Board of Trustees

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be held at FACT Charter School: 1023 Callowhill Street/Philadelphia, PA 19123

FACTS Board Agenda September 17, 2025

The FACT Charter School Board of Trustees meets the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm. All Board meetings are open to the public. Members of the public are invited to speak at Board Meetings during the Public Comment section of the meeting. No advanced registration is required in order to speak during the Public Comment period of Board meetings.

To request interpretation at an upcoming Board meeting, please call the FACTS front office at 215-569-2600. Please make your request at least ten days in advance if possible.

民艺特许学校（FACTS）董事会在每个月的第三个星期三下午 6点30半举行会议。所有董事会会议均向公众开放。在会议的公众评论环节，董事会邀请公众发言。在会议的公众评论环节发言无需提前登记。

如果您需要在接下来的董事会会议中为您安排翻译，请拨打215-569-2600致电FACTS前台。如果可以的话，请提前至少十天联系告知您需要口译。

Yayasan Sekolah FACTS rapat di minggu ketiga hari Rabu setiap bulan jam 6:30 pm. Rapat yayasan dibuka untuk umum. Anggota umum boleh berbicara saat rapat yayasan di bagian Public comment saat rapat berlangsung.Registrasi awal tidak dibutuhkan untuk berbicara saat Rapat yayasan di sesi komentar umum.

Untuk meminta penerjemah di rapat yayasan yang akan datang harap hubungi kantor sekolah di 215 569 2600. Harap beritahu kantor sekolah 10 hari sebelum rapat.

La Mesa Directiva de FACT Charter School se reúne el tercer miércoles de cada mes a las 6:30 pm. Todas las reuniones de la Junta están abiertas al público. Los miembros del público están invitados a hablar en las reuniones de la Junta durante la sección de comentarios públicos de la reunión. No es necesario registrarse por adelantado para hablar durante el período de comentario público de las reuniones de la Junta.

Para solicitar interpretación en una próxima reunión de la Junta, llame a la oficina principal de FACTS al 215-569-2600. Si es posible, haga su solicitud con al menos diez días de anticipación.

ABOUT OUR BOARD MEMBERS:

Pooja Agarwal, Governance Committee (Policy), Board Member since 2018

Pooja sought a role on the board of FACTS to further her support for the immigrant and refugee communities of Philadelphia who make up a large part of the FACTS family. Pooja Agarwal is an attorney in Philadelphia. While currently practicing in the corporate world, she has over 13 years of experience in immigration law, primarily working with people seeking asylum in the United States on a pro bono basis. Since 2009, Pooja has worked as volunteer attorney at HIAS PA, a local non-profit dedicated to immigration legal services and refugee resettlement in Philadelphia. She has a B.A. in economics-philosophy from Columbia University and law degrees from Brooklyn Law School and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Law.

Frank Chism, Development Committee, Board Member since 2024

Frank values differences in culture, traditions, languages, viewpoints and methods of self expression, and believes strongly that students of all communities, regardless of resources, deserve high quality educational opportunities. Frank works at Vanguard and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He’s lived in Philadelphia for over 20 years, and his children attended public, charter, and private schools throughout their educational journey. Frank lives in the Mount Airy neighborhood with his wife and dog. Frank also serves as a board member for Father Joseph Network USA, a non-profit created in 2021 to raise funds and bring technical and logistical assistance to a network of non-profits in Haiti.

Jeff Koung, Development Committee, Board Member since 2022

Jeff is committed to FACTS and its mission to serve students of diverse backgrounds and build a more equitable future for everyone. As a first generation Asian American, Jeff’s experiences growing up in Philadelphia have shaped his values and passions. Jeff recognizes that everyone does not have the same opportunities – this is especially true for people of color, immigrants, and refugees due to language barriers, cultural differences, and racial biases. This difference in equity is the driving force of Jeff’s passion to help marginalized people by creating a more equitable future for everyone. Jeff is an analytics and strategy professional at PwC based in Philadelphia and has over 10 years of experience using data to drive fact-based decision making. Jeff also serves as the community impact lead for the Pan Asian Community Inclusion Network at PwC where he works to connect volunteers with local non-profits

Alison Lin, Development Committee, Board Member since 2023

Alison is committed to FACTS mission and approach to integrating arts and cultural rituals into students’ educational experience. Alison supports leaders in authentic collaborations to transform people and systems toward love, dignity and justice. She is a coach and senior consultant with Change Elemental. As a certified coach, Alison partners with clients to take values-rooted action in the direction of their dreams. Alison shares with FACTS board her skill for collaborative design and facilitation and experience in organizational development. Alison graduated with honors from Hamilton College with a BA in Chemistry and Columbia University with her Masters in Public Health. She recently completed training in neurosomatic intelligence.

Xu Lin, Board Vice Chair, Governance Committee (Nominations), Board Member since 2019

Xu Lin dreamed of a school like FACTS for his peers and himself when he immigrated to America and entered a Philadelphia public school. He experienced first hand how lack of funding and advocacy disproportionately affected immigrant and racial minority students. Following high school, Xu became a community organizer and youth organizer who worked in the Philadelphia Chinese community on a variety of issues: affordable housing, race relations, school violence, and public education. Xu is currently a business owner and a proud father of two.

Neeta Patel, Board Treasurer, Finance Committee, Board Member since 2016

As one of FACTS Founders, Neeta is deeply committed to its mission and values the role folk arts plays in fostering a caring community that encompasses multiple languages, cultures, and generations; in nurturing creativity; and in honing academic skills in service towards building a more fair and peaceful world. She also brings hands-on experience, having served as FACTS’s inaugural Operations Officer where she developed and directed FACTS non-instructional programs. Neeta currently works as a consultant and has over three decades of experience working with Philadelphia’s refugee and immigrant communities as an administrator, advocate, educator, fundraiser, and organizer in various organizations including Asian Americans United, one of FACTS founding organizations. She earned a BA from Haverford College, and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Thierry Elin-Saintine, Board Chair, Governance Committee (Policy), Board Member since 2020

Thierry is excited to be a member of the FACTS family and be a part of the school’s fight to make “belonging” an integral part of its mission and philosophy of education. Thierry is an assistant professor of mathematics and First-Year Studies program at Stockton University. He teaches courses on quantitative reasoning, algebraic modeling, and academic identity construction. His research focuses on identity as belonging, mathematics education, urban education, and clinical empathy. Whether learning about housing inequity from homeless Philadelphians at a public library, or studying the meaning of clinical empathy from people living with dementia, or exploring the pervasiveness and depths of institutional racism in mathematics education, I have been fortunate to be part of budding movements in educational research (and the social sciences) helping to rewrite America’s social imaginary–the range of possible identities available to certain groups in this country. I hope to continue this work as a member of the FACTS community.

Mohan Seshadri, Board Member, Board Member since 2025

Mohan is committed to FACTS because he shares the school’s mission of building a just and equitable future within and for Asian and immigrant communities, rooted in a love for our cultures and traditions. Mohan is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance and the Asian American Community Fund of PA, PA’s statewide Asian American civil rights advocacy and civic empowerment organizations. He is a founder and board member of the Asian American Power Network, the national coalition of state-based Asian American political organizations. Previously, Mohan managed political work for Planned Parenthood PA and served as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. He has co-founded multiple community organizations across Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and the AAPI PA Power Caucus, PA’s statewide Asian American civic engagement coalition. In 2024, he was honored to receive a Pennsylvania Impact Award, awarded annually to Pennsylvanians transforming their communities and the commonwealth for the greater good.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES CONTACT INFORMATION

1023 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

Thierry Saintine, Chair: thierry@board.factschool.org

Xu Lin, Vice Chair: xulin@board.factschool.org

Neeta Patel, Treasurer: neeta@board.factschool.org

Alison Lin, Secretary: alison@board.factschool.org

Pooja Agarwal: pooja@board.factschool.org

Frank Chism: frank@board.factschool.org

Jeffrey Koung: jeff@board.factschool.org

Mohan Seshadri: mohan@board.factschool.org

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING SCHEDULE, 2025-26

The Board will meet the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm. Meeting dates are:

July 16, 2025 (virtual); August 20, 2025 (virtual); September 17, 2025 (in person); October 15, 2025 (virtual); November 19, 2025 (in person); December 17, 2025 (virtual); January 21, 2026 (in person); February 18, 2026 (virtual); March 18, 2026 (in person); April 15, 2026 (virtual); May 20, 2026 (in person); June 17, 2026 (virtual)

All in person meetings will take place at 1023 Callowhill Street/Philadelphia, PA 19123.

All virtual meetings will take place on Zoom: Zoom Link. Passcode: FACTS (if required)

Committee Meetings: Please call 215-569-2600 to get the zoom link for committee meetings and to verify that a committee meeting is occurring.

The Policy Committee will meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 10:00 am via Zoom.
The Nominations Committeee will meet on the third Monday of every month at 10:00 am via Zoom.
The Development Committee will meet on the first Monday of every month at 12:00 noon via Zoom.
The Finance Committee will meet on the Thursday of the week prior to the Board meeting at 12:30 pm via Zoom.

Members of the public are invited to attend all FACTS Board of Trustees meetings.