Board of Directors

Bob St. Germain, President

Bob St. Germain originally from Springfield, MA, graduated from both the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS degree in General Engineering and Harvard University with an MBA degree in General Management. After service in the U.S. Army, he went on to management roles at Polaroid Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Holophane Corporation, and NSI, Inc. before leaving to pursue a career in investment banking. He is currently Managing Director and Principal with Corporate Finance Associates where he runs its Columbus, OH office and provides merger and acquisition advisory services to privately held companies in the middle market. Bob resides in Gahanna with his wife Judy.

Shawn Parker, Vice President

Shawn Parker is a lifelong resident of Columbus and is the founder of his own real estate and asset management firm. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where he has also completed graduate coursework at the Fisher College of Business. Shawn previously served as an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 117 of the Boy Scouts of America and is a current member of the Knights of Columbus and a volunteer Director of Ohio State’s Delta Chi House Corporation.

Michele Coldiron

Michele Coldiron was born and raised in western Canada. She traveled to New York in 1976 for a PhD in Systematics and Evolution—leaving the next year for California with an en route Masters in Science from the City Univ. of New York. She earned a Masters in education from Stanford U, and taught in public and private schools at the junior and senior high school level. She later co-founded the non-profit Creative Catholic Works. Mother of four with three grandchildren, in 2020 Michele and her husband moved to Ohio to be closer to their youngest daughter.

Greg Lawson

Greg Lawson is a research fellow at an independent research and educational nonprofit institution in Columbus, where he is an expert in Ohio’s state budget, state and local taxes, and education policy and funding, among other areas. He previously served on two Columbus-based community (charter) school boards, is the author of numerous white papers and reports, and has been published in Ohio’s major newspapers and in national publications, including Forbes. Greg lives in Westerville with his wife and their three, school-age children.

Carol O’Brien

Carol O’Brien was born and raised in Maumee. Carol graduated with a law degree from University of Toledo College of Law. Now working as Deputy Attorney General for Law Enforcement in the State Attorney General’s office, Carol previously served as the elected Delaware County prosecutor. Over the course of her career, she has been an assistant prosecutor in Franklin County and has held various positions in both the Civil and the Criminal Division of the state of Ohio as well as roles with the Ohio State University College of Law. She resides in Delaware, OH with her husband. She has three sons, a stepson, and six grandchildren.

How We Started

Our Founding

In late 2020, a number of people interested in promoting classical education opportunities for central Ohio youth began meeting and discussing methods and plans for accomplishing their vision. In the summer of 2021, the Founder’s Group, as they came to be known, submitted an application for approval to Hillsdale College Barney Charter School Initiative, and in September of the same year the application was approved.