Board Bios — Bronx Letters Foundation

Toni Bernstein, a graduate of Tufts University is an active volunteer in support of education. In 2003, Toni helped to found the Advisory Board for The Bronx Academy of Letters. In addition to board work, she frequently volunteers with students at Bronx Letters. Toni also tutors students each week at PS 182 in Harlem through a program called Reading Partners and has recently joined the board of The Shield Institute.

With a B.S. from NYU, Lisa spent ten years working for Merrill Lynch Futures in their New York, Chicago and Tokyo offices. After raising four children, both in the U.S. and Japan, Lisa went back to school to study creative writing at Manhattanville College where she received her M.F.A. She has written for CNN, The Japan Times, Metropolis Magazine and InTouch Magazine. She has helped hundreds of high school seniors at various schools around the world write their college application essays including the students of Bronx Academy of Letters. She’s been a board member since 2013.

Deb joined the Bronx Letters Advisory Board in 2008 and has served on the Endowment and Education committees. She is a finance professional currently working as a senior director in investor development for Fitch Ratings. She has previously worked in structured finance roles at Morgan Stanley, XL Capital Assurance and JPMorgan Chase and performed accounting and special projects work for the CFO and COO of gourmet grocer Citarella. In addition to her work with BAL, Deb volunteers as a member of the Board of Advisors of Siena College.

Karen is an Associate Broker with the Corcoran Group, specializing in the sale of residential properties in Manhattan. Prior to working in real estate, Karen had a career in performing arts management and media for the Metropolitan Opera. A supporter of public school education, both of her children attended public schools in New York City. Karen joined the Foundation in January 2012.

Reagan is Senior Vice President and Publisher of Little Brown. Previously, she was the founding editor of Picadou USA at St. Martin's Press. Writers Reagan has worked with include Kate Atkinson, Judy Budnitz, Oscar Casares, Elizabeth Crane, Rachel Cusk, Tony Earley, Joshua Ferris, Caitlin Flanagan, Tim Gautreaux, Elizabeth Kostova, George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin, Joanna Scott and Lisa Selin Davis.

A graduate of Yale University, Jennifer has been Vice President and Executive Editor at HarperCollins since 2007. She served previously as Editor in Chief at Henry Holt. Her list is comprised of equal parts fiction and nonfiction, and her tastes are eclectic. The fiction writers she has worked with include Paul Auster, Tessa Hadley, Daniel Silva, and Michael Chabon; nonfiction authors include Mary Karr, Caitlin Moran, and Peggy Orenstein.

Brandon Cardet-Hernandez is a passionate educator who believes in social justice through high quality educational opportunities. He is focused on closing the achievement gap by concentrating on teacher development/support, creating classrooms that are rigorous, engaging and student-centered and by using students' histories and experiences to further engage learning. He is the former Principal of The Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters. He is also a Co-Founder of Project Nathanael, a non-profit that supports a free co-ed elementary school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti through teacher development, resource management and capacity building and serves on the New York Advisor Board of Let’s Get Ready.

Sarah joined the Advisory Board for the Bronx Academy of Letters in 2019. She is an Associate in the Global Investment Opportunities Group (GIO) at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she works with U.S.-based clients trading across all asset classes and markets. She graduated fromColumbia University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics-Philosophy.

Jodie is an ardent supporter of public schools and has had three children in them in her neighborhood of Westchester. She is an active board member of Sanctuary for Families, the leading provider of comprehensive domestic-violence services in NYC, and has successfully run its annual benefit since 2002. Jodie graduated from Tufts University in 1984 and spent the next thirteen years in various brand-management and marketing positions with Coach, Liz Claiborne, The Gap, and Macy's. Jodie is a founding member of the Bronx Academy of Letters Advisory Board.

Elizabeth is a seasoned marketer who most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for Dstillery, a leading marketing technology firm. Prior to joining Dstillery, she held marketing and events positions at Alloy Media + Marketing, Scholastic and Radio City Entertainment. She takes an active role in the NYC public education community through her efforts with PENCIL and as a director of the Bronx Letters Foundation. She holds a BA in Art History from Dartmouth College.

Wendee joined the Bronx Letters Advisory Board in 2009. She is a seasoned international executive with more than two decades of luxury brand development experience. She is Founder and President of TLX Partners, a consulting firm providing strategic business development services for companies seeking to leverage their brand point of difference. TLX Partners specializes in identifying brand growth opportunities through licensing, international expansion, product development and marketing enhancement. Clients include Tory Burch, Dylan’s Candy Bar, Ghurka, and Tracy Reese. Prior roles include management positions at Tiffany & Co., Coach, Movado, Judith Leiber and Tumi. Wendee holds a BA from Dartmouth College.

Jenny McPhee is the author of the novels The Center of Things, No Ordinary Matter, and A Man of No Moon. She is co-author with her sisters Martha McPhee and Laura McPhee of Girls: Odinary Girls and Their Extraordinary Pursuits. She has translated several works from the Italian, including most recently Primo Levi’s story collections Natural History and A Flaw of Form included in The Complete Works of Primo Levi. Together with her sister Joan Sullivan, the school’s first Principal, she was a founding member of the Bronx Academy of Letters. She is currently the Director of the Center for Applied Liberal Arts at NYU’s School of Professional Studies.

Kate is a seasoned fashion professional, currently leading Global Innovation & Heritage Brand Strategy for PVH Corporation. Before joining PVH in 2014, Kate worked in sales, planning & merchandising at both Lacoste and Nautica, and began her career in investment banking. Kate is also a Board member of the Cornell Dyson School of Business from which she graduated in 2006. She joined the Board of the Bronx Academy of Letters Fall of 2017.

Amanda is passionate about public education and giving back to the community. She graduated from Union College with a BA in Psychology and Visual Arts and has a Master's Degree in elementary education from Hunter College. Amanda works in digital advertising as a Partner Manager on the Retail team at Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual discovery engine that inspires everyone to create a life they love. Amanda is a member of the Women@ Committee at Pinterest whose mission is to create a network that supports, empowers and advances the women of Pinterest. Prior to joining Pinterest, Amanda worked as an Executive Director at Dstillery, a leading advertising technology company in New York that specializes in creating custom audiences for brands to help them find new customers. Prior to that, Amanda worked at Beanstalk, a brand licensing agency, on brands including HGTV, DIY Network and US Army.

The founding principal of the Bronx Academy of Letters, Joan currently serves as CEO of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a non-profit turnaround organization that is accelerating student achievement at scale within the district’s lowest performing schools. Before founding Bronx Letters, Joan worked on Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign, documenting her experiences in a memoir, An American Voter (2002). She began her career working for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a NYC agency charged with investigating police misconduct. Joan is a graduate of the Broad Fellowship for Education Leadership; she holds a M.S. in School Leadership and a B.A. in American Studies from Yale College, where she earned All-American honors in lacrosse.

Kim is a founding partner of InkWell Management, a literary agency. Her clients include Kate Atkinson, Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Lena Dunham, Amity Gaige, Gabrielle Hamilton, Sophie Kinsella, Eloisa James, Peter Meehan, Julie Orringer,Yotam Ottolenghi, and Lionel Shriver. She has represented several books on education, including Stephen O’Connor’s Will My Name Be Shouted Out: Reaching Inner City Students Through the Power Of Writing and Alife Kohn’s The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and Tougher Standards. A graduate of Brown University, she is a member of the Authors Guild and the editor of two anthologies, including: Don’t Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Chefs. Kim is a founding member of the Bronx Academy of Letters Advisory Board.