SchoolPower gets new leader

This post has been corrected, as noted below.

Robin Rounaghi is leaving her job as an attorney to become SchoolPower’s first executive director, the Laguna Beach nonprofit organization announced in a news release.

Rounaghi served two terms as president of the organization that raises money for Laguna Beach Unified School District’s four public schools.

“No one knows the organization or our community better than Robin,” current president Lynn Gregory said in the release. “No one will work harder to ensure SchoolPower is doing all it can to help Laguna’s schools.”

SchoolPower conducted an extensive hiring search and interview process and chose Rounaghi, who has more than 10 years of community involvement, including teaming with Lumberyard owner Cary Redfearn on the Chef’s Challenge fundraiser.

“Robin is extremely organized, super energetic and just a can-do kind of person,” Redfearn said in the release. “I think that she can get anything done.”

SchoolPower helped secure $70,174 for teachers to use for classroom instruction as SchoolPower Endowment’s teacher grant chairwoman last year.

“She knows the organization inside and out, so begins with an advantage that very few would possess,” school board member Ketta Brown said.

Rounaghi’s parents both worked in education during Robin’s childhood in Sacramento, leading to several dinner conversations about public schooling.

“My parents definitely embedded the value of making quality education accessible to everyone,” Rounaghi said in the release.

She graduated from UC Berkeley, then Hastings Law School in 1993.

Rounaghi relocated to Laguna Beach in 1996 with husband, Ali, who owns Laguna Graphic Arts printing company.

The couple have three sons: Alex, a sophomore at Laguna Beach High School; Charlie, a seventh-grader at Thurston Middle School; and Willie, a fifth-grader at El Morro Elementary School.

Rounaghi is looking forward to her new role in an involved community.

“This is a generous, engaged community that cares deeply about the education of its children,” Rounaghi said. “I believe everyone can get behind the importance of supporting our local schools. I’m thrilled to be a part of that.”

For more information on SchoolPower, visit https://www.lbschoolpower.org.

For the record, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 07: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Rounaghi helped secure $70,174 for classroom instruction. In fact, SchoolPower Endowment raised the money.