Board of Directors

Zach Mallahan

Board chairman

Zach Mallahan was born in Bellingham, Washington and moved to Spokane 14 years ago. He and his wife, Cheri, have been married for 15 years and have six boys. He graduated from Western Washington University in 2003 with a degree in Management Information Systems and a minor in accounting. He currently works in Software Development at Avista Utilities. Zach serves as a member of the Catholic Foundation Board, the Diocesan Finance Council, and the Finance Council for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. He is the Production Coordinator for the annual Steubenville Northwest Youth Conference and he and his wife are the current local leaders for the Spokane Engaged Encounter chapter.

Richard Black

Board Vice Chairman

Rich and his wife Jill have been married for 37 years and have 11 children and 8 grandchildren. They moved from Seattle to Spokane in 2020 so that their daughter could attend Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame in its inaugural year, and two will attend this fall. Rich has practiced law for 30 years. He has experience with all aspects of intellectual property and has represented clients of all sizes worldwide in multiple technologies and industries. Rich has degrees from University of Chicago Law School and University of Washington. He eventually founded and ran his own firm before merging with Foster Garvey, P.C. where he currently chairs their patent/IP group and practices out of their Spokane office. Rich has served on several non-profit Boards including for Healing the Culture, Birthright of Washington, Seattle Chesterton Society and Montlake Foundation. Rich and Jill are elated their daughters are at Chesterton and are grateful for the opportunity to serve on the Board.

Kathleen Kittilstved

Board Secretary

Kathleen is a homeschooling mother of five who is excited to assist the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame Board in raising a generation of joyful leaders and saints. She graduated with a B.Ed. from Gonzaga University and is also a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant working on-call at St. Luke’s Rehab. Our Lady of Lourdes is her family’s home parish and she taught science at a local Catholic co-op for 12 years.

Tom Gresch

Board Member

Tom and family have roots in Eastern Washington and Otis Orchards, going back to the 1970’s. He and wife, Gina, of twenty six years, have raised and homeschooled five children and been parishioners in the Diocese of Spokane during that time. Tom had a successful thirty-plus year career in educational leadership where he coached, taught, consulted, and led many educational successes in area school districts. His family’s Catholic faith drew them to support the ideals of a joyfully Catholic, Classical Chesterton Academy here in the greater Spokane area. Tom is grateful and honored to represent all involved in the Chesterton community. He is Director of Operations at Wake Up Call Coffee and is looking forward to serving the students, families, and friends of the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame.

Josh Conway

Board Member

Josh Conway is the proud father of five boys with his amazing wife, Jennifer. Josh graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science in exercise science in 2000. He completed the Accelerated Nursing Program at Creighton University in 2002, a program in which he was able to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as well as the interest of his future wife. Josh worked as an ICU nurse until returning to Creighton University to attend the School of Dentistry. Upon graduation in 2010, he entered active duty with the US Air Force, completing an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at Eglin AFB, FL. Josh transferred to the Washington Air National Guard in 2014 and moved his family to Spokane. He took over a private dental practice in Spokane Valley, where he continues to practice. The Conways are active parishioners of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. They are a founding family of the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame and will have three students attending this year.

Mike Sanborn

Board Member

A lifelong Catholic, husband and father of five children, I have grown to appreciate the wit and wisdom of GK Chesterton in recent years. The opportunity to participate in the establishment of CAND and now to be a part of the Board, I continue to see the real blessing the school is for my own children and those of so many other local, Catholic families.

Connie Smith

Board Member

Connie Smith is an educator with teaching experience spanning nearly four decades. She has taught in private, public, and parochial schools, at the elementary, middle school and college levels, and at schools both stateside and abroad. She has also homeschooled, tutored, founded inner-city ministries, led adult Faith formation groups, and taught Religious Education for nearly 30 years. Her husband, Ron, retired in 2019 from a 30-year Army career as a physician. This brought her family to Spokane and to St. Charles Parish and School, where she currently teaches Middle School Religion. Connie has embraced the Catholic, Liberal Arts model of education and feels truly blessed to be teaching at St. Charles and involved in Chesterton Academy where the Faith is woven into every aspect of study. Connie and Ron have five children: three, grown daughters and two sons—one in college and one at CAND.

Therese O’Rourk

Board Member

Therese O’Rourk is a third-generation Spokanite who attended St. Aloysius and Gonzaga Preparatory School. She earned her undergraduate degree in Speech and Hearing Science with a focus on child developmental psychology from Marquette University, and her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from the University of Washington. Therese worked as a speech-language pathologist in both acute care and public-school settings before choosing to stay home to raise the four children she shares with her late husband, Brian O’Rourk.

Therese and Brian first encountered the beauty of classical education through the work and sacrifice of extended family involved with Our Lady of the Rosary Academy in Spokane. As their eldest child neared school age, they began a focused search for an authentically Catholic classical education for their own children. Becoming a founding family—and Brian an inaugural board member—of Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame and enrolling their two youngest children at St. Charles and CAND, was a long-awaited answer to prayer.

Therese's son Charlie will graduate in 2025, and son James is a rising sophomore. Therese is humbled and honored to join the board, continuing the faithful service of her husband Brian, and of the many board members, administrators, faculty, and families who have poured themselves out for the growth and longevity of the essential mission of this school.

Carrie Anderson

Board Member

Carrie Anderson and her husband Bill moved to Spokane in 2018 from Mercer Island, Washington to begin a new adventure. Their children and growing families, including 4 grandchildren, converged in Eastern Washington and together they have founded StoutHeart Distillery where Carrie is Creative Director. She graduated WSU with degrees in Education and Art and has taught at multiple levels in public and Catholic schools. She has served on several Catholic school and pastoral councils and has led scripture studies and formation programs over the span of 20 years. Carrie worked for the Office of Faith Formation at St. Monica Parish on Mercer Island and assisted in transitioning St. Monica Catholic School to a Classical model. She and her husband currently serve as assistants to the Spokane Diocesan Office of Spiritual Healing, as well as marriage mentors and leaders for small groups at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. Carrie is thrilled to participate in the Classical revolution that is spreading the Kingdom of God and turning hearts back to Him.

Matthew Ries

Board Member

Matt Ries and his wife, Alicia, are parishioners at St. Charles Catholic Church.  Matt and Alicia are originally from Montana, and they met while attending Carroll College.  Matt went on to attend Gonzaga University, where he graduated from law school in 1999.   Matt is an attorney who has been in practice for over twenty-five years in Spokane.  He is a Partner of the law firm of Stamper Rubens, PS, where he has worked since 2002.  His practice primarily focuses on construction law, real estate, and business litigation matters in Washington and Idaho.  

Matt and Alicia are parents of six children.  Three children attend St. Charles Catholic School.  Their daughter graduated from Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame in 2024, and is attending Carroll College with her older sister.  They have a daughter that will be enrolling as a freshman at Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame in the fall of 2025.

Matt is active in the St. Charles Parish and serves on the building committee and on the Finance Council.  He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus at the Parish.   Having served on a number of non-profit boards in the community, he looks forward to working with the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame Board of Trustees to contribute to the advancement of the school.

Fr. Darrin Connall

Diocesan Liaison

Father Darrin Connall is a priest of the Diocese of Spokane who currently serves as Rector of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes and Vicar General. Father Connall is one of the Founders of Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame because his involvement in our school from the very beginning. He has served as Chaplain for the school and currently serves as the Diocesan Liaison on the Chesterton Board of Directors.