Board
Thomas Kreibich
Having German parents who came to the US many years ago, Mr. Kreibich attended a German language school in NY after school throughout his childhood. He has been on the board for the last 5 years and has children attending classes for the past 6 years. Besides serving on the GLSW board, he is a dedicated neurologist, loves the Christmas markets in Germany during Christmas time and enjoys cycling.
Marco Ziegler
A German native traveling to the states in his twenties, Mr. Ziegler has been part of the GLSW for 3 years. His pride and joy is speaking exclusively German with his children since they were born and his favorite German holiday is Christmas Eve. He is also the managing director for Accenture, a global consulting and services company that works with health and consumer products. In his spare time he is a passionate marathon runner and beginner yoga student.
Anita Rausch
A second generation German-American, Ms. Rausch has been connected to GLSW for the past 7 years and on the board since May 2020. She is a proud of her German heritage and uses much effort to teach her kids the language and culture too. With a strong background in finance, she runs the Capital Markets Group for WisdomTree (an ETF issuer) and used to be an equity trader. When not working or being a mom, she loves to travel and ski.
Harold Kaefer
Mr. Kaefer has been involved with the GLSW for a good 25 years, starting to volunteer when his children began attending the school in Kindergarten. In the early days he took responsibility for sound during the Christmas and Abschlussfeier celebrations, continually improving the quality of equipment and sound reinforcement over the years. In recent years, he has been supporting all aspects of the Information Technology needs of the school along with other board members, serving as Registrar, and providing technical and non-technical support to the teachers and principals. Even though his children graduated from the school years ago, he sees supporting the school as his way of supporting and honoring his German heritage.
Fred Donegan
An Irish native who has always had a fond love for learning the German language and culture, Mr. Donegan has been connected to GLSW for the past 19 years. He is an advocate for people of all backgrounds learning German and has had both of his children attend instruction at GLSW for 13 years where they were able to connect with some of the German heritage they have on his wife’s side of the family. He is proud of the fact that before he went on to study International Business and German at GWU, he was accepted to complete the 13th grade of a Gymnasium in Frankfurt and successfully completed the Abitur exam. Aside from serving on the Board of GLSW, he is involved with the men’s retreat at his Church, where he and his wife work with teams of people all over the world with our business in Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils. His favorite German holiday is Christmas.
Bruce Borkowski
Having been connected to GLSW for over a decade, Mr. Borowski is proud of working on things that interest him, particularly related to the German language. With his wife being the German in his family, he is a strong believer in volunteerism and helping where he can, using his expertise from the financial career. Mr. Borowski enjoys learning new things and challenging himself and has had many interests throughout his lifetime. His favorite German-related holiday is Krampusnacht, a traditional connected to St. Nikolaus day.
Andreas Rochlitz
A native German who moved to the states, he has been on the GLSW board for the past 3 years and his son has been attending GLSW for the past 12 years. Outside of GLSW, Mr. Rochlitz is the owner of Summatech Solutions, a company that designs and manufactures carrying cases and sources accessories for corporate clients, enjoys playing and watching soccer, and exploring other countries and cultures. His son recently received das Deutsche Sprachdiplom I and he maintains close contact to friends and family who still live in Germany.
Kevin Smith
Having first studied German in college, he began 4 years ago to start learning it again in his retirement. Mr. Smith worked as an attorney in public service before retirement and “love the school, so (he) joined the Board!” His favorite German holiday is Christmas (Weihnachten) and he loves to read, travel, cycle, and enjoy spending time with family and friends.
Rainer Martini
A German native with many familial ties to Germany still, Mr. Martini recently joining the GLSW community in fall of 2018. Graduating from RWTH Aachen with an Dr.rer.nat. and having a life-time career in higher education, he hopes to “give some helpful insight into newer pedagogy concepts as well as school administration”. He has been researching at Bell Labs and Stevens Institute of Technology since 1999 and is most proud of his family, children and his university students. His favorite German holidays are Karneval and Christmas and he enjoys rowing, singing, traveling and playing golf in his spare time.
Stefan Kies
A native swabian German and avid Stuttgarter soccer fan, he has been connected to the GLSW for 3 years now and joined the board in May 2020. Having family still in Germany and his kids enrolled in classes at the school, he hopes to do his best in helping GLSW be as “fit” as possible for this upcoming schoolyear. Outside of GLSW, he works in IT, loves climbing and skiing and favorite German holiday is New Year’s Eve (Silvester).
OUR BOARD
OUR PURPOSE IS TO... “engage in, assist, and contribute to the education of students interested in the German language and culture” (Art. 1,§ 3).
GLSW is an amazing community of children, parents, adults, students and teachers that share the passion not only for learning the German language but also create a community to experience and maintain the German culture. I like to give me ideas and capacity to make it an even better place for the generations to come.
GLSW President
Thomas Kreibich
GLSW has created a great German community for the entire family and my kids enjoy learning German in small group settings, but we mostly enjoy the connection to the German culture and celebrating many of the German festivals.