Leadership
See also the CCS Board of Directors
Meet the Founders!
Mr. Greg Miller and Mrs. Pam Miller founded Challenge Charter School in 1996 with a shared passion for putting kids first in education.
Mrs. Miller, Principal Miller, Mr. Miller
Mrs. Miller served on the Paradise Valley Unified District Governing Board for 8 years including one as President of the Board as well as the United Parent Council president representing thousands of parents in PVUSD. In addition, she was an active and dedicated volunteer inside of her own children’s classrooms and campuses, as well as serving on committees and boards to further kids’ causes. She has an extensive business background, having owned more than one business in her early career, and was in Finance when the couple’s shared passion and activism in education led them to travel a different road and make the dream of putting kids first in education a reality at Challenge Charter School.
Mrs. Miller has held several important administrative positions at CCS including: Administrative Manager/Vice Principal and Creative Programs Director, serves as the Executive Director of the non-profit company, and both Vice President and current President of the corporate board.
Mr. Greg Miller was a Senior Level Manager in the Civil Engineering and Land Planning business for over 25 years. Having been very successful in the corporate world, he said about founding CCS, “Nothing I accomplished in those years ever felt as good as a hug from a Kindergartner that is excited to be at school that day.” Mr. Miller held a short term high school math and science special education teaching position, in addition to extensive education volunteerism like Mrs. Miller. Mr. Greg Miller was appointed by Governor Jan Brewer to serve on the Arizona State Board of Education in 2010 and reappointed in March, 2014 as the Boards’ Vice President for two terms and President for two terms.
At CCS, Mr. Miller served as Principal, the CEO of the non-profit company, and President of its Corporate Board before his passing in October 2017.
The Millers’ passion for putting kids first in education has had a local, state, and national impact on education reform. They have been recognized for these contributions locally and nationally. Read more about their accomplishments here..
Meet the Principal!
Ms. Wendy Miller joined the CCS team in 1999 shortly after graduating from Northern Arizona University with an emphasis in Public Administration. She began at the front desk learning all operations of the school from the ground up. In 2002 she was made a member of the Corporate Board. In 2004, she was promoted from the Executive Administrative Manager to become the school’s Vice Principal. In 2008, Mr. Miller turned over the Principalship to Ms. Miller and in the same year she graduated with her MBA from the W.P. Carey Program at ASU. She has since also been promtoed to the school’s current CEO.
She is passionate about carrying forward her parent’s founding vision and mission to always put kids first. Ms. Miller is a Phoenicians Board of Directors member for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce building stronger partnerships between the business and education community and she serves on the Center for Education’s National Grassroots Advisory Board .
School Management also includes the school’s Master Teachers, Grade Coordinators, Departmental Managers, the Corporate Board of Directors (Challenge is a 501(c)3 non-profit), and the School Advisory Council.
Meet the Assistant Principal!
Ms. Tammy Neitch has been a part of the CCS family since 1998. She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, and later went on to pursue, and received, her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Grand Canyon University. When she started at Challenge she worked first as an instructional assistant in 2nd grade, and then quickly moved into a full time teaching position.
In her time at CCS, Ms. Neitch has served in a variety of roles, both in and out of the classroom. She served as a full time classroom teacher in the second grade for thirteen years and also taught first grade for a year. While teaching she was a part of the leadership team, serving as the 2nd grade coordinator and as a Master Teacher over Kdg. – 2nd grades.
In 2007, she was promoted to Assistant Principal and served three years in that position, before she missed the daily, classroom interaction with students and moved back into teaching. She returned to her position as Assistant Principal in 2017. She has a strong passion for our students’ success. She continues to mentor teachers and use her knowledge of the curriculum, as well as school and state wide testing systems to help them adjust their instruction to meet our students’ academic needs.