Board of Trustees

Davon Russell is the President of WHEDco, a Bronx-based community development organization and the school’s founding partner. A lifelong educator and mentor who believes in the transformative power of the arts, Davon has been responsible for creating and implementing WHEDco’s research-driven early childhood and youth programs. He began his career at WHEDco as a part-time after school teacher and steadily rose through the organization over 20 years, serving as Executive Vice President from 2007 – 2017, before ultimately being named WHEDco’s President. Under Davon’s leadership, WHEDco’s youth programs—serving infants, toddlers, school-age youth, and teens— have helped tens of thousands of young people build their skills, access resources, develop their creative and innovative potential, and become leaders. Davon was appointed by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. to sit on the NYC Department of Education’s Community Education Council and received the PASEsetter Award Certificate in 2001 for his outstanding service to the city’s youth. He previously served as a Program Coach in The After School Corporation’s Coach-Mentee Program, and on the Advisory Committee of the Madison Square Garden Cheering For Children Foundation. Davon also serves on the Boards of Bronx Lacrosse, DreamYard and Anthos|Home. He was appointed by Governor Hochul to the Temporary Construction Industry Advisory Council on Public Contracting Reform. He is a Captain in the founding coalition of the Bronx Community Relief Effort, and is a member of the Racial Justice and Equity Task Force for the Weill Cornell Department of Medicine, as well as the Lehman College School of Education Professional Education Advisory Committee. 

Felicia Franklin is a life-long resident of the South Bronx and an entrepreneur with deep roots in the community. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of WHEDco, the school’s co-founding partner, sitting on the Housing and Head Start Sponsoring Committees. She formerly served on the Board of Directors of the Grace Church School for 12 years, sitting on the Educational Committee, the Long Range Planning Committee, and the Institutional Culture Committee (formally the Diversity Council), as well as on the Board of Directors of the Dalton School, serving as the Board Secretary, in addition to sitting on the Development Committee, Diversity Committee, and Committee on Trustees. Felicia is passionate about bringing the quality of education present in schools like Dalton and Grace Church, both independent schools, to children in her own community in the Bronx.

Nancy Biberman is the Founder and President Emerita of WHEDco, a Bronx-based community development organization that co-founded SBECA. She served as WHEDco’s Founding President for 25 years from 1992 – 2017, leading the acquisition, design and development of WHEDco’s three multi-disciplinary Bronx anchors – Urban Horizons, the historic restoration of an abandoned municipal hospital; Intervale Green, one of the nation’s first energy efficient green-roofed and affordable residential buildings; and Bronx Commons, bringing to fruition the vision set out in the community-led Melrose Urban Renewal Plan. She forged important partnerships that ultimately led to the creation of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the Bronx Music Hall, the first newly constructed music performance venue to open in the Bronx in over 50 years. Nancy is an expert on green, affordable housing and community development with over forty years of experience in advocating for greater equity and justice in New York City. She began her career as a Legal Services lawyer and went on to help create the SRO Law Project. While studying at Columbia University’s School of Architecture and Planning with a Revson Fellowship, she conceived and developed the West End Intergenerational Residence. Subsequently, she developed over 700 units of affordable housing in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. Nancy has received distinguished Alumna awards from Barnard College and Rutgers-Newark Law School, and fellowships from the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Wasserstein Foundation to Harvard Law School, and the Charles H. Revson Foundation to Columbia University's School of Architecture. 

Jodi Benjamin-Schneider is a literacy educator in the New Haven Public Schools. She directs an annual Shakespeare production for students in Grades 5-8. She serves on the Executive Board of New Haven Reads, a one on one tutoring non-profit servicing over 550 students per week who are struggling with literacy skills. Jodi is a Board Member of The Point, an organization dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. She is also a member of the Programming Committee for Friends of the Children in Harlem, a mentoring organization which pairs a professional mentor with a student for their entire childhood, kindergarten through graduation. Jodi is passionate about advocacy initiatives that work toward improving outcomes for students, and that give students access to the great education they all deserve.

Lori Chemla is a partner of Carissa’s Bakery, which currently has three retail locations. She is also an active philanthropist with a strong commitment to the arts and education. She currently sits on the Board of Governors for the Bard Center for Curatorial Studies and the Hessel Museum, and is a Board member of the Hampton Film Festival and Greater East Hampton Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the Whitney Film and Video Committee and the Bronx Museum Education Committee. Previously, she spent two decades as the Co-President of ALTOUR, one of the nation’s largest travel agencies serving the luxury and mid-markets.

Andrea Cohen is an employment and business affairs attorney with over 30 years of legal experience. She currently has her own law practice, which focuses on representing employees in contract and severance negotiations, and representing television production legal affairs. She spent 25 years as an attorney with the ABC Television Network, with the last ten years as Vice President of Business Affairs for ABC News. As the first person in her family to graduate college, Andrea believes that education is the great American equalizer and dedicates her free time to ensuring that young people have the educational support they need to succeed. Andrea has volunteered with Let’s Get Ready, where she has provided one-on-one college admissions mentoring to a low-income, first generation high school student in Westchester, and with Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE), where she was a member of its Advisory Board. She has also previously served on the High School Principal Search Committee for the Edgemont School Board, and was a member of its Good Business Practice Committee. Andrea received her BA from Brooklyn College and her JD from George Washington University Law School.

Meredith Leverich is the Chief of Staff to the President at WHEDco, the community-based organization in the South Bronx that co-founded SBECA. In her role, Meredith works closely with WHEDco’s President, Executive and Vice President Teams, and other Senior Leadership to identify opportunities for organizational growth, drive initiatives forward, and develop strategies to achieve new goals. She leads WHEDco’s individual giving strategy, including cultivating major donor and corporate relationships and spearheading all fundraising events. Meredith launched WHEDco’s Associate Board in 2015, engaging a broad group of young professionals as donors, volunteers and advocates. She holds a BA and an MA in English from St. John’s University, and was a member of the inaugural class of Ozanam Scholars. 

Dr. Crystal Lane is the Chief Education Officer at DREAM, leading the strategic vision, growth, and innovation of DREAM’s PK-12 schools. She guides the development and effectiveness of DREAM’s Network Education Leadership Team (including School Principals), ensuring high-impact implementation of DREAM’s comprehensive Grow The Whole Child model. Crystal fosters intentional collaboration among her teams to ensure every DREAM student experiences rigorous academics, data-driven social-emotional skill development, and high-quality athletics and enrichment during after-school and summer programs—all while meeting the needs of all learners and cultivating deep, meaningful partnerships with families.A dedicated advocate for excellence in urban education, Crystal began her career as a Teach for America corps member at The Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science. With over a decade of experience, she has held multiple leadership roles, including Dean of Instruction, Principal-in-Residence, and Principal at Ascend Public Charter Schools, where she successfully led the transformation of one of the network’s lowest-performing middle schools into one of its top-performing campuses.Crystal joined DREAM in 2021 as their Managing Director of Schools and has guided significant organizational growth, supporting the scale of DREAM to seven schools, launching the inaugural curriculum and instruction team, and driving critical curricular innovations that fully closed the COVID learning loss gap. She has significantly transformed school leader development and remains deeply committed to creating opportunities for leaders of color to thrive.She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education, and a Master of Arts from Columbia University. She earned her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation—“Unearthing Blackness: A Case Study of Highly Effective Black Teachers in an Urban Charter School”—was awarded distinction.