Board of Trustees

List of 17 items.

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  Alexander Opper

  Current Parent
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  Alex is the owner of Brentwood Realty, LLC, a real estate investment and management company formed from The Opper Group. Prior to assuming ownership of Brentwood Realty in 2021, Alex spent most of his career at The Opper Group as a buyer and developer of multi-family, retail, industrial and flex commercial real estate throughout New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. Prior to joining the family real-estate business, Alex worked for U.S. Trust (now Bank of America Private Bank). Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics from the University of Colorado Boulder.

   

  Alex and his wife, Melinda “Mindy” Opper, have three children who currently attend NA: Emily ’26, Olivia ’28 and Caleb ’30.
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  Katy Burns

  NAPA President
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  Katy has been an active parent volunteer at Newark Academy since her son Miller ’22 enrolled in 2018 and currently serves as the president of the Newark Academy Parents Association (NAPA). 

  
  

  Katy previously held the position of NAPA vice president from 2023-24 and served as a parent liaison from 2022-24. Additionally, she has been an

  Annual Fund Parent Ambassador from 2019-24, a Regional Parent Ambassador from 2023-24 and an Admissions Parent Ambassador from 2020-24.

  
  

  Katy is currently pursuing a clinical fellowship in speech language pathology. She holds a master’s degree in communicative sciences and disorders from NYU where she graduated with honors; a master’s in elementary education with a focus on English as a second language from DePaul University; and a bachelor’s degree in communications and Spanish from SUNY Fredonia where she graduated summa cum laude.

  
  

  Katy and her husband, Chris, live in South Orange with their four children: Miller ’22, Cecily ’25, Arden ’27 and Serena. 
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  Marc Schwartz

  Current Parent
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  Marc is a principal at Taconic Capital Advisors, L.P., a multi-strategy hedge fund founded in 1999. He is focused on North American credit, distressed investments and litigation finance. He is also assistant portfolio manager of Taconic’s Market Dislocation Fund III and Credit Dislocation Fund IV and serves on the Portfolio Risk Management committee. Prior to joining Taconic, Marc worked at Morgan Stanley and also spent over three years at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP as a bankruptcy associate.

  
  

  Marc received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a juris doctor from Fordham University School of Law.

  
  

  Marc recently completed his tenure as chair of the board of the Far Brook School (FBS). He has served on the FBS board since 2014 on several committees including the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Investment Committee and Committee on Trustees.

  
  

  Marc and his wife, Robyn Bennett, have three children who graduated from or currently attend NA: Nathan ’25, Juliet ’27 and Elizabeth ’30. 
• 

  Rohit Bawa ’93

  Alumnus
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  While at Newark Academy, Ro was Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, The Minuteman as well as Polymnian, the NA yearbook. He graduated summa cum laude from NA and attended Williams College where he received his B.A. in Political Economy. He began his career on the bond trading desk of D.E. Shaw and later joined Deutsche Bank, serving as Managing Director. After a 20-year career on Wall Street, Ro founded his own private investment company, Green Lantern, focusing primarily on real estate development. Ro and his wife Vini have two two young children. Ro joins the Board of Trustees after serving for three years on the Alumni Board of Governors.
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  Wendy Short Bartie

  Current Parent
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  Wendy is the senior vice president (SVP) and general manager of U.S. Hematology and Oncology for Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). She joined BMS in 2021 and was previously SVP of U.S. Oncology and SVP and Chief of Staff to the CEO. Prior to BMS, Wendy was vice president and head of Commercial Operations for U.S. Oncology at Merck. 
  
  

  Wendy began her career as a public defender in Washington, D.C., and the Bronx. She received her B.A. from Clark Atlanta University and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

  
  

  Wendy and her husband, Jared, are current NA parents to Madison ’26.
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  Debra Caplan

  Current Parent
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  Debbie and her husband, Ken, are parents to NA graduate Leo ’23 and current student Evan ’25. Debbie is a leading voice for Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), she serves as a current Board Member, chairing both their Governance and Nominating committees, as well as being a trained volunteer Advocate. CASA advocates for the welfare of children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect or abandonment. She is also an Executive Board Member of the National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section (NCJW), where she co-chairs the Period Project which focuses on the issue of menstrual inequity. Debbie serves as Vice President and Co-Founder of the Lisa B. Fishman Foundation, an organization that provides critical funds for Hodgkin’s lymphoma research. Debra’s older sister Lisa, passed away from Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2001. Each week Debbie volunteers with Meals On Wheels delivering hot meals to homebound individuals who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meal. Her prior Board and Volunteer work include: Pencils of Promise, Sundara, EIES, The Place2Be Organization and The Knightsbridge School in London. At NA, she has served as a Parent Liaison, a Monitor for The Apostles’ House tutoring program, and a Parent Ambassador for the Annual Fund. Debbie graduated with a B.A. in Business and Psychology from the University of Michigan. She spent 10 years in the Fashion Industry as Vice President of Sales for Levi’s/Dockers Women’s Clothing and Vice President of Calvin Klein Mens’ Underwear.
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  David Castelblanco

  Current Parent
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  David Castelblanco is a Partner at Redbird Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on media, entertainment, experiential consumer and sports investing with over $6 billion in assets under management.  In his current role, David focuses on Media, Entertainment and Consumer investing.
  
  

  Prior to joining Redbird, David spent over 20 years with Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division where he was a Managing Director in their private equity investment business. David has invested across a number of sectors including, media, communications, entertainment, retail/consumer and healthcare. He went on to establish and run the Merchant Bank’s Latin America investment business, opening their first office in São Paulo.
  
  

  During his tenure at Goldman, David worked closely with entrepreneurs and management teams to build several successful industry leading platform companies, including the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (“YES”) Network, the #1 Regional Sports Network in the United States. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oncoclinicas, one of the world’s largest private providers of cancer care.

  
  Philanthropically, David is a Member of Stanford Law School’s Board of Visitors and Dean’s Advisory Council.  He serves on the President’s Advisory Council on Economics of Brown University. David received a BA from Brown University, a JD from Stanford Law School and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
• 

  David Crall

  Current Parent
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  David and his wife, Hilary, have three children that graduated from or currently attend NA - William ’23 and two current students, Ted ’25 and Emma ’27. David is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Nomura Corporate Research and Asset Management (NCRAM), a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings that manages portfolios of high-yield bonds and other credit products for institutional clients around the world. He is also a member of NCRAM’s Board of Directors. Previously, he was a portfolio manager and investment analyst with NCRAM, having joined the firm after college. David received a B.A. in English from Yale University.
• 

  Ajay Dhankhar

  Alumni Parent
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  Ajay and his wife, Nidhi, have two sons, NA graduated Riann ’21 and Ishaan '24. Ajay serves on the Strategic Planning Committee of the NA Board. Since 1997, Ajay has served as a Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company. With a background in computer science and a PhD in biochemistry, Ajay leads McKinsey's work with pharmaceutical and medical products companies on R&D. Previously, Ajay was a Teaching Fellow, Biochemistry Department at Yale University. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, a MPhil in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, and a B.S. in physics and computer science from Angelo State University.
• 

  Robert Fink

  Current Parent
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  Robert Fink and his wife, Rachel (Bier), have three children that graduated from or currently attend NA – Kyle ’23, Chase ’25 and Madeline (Maddie) ’27.  Kyle, Chase and Maddie were the third generation of their family to attend what was formerly the Solomon Schechter Day School (now the Golda Och Academy). Rob is a Product Sales Specialist at CISCO, a leading technology conglomerate and provider of network infrastructure solutions. Prior to his career at CISCO, Rob was Global Sales Manager for West Corporation; Senior District Manager with WinMill Software; Channel Sales Manager for Convad Communications and Senior Channel Manager with XO Communications. Rob holds a B.S. degree in Marketing from the University of Maryland – College Park. Rob has been a very active NA parent – serving on the Minuteman Golf and Tennis Invitational Committee and serving as a parent volunteer for the annual Day of Giving.  Rob is serving as the Chair of the Annual Fund for the NA Board of Trustees.
• 

  Milwood Hobbs, Jr.

  Current Parent
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  Milwood Hobbs, Jr. and his wife, Kimberly, have a son, Corey, who is in Newark Academy’s Class of ’26.
   
  Milwood is the Managing Director and Head of Oaktree’s North American Sourcing and Origination (S&O) group, which focuses on private credit sourcing and deal-origination for the firm’s U.S. Private Debt, Strategic Credit, Special Situations and Distressed Debt investment teams. Previously, he sourced and originated private debt opportunities across Oaktree’s credit strategies.
  
  Prior to joining Oaktree in 2013, Milwood was an executive director at Natixis Securities focused on building the high yield sales and trading franchise. Prior thereto, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president in leveraged finance origination and sales. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2007, Milwood was a director in Leveraged Finance at Deutsche Bank Securities, which he joined in 2000. Additional experience includes regional account management focused on fleet financing at GE Capital Corporation and controller for Leveraged Finance at Bank of America.
  
  Milwood received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. degree in accounting from Rutgers University. Milwood is serving on the Finance Committee of the Newark Academy Board of Trustees.
  
  
• 

  Basel Kayyali

  Current Parent
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  Basel Kayyali is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm. Based in Summit, New Jersey, he heads the McKinsey Healthcare and Public Sector Digital and Analytics Practice globally. He has worked primarily with several large prominent high-tech and telecom clients across a wide range of topics. In addition, he serves healthcare and public sector clients on large digital and analytic transformations and has more than a decade of experience operating at the intersection of healthcare, technology and operations. Prior to McKinsey, Basel spent three and a half years at Intel Corporation, as a marketing strategist and processor architect who helped design the Pentium III processor.
  
  

  Basel graduated valedictorian from Pennsylvania State University’s Schreyer Honors College with an electrical engineering degree and earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as a Palmer Scholar — the highest distinction bestowed to the top five percent of the graduating class.
  
  

  Basel and his wife, Andrea, have two children at NA, Alexander ’27 and Madeleine ’25. In addition to serving as a non-trustee member of NA’s Strategic Planning Committee, Basel sits on the board of his undergraduate alma mater, Pennsylvania State University’s Schreyer Honors College.
• 

  Robert Kunzweiler

  Current Parent
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  Robert is a principal and founder of Stonecutter Capital Management, which develops and invests across various real estate asset classes and adjacent operating businesses. Prior to forming Stonecutter, Robert worked at CDC Capital Markets and its successor organizations, IXIS and Natixis. He focused on the origination, structuring and underwriting of complex real estate transactions for the bank’s principal operation as well as for execution in the capital markets.

  
  

  Robert ultimately served as the managing director heading Natixis’s mid-west regional office based in Chicago. He graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

  
  

  Robert and his wife, Brenda, have four children who graduated from or currently attend NA: Charlie ’23, Jeff ’25, Henry ’27 and Zachary ’29.
• 

  Rebecca Moll-Freed ’94

  Alumna, Current Parent, Alumni Board of Governors Representative to the Board of Trustees
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  A member of the Class of 1994 and the parent of NA graduate Lauren '22 and current student Ethan '24, Rebecca has been an active and loyal alumna for many years. She joined the Board of Governors in 2015. In addition to her service on the BOG, Rebecca was instrumental in garnering support for the Newark Scholars from her firm and that of other organizations within the City of Newark. As a member of the BOG, Rebecca served as chair of the BOG’s Affinity Committee, the Programming Chair and Life of the Academy Committee Chair. Upon graduation from NA, Rebecca went to Tufts University as an undergraduate, majoring in English and Political Science. In 2001, she graduated from Georgetown University School of Law. Crediting her interest in her law career to her years on the NA Mock Trial team, Rebecca was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 2001 and to the New York Bar in 2002. In addition to her active role as an NA parent and alum, Rebecca is a partner in the law firm of K&L Gates, LLP where she focuses on government contracting, campaign-finance, non-profit, lobbying and government ethics laws. Prior to this, she was a partner at Genova Burns for 16 years where she chaired the firm’s Corporate Political Activity Practice Group and the Nonprofits, Trade Associations & Tax-Exempt Organizations Practice Groups, served on the Management and Marketing committees and worked as the co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. Rebecca has been widely recognized in the legal field, including being named by NJBIZ® in 2019 as among the Best 50 Women in Business Award. In 2016 she received the Mary Philbrook Award from the Women’s Political Caucus of New Jersey and in 2014 was named a Woman of Distinction by the Newark Academy Alumni Association.
• 

  Rasheea Williams Hall '95

  Alumna
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  Rasheea is the Vice President, Broadcast Standards & Practices (BS&P) for Fox Broadcasting Company, where she helps protect the network against potential FCC infringements and fines by ensuring all entertainment programming is appropriate for primetime broadcast distribution. Rasheea oversees the broadcast standards process for scripted programming and manages a team of top standards executives who work on a diverse set of shows. Rasheea serves as the primary standards executive on shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and Lee Daniels’ “Empire,” a series that garnered close to 20 million viewers at its height. 

  
  

  Rasheea is an active alumna of Newark Academy’s Class of 1995. She regularly attends regional events in Los Angeles where she resides, has never missed a milestone class reunion and frequently engages with the school community and fellow alums online and in person. She would like to collaborate on outreach efforts to current and prospective students from Newark, NJ.
  
  

  Originally from Newark, NJ, Rasheea earned her B.S.in psychology from Wellesley College, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and her M.S. in broadcast journalism from Columbia University. She is a member of Word of Encouragement Church in downtown Los Angeles and volunteers as a baby cuddler in the NICU unit at Dignity Health-California Hospital Medical Center. She is married and has two daughters, Bella (11) and Rae (9). The job she is proudest of is nurturing these two dynamic spirits.
• 

  Dr. Kalenah Witcher ’87

  Alumna
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  Kalenah graduated from Newark Academy in 1987 and received a B.A. in Psychology and Honors in Education from Stanford University in 1991. After Stanford, she attended Teachers’ College at Columbia University and completed her Doctor of Psychology at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. She has spent her professional career as a school psychologist in and around Newark. She is also a founding Board Member of Newark G.A.L.S, Inc., (Girls Acquiring Life Skills), an organization that aims to develop powerful, successful and productive young women from Newark and surrounding urban communities by guiding them with leadership, advisement, social skills, educational planning, and mentoring. Kalenah also serves as Vice Chair of the Central Planning Board of the City of Newark, is a member of the Newark Public Library President’s Coterie, volunteers with the Irvington NAACP and is an advisor to local Muslim Students’ Association chapters. As a student at NA, Kalenah participated in the Black Awareness Club, enjoyed history and English classes, played clarinet and softball, and gained notoriety for her infamous “Kiwi poem”. Kalenah credits NA’s rich curriculum for early introduction to deep study of American and global history and culture. Her siblings, Kanileah and Kaleem, and her cousin, Amoni, are all NA alums. She has two children, Aliyyah Connie Torres (24) and Idris Bilal Wheeler (11).
• 

  Elizabeth Christou Woodall

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  Liz and her husband, Steve, are proud parents of four children – Katie, James, Mary and Annie – all of whom attend or attended independent schools. A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Liz began her work as a teacher in the South Bronx and East Orange before spending 28 years at Kent Place School. Liz taught seventh and ninth grade English. She started the school’s Writing Center, was the school’s first Dean of Students and then led the Upper School. She was also co-founder and co-director of the Girls’ Leadership Institute, and she helped on two major construction projects with design, moving, and improved instructional practices. With a deep understanding and respect for the school’s history and tradition, Liz pushed for more inclusive programming and teaching practices. She brought ethical and cultural competency leadership, Project Adventure, and women’s studies among other changes. Liz is currently the Head of School at Saint Dominic Academy in Jersey City. Prior to that role, she served as the founding Director of Development at Bridges Outreach, helping to bring necessities and housing equity to those experiencing homelessness locally.