TEAM BOARD
TEAM Academy Charter School Board
Amy Rosen, Board Chair
Amy Rosen is the President & CEO of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE, formerly The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship), a non-profit organization that provides entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities. Amy has taken the helm of NFTE during a period where the organization’s programs are stronger then ever, having provided access to more than 45,000 students this year alone, with a rich curriculum designed to provide all young people a pathway to prosperity. She comes to NFTE with the experience and skill sets necessary to lead NFTE through this exciting period of growth.
Amy has spent more than 25 years in positions of leadership in both the private and public sectors, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be incredibly valuable to NFTE. She is a nationally recognized expert in comprehensive urban school-system-reform strategies where she has worked to close the achievement gap by providing all young people with high quality educational opportunities. Her success in leading large organizations through transformational change has been widely acknowledged.
For the past ten years, Amy has been an active participant in public education reform where she has applied her management skills and experience with complex constituencies to urban school districts challenged with the task of closing the achievement gap. Before joining NFTE, Amy was a founding partner of Public Private Strategy Group (PPSG), a privately held management consulting and financial advisory firm where she successfully developed the firm’s Education Practice. She has served as an advisor to Mayor Bloomberg’s team, designing and implementing the restructuring of New York City’s Department of Education. She previously served as COO for New Visions, a large non-profit committed to systemic reform of New York Public Schools, where she reengineered operations and created a new business model for the organization. She currently acts as education advisor to Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and is on the faculty at Columbia Business School where she teaches Education Leadership to MBA students.
In addition to her experience in education, Amy has spent 20 successful years as a leader in the field of transportation, where she helped to change the way public agencies conduct business while advocating for national investment in transportation infrastructure. Her work in this field has included managing New Jersey’s state transportation department and tenure as Senior VP of Lockheed Martin, where she helped to build a subsidiary that provided transportation services to state and local governments. She has earned a national reputation as a change agent in this field and was a two-term Presidential Appointee to the Amtrak Board of Directors. She has lectured and received much public recognition for her work, including induction into the New Jersey Transit Hall of Fame, as well as being named Board member of the Year by the American Public Transportation Association.
In addition to being on the faculty at Columbia Business School and authoring numerous articles, Amy is currently Chairman of the Board of TEAM SCHOOLS, a group of highly successful KIPP charter schools in Newark. She previously served on the Board of SEEDS, a nonprofit organization that identifies and provides high-achieving, low-income students with academic enrichment opportunities, and on the Board of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center.
Amy completed an Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School, and received her B.A. in political studies from Pitzer College. She was a 2004 Fellow at the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy.
Daniel Adan
Daniel graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida with Bachelor of Science in Finance. He began his career within the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs advising companies focused in the Industrials sector. Currently, Daniel is focused on investing in distressed and event-driven strategies at Perry Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund based in New York.
Judy Bedol
Judith Bedol is an active volunteer, serving with a variety of arts, education and health organizations over the past twenty years including Montclair Kimberley Academy, TEAM Schools, Hospice of New Jersey and currently serves as First Vice President of the Women’s Association of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Over the past five years she has been involved with the NJPAC in a variety of positions including co-chair of two benefit galas collectively raising over 5 million dollars and serving on strategic development and fundraising committees. Judy has also sat on the TEAM ‘Be the Change’ Event Committee since its inception and has served as co-chair.
Ms. Bedol graduated with a BA degree from Boston University. She resides in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband, Brian Bedol.
Sheila Boyd
Sheila Boyd supports the Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners Group (SMS&P) of Microsoft. In this role, she provides guidance and coaching to SMS&P senior leadership on human resources management. Prior to joining Microsoft, Sheila was a human resources professional at several financial services companies, including Goldman Sachs and Standard & Poor’s. Sheila began her career teaching history at several independent schools, most notably, The Peddie School. She was an editor in the Social Studies Development department of CTB/McGraw-Hill and served as a trustee for the Wight Foundation, Inc. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA from Columbia University.
Heather Calverase
Heather attended Youngstown University where she obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology and Biology. She later went on to receive her MBA from the University of Phoenix in Technology Management. Heather began her career as a Research Associate for the Council of State Governments and went on to be the Center Director for Kaplan Test Prep in Akron, OH and Pittsburgh, PA. Her career with Kaplan Test Prep later continued when she was promoted to Area Director for the California Centers. Before taking her current position, Heather was also the Regional Manager for Score Educational Centers. Currently, Heather is the Executive Director of New Jersey Teach For America, based in Newark.
Derek Capanna
Derek graduated from the University of Virginia and began working for Deutsche bank thereafter. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. recently appointed Derek Capanna, Managing Director, as Head of Americas Cash Equity Sales within the Global Markets division. In his new role, Derek oversees all generalist equity sales in the United States, Latin America, and Canada. Derek was previously Regional Head of Institutional Equities Sales for U.S. Central and West Coast Regions. In his new role as Head of Americas Cash Equity Sales, Derek will continue to expand the bank’s product platform with innovative equity products for Deutsche Bank debt and equity institutional clients.
Christopher Cerf
Christopher Cerf is currently CEO of Sangari Education, which offers innovative education programming to over 500,000 students worldwide. He previously served as senior campaign advisor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Between 2004 and 2009, he was Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education where his portfolio included organizational strategy, external relations (press, communications, politics, etc.), innovation and R&D, and all aspects of human capital. In that capacity, he oversaw labor relations and all matters pertaining to recruiting, supporting, developing and evaluating the nearly 80,000 teachers and 1450 principals who work in the DOE. Previously, he was a partner in the Public Private Strategy Group, which advises school districts pursuing comprehensive reform strategies. In that role, he served for a year as New York City Chancellor Joel Klein’s Chief Advisor on Transformation. As part of that effort, he built and managed a team of external experts and internal managers charged with (1) re-visioning the financial and organizational structure of the nation’s largest school district (1450 schools, serving 1.1 million children with an annual operating budget of $20 billion) and (2) working closely with the same team to implement the new design.
Mr. Cerf served for eight years as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Edison Schools, Inc, the nation’s largest private-sector manager of public schools, operating 150 schools in 19 states and providing other educational services in an additional 700 schools in both the U.S. and Great Britain. He earlier served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton and as a partner in two Washington, D.C., law firms. Mr. Cerf is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, and served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Prior to attending law school, he spent four years as a high school history teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Cerf graduated from the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy in 2004.
Thomas Dunn
Mr. Dunn is the Managing Principal of New Holland Capital, a $12 billion hedge fund advisory firm based in New York. Until 2006, Tom was a Managing Director at ABP (the Dutch civil servants pension fund) where he led the firm’s hedge fund effort. His recent work in hedge fund investing is a second career for Tom; he retired for a period of 3 years in 1999 after a career in institutional portfolio management. From 1995 to 1999, Tom was a partner at Lazard Freres where he directed the fixed income asset management business and, prior to Lazard, Tom spent 9 years as a portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. During his first retirement Tom pursued a number of personal interests including a year traveling around the world with his family. Tom lives in Montclair with his wife Susan (an elementary school teacher) and his two children. Tom holds two degrees from the University of Chicago: an MBA in Finance and a BA in English Literature.
Ryan Hill (non-voting)
Founder and Executive Director, TEAM Schools
Before founding TEAM Academy Charter School, Ryan Hill taught 6th grade at I.S. 164 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, where he also founded basketball and tutoring programs. After completing the KIPP School Leadership Program, Hill founded TEAM Academy, which has experienced dramatic academic success in its first three years, and has grown from a fifth grade with 80 students to a middle school serving 320 students in grades 5-8. The classes Mr. Hill has taught have risen from an average of the 33rd percentile to an average of the 90th percentile in just one year. Mr. Hill was the winner of the Bank of America Local Heroes Award, and TEAM Academy has been recognized in the Star-Ledger, the Harvard Courier, and on ABC’s World News Tonight. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin and is a graduate of the KIPP School Leadership Program.
Rahman Karriem
Rahman Karriem helps organizations reinvent practices, processes and people to optimize individual, team and corporate performance.
He is an agile business leader with broad expertise that includes engineering, operations, marketing and sales, regulatory and public affairs, and human resources. Rahman has 29 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry with a Fortune 25 company.
Over the years, Rahman has helped Verizon navigate and grow through major economic, industry and organization change. He managed P&L for a $1-billion market.
Rahman recently developed and implemented strategic initiatives that improved results and the work environment in over 200 Verizon call centers. He led initiatives to improve the engagement and performance of 100,000 employees across the U.S. Rahman educated employees to value inclusiveness and created programs to achieve, promote and retain a diverse, high caliber workforce.
As a Verizon executive director, Rahman launched a suite of data services and emerging solutions that drove revenues from $600 million to over $1 billion. He led product development, management and revenue accountability for all data services targeted to small to medium businesses. This market included approximately 3,000,000 customers nationwide. He created and executed strategies that optimized customer satisfaction and productivity while growing the revenues.
In the 90s, he collaborated in the company’s culture change from engineering- to market-based provider. He created and facilitated initiatives that directly improved employee morale which led to enhanced customer service. Rahman created a performance culture throughout Verizon and directed “think tank” project teams.
Rahman graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and is a graduate of Verizon’s Center for Creative Leadership. He serves the greater Newark community as a volunteer fundraiser, strategist and community leader. Rahman is a member of the Association of Princeton Alumni, the Board of Directors of Family Connections – providing social services throughout Essex County – and TEAM Academy – helping children through charter schools in Newark.
Brendan Maher
Brendan currently devotes his time to pro bono consulting largely to non-profits in Newark, NJ. From 1999 to 2007, Brendan was a founding partner of two New York City based hedge funds, Gothic Capital Management and Savannah-Baltimore Capital Management. Brendan served as an investment partner responsible for fundamental research, capital allocation, portfolio and risk management. Prior to 1999, Brendan worked for Credit Suisse First Boston and Fidelity Management & Research Company in an equity research capacity. As a member of the Carpernter’s Club, Brendan was named a 2009 Volunteer of the Year by Habitat for Humanity Newark.
Brendan graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelors degree in Finance and International Business in 1994. Brendan received his CFA charter in 1998. He and his wife, Karen, have three children and currently reside in Westfield, NJ.
Heidi Moore (non-voting)
Prior to TEAM Academy, Heidi Moore was a co-founder of the Summer All-Stars Tutoring Program, and she developed the high school placement program at I.S. 164 in Upper Manhattan. Since joining TEAM, she has developed the 5th and 6th grade social studies program, has given workshops for all the social studies teachers in the KIPP Network, and was a 2004 recipient of the Kinder Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ms. Moore graduated from Tufts University in 1997 and received her Master of Arts in Teaching Social Studies from Columbia University’s Teachers’ College.
Steven Pollard
At Deutsche Bank, Steven Pollard is the Head of Americas Research, where he is responsible for management of the North American and Latin American Equity Research department, along with the North American High Yield research department. In this capacity, Steve oversees a 200-person organization chartered with delivering high quality, objective and unique research content to Deutsche Bank’s institutional clients. Prior to his current role, Steve served as the Associate Director of North American Equity Research, the Chief Operating Officer of Global Equity Research, and as the Head of Business Development for Global Equity Derivatives. Prior to Deutsche Bank, he served as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, a Marketing Strategy Manager at Ford Motor Company, and a Senior Consultant with Andersen Consulting. Pollard received his MBA with honors from The University of Texas, Austin, and his BS in Finance from Lehigh University.
Patricia Ross, Parent Representative
Pat Ross has worked in the financial industry since 1986. She currently serves as the Branch Manager for the Mountainside, New Jersey branch of Bank of America. Her responsibilities include managing the operational efficiency and human resource activities of the branch, pursuing and servicing small business sales, and managing expenses and staffing. Ms. Ross has been a parent at TEAM Academy since the school opened.
Paymon Rouhanifard
Prior to joining the DOE, Paymon spent four years in the financial world with Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division and AEA Investors’ consumer/retail private equity team. Paymon began his career as a Teach for America corps member, teaching 6th grade at PS 192 in Harlem. He received a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Linda Sterling
After a career in marketing in packaged goods and upscale products, culminating in her position as Vice President of Marketing for Angel Records/EMI Classics, Linda Sterling focused her efforts in the Montclair area working with non-profit institutions. Education and the arts have been the primary focus of Linda’s involvement. Besides serving on the TEAM Academy board, Linda has tutored 5th and 6th grade students at TEAM Academy for the last 5 years, and chairs the Development committee, where she has participated on the gala committee since its inception. She is the Alumni Admissions Advisory Chair for Duke University in Essex and Hudson counties, and is on the Advisory Board for Montclair State University’s College of the Arts. Linda has served on the boards of the Montclair Art Museum; the Human Needs Food Pantry, where she was President of the board; the Junior League of Montclair-Newark; the Association of Junior Leagues, International; Bloomfield College; and the New Jersey Chamber Music Society. Linda has also served on the Nominating committees of several organizations, including the American Red Cross, Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, AJLI, Temple Ner Tamid, and has trained regional Junior Leagues in the nominating process. A major passion of Linda’s over the last 21 years includes cycling 200 miles across Massachusetts every summer in the Pan-Mass Challenge to help raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund (this year the ride will net $30 million). Linda is actively involved at the Montclair Kimberley Academy, the school where her two children attend. She attended Duke University where she earned her undergraduate degree and her MBA. .
Paula Tuffin
Paula Tuffin is an attorney with the esteemed New York law firm, Mayer Brown. Previously, a Project Director for Hunter College, Ms. Tuffin worked directly with the President of Hunter to create the Manhattan Hunter Science High School, an early college high school begun in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. Ms. Tuffin also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, a Partner at Sills Cummis & Gross, PC and as a Litigation Associate for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. She is extremely active in the community, such as with the Junior League of Montclair Newark, for whom she chaired a Designer Showhouse, and with the Montclair Art Museum, for whom she chaired a gala event. She also organized the Greater Essex County Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc. of which she served as president, and for which she currently serves as Legislative Chair. Ms. Tuffin received her BA from Williams College and her JD from Harvard Law School. (Information is correct as of November 30, 2009)