Meet our Leadership Team

AZVA's administrative and support staff is committed to ensuring the finest education possible for your children. From providing expert tools and strategies to teaching materials and parent support, our leadership team is dedicated to making sure that you have what you need to deliver a well-rounded, enriching education to your children. Here are some of the people who maintain AZVA's high standards of education.

Head of School
Megan Henry is AZVA’s Head of School. Originally from upstate New York, Megan holds undergraduate degrees in history, English, and secondary education from SUNY Geneseo and Canisius College. She earned a master’s degree in educational leadership and business administration from Arizona State University in 2006. Megan is an Arizona-certified, highly-qualified teacher and principal. After her first year teaching in New York, Megan relocated to Arizona. She taught junior high social studies for four years, and then three years of high school history and English in both charter and district settings. Megan has been a school administrator since 2006 and was AZVA’s high school principal from 2007-2009. She is thrilled to work with the families, students, and staff at AZVA and is excited to help expand and improve virtual education for students in Arizona.

K-5 Principal
Linda Lehmkuhl has been teaching since 1991 and joined the staff of AZVA in 2005. She is a highly qualified and certified K-8 teacher and principal. Her classroom experience includes teaching K-5 in the brick-and-mortar setting as well as K-8 with AZVA. She has also served as the assistant to the principal in a K-8 brick and mortar school for three years. She holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership degree from Northern Arizona University. She is excited to be serving the families and staff of AZVA as the K-5 Principal.

Middle School Principal
Jeanna Pignatiello joined the AZVA team in October 2006. Originally from Chicago, she transferred to Arizona State University where she received a BS degree in justice studies. Her dream was to attend law school, but after graduating, Jeanna accepted a job teaching reading to elementary students. She quickly fell in love with teaching, and returned to ASU to get her post-baccalaureate certificate in elementary education. She joins AZVA with five years of teaching experience in both elementary and middle school settings for grades 1 and 3 and 5-8. Jeanna has a focus in ESL, literature, and language arts, and has her SEI and ESL Endorsements. She is pursuing a master's degree in educational leadership at Northern Arizona University. Her goal is to engage her students and their families in a learning environment that is safe and respectful, and that provides endless opportunities for growth.

High School Director
Erica Cunningham has been with AZVA since 2005. She is currently working as the director for AZVA's high school program. She was also an instructional coordinator for AZVA's high school program, a high school lead acaemic advisor, and a teacher with AZVA for a year and a half. Erica was a kindergarten and first grade teacher for five years in both private and charter schools before working for AZVA. She received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Southwestern College in Phoenix, Arizona, and is currently working toward her master's degree in Educational Leadership with her principal's certificate at Grand Canyon University.

Operations Manager
Laurie Roberts started with AZVA in July 2004. She has a BS in management information systems from the University of Arizona. Her previous work experience includes providing tech support for DSL customers and assisting customers in a photo lab. She enjoys photography and reading and is excited to work for AZVA.

Local Development Manager 
Natalie Lundberg 

Director of Academic Services
Denese Wierzbicki, AZVA special education lead teacher, has 37 years of experience teaching special education, from preschool through high school. Denese has also taught math, science, and computer programming. She was attracted to AZVA as the ideal situation for special kids to receive a rigorous education at their own pace. Denese holds a BA from the University of Michigan in psychology and a master's degree in special education from Northern Michigan University.

Special Education Manager
Brenda Kreitinger has been an educator for 15 years. She graduated from the University of Florida. In Florida, she worked with multi-handicapped, medically fragile students. Later she moved to Alaska and taught multi-handicapped students and learning disabled students in grades K-12. She also had the opportunity to teach junior high language arts and social studies in Alaska. After moving to Arizona, she taught in Gilbert as a primary regular education classroom teacher, and as an LD resource room teacher for grades 1-6.

Business Manager
Patti Giovannini has a variety of relevant experience ranging from the Cave Creek School District in metropolitan Phoenix to General Motors. Most recently, Patti was the director of accounting for ABS School Services in Phoenix. In this capacity, she directed accounting services to more than 100 charter and private schools in five states. Patti is a dynamic business leader with 12 years of supervisory accounting experience.

Response to Intervention Coordinator
Hope Terhaar has been with AZVA since September 2006, and has ten years of experience in education. After graduating from Ottawa University with a BA in elementary education, she received her MA in elementary education from Northern Arizona University. During her career in education, Hope taught second and sixth grades, and also worked for the Arizona Department of Education in the Character Education Department. She is an Arizona Highly Qualified Teacher and is certified in regular education for K-8.  She is excited to support students through the Response to Intervention program.

Compliance Coordinator
Sharon Slater joined AZVA in 2004. She has her bachelors in Accounting from Arizona State University, a post-baccalaureate in Elementary Education from Ottawa University, and is currently pursuing her masters. She has eight years of experience as a public school teacher for the Kyrene and Chandler districts, as well with a Phoenix area charter high school. Her teaching experience includes kindergarten through high school and long-term substitute positions in special education. Prior to working in education, Sharon worked as a corporate controller for a mining equipment distributor.

Testing Coordinator
Melody Williamson joined AZVA in February 2006. She received her Bachelor of Arts in education with an ELL certification from Arizona State University, where she graduated summa cum laude. Melody was hired straight out of college by the Washington School District, where she completed her student teaching, to teach in a multi-age classroom. After four years of classroom teaching experience, she accepted a music-teacher position within the Washington School District, where she taught grades K-7. She feels her applied experience in an extensive multi-age environment has prepared her well for her position at Arizona Virtual Academy and is excited to be a part of our team.

Coordinator of Title Programs
Cindy Wright Carter has been with AZVA since August 2005. Her classroom experience includes teaching Special Education in all curriculum areas from preschool through high school in Arizona and California. She has worked extensively with AZVA’s Title I Program assisting struggling students who stuggle academically in the areas of mathematics, reading, and writing. Cindy graduated from Arizona State University, Summa cum Laude, with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. Cindy is highly qualified in Special Education, Elementary Education, Middle School Mathematics, and Middle School Language Arts. Currently, she serves as the Coordinator of Title Programs and oversees AZVA's schoolwide Title I program.

Regional Technology Manager – Central Region
Mike Kunz joined K¹² in 2008. He is responsible for all teacher, administration and site technology for every school within the central region, including AZVA. Mike has a Masters of Science in Information Management from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business and has over a decade of experience in the IT field. Prior to coming to K¹², Mike worked for the Federal Public Defender’s office.