Faculty & Staff / Leadership Team

  • Christos Bardis

    Christos Bardis

    Finance Director
    financedirector@vimsia.org

    Mr. Christos Bardis is originally from New Jersey, but has settled with his family on St. Thomas. He has a degree in Human Resource Management from Rutgers University, where he also spent many years in various progressive Business Office roles. Mr. Bardis also spent some time in smaller, private companies furthering his business management skills prior to joining VIMSIA.  As our Finance Director, he not only brings a wealth of finance and business office related experience to the table, but also as a parent to an enrolled student he has a passion to contribute to the great VIMSIA community.

  • Melissa Bump

    Melissa Bump

    Admissions Director
    admissions@vimsia.org

    Ms. Bump is a native Virgin Islander and alumna of VI Montessori School.  She received a Bachelor's in English from Drew University and a Master's of Science in Teaching from Fordham University.  She taught for over ten years at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School before joining our staff in 2013.  Her family has been very involved in building our school community for over forty years.  Her daughter, Kiyalyn (class of 2016), and her son, Andreas (class of 2021), have attended VIMSIA since the age of two.

  • Kara Ebe Cook

    Kara Ebe Cook

    Business Director
    businessdirector@vimsia.org

    Ms. Ebe Cook is from Fayetteville, Arkansas, and joined our staff in 2017. Through the 23/24 school year she served as VIMSIA’s Admissions Director and College Counselor.  She continues her career with VIMSIA as Business Director. She has a Master’s Degree in Teaching from Marian University and degrees in International Studies and Business Administration from the University of Missouri.  She has taught high school Math and worked as an Academic and Career Advisor at her alma mater. Before moving to St. Thomas, Ms. Ebe Cook worked in supply chain and retail management.  Her daughter Milli is a current student.

  • Kairah Moolenaar

    Kairah Moolenaar

    Front Office and Admissions Assistant
    kmoolenaar@vimsia.org

    Kairah was born in St. Thomas but was raised in the British Virgin Islands and joined our staff in 2023. She did most of her schooling from elementary to community college in the B.V.I. She has an associate’s degree in Elementary Education and recently graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands with a Bachelors in Psychology. She has taught at both Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary Levels in the British and wishes one day that she can merge her two degrees and get a Masters in Educational Psychology. Teaching was not her end goal however, she still wants to help students in a counselling atmosphere and hopefully open her own Educational Psychology firm on island one day. 

  • Joe Shansky

    Joe Shansky

    Communications Coordinator
    jshansky@vimsia.org

    Joe has worked across the education, labor, and environmental spaces for more than 15 years with a focus on advocacy through storytelling. Before coming to the island, he served as Program Director at Literature for All of Us, a nonprofit in Chicago that offers trauma-informed reading groups for youth and adults. He also worked with the Terra Foundation for American Art and Voces de la Frontera.

    Joe is originally from Milwaukee, WI and received his BA from the University of Minnesota. He is honored to be part of VIMSIA community along with his wife Daniela (VIMSIA’s Montessori Director) and delighted to help tell the school’s story, which their two sons are now part of. Outside of working and parenting, Joe loves to talk music and film.