Board
Education Foundation Staff
Vacant
USDB Education Foundation, Executive Director
Meet our Board
Leslie Castle
Board Chair
Board of Directors
Leslie Castle is a career Registered Nurse and has served as a member of the State Board of Regents and an elected member of the Utah State Board of Education. She has also served on the Advisory Council of USDB. Castle serves as the interim Treasurer of the Foundation.
Al VanLeeuwen
Vice Chair
Board of Directors
Al VanLeeuwen has been the CFO and also a Vice President of Operations for several companies and has been part of each management team has helped them grow and increase profitability. He also has extensive experience with corporate reorganizations, sales and purchases with both strategic and private equity investors. His experience includes improving the company operations and performance to improve sales and profitability growth together with operational and product innovation.
Brad Ward
Member
Board of Directors
Brad Ward is the president of Ward’s MediaTech, a Springville UT company focused on educational technology. Brad has more than thirty years of volunteer leadership and governance experience with nonprofit organizations focused on improving communities and individual’s self-sufficiency. Brad and his wife Kim Ward have 6 children and nineteen grandchildren.
Christianne Green
Parent
Board of Directors
Christianne Greene is a mother of ten children and lives in Herriman. Three of her children are blind and have participated in the USDB Outreach, Short Term, and Study Abroad programs.
Darin Nielsen
USDB Assistant Superintendent
Non-voting
Darin Nielsen began his career in education as a school counselor at Teton High School after graduating from Utah State University. The following year, he started a 22-year professional relationship with Box Elder School District where he fulfilled assignments as a school counselor, elementary principal, CTE/secondary curriculum specialist, director of technology, assessment/professional development director, curriculum director, and assistant superintendent. In October 2017, he was hired as the Assistant Superintendent of Student Learning by the Utah State Board of Education where he provides leadership for the Teaching & Learning, Career & Technology Education, and Assessment & Accountability teams. Since joining the Utah State Board of Education, he has overseen the adoption of two new state assessment systems, the development of a strategic assessment plan, is leading efforts to redesign Utah’s school accountability system, and development of the Utah Consolidated Improvement Planning tool. In September 2025, Darin was given the opportunity to move the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind where he brings over 20 years of educational leadership expertise.