Advisory Board Update

Changes to NFA’s Advisory Board

We welcome Ryan Abramson, John Christen, and Judy Lloyd as new members of the Advisory Board. We welcome their leadership to the dedicated group of Board members.

Ryan Abramson is the Director of Admissions at Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem, and has overseen the admissions and marketing efforts at the school for over 20 years. From the days of print brochures, to digital advertising and SEO, Ryan has earned a reputation for always pioneering ways to introduce the school to an ever-expanding group of families. Ryan was elected to the Board of Directors for the Association of Independent School Admission Professionals (AISAP) in 2019 and has participated in the Association’s 360 Assessment Program, which helps provide data-driven solutions to independent schools looking to grow their admissions efforts. In 2020, Ryan participated in the 360 Program at NFA and has remained actively supportive in the school’s enrollment and marketing efforts. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of America and a master’s degree from La Salle University. John N. Christen is a Senior Banker in the Commercial Mortgage Group of KeyBank Real Estate Capital and has spent over 25 years in the real estate finance industry. He is responsible for originating and placing commercial mortgage loans into the capital markets for the Northeast Region. Prior to his start at KeyBank in 2014, John served as Executive Vice President in charge of Capital Markets Urban Retail Properties, LLC, Managing Director at LEM Mezzanine, Senior Vice President at RAIT Financial Trust, and a real estate capital markets underwriter and banker at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. John began his career in the real estate consultancies of Ernst & Young, and Deloitte & Touche.

John is a graduate of Fairfield University, earning a B.A. in Writing and Political Science, minoring in French, and attended Université de Grenoble in France for one semester.

John belongs to the MBA, ICSC, and Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Penn. He also serves on NFA’s Finance Committee of the Advisory Board. John’s wife, Lizanne McGuinn Christen is a 1984 graduate of NFA, as are his children, John William “Will” ’11, Elena Maria ’13, and Katherine Elizabeth ’15. Lizanne has also worked as an aide in Junior Level Montessori, a substitute teacher, and has also coached JV field hockey.

Advisory Board Update

Our many thanks to Bill Murphy ’92, the Board’s Vice Chair, who is retiring this year.

Judy Lloyd and her family have been a part of the NFA community for 10 years, beginning when her daughter, Emmy, who is a member of the Centennial Class of 2021, enrolled in the Gate House at age four. They chose NFA for many wonderful and unique reasons; however, what stood out most for Judy is NFA’s tradition of Service-Learning and the integration of the Sisters of Saint Joseph mission across NFA’s programs.

Throughout Emmy’s time at NFA, Judy has served as Wreath Sale Coordinator, Plant Sale Coordinator, Contact Parent, Lunch Room Duty, Annual Fund Co-Chair, and NFA Parent’s Association Co-Chair.

Judy, and her husband, Ted, Emmy, and their Labrador Retriever, Scout, live in Erdenheim, Pa. They enjoy time together walking and skiing in the Wissahickon, sharing stories around their backyard fire pit and one of Judy’s favorite activities — birding in the many nature preserves in this beautiful area of Pennsylvania.

Napoleon Stephenson has been appointed as the new Vice Chair.

Napoleon Stephenson Jr. is a Senior

Sales Executive with the MetLife Investment Management (MIM) institutional client group and is responsible for business development and client relationship management.

Napoleon joined MIM in September 2017. Prior to that he was responsible for business development and client relationship management for Logan Circle Partners (LCP), which was acquired by MetLife in 2017. Prior to joining LCP in 2016, he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Business Development for Hamilton Lane and before that he was a Vice President of Institutional Sales at Delaware Investments. Previously, Napoleon was a Managing Director at Banc of America Securities, LLC, selling investment grade bonds to institutional investors. He also spent time in sales and marketing roles at Xerox Corp. and American President Lines, LTD.

Napoleon earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University. He and his wife, Natalie are parents of Cameron ’11, Carson ’14, Conner ’14, and Casey ’16.