Board Member Profiles

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LAURA CASAS (Trustee Area 1)

Casas was elected to the Board of Trustees without opposition in 2007 after being appointed to an at-large position on the board in 2005. She was reelected in 2012, 2016, and 2020 and elected without opposition to represent Trustee Area 1 in 2024. Casas holds a law degree from Santa Clara University and a bachelor's degree in political science from California State University, Northridge. Active at the state and local levels, Casas was elected by her peers in 2011 to the statewide Trustees Board of the Community College League of California, a position she held until 2020, and is a past chair and current member of the League's Advisory Committee on Legislation. She is a graduate of the HOPE Leadership Institute operated by Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, and serves on the boards of Children Now, a national organization that makes children a public policy priority, and ALearn, a grassroots organization dedicated to underrepresented students' success in college. For the past decade she's mentored students through Puente, an academic preparation program focused on college success. Her past activities include the Foothill-De Anza Foundation Board of Directors, Santa Clara County's 6th District PTA, and the Santa Clara County League of Women Voters' Education Committee. She co-founded a transitional home for domestic violence victims in Los Angeles and has worked as a claims representative for an international commercial liability carrier. Her term expires in 2028. Contact Casas at casaslaura@fhda.edu or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100. 

ALEXANDER GVATUA (Trustee Area 2)

Gvatua was appointed to the Board of Trustees on Jan. 15, 2025, to fill a vacant position on the governing board. Gvatua is a graduate of De Anza College who serves as a policy analyst for Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee and an adjunct professor of political science at San Jose State University. In addition to an associate degree in political science from De Anza College, Gvatua holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from San Jose State University and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His term expires in 2026. He can be contacted through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100

PETER LANDSBERGER, President (Trustee Area 3)

Landsberger was elected to the Board of Trustees in November 2016. He was reelected to an at-large position in 2020 and reelected again in 2024 to represent Trustee Area 3. He has lived in Los Altos since 1978, the year he was named Foothill-De Anza's first general counsel. He was subsequently promoted to the position of vice chancellor, serving as the chancellor's chief deputy responsible for supervising all district office operations. Now retired, his 30-year career in community colleges includes service as president of the College of San Mateo, senior vice chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, and interim chancellor of the Los Angeles district. The chancellor of the California Community Colleges later appointed him special trustee of the Compton Community College District after Compton College lost its accreditation, a position he held for four years. He has served on the boards of the Foothill-De Anza Foundation, the Community School of Music & Arts in Mountain View, the San Jose-Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and UNITE–LA, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that seeks to expand college access to underserved youth in the Los Angeles region. He holds a juris doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley, and an associate degree in political science from Santa Monica College. His term expires in 2028. He can be contacted at landsbergerpeter@fhda.edu or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100.

PEARL CHENG, Vice President (Trustee Area 4)

Cheng was appointed in 2008 to fill a vacancy in an at-large position on the Board of Trustees, elected without opposition in 2009, reelected in 2014 and 2018, and elected without opposition to represent Trustee Area 4 in 2022. Cheng is a resident of Cupertino who served for eight years on the Cupertino Union School District Board of Education and held leadership positions with the Santa Clara County School Boards Association. She has served on the De Anza Commission, an auxiliary of the Foothill-De Anza Foundation that represents De Anza College in the community. She worked for many years at the NASA Ames Research Center, most recently as associate director for management operations in information sciences and technology. Following her high-tech experience, she worked for a decade in non-profits, serving as the education manager at United Way Silicon Valley developing literacy, intervention and parent education programs in Santa Clara County. In March 2016, she was an invited participant at the College Promise Initiative planning meeting at the White House. Cheng has served for a number of years as a substitute teacher in two local public school districts. She volunteered as a contact tracer and case investigator for the county during the height of the pandemic. Cheng holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor's in engineering from the University of Iowa. Her term expires in 2026. Contact Cheng at chengpearl@fhda.edu or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100. 

TERRY GODFREY (Trustee Area 5)

Godfrey was elected to the Board of Trustees in November 2024 to represent Trustee Area 5. She lives in Palo Alto and is a former president of the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education.  She is a trustee of the UC Irvine Foundation and a member of both the UC Irvine Dean of Physical Sciences Executive Cabinet and the UCI Undergraduate Success Advisory Committee. Godfrey has had a long career in finance, human resources, venture capital, and operations at Xerox, Intel, Stanford and Immigrant Legal Resource Center. She is currently chief financial and administrative officer of Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization that conducts and communicates independent, high-quality research to improve education policy and practice. Godfrey holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her term expires in 2028. Contact Godfrey at godfreyterry@fhda.edu or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100.

STUDENT TRUSTEES

Iris Li, De Anza College

Li is De Anza College's elected student representative on the Board of Trustees for the 2024-25 academic year. Li is a first year student at De Anza College majoring in cognitive science with a specialization in human-computer interaction. Prior to being elected to the Board of Trustees, Li was involved in the De Anza Student Government’s Administration, Finance, and Marketing committees. Li’s personal academic interests include brain-computer interfaces and computational cognitive science. As student trustee, Li’s goal is to make sure all student voices are represented and to advocate for student needs at the district level to best support De Anza College. In addition to representing students at the local level, Li serves a statewide role on the Community College League of California's Advisory Committee on Legislation. Contact Li at dastudenttrustee@fhda.edu or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100.

Zara Ainge, Foothill College

Ainge, who is studying molecular biology, has been elected as Foothill’s student representative on the Board of Trustees for the 2024-2025 academic year. Ainge is an active member of the Associated Students of Foothill College and stands proudly as the founding president of Foothill’s Asian American Association (AAA) with 100+ members. Her active involvement at Foothill extends to her role as founding president of the Health in Action club, where she leads and organizes each quarterly blood drive. Outside Foothill, Ainge works as a research intern at Stanford School of Medicine, working toward treatments for rare auto-immune diseases.Understanding the importance of being a leader and uplifting student voices, she wants to use her position to promote equitable representation and create an environment that allows students to thrive under any circumstances. Ainge was elected by student trustees from across the state to serve as the student representative on the Community College League of California's California Community College Trustees Board. Contact Ainge at zaraainge@gmail.com or through the Chancellor's Office at (650) 949-6100.

The district began the transition to trustee area elections in November 2022, with governing board members elected to represent Trustee Area 2 (Central Sunnyvale) and Trustee Area 4 (Cupertino and small portions of west San Jose, southwestern Santa Clara, and northern Saratoga). Trustees elected to serve in at-large positions in 2020 will continue serving in those positions until the election to represent Trustee Area 1 (Mountain View and portions of north Sunnyvale and northeast Los Altos), Trustee Area 3 (Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and portions of south Sunnyvale and northwest Cupertino), and Trustee Area 5 (Palo Alto and Stanford) in November 2024. More information about trustee area elections is available HERE.