Philippe Vanhille

Philippe Vanhille joined Rochambeau in 2015 as Academic Director and Deputy Head of School, bringing 25 years of professional experience in teaching positions, educational consultant and Director at French and International educational institutions in Europe and the United States.

His expertise in the fields of bilingual and multicultural school management has been instrumental to our school’s work in developing the Student Learning Support department (SLS), school accreditation (with AIMS), and the launch of the IB Diploma Programme.

Most recently Mr. Vanhille has served as Acting Director of Secondary since Spring 2021 and been instrumental in supporting students, faculty and staff through the end of the last school year and the start of 2021-2022. As of November 2021, he formally accepted the position as Director of Secondary and we are so pleased that Mr. Vanhille will continue in this role.

Philippe graduated from the faculty of the Sorbonne and IUFM in Creteil, France.

Jean-Pierre Plaa
 

Jean-Pierre Plaa joined our school as a Primary School teacher in 2016 and starting July is Head of the Primary School.  He is based on our Maplewood campus.

Mr. Plaa's experience in international and multilingual schools in France, Asia, and North America has given him a good understanding of the expectations of parents, students, teachers and our school.  

After having taught in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the archipelago where he is originally from, and then in Taiwan, he has been living in the United States since 2001. Prior to Rochambeau, Mr. Plaa was at the Lycée Français de Chicago for 9 years, first as a teacher, then Primary School Director and Assistant Head of School.  

Michel Zala

We have welcomed Mr. Michel Zala, our Deputy Director to the Head of Primary School in June 2020. Michel is based at our Maplewood campus and works closely and directly with Jean Pierre Plaa, our Head of Primary School.

A graduate of the École Normale d'Instituteurs, Mr. Zala has extensive experience teaching in France and the United States and directing French preschools in the network of accredited schools in the US, including the Lycée Français de Los Angeles. His experience is an invaluable asset to our school.

Frédérique Le Ber

Frédérique Le Ber-Casanova serves as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The creation of this new position starting in November 2021 reflects the collaborative effort of the Board of Directors, Faculty and Staff in making this theme a strategic priority for our institution.

Though new to this role, Mrs. Le Ber is very familiar to our community. She had previously served as Director of the Secondary School since September 2014 and secondary teacher at Rochambeau since 2003. Mrs. Le Ber began her career as a teacher of History and Geography in Perpignan and Paris, France.

Mrs. Le Ber is proud to continue to serve our school and to engage with all members of our community in this important work.

Raymond Stewart

Raymond, originally from San Francisco, CA, has spent the last 27 years as IT Director in independent schools in California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Virginia. 

In his most recent position in a large independent school in Miami, FL, Mr. Stewart served as the Chief Technology Officer in charge of both information systems and technology use in the classrooms.  In addition to directing technology initiatives in a number of schools, he also brings extensive experience in the private sector, including an adjunct professorship at The Catholic University of America in Library Science. 

Mr. Stewart received his BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MA in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University.

Ike Relacion

Ike Relacion is an accomplished HR professional with over 2 decades of human resources and compliance experience in the public and private sectors, as well as higher education.

Ike is responsible for implementing human resource management strategies that enable Rochambeau, the French International School to recruit, train, and retain a high performing and motivated workforce. Ike specializes in talent management, on-boarding, training and development, performance management, employee retention, benefits management, compliance, employee relations policies and strategies.

Ike holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Catholic University of America and is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management.

Juan Carlos Ruano

JC Ruano has a strong military and police backgrounds from 1984 to 1999 and worked as USA Chief Building engineer at Inova Fairfax Hospital Virginia. Then, around 1999-2001, he moves to private schools as Director of Facilities before he joined Rochambeau in fall 2017. He was promoted in 2019 as a Director of Facilities & Transportation.

JC has got a Master HVAC and Engineering National Power of Engineer/INOVA from the University of Virginia in 2004. He's also fluent in Spanish and he's taking some French classes.

JC likes to restore cars, learn from another cultures, and loves to travel: 17 countries already visited.

Rochambeau became his dream job, as he takes care of it like his own house. Every day he comes motivated to work and takes any challenge that come on daily basis, he is passionate.