Current Board Members
Natalie Luna Rose
President
Natalie Luna Rose is a proud product of TUSD, having attended Bonillas Elementary, Alice Vail Middle School and Rincon High School. Her sisters and mother were also graduates of Rincon, and her nephews are currently attending TUSD schools.
Natalie has always been active in her daughter’s education, serving as President of both the Booster Club and Site Council during her time at Sewell Elementary. As a member of the Tucson Unified Parent Advocacy Council, Natalie continued to advocate for better policies, sustainable funding and strong public schools at the AZ State Legislature.
She has been involved in grassroots organizing for over 20 years in Tucson and has participated in the public process at all levels – from her first term on the TUSD Governing Board, to national parks, to the U.S. House of Representatives. Currently at Disability Rights Arizona, she provides strategic leadership on community outreach.
Natalie is a native Tucsonan and also a proud Wildcat. Natalie and her husband Josh have
been married for 21 years. They spend time with their daughter, Lily, enjoying what Tucson, and Southern Arizona has to offer.
Jennifer Eckstrom
Board Clerk
In 1995, Jennifer was elected to the South Tucson City Council at the age of 18, the youngest person to be elected to public office in Arizona. She was re-elected four consecutive times to the City Council and served 5 years as Mayor. Her latest election was in November 2022, where she was elected to the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.
Jennifer has also worked for Pima County since 2003. She was the chief-of-staff for County Supervisor Ramon Valadez where she was responsible for the management and coordination of office staff and organizing constituent services for District 2, as well as developed public policy at the local level. Since January 2021, Jennifer has moved on to the role of Community and Faith Based Coordinator for Pima County’s Workforce Development Department. She is responsible for supporting multiple resource fairs, special events, committees, and collaborations that are relevant to the faith-based and local community. She strives to compassionately serve low-income individuals and families; those experiencing homelessness; and those returning from incarceration with needed resources. Throughout her public and community service career, Jennifer has been instrumental in and dedicated to focusing on critical issues that impact women, children, and families in areas such as health care, employment, education, economic development, and political participation.
Val Romero
Member
Tucson Native, Father to an Awesome Daughter, Megan, and Grandpa to my "Penni from Heaven" & "My Little Buddy Michael". My Family is the most important drive in my life and the best memories are my time with them.
Graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School, Attended the University of Arizona before switching to the Academy of Radio and Television In Phoenix.
Small business owner of Arizona Grill & Hearth, also known as "THE KING" of BBQ's.
Dr. Ravi Shah
Member
Dr. Ravi Shah (he/him), President of the TUSD Governing Board, is in his 4th year of service to our community. He is a proud TUSD parent with 3 young children enrolled in TUSD, and a product of public education. Before being elected to the TUSD Governing Board in 2020, he served as a member of the TUSD Audit Committee and TUSD Family Life Curriculum Committee, and as Treasurer of his oldest daughter’s school PTO.
Dr. Ravi is a practicing family physician and currently sees patients of all ages and walks of life.
Sadie Shaw
Member
Sadie Shaw was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and earned her BFA in Art & Visual Culture Education from the University of Arizona in 2019. Sadie is an artist, arts administrator, organizer, oral historian, and Governing Board Member of the Tucson Unified School District.
She also serves on the board of the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson and the Tucson Juneteenth Festival. Currently, she works at the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona as their Public Art and Community Design Administrator.
Sadie served as the President of the Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association from 2018-2020 and worked to raise the visibility of the historic Black residents with public art, signage and an oral history project that narrates the neighborhood's significant past and present in the context of history and culture. This experience ultimately led her to form the Sugar Hill Community Land Trust, a non-profit with a mission to buy back the neighborhood and to be a resource for the needs of the community.
Her studio practice, community advocacy and political activism have merged into a sociopolitical platform that challenges underlying cultural inequities and the systems and policies that perpetuate these conditions. She applies this same energy while advocating for the arts, neighborhoods, and the people of Tucson.