Board of Directors
Shep is the Managing Partner of Atlanta Property Group, a real estate investment firm based in Atlanta, where he oversees the firm’s day-to-day functions with a focus on investment activity and portfolio performance. During his time at APG, he has been involved in principal transactions totaling nearly $1.5 billion. Prior to joining APG in 2011, he spent four years in the commercial mortgage banking industry working in the Atlanta office of Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of BB&T.
Shep earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He is an active member of NAIOP, a commercial real estate professional organization, where he previously served as President of the Georgia Chapter. Additionally, he currently serves on the Board of the Fulton Perimeter Community Improvement District.
Shep is a native of Atlanta and currently lives in Serenbe with his wife, Elaine, and their three sons.
Shep Dinos
Tom is a British entrepreneur whose first company, Soccernet.com, was sold to ESPN when he was 17 years old. Today, Tom is the CEO of Mio, an enterprise software company backed by Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures and Zoom. He graduated from Harvard University and is a board member at Heifer International, a charity working to end hunger and poverty around the world. Tom and his wife, Christen, moved to Serenbe from Austin in 2021 with their two children.
Tom Hadfield
Dr. Brandi B. Kenner, Founder & CEO of Choice-filled Lives Network, a social systems transformation organization, is a nonprofit organizational development guru, early childhood educator and cognitive developmental scientist who has dedicated her 20+ year professional career to doing her part to ensure Choice-filled Lives are a right for all children and families.
Her dedication to this work was recently recognized by the International Society for Self-Directed Learning, in February 2022, when she was awarded the "Malcolm Knowles Memorial Self-Directed Learning Award for Significant Lifelong Contributions to the Field of Self-Directed Learning." .
Dr. Kenner's primary areas of expertise are: school and organizational start-up, organizational development, cognitive development, social-emotional development, language and literacy systems transformation, early childhood education, special education, dual-language immersion, adult learning, and research & evaluation. .
Brandi holds a Ph.D. from Emory University‘s Laney Graduate School in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, an M.Ed. in Behavior and Learning Disabilities from Georgia State University, and a bachelor’s degree with foci in Elementary Education and Sociology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She also holds a leadership certification in Nonprofit Leadership, Governance and Finance from the Georgia Charter Schools Association. Brandi maintains a higher education affiliation as an Affiliated Research Scientist with Yale University's Haskins Laboratories, and serves as a senior advisor to several nonprofit organizations, and early childhood industry and product companies. .
Professionally, Dr. Kenner has had a rich social sector and educational career spanning early childhood and K-12 education, higher education teacher preparation, preschool and K-8 charter school development, consulting, independent school executive leadership, and nonprofit and philanthropic executive leadership with both large organizations such as Teach For America and The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and smaller nonprofit organizations with national reach and scale, such as the Atlanta Speech School and its Rollins Center for Language & Literacy. .
Brandi has been visiting Serenbe since 2014, and she and her husband, Eudon, bought a home in Mado in 2021. They have a large blended family of 3 daughters and 3 sons, and an energetic and lovable Pomeranian named Kirby.
Dr. Brandi Kenner
April Ledom
April Ledom is a Managing Director at Coxe Curry & Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm, where she helps guide the strategic direction and oversees HR functions. April brings extensive experience in talent management and human resources to provide invaluable guidance to nonprofit clients.
She previously served as Executive HR Director for iResearch, specializing in leadership development and organizational strategy. During her decade-long tenure at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, she managed diverse HR functions and oversaw charitable giving.
Beyond her corporate roles, April is a trusted advisor to startups and entrepreneurs, offering insights on leadership and culture. In the community, she has served on various educational boards and as a Power Over Prejudice Facilitator, empowering middle school students to embrace differences.
April holds a B.S. in Management from Georgia Tech and is a certified SHRM-SCP professional. She resides in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, with her husband, Matthew, and their two children.
Board Chair
Garnie Nygren
Garnie Nygren, the eldest daughter of Serenbe founder Steve Nygren is the Co-Managing Director for all things Serenbe inclusive of development operations, real estate brokerage, hospitality and commercial planning and operations. She grew up in Atlanta and Chattahoochee Hills, attended Woodward Academy, and is a 2005 graduate of Cornell University’s Hotel School. Garnie has also served as co-chair of Terra School’s 1st Phase Capital Campaign in 2022.
She lives in Serenbe with her husband and two sons and daughter and is dedicated to living a well-lived life, meaning she eats fresh, local food, mostly from Serenbe Farms, avoids single use plastic, walks everywhere she goes, and regularly runs and practices yoga.
Treasurer
Todd Ryan
Todd recently retired from Coca-Cola North America as Vice President of Strategy & Transformation. He enjoyed a successful 26 year career with Coke where he held various leadership roles across the North American system focusing on strategy development, beverage portfolio management, business transformation, business planning and performance management. Prior to Coke, Todd began his career as an Imagineer in Resorts Planning with The Walt Disney World Company. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Todd and his wife, Lisa (a retired Speech-Language Pathologist) first visited Serenbe in April of 2019 and immediately fell in love with the community. They moved here later in the year from Marietta, GA, and now live here full time with their two dogs (Tito and Fergus).
Vice Chair
Peter Vantine
Secretary
Peter Vantine and his wife Helen, a clinical psychologist, moved to Chatt Hills 7.5 years ago from Sandy Springs. They have three grown children. Peter recently retired as a lecturer and Associate Dean and Director of Executive Programs at the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. He taught courses in marketing, international business, principles of management, and sales and sales management at the undergraduate, masters and executive levels. Prior to joining Georgia Tech he held similar positions at the business schools at Carnegie Mellon University and Emory University. Before moving to academia, he spent twenty years in industry, with PepsiCo and other consumer products companies, living and working in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. He led two start-ups, three major turnarounds, and served as CEO of three different operating companies. Peter is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a BA in sociology, and earned his MBA in marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan Yi
Jonathan’s professional work and interest bridges the fields of law and education. Jonathan is currently Vice President and Senior Division Counsel of InComm Payments. Before joining InComm, Jonathan was Associate General Counsel at Samsung Engineering in Seoul, where he served as lead counsel in the delivery of mega projects across the globe. Prior to Seoul, Jonathan was an associate in the construction law and litigation practice at Troutman Pepper in Atlanta and New York. He is alumnus of University of Chicago Law School, Universiteit Utrecht, and the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Each and every milestone in his legal career has served as a classroom for understanding the defining role mentorship plays in the success of students. Throughout his legal career, Jonathan has leveraged his experience as an admissions officer at The University of Chicago, an admissions coach at Anna Ivey Consulting, and an admissions ambassador for Service 2 School, to assist hundreds of student and military servicepersons and veterans win admission to a variety of universities and law schools across the nation and the world.