Retiring and Incoming Members of the Board of Trustees

SINCERE THANKS To Our Retiring Trustees

Clockwise from top left: Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ’91, Julie Gamboa, Jane Gladstone ’86 and daughter Emily Wheeler ‘22, Debra Glick, Stephanie Perlman.

It is an honor to recognize Christine Alfaro ’91, Julie Gamboa, Jane Gladstone ’86, Debra Glick and Stephanie Perlman, who departed from the Board in June after many years of serving the School. During their tenure Brearley developed and Iaunched such initiatives as “Opening Doors,” the School’s Strategic Vision; a campus plan with the construction of 590 East 83rd Street and renovations to 610; a comprehensive fundraising campaign in support of our strategic goals; and an enhanced commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, social and emotional learning, and sexuality health education in the K–XII curriculum.

We would also like to extend a special thank you to Christine for her invaluable insight and guidance and the countless hours she dedicated to Brearley while on the Board. In the past year and a half alone, she courageously led the School during a global pandemic, keeping Brearley running safely for students, faculty and staff and prioritizing their well-being with the provision of tuition assistance and community funds to support those affected financially by the coronavirus. With Christine at the helm, Brearley also strengthened its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and took decisive steps toward becoming an antiracist institution.

We are deeply indebted to Christine and her fellow trustees for their extraordinary service and contributions to Brearley.

Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ’91

Trustee, 2013–2021 President, Board of Trustees, 2018–2021 Executive Committee, 2015–2021 Audit Committee *Board Covid Task Force, 2020–2021 Budget and Finance Committee Building/Real Estate Committee Compensation Committee, Chair, 2018–2021 Development Committee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Investment Committee Trusteeship Committee, Chair, 2015–2018

Julie Gamboa

Trustee and President of the Parents’ Association, 2020–2021 Building/Real Estate Committee Development Committee

Jane Gladstone ’86

Trustee, 2015–2021 Audit Committee Budget and Finance Committee

Debra Glick

Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, 2017–2021

Stephanie Perlman

Trustee, 2015–2021 Audit Committee *Board Covid Task Force, 2020–2021 Development Committee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Chair, 2020–2021 Student Life Task Force, 2018–2020

BREARLEY’S STATEMENT OF BELIEFS

MISSION

The Brearley School challenges girls of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds to think critically and creatively and prepares them for principled engagement in the world.

Guided by a dedicated community of adults, students develop a command of many disciplines, a love of learning and a resilient and generous spirit. The bond among students and with their teachers is rooted in a passionate exchange of ideas and an appreciation for the unique and lively contributions of each individual.

A Brearley education unfolds over a lifetime. The School instills in its alumnae the confidence to pursue their ambitions and the wisdom to live balanced and purposeful lives.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

The Brearley School believes that diversity of thought, practice and identity are essential elements in preparing students for principled engagement in the world. We believe in the importance of establishing and strengthening the structures and practices necessary to achieve equitable representation and participation in our School. We are committed to putting these beliefs into action and are therefore engaged in continuous study, self-reflection and dialogue in order to improve and adapt as we learn.

We embrace the opportunities and challenges of learning and working in a diverse environment characterized by respect and consideration for the needs of others. In partnership with faculty, staff, students, families and alumnae, we are endeavoring to instill and sustain shared values that promote a welcoming, inclusive and affirming community.

ANTIRACISM

The Brearley School condemns racism in the strongest possible terms and is committed to building an antiracist community. This work requires active introspection, self-awareness and the determination to make conscious and consistently equitable choices on a daily basis. We expect our faculty, staff, students, parents and trustees to pursue meaningful change through deliberate and measurable actions. These actions include participating in antiracist training and identifying and eliminating policies, practices and beliefs that uphold racial inequality in our community.

Clockwise from top: Ranika Ahuja Cohen and family, Sidaya A. Sherwood ’90, Lauren Taggart Wasson and family, Ann Saunders, Pam Selin. Ranika Ahuja Cohen is an attorney with her family’s business based in Texas. Raised in Texas, Ranika is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and University of Texas School of Law. A New Yorker for 20 years, she is involved in a number of organizations including the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy. Ranika and her husband, Dr. Ruben Cohen, have a multispecialty dental practice, Park Smiles NYC, located on the Upper East Side. Ranika and Ruben are the parents of Lia ’27, Ellie ’28 and CoCo.

Ann Saunders begins her three-year term as faculty representative to the Board. She arrived at Brearley in 2018 and teaches Middle and Upper School science, co-teaches Advanced Science Research Seminar, is a Class X advisor, and advises the Science Club and a new public health student organization. Ann has also performed in the faculty and staff tap dance during Evening of Dance for the last two years. Prior to coming to Brearley she was an instructor and tutor with Kaplan Test Prep. Ann graduated from Yale University and holds a PhD in pathobiology from Brown University.

Pam Selin joins the Board for a one-year term as the president of the Parents’ Association (PA). She has been a representative for her daughters’ classes and has worked on the Annual Fund and Benefit Underwriting Committees. She has served as co-chair of the Lower School Family Fun Night, Valentine’s Day Breakfast and Faculty Celebrations, Book Fair, and the Benefit Committees and was the PA community officer in 2017–2018. Outside Brearley, Pam is a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a volunteer art history teacher at a parochial school in the Bronx. Pam graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received her JD from Georgetown University. Pam and her husband, Doug, are the parents of Miranda ’22, Lila ’19 and Isabel ’18.

Sidaya A. Sherwood ’90 is an attorney and

social entrepreneur. She is currently a knowledge strategy lawyer for the mergers and acquisitions practice at Skadden. Sid has previously represented clients in M&A and securities law matters as a corporate lawyer at Skadden in San Francisco and New York. She also practiced law in-house, as director of legal affairs at the Tribeca Film Festival; at NBC Universal; and as Gucci America legal counsel for luxury group Kering (formerly PPR) in North and South America. Sid later founded Futurefill, an e-commerce site and system for students to order products in packaging returned for refill and reuse. A member of the Miller Society, she was also a member of the Alumnae Board from 2014 to 2017, has served as co-chair of the board’s Nominations Committee, and was a class agent. She and her husband, Matthew, are parents of twins Hudson and Liam (Class 7, Collegiate).

Lauren Taggart Wasson is the vice pres-

ident and associate chief medical officer for graduate medical education at NewYorkPresbyterian (NYP), where she oversees the physician residency and fellowship training programs at NYP/Columbia and NYP/Weill Cornell. She is also an assistant professor of medicine and cardiologist focused on cardiac intensive care at Columbia University Medical Center. Lauren served on the Brearley Board Covid-19 Task Force throughout the past year. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Lauren received her master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her medical degree at the Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. Lauren and her husband, Baxter, are the parents of Margaux ’30 and Cecily ’32.

Modupe Akinola ’92

NEW BOARD PRESIDENT

We are pleased to announce Modupe Akinola ’92 as Brearley’s new president of the Board of Trustees. A Brearley trustee since 2014, Modupe has served as treasurer since 2019 and as a member of the Board’s Executive Committee and chair of the Budget and Finance Committee since 2018.

Modupe is an associate professor of management at Columbia Business School. Her research and consulting focus on the science of stress and on how to maximize human potential in diverse organizations and communities. At Columbia, she co-heads and teaches the required leadership course for first-year MBA students. She also runs the school’s Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. At Brearley, Modupe, in collaboration with Jane Fried and division leaders, created and launched Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time (START), an ongoing initiative to help students develop more grounded personal definitions of success.

Modupe brings to her new position on the Board a wealth of academic experience, business acumen and institutional knowledge through her longstanding involvement at Brearley. As she says, “I had a wonderful experience as a student at Brearley. Twenty-nine years later, I am proud to be a part of the School’s important steps forward. I want to do everything I can to continue to ensure that all our students have the educational experience they need for principled and purposeful engagement in the world.”

Born and raised in New York City, Modupe is a daughter of esteemed and now retired Brearley teacher Funke Akinola. She attended Brearley for 13 years, along with her two sisters, and graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a BA in psychology. During the summer of her junior year in college, she worked with UNICEF in West Africa, where she connected with her extended family and later returned to start an education-based nonprofit, continuing her lifelong commitment to public service, initiated at Brearley. Rounding out her education and professional experience, Modupe went on to work in consulting and investment banking and earned an MBA, followed by an MA in social psychology and a PhD in organizational behavior, also from Harvard.

Succeeding Modupe as treasurer is Munib Islam. They are joined by fellow officers David Philip, senior vice president; Susan Berresford ‘61 and Paula Campbell Roberts ‘94, vice presidents; and Jocelyn Strauber ‘91, secretary.