Annie Encina
Operations Manager
Our Leadership
The Montessori School of Silicon Valley Leadership
Operations Manager
Ms. Annie was born on the island of Oahu in Honolulu, Hawaii and moved to Mountain View, California when she was 2 years old.
She first joined Montessori School of Silicon Valley in 2010 as an Assistant Teacher at Crescent Montessori, but after just 6 short months she was promoted to Assistant Director. Ms. Annie is now the Operations Manager at MSOSV and helps maintain important tasks for all of our campuses.
Growing up, Ms. Annie learned to love working with children as she always enjoyed taking care of her younger family members. Prior to working at Crescent Montessori, Annie began working in the educational field in 2006. To gain a better understanding of the Montessori philosophy, Annie invested in many Montessori classes, as well as earning Early Childhood Education units from Ohlone College.
Watching the children in her community grow to be independent individuals and witnessing their little personalities blossom is something that Annie takes to heart and loves to be a part of. Her favorite part about working in our schools is seeing the children get excited over all the little things that happen throughout their day at school. It also always brightens her day when she receives the most random drawings from the children.
In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her family, being outdoors with her fur baby, and doing various arts and crafts on her Cricut machine. She also loves singing in the car, especially to Disney songs, Glee songs, old school 90s and R&B songs. Lastly, anyone who knows her knows that she loves her Bay Area sports teams! She is a die-hard Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and San Jose Sharks fan!
Program Director
Melissa Wyant is the Program Director of The Montessori School of Silicon Valley (MSOSV).
As Program Director, Melissa brings her Montessori knowledge and leadership skills to each of our five campus locations. In this role Melissa leads the five MSOSV Heads of School to ensure the full implementation of Montessori Primary Programs consistently at all locations.
From a very early age, Melissa knew she wanted to work with children in some capacity. Ultimately, she found her true calling in management, working with families and teachers alike to truly impact the lives of each individual child.
Having been introduced to the philosophy in college, Melissa began to explore and subsequently fall in love with Montessori. Shortly after graduating with her degree in Child Development from San Jose State in 2013, she took the next steps in her personal Montessori journey with MSOSV.
At the Montessori School of Silicon Valley, Melissa earned her Primary Montessori Teaching Credential in 2016. While working on her Montessori Credential, she spent time working in every job inside of a school at multiple MSOSV campus locations. These experiences became a large part of what enabled Melissa to be an effective leader in our Montessori community and eventually to become Primary Program Director in 2019.
What inspires Melissa most about the Montessori education is the philosophy of the whole child. The concept that education should be beyond academics and treat the child as an independent individual strongly resonated with her. Having the opportunity to guide and support the development of each child’s love of learning is what provides her the greatest joy as a Montessori educator.
Director of Marketing Operations
Ms. Sarah J. first started with us as Assistant Head of School at Main Street Montessori School in August 2019. After a year she was promoted to Director of Marketing Operations, where her latest endeavor has been working behind the scenes on the multiple systems being used in our Montessori@Home offering. Considering her background in Film, she also enthusiastically took on the responsibility of video content curator for all the wonderful videos our staff are creating.
She was born in Singapore, and moved to Fremont, California when she was 10 years old. While in Singapore, she had the privilege of being a part of the pioneer Kindergarten class at P & J Montessori School; which continues to thrive today.
After graduating from Irvington High School, Ms. Sarah J. attended the University of California Santa Cruz where she majored in Film & Digital Media. Throughout her high school and college career she enjoyed spending her summers working with children through her church community as well as other outdoor camp programs.
Prior to joining the Montessori School of Silicon Valley, she worked as a program manager at a tech company. However, after almost 5 years in the fast paced tech world, she wanted a change of pace. She first heard of MSOSV after a friend asked if she would work one-on-one with their child who was attending Calaveras Montessori. After a few months of being in the classroom full time, she learned that although she enjoyed working with the children, her strength was in administration.
She enjoys learning more about the Montessori philosophy as an adult after having been a Montessori child!
Sr. Director of Operations
Mr. Tim joined the Montessori School of Silicon Valley team in December 2021, bringing plenty of experience with him from his time as Director of Operations at Armadillo Willy’s BBQ.
Since he also enjoys spending his free time volunteering for youth projects, he decided that he wanted to do his part to help sustain the level of hopefulness and promise that he sees in young people and decided that transitioning to working at a Montessori preschool would be a step in the right direction.
One thing that always helps to brighten Mr. Tim’s day is seeing the children having fun, smiling, and learning; and being in operations allows him to have a direct impact in ensuring our school environments are clean, safe, and fun.
During his free time you’ll most likely find Mr. Tim continuing to perfect his BBQ skills, which he’s been working on for over 25 years. And he’ll likely be in the company of his two granddaughters, wife, and their two crazy chihuahuas. If he’s not at the grill you might catch him at the golf course!
Fun fact: Mr. Tim has been a Rotarian in Santa Clara for over 8 years and is the incoming President for the 2023-2024 year.