Discovery School Board of Directors

Corinne Shepheard - Chair (6th year, 16th on the Board)

Ms. Shepheard negotiated aboriginal land claims on behalf of the province of British Columbia for 23 years. Prior to that, she spent 8 years working on provincial policy responses to aboriginal rights and title litigation, and developing provincial mandates for treaty negotiation on a wide variety of land management and natural resource topics. She has a degree in Journalism, and has worked as a journalist, an advertising buyer and a production manager for two multi-national advertising firms, and as a management consultant.


Dr. Cory Herrera - Chair Emeritus (6th year)

Dr. Herrera negotiated agreements with Aboriginal people on behalf of the province of British Columbia 1993 until retiring. She has been on the Board of Discovery School Society since 2001, serving as chair since 2002. She also serves as “people’s warden” for the parish of St. Matthias Church in Victoria. Her experience in public policy (dealing with issues spanning the full range of social and economic topics) dates from 1983 and includes work for the C.D. Howe Institute, as well as central government agencies in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. From 1998-2001, she chaired the Board of Directors of the Greater Victoria YM-YWCA. She earned her Ph.D. in history from Yale University and her A.B. from Stanford University.


Bob White – Maintenance (9th year)

Mr. White is retired from owning, managing and operating a home health care facility. He brings to the Board his experience and professional expertise in management of a business and maintenance of a facility.


Tiffany Holmes - Member at Large (7th year)

For 20 years Mrs. Holmes worked for the Saanich Police as a 911/Police Dispatcher and Supervisor. Two years ago she transitioned to Ecomm same capacity (911/Police Dispatch/Supervisor) and Mrs. Holmes was on the Transition Committee for Ecomm. She served on the Police Executive as the Civilian Representative for 15 years. Mrs. Holmes was on three rounds of negotiations with the Saanich Police Association. Prior to her son attending Discovery, Tiffany was a member at large on the Wishart PAC for 2 years. In her previous career she worked 16 years as a Flight Attendant with Air Canada Regional and was the Victoria Base Representative for Teamster Local 31 for the Flight Attendants.


Hillary Woodward - Treasurer (4th year)

Hilary Woodward was appointed to the board in January 2019. She has served as the executive financial officer for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, a position she occupied 2013-2022. A professional chartered accountant with more than 25 years' experience in the BC public sector, Hilary holds a bachelor's degree in commerce and is in the process of obtaining her Chartered Professional in Human Resources certification.
Before joining the Legislative Assembly, Hilary was the chief financial officer for the Ministry of Health from 2011 to 2013. Before this, Hilary held a variety of senior leadership roles at several provincial organizations including the Office of the Comptroller General, Treasury Board Staff, Capital Planning Secretariat, Cabinet Operations, Shared Services BC and the Ministry of Citizens' Services.


Renee Allen - Member at Large (4th year)

Ms. Renee Allen has been employed by the BC Investment Management Corporation for the past 6 years. Most recently she has been in the position of Supervisor, Payroll and Leave. Prior to that, she briefly worked in payroll for the Sooke School District and BC Wildfire. She is a Payroll Compliance Practitioner and is working on her Payroll Manager Certification. Before realizing that payroll and boring numbers that balance were her true calling, Renee worked with at risk teens as a front line youth worker in one on one and group residential settings. She is a mother of two children and has two cats, two dogs and two fish.


Echo (Kuiack) Michiel – Member at Large (3rd year)

For the past 31 years, Echo has worked for and now owns Mega Power Installations Ltd, her family-owned electrical contracting business since 1976. In 2002, Echo and her husband Jon purchased Mega Power from her father, carrying on the family business. Over the year’s Echo has obtained various accounting and business management certificates through Royal Roads University, Camosun College, and the Canadian Construction Association where she achieved her Gold Seal in Construction Management. In 2003, she was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” through the Westshore Chamber of Commerce for her role in the restructuring and streamlining of the business. Echo is on the Board for the View Royal Fastball Association since 2017 and volunteers with her sons’ cadets.


Jerry Threet – Member at Large (2nd year)

Jerry Threet is an attorney and policy specialist in private practice, following a long career in public interest law at various levels of government and the private sector. His current practice focuses on issues of police oversight and accountability, public records, and transparency. He also serves as the Investigative Officer for the Richmond, CA Community Police Review Commission, conducting investigations of alleged misconduct by Richmond Police Officers. During his career, Mr. Threet has conducted hundreds of investigations, depositions, witness interviews, factual evaluations, negotiations, and community meetings, and has significant experience working with diverse populations.

From 2016 – 2019, he established the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach and served as Director. IOLERO is the first civilian oversight agency established in Sonoma County, following the killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in 2013 by a Deputy Sheriff. In 2018, the county settled a related lawsuit for $3 Million. At IOLERO, Mr. Threet created multiple systems necessary for the office to achieve its main missions: audit investigations of alleged deputy misconduct; recommend improvements to policies, practices, and training; and engage with the community, both directly and through a Community Advisory Council. He completed over 50 audits of investigations, including complex officer involved shootings, and a mass use of force incident in the jail. Mr. Threet authored two Annual Reports, as well as two stand-alone reports - one recommending limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and another recommending improving the Sheriff’s internal investigations. He engaged over 2000 community members as Director, including a healing circle between deputies and undocumented immigrants, and a focus group with homeless individuals.

In 2020, Mr. Threet spearheaded a successful ballot measure campaign to strengthen IOLERO so that the oversight agency would meet the NACOLE criteria for effective oversight of law enforcement. Measure P, the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance, was passed with 2/3 of the vote in November 2020. Threet continues to be active in ensuring the measure is fully implemented in the face of ongoing efforts by deputies’ unions to invalidate it. Threet also recently completed a nearly year-long, comprehensive audit of the Sebastopol Police Department, earning praise for a comprehensive report that will serve as a blueprint for realizing the potential of the agency for true community policing.

Prior to his current focus, Mr. Threet litigated cases to protect tenants, workers, and consumers as a San Francisco Deputy City Attorney. He also worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, focused on cases in antitrust litigation, class action discrimination cases, and criminal drug trafficking. Threet also served as legislative staff to both a Texas State Senator and a San Francisco County Supervisor.

Threet now lives with his husband and two teen daughters in Victoria, British Columbia.


Shannon McAleese – Member at Large (2nd year)

Shannon McAleese holds a Masters degree in History from the University of Victoria and works as the Senior Business Analyst for the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs. In her work as a business analyst she has worked on local government information systems, regulatory analysis tools, and immigration systems. She has sat on a number of types of boards including university student societies, municipal policy committees, strata council boards and professional certification body boards. She lives with her son who attends Discovery School. She is passionate about the science of reading and supporting students with learning differences in public and private schools to achieve their potential.