Annie Noonan, Esq.

Annie recently joined the Board of Directors of The Bridge School after serving for over two decades on the Board of The Community Alliance for Special Education (“CASE”), a Bay Area non-profit providing low or no-cost training and advocacy to families seeking educational services for their children. She served as CASE Board President since 2021 and helped guide the transition of the agency to new management when the Founder retired after 40 years at the helm.

Born in Nottingham, England, Annie is the proud daughter of a Nurse-Midwife and a Physician from Ireland. She received her law degree from the Polytechnic of Central London School of Law (now University of Westminster), graduated a year later as Barrister-at-Law from the Inns of Court School of Law, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales.

After relocating to California, Annie worked in the Employment Law Department of a large San Francisco law firm, during which time she passed the California Bar. She served as Vice-Chair and Chair of The Labor and Employment Law Committee of the Barristers Club of San Francisco, continued her practice at two other firms in the City and was certified by the Human Resources Management Program at San Francisco State University.

Annie brings to Bridge her very personal passion and devotion to supporting and elevating the lives of children and young adults with disabilities - as well as their families. Her son, Sam, who has had cerebral palsy since a devastating illness at 14 months, attended a San Mateo County Early Childhood Education program until the age of five, when he was fortunate to be accepted by The Bridge School. Concerned by the lack of appropriate education available post-Bridge, Annie helped develop a vision of another school which would address all areas of continuing need in one integrated setting. Her son inspired this vision so that he, and children like him, would have the opportunity to be happy and productive in a fully supportive environment for as long as possible.

So, in 2005, while her son was still at Bridge, Annie, co-founded The Avalon Academy in Burlingame, a California certified K-8 (and then K-12) school dedicated to providing Special Education and therapies to children with movement disorders such as cerebral palsy. She volunteered as Co-Executive Director for 10 years and served as Board President for 16.

Annie’s interest in social justice includes volunteering for almost 20 years with former Congresswoman Jackie Speier (now member-elect of San Mateo County Board of Supervisors). She is a founding member of Bay Area Border Relief, inspired by the Congresswoman’s 2018 call to action to provide humanitarian support to asylum seekers separated from their families at the Texas border. More locally, she supports ALAS in Half Moon Bay – Ayudando Latinos A Soñar – a nonprofit dedicated to assisting immigrants in social wellness, focusing on mental health and practical needs such as shelter, clothing, food, education, and employment - especially within the local farmworker community.

For fun, Annie enjoys music, theatre, dining out and cooking, reading, travel, swimming, Pilates and walking her dog, Lucy.

In addition to her son, she is blessed with a wonderful daughter who is working in Global Communications in Southern California after being awarded her MBA. Her husband, also an attorney, happily endorses Annie’s dedication to causes close to her heart and has been a massive supporter of both Avalon and Bridge.