailles)

Assistant Head of School for French Affairs PS-12 & Burbank Campus Director

For over 10 years, Mathieu Mondange has played a central role on the School’s faculty/staff team. His experience as an educator both in France and in the US, combined with his classroom and management roles across the School’s four LA-area campuses, has made him invaluable when it comes to understanding the needs of our diverse community.

A graduate of the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne, Mathieu spent three years teaching and managing international student programs in France before arriving in Los Angeles in 2008. He began his journey with the School as an elementary teacher at our West Valley campus from 2008-2013. Shortly thereafter, he joined the School’s first team of Academic Coordinators. In this position, he served the Pasadena campus from 2014-2015 before moving to the Los Feliz campus from 2015-2016. During this time, Mathieu also took on the role of WASC Coordinator. In time for the 2016-2017 school year, he arrived at the Burbank campus as Assistant Campus Director. Continuing his growth with the School, Mathieu stepped into the role of Middle School Principal & Representative for French Affairs in summer 2018. Starting in 2023, Mathieu took on his current role as Burbank Campus Director. In 2024, Mathieu also took on the role of Assistant Head of School for French Affairs PS-12.

Sarah Koa

BA (UCSC), MA (USC), ECEC

Los Feliz Campus Director

Sarah Koa embarked on her educational career in a special education elementary classroom, fostering a dedication to nurturing inclusive and innovative learning environments. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Santa Cruz, with a focus on social justice, and a Master of Arts in teaching from the University of Southern California. Sarah also attained the highest level of certification in Early Childhood Education in 2016.

Joining the LILA community in 2009 as an elementary teacher, Sarah progressed to Assistant Director before undertaking the initiative of establishing and managing the Early Learning Center in 2017. In this capacity, she served as Program Director while also holding the position of Associate Director at the Los Feliz Main Campus. In 2019, Sarah was selected to participate in the Columbia College Klingenstein Center FORGE Leadership Program and has completed further studies with an Advanced Education Leadership course at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In May 2024, Sarah took on her current role as Los Feliz Campus Director.

Benoît Forner

M. Ed Educational Leadership (UNO), CAPE (Besançon), CAPA-SH (Besançon)

Pasadena Campus Director

A native of Gevrey-Chambertin, France, Benoît became an educator in Special Education in 2006 after a few years working in Logistics and Transport. In 2010, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana where he taught 2nd grade and 4th grade in a Public French Immersion Program. At the same time, he completed his Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership at the University of New Orleans. He joined the Ecole Bilingue of New Orleans in 2019 where he served as the Elementary and Middle School Academic Director.

Benoît joined LILA in August 2022 as the Pasadena Campus Director. He is happy to continue organizing the annual three-day camping trip to Joshua Tree that the Pasadena campus community has been enjoying for more than a decade.

Vincent Wiemann

BA (Bretagne Occidentale), PGCE (Exeter), MA (Angers)

West Valley Campus Director

A native from Brittany, France, Vincent has a rich and diverse educational background. He was trained as an Educator at the University of Exeter and gained valuable experience in both the French and American educational systems over the years. He holds a B.A. in American and British Literature, Linguistics & Civilization from the Université of Bretagne Occidentale and a Master’s Degree in French Education from the University of Angers. In addition, Vincent earned certification in special education with TNTP, broadening his pedagogical approach to emphasize inclusiveness and equity for students most at risk.

After several years of teaching French in the UK, Vincent moved to Louisiana in 2013 where he taught French in an elementary public school. In 2016, he joined Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans as an academic interventionist and special education teacher, eventually advancing to a leadership role. During his tenure, Vincent played a crucial role in training teachers in the implementation of academic strategies to support students with exceptionalities. He introduced innovative frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning and co-teaching models. The last couple of years, Vincent served as the Dean of Students and Head of Pastoral Care at Collège Français Bilingue de Londres. During his time there, he took great pride in contributing to the holistic development of students as global citizens. One of his most rewarding accomplishments was leading the Student Eco Green Council, which included organizing a trip to Dublin and the first mini-COP conference in collaboration with other European schools.

In the summer of 2024, Vincent and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he stepped into the role of West Valley Campus Director. With his three children also attending LILA, Vincent is excited to continue fostering the growth of our vibrant school community.

John Fleck

BS (UOre)

CFO

John Fleck holds degrees in both marketing and finance from the University of Oregon. He moved to Los Angeles in 1986 where he started his finance career in the entertainment industry.

John has been part of our school community since 1997, when the older of his two daughters started preschool at the Los Feliz campus. In 1998, he attended his first PA meeting and was quickly elected President. After establishing a strong parent volunteer community, John was invited to join the School’s Board of Trustees in 2001; he served as Treasurer until 2010. John has held the role of CFO since 2003.

In 2015, John earned the CFO of the Year award from the San Fernando Valley Business Journal for his work associated with the School’s first-ever campus purchase. This two-year project required a combination of financial, political, and planning skills, and through sound budgeting practices, John was able to lead the transformation of the purchased property from a five-acre General Motors facility into a usable middle and high school campus. The project was not only delivered on time but within budget for the start of the 2013-2014 school year at Burbank.

Leslie Galerne ’97

BA (USC), CFRE

Director of Advancement

Leslie Galerne ‘97 is a LILA alumna who has more than 20 years of experience in the communications and public relations field. Having worked at top PR agencies as well as in-house, she has leveraged these skills to take on the Annual Fund and alumni relations for LILA since 2017. She spent that time building community while promoting understanding of, and growing support for, the Annual Fund. In 2021, she took on the role of Director of Advancement, overseeing development, marketing and communications, events, and volunteer management.

Leslie holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Southern California as well as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) certification.

Juliette Lange

BA (ULond), MA (UBirm), MEd (OpenU)

Director of Admissions

Juliette Lange joined the School in 2009, bringing with her 25 years of teaching experience and a passion for bilingual education and linguistics. After serving as Admissions Coordinator for the Los Feliz campus for several years, Juliette took on the role of school-wide Director of Admissions in 2013.

Growing up, she attended the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Lycée Français de Stockholm. Juliette is also a parent at the School; three of her four children have studied here. Having been both a student and a parent at a multitude of French and international schools, Juliette understands firsthand the unique experience that the School offers to its students.

Juliette holds a master’s in education from The Open University as well as a master’s in applied linguistics from Birmingham University.

Stéphane Tixier

MA (ESIEE-IT Paris), CESA (HEC Paris)

IT Director

A native of Paris, France, Stéphane Tixier has more than 25 years of experience in IT Infrastructure and Services working for international companies. In 2015, during his tenure as the director of IT Operations at Hewlett-Packard, he and his family moved to Los Angeles where he quickly became involved in the school community as the Los Feliz PA Treasurer in 2016.

In 2017, Stéphane took over LILA’s IT Director role. Since joining, he and his team have spearheaded important initiatives in the life of the School. Namely, in March 2020, they were instrumental in developing a fully remote learning model allowing the School to pivot to e-learning in the span of one weekend. To ensure the success of LILA’s e-learning program, the team offered support to teachers, students and parents for the duration of the year-long school closures. Under his leadership, technology at LILA has been transformed with initiatives such as the development and implementation of the 1:1 Chromebooks program for 2^nd to 9^th grades, the use of Google Classroom throughout the School, as well as the digital interactive whiteboard.

Stéphane holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) from ESIEE-IT Paris as well as an Executive Certificate (CESA) in Management from HEC Paris.

Mort Haidarbaghi

BSc(Hons), MSc (Eng), MSc (Law), CEng

COO

Mort Haidarbaghi first joined the LILA community as a parent in 2007 following his move to Los Angeles from London, UK, with a commitment to continue with the French bilingual education of his four children, three of whom graduated from LILA.

Mort started his career as a chartered structural engineer in the UK. He then moved into business operations and management, contract law, quality management systems,  and project and risk management.

Mort has a Master’s in structural engineering from the City University, London and a Master’s in Law from King’s College, London.

Mort brought with him a diverse and extensive experience gained over 25 years in company operations management as well as through leading the delivery of major multi-disciplinary construction projects worldwide such as the BBC Media Village Development including the BBC’s new broadcasting center. Mort also designed and led the delivery of the London ExCel Exhibition Centre Development which turned into the British Government’s NHS Nightingale Hospital during COVID.

In 2012 acting as an independent management consultant for LILA he successfully delivered the construction of the Burbank Campus and provided management consultancy services to the school. He then formally joined LILA in 2014 as the Chief Operating Officer of the school.

Dr. Alisha Jean-Denis

PhD (UMASS Amherst) MA (Fairfield University)

Dean of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

In 2024, Dr. Alisha Jean-Denis (she/her) joined LILA as Dean of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Dr. Alisha Jean-Denis is a mother, scholar-activist who is passionate about education equity and justice. As a Senior Director and philanthropic strategist, Alisha has worked in schools, Early childhood settings, non-profit organizations, private foundations, and institutions of higher education, expanding the intergenerational wisdom of Black Feminist theorists who believe that transformative pedagogical spaces for PK-12 youth are indeed possible.

With over 20 + years of organizational leadership and development, a PhD in Social Justice Education and programmatic experiences in various lived contexts utilizing multi-interdisciplinary approaches to reimagine social justice praxis in PK-12 schooling experiences. Dr. Alisha’s early intervention work with social-emotional learning began at while working for Yale University’s Urban Prevention and Policy Research GEAR UP program. As a cultural storyteller, she has traveled to more than 30 countries and loves spending time with her husband Dr. Howard Jean-Denis, and her three children Jayla (17), Yara Bleu (6, a student at West Valley campus) and Hayden (10). Dr. Alisha continues to draw from the wells of her late mother and late grandmother who believed in high quality education and service to all humanity.

Rebecca Wilkins

B.S.Ed. (UCO)

Director of Los Feliz Early Learning Center

Rebecca joined LILA as the STEM teacher at the Los Feliz Campus in 2017, bringing with her experience in both classroom teaching and educational technology.

Rebecca began her career in education teaching second grade in Oklahoma City Public Schools. Driven by a passion for exploration and lifelong learning, she took a sabbatical, gaining valuable insights into different cultures and educational systems. This global perspective has enriched her approach to teaching and leadership.

Just before joining LILA, Rebecca worked for an educational technology company, where she presented at educational conferences and worked with teachers to implement hands-on science in the classroom.

Rebecca is passionate about creating engaging, inclusive, and nurturing learning environments that inspire young minds to explore and discover.