Board of Directors
President:
Matthew Rayburn:
Matthew Rayburn is the proud parent of a Blair High School athlete. Matthew has 20 years of professional experience in nonprofit leadership and development. He holds an MPA in nonprofit management and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). He is currently a Strategist/Senior Account Director for the BDI agency, a full-service, omni-channel, marketing and fundraising agency for nonprofits. He believes strongly in the power of high School athletics to develop habits of health and character that will serve individuals throughout their lives.
Founder:
Ella Lesnever
Ella Lesnever is a Junior at Blair High School. She is an avid swimmer and has been a Girl Scout for 11 years. Ella is a four-time CIF Champion in swimming. Since middle school, Ella has partnered with PEF to fundraise over $30,000 for Blair Aquatics, helping with purchasing a timing system, scoreboards and touchpads which allows Blair to host home swim meets for the first time in over 10 years. She founded Blair Viking Boosters in the summer of 2022 as she wanted to be able to spread her impact across all of the sports at Blair. She is very excited to see the sports at Blair continue to grow.
VP Membership:
Jeff Moreno
Jeff Moreno is an Assistant Principal at a local charter school. He has coached his three daughters’ soccer teams for the past ten years through Pasadena AYSO. All three daughters attend PUSD schools, two of them at Blair Ms and HS.
Treasurer:
Mike Lesnever
As an analytical and highly organized individual with over 20 years of experience in managing accounting and finance operations in the real estate and retail industries, Michael Lesnever provides Blair Boosters with strong financial leadership. An MBA graduate and former CFO of a luxury goods manufacturer Mike’s experiences are essential for the management and reporting of Blair Boosters’ finances. Mike is the father of two high school students and was the Assistant Coach of the Blair girl’s water polo team this winter that qualified for the CIF playoffs for the first time in school history.
Secretary:
Jolene Chavira
Jolene Chavira is the parent of two Pasadena Unified students, one freshman at Blair High School and a 6th grader at Sierra Madre Middle School. Jolene has spent her professional career in education, focused on supporting under-served communities in the City of Los Angeles. She started her career as a bilingual elementary school teacher, then served as an Education Program Officer at the California Community Foundation making grants to community-based organizations dedicated to closing achievement gaps among youth in LA County, and most recently she has served as a program and policy development adviser in the Los Angeles Unified School District focused on teacher quality and performance management.
Volunteer Coordinator:
Joanne Asuncion Fleischman
Dr Joanne Asuncion has been a resident of California for 27 years and a Pasadenan for 18 of those. Originally from Maryland, she moved here to join her husband, a Pasadena native and proud graduate of John Muir High School. She has 2 daughters enrolled in PUSD’s Spanish Immersion programs. Her sophomore at Blair is an honor roll student-athlete who was a CIF-SS Qualifier in two sports, making the Finals in Swimming. Dr. Asuncion is a Board-Certified Pediatrician caring for Pasadena area kids in a local private practice, and she enjoys playing sports herself.
Community Relations:
Jennifer Higginbotham
Jennifer Higginbotham is the proud parent of a Blair senior and a 2021 Blair graduate who now attends UCLA. She chairs the Blair School Site Council and is the past chair of the PUSD District Advisory Council. She currently serves on the City of Pasadena Planning Commission and has previously served as vice-chair of the Recreation and Parks Commission, chair of the South Lake Parking Place Commission and chair of the Transportation Advisory Commission. Jennifer is a long-time member of the Junior League of Pasadena and Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts. Professionally, Jennifer is a marketing technologist for VCA Animal Hospitals.