board of directors

Heart Christian Academy is a non-profit corporation governed by a Board of Directors who collectively provide ultimate oversight for the vision, financial, educational, legal, and spiritual policies of the organization. The Board consists of Heart parents from multiple campuses who have a passion for Christian collaborative education. *Board directors are not compensated monetarily for their roles. 

Chrissy Follis

BOARD PRESIDENT
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Chrissy has been a Board member since 2021, serving previously as Secretary. Chrissy's family has been part of Heart since 2016, with two children at the Harbor Point campus. Serving on the Board has given her the opportunity to nurture the health of our Heart community as well as continue to help make homeschooling accessible to families who desire to grow their kids spiritually and academically within a joy filled and supportive environment.

​Chrissy lives in Laguna Niguel with her husband Chris and their two children. Chrissy is also a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist for nearly 20 years and enjoys working in her private practice in Mission Viejo, CA. When Chrissy isn't playing chauffeur for her kids and their various activities and hang outs, they enjoy going to their favorite conveyor belt sushi restaurant and playing with their sweet maltipoo, Lucy.

derek cushman

TREASURER
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Derek has been a Board member since 2021. His family began with Heart in 2018, with four children at the Harbor Point campus. Serving on the Board allows him to use his experience to support the organization's strategy and financial outlook, and Derek is passionate around providing opportunities to enable families to homeschool their children in a God-honoring way. 

Professionally, Derek is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Partner with Mercer Consulting, leading Mercer's Global Advisory team for the West Coast. He lives in Lake Forest with his wife Kimberly and their children. The Cushman family enjoys serving and attending Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo and is currently working their way across visiting all 50 states and capitols.

jessica hansen

Jessica and her husband Erik have three children attending the Harbor Point Campus in San Juan Capistrano. Her family has been a part of Heart since 2016, with their oldest starting in Junior Kindergarten. Jessica has served as a room mom for many years and continues to enjoy coming alongside Heart families in that role. Heart has provided a wonderful community for her family with like minded, Jesus-loving families, and she is grateful to use her experience in education and homeschooling to help positively impact Heart.
 
Jessica has experience from preschool through high school, and a Single Subject teaching credential and Master of Arts in Education from Pepperdine University. She has a passion for homeschooling and loves the opportunities that homeschooling provides for discipling and training up her children, as well as growing deeper bonds within the family. Jessica is also passionate about discipleship in the church and enjoys serving the women at Compass Bible Church Aliso Viejo, where she and her husband have led a small group within the marriage ministry for many years. In their free time her family enjoys going on adventures together, beach days, playing board games, and spending Saturdays cheering on both girls’ soccer teams.

emma lurker

Emma Lurker has been with Heart Christian Academy since 2021. She is so grateful to be serving on the Board of Directors and to have the opportunity to share her love of learning with families. Emma's desire is to see all families become emboldened to teach their children well in a homeschool environment. She also has a desire to encourage parents as they teach their children more about God and his love for each one of them. 

Emma has her multiple subject credential and single subject math credential. She has been teaching for over a decade in the private and public sectors. She taught middle school math at a private school and currently teaches at a charter school. She has worked to map curriculum and takes interest in the standards and what ways to best see them covered. She believes all students can learn and she loves seeing each student discover who God made them uniquely to be. Emma and her husband live in Lake Forest with their three boys and enjoy the outdoors with them.

Calin Melen

SECRETARY
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Calin has been a member of the HCA Board of Directors since 2023. Joining Heart in 2019, his two daughters attend the South Coast campus, where his wife Ginny also serves as a teacher and part of the Education Team. His family joined Heart in order to provide a Christian education to their daughters, with the flexibility of a hybrid program, and the fellowship of other believers. Because he and his family love the program and what it offers, Calin wanted to serve on the Board of Directors in order to contribute to the well being of the program and plan for the future academic and spiritual success of all Heart students.

Professionally, Calin is the Sr. Engineering Manager for New Product Development at Confluent Medical in Laguna Niguel. He has been in the medical device industry for 20 years, working in start-up and mid to large level companies. He was a co-founder at his previous company and has been a part of two acquisitions. He loves working with his team and customers to bring products to life and the engineer in him is drawn to solving problems. His family has been a member of Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo for 11 years where they are a part of the Thrive Marriage Ministry and serve in hospitality. Calin continues to coach his daughter's AYSO soccer team which brings him warm memories of when his father coached him. He and his wife also routinely partner with Together We Rise to chaperone foster kids on Disney Days. Calin is also a big DIYer, enjoys building/creating, learning new skills, cooking, and game nights with his family.​

david krake

David and his wife have three children attending Heart's Fullerton campus. His family has been part of Heart since the Fullerton campus opened in 2021. His sincere desire is that, through his involvement in the board, Heart Christian Academy will grow stronger and become more sustainable for generations to come, all grounded in God’s promised faithfulness.

David helps to lead worship at the Fullerton campus on a monthly basis and he’s so excited to see the worship team students growing in their passion for God’s holy name, growing in their skills, and growing as a team as well!

David is a Certified Financial Planner professional, and has led families and organizations in principles of Biblical stewardship for the last 20 years. He is an elder at his church, The Church at Green Hills, and serves on the board of Airo, a global missions agency. David also serves on the board of Better Life La Habra, a local community service organization.

​David lives in Whittier with his wife, Lauren, and their three kids. When he’s not working and spending time in the community, he loves making music with his kids, and strangely, doing pushups.