Board of Education
Board Email
Emails sent to boe@hinsdale86.org will automatically be forwarded to all seven current board members and copied to the superintendent. If you email the BOE, an automated reply will be sent at most once every four days. This is a limitation of the email system and cannot be changed.
Kindly be advised that any communication received may constitute a public record, which might be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) when and if applicable. In addition, please note that communications may be forwarded to other district employees who can help the board answer questions, provide information or assist with responses.
Catherine Greenspon
President
cgreenspon@hinsdale86.org
Elected: 2023 – 4 years (first term)
Term Expires: April 2027
Committee Participation: Member of the Academic Committee, Facilities Committee, Finance Committee, Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee and Policy Committee
Peggy James
Vice President
pjames@hinsdale86.org
Elected: 2021 - 4 years (first term)
Term Expires: April 2025
Committee Participation: Chair of the Closed Session Minutes Review Committee, Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee and Policy Committee
Peggy James has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of strategic execution and business process initiatives.
She has served as a volunteer for a number of community and school programs. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Michigan State University, and has been a resident of Hinsdale since 2004. She currently lives in the village with her husband and children, all of whom are either alumni or current students in District 86.
Asma Akhras
Secretary
aakhras@hinsdale86.org
Elected: 2023 - 4 years (first term)
Term Expires: April 2027
Committee Participation: Chair of the Academic Committee; member of the Human Resources Committee
Asma Akhras is a certified K-12 math teacher and licensed administrator in Illinois who currently works as an implementation leader at the non-profit curriculum company Great Minds. Prior to joining Great Minds, Akhras used her knowledge and experience as a longtime educator to serve students at all levels from elementary school through college. She worked as an instructional coach and curriculum coordinator, was an adjunct instructor at Moraine Valley Community College and was a student-teacher supervisor at Benedictine University. Akhras has also consulted on a variety of curricular projects and presented at national and international workshops and teacher training sessions.
Akhras graduated summa cum laude from Saint Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in math education. She also has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Benedictine University.
Akhras currently resides in Darien with her husband and three children.
Heather Kartsounes
hkartsounes@hinsdale86.org
Appointed: 2023
Term Expires: April 2025
Committee Participation: Member of the Human Resources Committee and Policy Committee
Kartsounes is a registered patent attorney with more than two decades of experience in intellectual property, higher education, research and healthcare law. She has been the senior associate general counsel at Rush University Medical Center since 2014. She previously served as the founder and attorney at Kartsounes Law, LLC (five years), the general counsel and patent attorney at TZ, Limited and its United States subsidiaries Telezygology, Inc. and Product Development Technologies, Inc. (five years), and was the associate attorney at Andreou & Casson, Ltd. (two years).
Kartsounes holds a bachelor's degree in microbiology and a minor in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Kartsounes is a long-time District 86 resident, having resided within attendance boundaries of both Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central. She currently resides in Hinsdale with her husband and three children.
Dr. Abed Rahman
arahman@hinsdale86.org
Appointed: 2023
Term Expires: April 2025
Committee Participation: Member of the Academic Committee and Finance Committee
Rahman is a physician and clinician who holds multiple leadership roles throughout the Cook County Health System. He has served as the director of pain services at City of Hope Chicago (formerly Cancer Treatment Centers of America) since 2017. He is also an adjunct professor of anatomy and anesthesiology at Rush University Medical College in Chicago and Midwestern University School of Medicine in Downers Grove.
Rahman is the chair for the Physician Professional Behavior Committee at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the Pain Committee/Opioid Task Force at City of Hope Chicago.
Rahman holds a bachelor's degree and master's degree in hyperbaric medicine from Saba University, a doctor of medicine degree from Saba University School of Medicine, and interventional pain fellowship from Northwestern University. He resides in Willowbrook and has two children at Hinsdale South.
Terri Walker
twalker@hinsdale86.org
Elected: 2021 - 4 years (first term)
Term Expires: April 2025
Committee Participation: Chair of the Facilities Committee and Human Resources Committee; member of the Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee
Terri Walker is an accomplished executive with more than 20 years of experience in human resources. She currently serves as the chief people officer at Penn Foster Group. Prior to this role, Walker was the senior vice president of the corporate functions people leader team at Nielsen.
Walker was a member of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council for Syneos Health, which is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization. She served as a board member for The Cara Collective, which works with job seekers, employers, and other organizations across the country to break the cycle of poverty through the power and purpose of employment. She was also a room parent volunteer at her children’s school.
Walker holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She currently lives in Hinsdale with her husband and two sons who attend Hinsdale Central.
Jeff Waters
jwaters@hinsdale86.org
Elected: 2021 – 4 years (first term)
Term Expires: April 2025
Committee Participation: Chair of the Finance Committee; member of the Closed Session Minutes Review Committee and Facilities Committee
Jeff Waters is a professional derivatives trader who has been a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) since 1996. Waters was one of the first members to be included in the CME’s electronic trading liquidity market making program. He also served on the CME Group’s Electronic Trading Oversight committee, which was responsible for orderly electronic trading and the transition from trading pits to the electronic trading platform called Globex. After spending eight years as an independent trader, Waters co-founded the Eldorado Trading Group in 2004, which is a proprietary trading firm.
Waters has been actively involved in the community since moving here in 2004. He has helped advance the work of several local charitable organizations, including Horizons for Youth, the Wellness House and Feed My Starving Children. He has also coached various youth sports programs and served on the Hinsdale Little League Board for five years.
Waters earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is the proud father of two current students (Dean and Natalie) and an alum (Hayden) of Hinsdale Central. His hobbies and interests include skiing, scuba diving and biking.