
Trustees & Advisors
Our Trustees
JOINED 2020 - Tanya is an educator, writer and facilitator. As a teacher, Tanya earned National Board Certification and was recognized by 826 Valencia for her outstanding instruction. Currently, Tanya uses experiential learning, coaching and inquiry to support and inspire teachers, parents and leaders to examine their work through the lenses of structural inequities, intersectionality, and lived experience. At Hunter College, Tanya studies how people develop the will, capacity, skill and emotional intelligence to enact anti-racist practices. She writes for a range of audiences about ways that privilege shapes our inner and outer landscapes. An alumna of Wesleyan University and Teach for America, Tanya spent two decades in California before returning home to New York, where she lives in Brooklyn with her partner and daughter, a thriving BKI student.
Tanya Friedman
Secretary
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Kenton Kirby
Trustee
INAUGURAL TRUSTEE - Michael is a native New Yorker who attended LREI from the age of four. He later founded LREI's Alumni Association and served on its Board of Trustees for a total of 17 years over two terms, the last ten (2001-2011) as Board Chair. Michael is a lawyer (BA, Syracuse 1975; JD Hofstra, 1978) who spent eight years in public service (NYC Corporation Counsel and US Attorney's Office, SDNY) and 36 in private practice, most recently as a senior partner at Fragomen Worldwide, from which he retired in 2016. Michael is also the President of ISCA (Independent Schools Chairpersons Association). He and his also-retired wife, Carol Sedwick (a proud member of BKI's Advisory Board), live on the Upper West Side; their son works at the Tenement Museum as Director of Events & Donor Engagement.
Michael Patrick
Chair
INAUGURAL TRUSTEE - Jevon is an independent filmmaker, born and raised in New York City. As a producer, director and editor, he works predominantly in non-fiction television, producing content for major networks and news outlets including NBC, Discovery, PBS and CNN. He also produces promotional and educational material for leading nonprofits in NYC, including National Resources Defense Council and Studio in a School. Jevon earned a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University. He now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons (BKI Classes of 2031 and 2034).
Jevon Roush
Vice Chair
JOINED 2020 - Denise is an Educational Consultant with SOLVED Consulting, where she works with literacy teachers to improve the academic achievement of their students. Denise has 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher and coach. She is driven by her belief that all students can learn, want to succeed and deserve teachers who can support them to excel. She believes it is the job of educators to tap into each student’s interests, strengths, personality and cultural identities to ensure their success. Denise is a proud parent of a Brooklyn Independent student and a graduate of Hampton University with a B.S. in Accounting and earned her teaching credential at San Francisco State University.
Denise Savoy
Trustee
JOINED 2020 - Dan is a Partner with Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, an immigration law firm with 550+ lawyers and 4,300+ employees globally. He focuses in immigration and nationality law and provides guidance and strategic advice on all types of U.S. immigration matters for employers and high net worth individuals. This includes corporate, investor, and family immigration law, representing large and small corporate clients within a variety of industries, including academic institutions, finance, technology, sports, fashion, and the arts. He also focuses on the representation of employers during government investigations related to immigration compliance. He graduated from Fordham University in 2003 with a degree in Political Economy, and earned his JD from St. John's in 2006.
Dan Schwartz
Trustee
Lifan Shen
Treasurer
INAUGURAL TRUSTEE - Lifan is a wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch where he advises high-net-worth families, businesses, and non-profit institutions. Prior to Merrill, he was at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he managed the personal investments for the firm’s most senior partners. Immigrating to the US and arriving in New York City at the age of one, Lifan passionately supports educational programs for low-income immigrants. He is a Pipeline Member at charity:water and also supports the Chinese-American Planning Council where he was previously a volunteer teaching English and workforce development courses to recent immigrants. Lifan earned an AB In Economics at Dartmouth College and an MBA in Finance and Accounting at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Suginia Jones
Trustee
Mrs. Jones is a certified school psychologist who has worked for the Department of Education in New York City for more than 15 years. She currently serves as an elementary school psychologist for two Brooklyn schools in the Park Slope and Kensington areas. Mrs. Jones is the case manager for over 500 children who are mandated to receive special education services as outlined in Individualized Educational Programs (IEP) and serves as the District Representative for subcommittee meetings. Throughout her career, Mrs. Jones used every opportunity to learn more about children and participated in a fellowship program where she studied patterns of child resiliency at Notre Dame University’s Clinical Child Laboratory. Outside of the school building, Mrs. Jones has developed one-to-one relationships as a mentor and is a member of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) organization. Mrs. Jones is married for 22 years and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their three children, one of whom is currently a BKI student.
Kevin Jones
Trustee
Kevin C. Jones currently serves in various roles including Chief Strategy & Legal Officer for Genting Americas Inc. and all of its subsidiaries. Mr. Jones shares responsibility for all of the North American
operations of Genting Americas as a member of Genting Malaysia Berhad’s North American Executive Committee, and also serves as President for the Massachusetts-related investments of the Genting Group of companies. Today, Mr. Jones is responsible for managing all legal, corporate compliance, governmental affairs, risk management, human resources and labor negotiations, and strategic corporate acquisitions and development matters for the North American operations of Genting. Prior to joining Genting Americas, Mr. Jones spent over 8 years in the Wall Street area office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he left as a senior corporate attorney. Mr. Jones has three lovely daughters and a wife of 22 years.

Cecilia Clarke
Former President & CEO, Brooklyn Community Foundation

Vinny Dotoli
Founder & Head of School, Harlem Academy

Richard Eaddy
Senior Managing Director,
Savills Studley

Phil Kassen
Director, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School
Our Advisors

Hali Lee
Founder, Radiant Strategies; Co-Founder Donors of Color Network; Founder, Asian Women Giving Circle

Carol Sedwick
Daytime Emmy Award winning Associate Director, Former Board Trustee at Studio School

Hannah Solomon
Senior Fellow for Content Development, Teach Like a Champion
