Mark Stuart was elected to the school board in November 2013. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism. His career in Public Relations has afforded him the opportunity to work with local, national, and international media, as well as elected and non-elected government officials and their staffs on issues vital to the well being of our nation. He has facilitated collaboration between business, professional organizations, and community groups for the common good. Mr. Stuart, a life loyal Sigma Chi, currently works as an issue management and media relations consultant.

As the father of two sons who have attended four different LWSD schools, Mr. Stuart has taken the time to volunteer within those schools. He enjoys getting to know district personnel and seeing them in action. Mr. Stuart and his wife are respected as strong advocates for inclusion, multi-modal strategies, and providing students with the tools necessary to benefit from their instruction. The Stuart family appreciates the benefits of diversity in education as veterans of both public and private preschools and charter schools serving students of all abilities.

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Siri Bliesner was elected to the school board in November 2011. Bliesner works in public health. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in human biology. Ms. Bliesner received a Master’s in public health from the University of Washington. She speaks Spanish and currently works for Hopelink as the outcome and evaluation coordinator.

Originally from the Seattle area, Ms. Bliesner and her husband, David Cline, have two children. Samara attends Redmond High School and Josiah attends Redmond Junior High. For the past 10 years, Ms. Bliesner has volunteered in her children’s schools. Ms. Bliesner helped implement after-school activities including chess club, math club, Lego league robotics and school musical productions at Rockwell Elementary. She received a Golden Acorn Award from the Rockwell PTA for her work. Ms. Bliesner is also a founding board member of the Lake Washington Schools Foundation. She developed their classroom grant program.

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Christopher Carlson, Ph.D., was elected to the school board in November 2007. He is a faculty member in the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Division of Public Health Sciences. His lab focuses on identifying correlations between genetic variation and disease risk for cancer, diabetes, and other common diseases, then identifying the biological mechanism responsible. Dr. Carlson is also an affiliate assistant professor with the University of Washington School of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology. He holds a B.A. in molecular biology from Pomona College. His Ph.D. is in genetics from Stanford University.

Dr. Carlson has been an active member of the Lakeview Elementary School PTSA. He has been a participant in state PTA efforts for math and science education reform. He is also a member of the Washington State Board of Education K-12 Mathematics Standards Advisory Panel. He serves on the SBE K-12 Science Standards Advisory Panel. He coaches soccer in the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association and is an avid skier/snowboarder. He lives in Kirkland with his wife and three sons.

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Leah Choi was elected to the board in November 2021. She graduated from the University of Denver with degrees in Molecular Biology and Chemistry and pursued a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. She moved to Washington with her husband and began a career in financial planning at Nordstrom while her husband completed his medical training at the University of Washington. They moved to the Eastside when they welcomed their first child and now have two young kids who will be entering LWSD schools in the next couple years. Ms. Choi is passionate about education and excited to apply her diverse background and unique perspective to further the success of the district and the students it serves.

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