Ninth District PTA Board of Directors, 2025-2027

Anne Emfinger
president@ninthdistrictpta.org

Anne Emfinger has been involved in PTA for over a decade, serving in many capacities on the unit, council and district levels. Most recently she served as a unit parliamentarian, unit historian, council secretary and district leadership services director. She is still involved with her children's school PTSA and the Vista Unified Council of PTAs.

Anne has deep roots in North San Diego County, where she currently resides with her husband and two kids - a senior and a freshman. It has been her joy and privilege to be a stay-at-home mom since her oldest started kindergarten.

In her free time, Anne enjoys reading, spending time with friends and finds solace in being at the beach. She is excited to serve as the Ninth District President, and looks forward to working with all the local PTA leaders.

Shawna has two adult sons, a daughter-in-law and a future daughter-in-law. She lives in Carlsbad with her husband of 30+ years, three cats and a dog. If you’ve been on a Zoom call with Shawna, you have met the three cats!

She was first elected to a PTA position when her youngest son was finishing kindergarten. She has held office (including president and treasurer) for her children's elementary and middle schools in Carlsbad. She has also served as North Coastal Council PTA president and treasurer. She has been a member of the Ninth District PTA District Board for at least 10 years and has just finished her term as Ninth District PTA President. If she isn't helping with PTA, she enjoys traveling that involves outside activities such as hiking, biking or kayaking.

Denae Senise lives in Escondido and has served on unit and council boards for 13 years as parliamentarian, historian, treasurer, president, executive vice president, Reflections chair and art docent. She has served on the Ninth District PTA board for the past 8 years and her passion is leadership and organization.

Denae is married to Mike, a middle school teacher, and has a transgender son who is almost 20. She enjoys art and art galleries, horror movies, succulent gardening, and hard rock/heavy metal. She also spends a great deal of time spoiling the family dog, Leo.

Jemima has been an active and dedicated PTA leader since 2016, serving in a variety of roles at the unit, council, and district levels. As a unit President at her elementary school and at middle school, she helped lead both schools to earn the prestigious National PTA School of Excellence recognition. At the council level, she has held positions including Secretary, Reflections Chair, and President, while also contributing her voice to school site councils and district-wide committees. Most recently, she served as Communications Director for Ninth District PTA, where she continues to champion efforts that build strong school communities and support student success.

Sonya Vargas has over 10 years dedicated to the PTA. She has proudly served on the unit, council and district levels. She continues to serve on the South Bay Council although her son has long graduated from that elementary school district. She has served as President, Secretary, Historian, Vice President and currently as Communication Director.

During her PTA off hours she works as an insurance agent, specializing in educating educators on their pension plans, and helping them bridge financial gaps. Her professional journey includes several years as an administrative assistant before serving 10 years as a medic in the Air Force.

She enjoys cross-stitching, sewing, writing, and singing. She is a proud Star Trek nerd, and believes in boldly going where no one has gone before, both in life and in her passions.

Betsy Mueller currently is on the Ninth District PTA as the VP-Community Concerns and volunteers as the Chair of the SDUSD Independent Citizens Oversight Committee and is a San Diego Chapter-Leukemia & Lymphoma Society volunteer. She has held the following officer positions at La Jolla High School PTSA – President (July 2014-June 2015 & July 2010-June 2012), Vice President of Leadership (July 2015 – June 2016), Executive Vice President (July 2012-June 2014), E-News Editor/On-line Newsletter (June 2012 – June 2016). She has volunteered in various organizations that began when she was 16 years old as a candy-striper at Grossmont Hospital. Betsy has a B.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University. Betsy has two sons who attended the following SDUSD schools: Sunset View Elementary, Torrey Pines Elementary, Muirlands and both sons graduated from La Jolla High School.

Coming Soon!

Mary has been active in PTA for 18 years+. She has energetically served at the Unit Level, Council level and District level PTAs. The many positions she has held include Health VP, Secretary, and Member Services at the district level. President, Secretary, VP Leadership, VP Membership, Character Counts Chair, Reflections Chair and Historian at the Council and Unit level PTAs. Her commitment to advocate for all children is very important to her. As a military spouse, she was Military Installation Volunteer Manager, Event Coordinator and proudly served as Girl Scout Troop Leader, Trainer and Service Unit Manager for several Military Installations. She enjoys volunteering and advocating for the safety and well-being of all children within the community.

Prior to becoming a full time mom, Amy held executive positions focused on Organizational Planning & Development and Succession Planning in the wireless telecom industry. She has 2 boys, one who graduated from SDA, and the other from LCC. Her youngest is a special needs student, who is on the autism spectrum.

She has served as a PTA President and various other roles in EUSD and SDUHSD, such as ICOC, Social & Emotional Wellness Committee, SPED Taskforce, SPED Transition Taskforce. She was also on the executive board for NCCSE, which oversees 14 school districts for northern San Diego County. For the City of Encinitas, she served as Environmental Commissioner, Planning Commissioner, Cyclovia, Climate Action Plan & City Ordinances.

Being involved where her energy and efforts can benefit the kids and communities is what she enjoy the most.

Coming Soon!

Christina Hicks has been rocking the PTA life since 2005—basically, if there’s a PTA position out there, she has probably done it! From units to council to Ninth District, she loved every minute of helping schools and families thrive. By day, she is the office manager at a local elementary school (aka the glue that holds things together), and by night, you’ll find her hanging out with her awesome family or getting lost in a good arts and crafts project. She believes school should be fun, community matters, and there’s always room for a little glitter.

Deborah Childers holds a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction of Mathematics and dedicated 34 years to education before retiring in 2023. Throughout her career, she taught math and science to students in grades 4 through 8, while also sometimes delving into language arts, social studies, physical education, and STEAM.

A passionate advocate for parent involvement in education, Deborah has been an active PTA volunteer for over 20 years. She first joined PTA as a parent when her oldest child started kindergarten and has since served at the unit, council, and district levels. While she has held many roles—including president, secretary, and membership chair—she especially enjoys working as treasurer or financial reviewer, thanks to her love of numbers. As a teacher, Deborah deeply understood the value of strong parent-school partnerships and continues to support that mission through her PTA work.

Originally from Tucson, Deborah moved to San Diego in 1996 to marry her high school sweetheart. They have two college-aged children, both currently studying in San Diego. When not helping PTA units with their financials, she loves to be outdoors improving the landscaping around her house, traveling or spending time with her 4 cats.

Holly Butte is serving her second year as Council Treasurer. She has been active at the PTA Units where her daughter attended school, Capri and Diegueno. She recently was a part of the Foundation at SDA. She has held many roles in PTA, Secretary, Treasurer, VP, and President and has been involved in many volunteer activities. She is an alumna of TP, Earl Warren, and Solana Beach.

David has served as President and Treasurer at both the Unit and Council level (as well as other Unit roles), and is excited to join the District PTA as the Financial Reviewer.

Aside from the PTA, David is the primary caregiver to his two children, supporting his wife in her career as a Human Geneticist. David also works part time for ThirdPath Institute, a work-life integration non-profit, though his training is in Developmental Genetics and he has degrees in Genetics, Biology, Psychology, and Theatre.

He enjoys cooking and has rarely repeated a recipe in the past 13 years. Recently, David started singing with the San Diego Master Chorale and it brings him a lot of joy.

Sue King began her PTA adventure as the ice cream chairman when her daughter was in first grade at the elementary school PTA. She served as the Fourth District PTA District President at the turn of the century followed by California State PTA Vice President for Leadership Services, Communications and Member Services and is a past California State PTA parliamentarian and membership chairman.

At Ninth District PTA Sue is currently serving as parliamentarian. Past service in Ninth District includes Executive Vice President, Vice President for Leadership Services, leadership mentor and Secretary.

She has more than 45 years’ experience with PTA. She was active in band boosters and youth soccer. Her family includes her supportive PTA husband Michael, two adult children, Stephanie and Andy (Brenda), six grand-daughters ages 29 to 16 years old.

Lori has served on the PTA for 24 years with Lemon Grove, Tierra Del Sol (Santee), Foothills Secondary Council, and Ninth District PTA. During that time, she has met a lot of great people that have volunteered along the way. She currently works as an Executive Director of a non-profit insurance association since 2003. Before that, she has worked in banking operations for over 12 years. She has been married for 34 years and has two children who graduated high school in 2013 and 2016. Even though they are grown, she still loves to be involved in education and wants to remain a voice for all children.

Angela Guerra is a passionate event planner, marketing strategist, and natural organizer with over 15 years of experience leading initiatives for schools, nonprofits, and community foundations. Her PTA journey began in 2006 and includes key leadership roles such as Carlton Oaks PTA President, Tierra del Sol Council President, and Ninth District Parliamentarian.

Angela is known for her exceptional organizational skills—whether planning holiday boutiques, coordinating fundraisers, or managing large-scale events. She thrives on bringing structure to creative ideas and turning plans into seamless, successful experiences.

Her marketing background includes newsletter writing, community outreach, and brand messaging across digital and traditional platforms.

Angela is also a proud mom to Logan (24) and Quinn (22), a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan—born and raised with red and gold in her blood.

Matthew Cheng is a retired software engineer. He has a 6th grader at Pacific Sky School in DMUSD. He joined PTA membership since his son entered Sycamore Ridge's kindergarten in 2019 but had not volunteered for PTA and had no idea what it was about. When the new Pacific Sky School opened in 2022, he jumped in and served as the first Pacific Sky PTA President and learned a lot about PTA. Since 2023, he has served on NCC (North Coastal Council of PTAs) board as Communications Chair/Webmaster and continues to learn more. He is currently serving as President on NCC board and IT Administrator on Ninth District PTA board.