The Board of Trustees is delighted to announce the naming of three new Trustees to the Board, who begin their term on July 1, 2019. Each has shown leadership in our community, and we are grateful for their commitment to PKS, and for their time and expertise, as we continue growing our school together.
Emma Cocks
Emma served as in-house counsel for a federal agency for over a decade and then moved to the client side where she works on the acquisition of all things real estate portfolio related, whether A/E services, capital construction, repair and alteration, or maintenance. She also acquires and disposes of federal real estate. Saving money for the taxpayer drives her work life, but what Emma loves is her family and her friends. Emma and her husband Rob joined the PKS community in the fall of 2013 when their daughter Charlie entered the preschool as a toddling two year old. Their circle of friends has been expanding ever since. Emma and Rob, with barely passable Franglish and Spanglish skills respectively, are constantly amazed by the Mandarin chatter that comes from the backseat during carpool.
Emma has been a room parent three times, given many an admissions tour, and chaperoned multiple field trips over the years at PKS. Most recently, she served as the Communications Chair for the Parent Association. Emma and Rob moved to San Francisco from Atlanta in 2000 and live in Noe Valley. She still longs for the warm nights of the South. Emma holds a JD from Golden Gate University and a BS in Biology from Emory University.
Mark Roche
Mark Roche and his wife Kirsten have two children at PKS, with a third hoping to join his big brother and sister soon. Mark grew up in upstate New York, studied Chinese while at Middlebury College, and spent time living in Harbin, Tsingtao, and Beijing, China before going to law school. Mark received his law degree from Georgetown and moved to San Francisco in 2006.
Mark is a partner at Baker McKenzie where he focuses on corporate tax and white collar disputes. He also co-chairs the firm’s California pro bono program, where his practice ranges from advocacy on behalf children in special education matters to appellate advocacy before the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. Mark and Kirsten have been active members of the PKS community since 2014. They live with their three kids and over-sized dog in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond.
Rob Tsai
Robert and his family have been happy members of the Presidio Knolls School community since 2012, where he has been a room parent and boys' soccer coach.
Outside of PKS, Rob works as a software engineer, having worked in storage, internet, mobile payments, medical devices, and autonomous vehicles. Robert arrives at PKS and San Francisco by way of Pennsylvania and Louisiana; he holds a B.A. from Harvard College and M.Eng. from Cornell University.