Our Board

OUR BOARD

The Urban Dove Board of Directors oversees the central Urban Dove organization, and is focused on growth, fundraising, and strategic planning. The Urban Dove Team Charter Schools Board of Trustees oversees all schools in the network, ensuring that our schools are well run, are faithful to their charter, and are providing an excellent educational experience to all of our students. Both boards are made up of caring, committed volunteers whose efforts help ensure Urban Dove carries out its mission.

Urban Dove
Board of Directors

Mark Benerofe, Campgroup
Mark Benerofe serves as the Chief Executive Officer of CampGroup, LLC., and as a Principal of Benerofe Properties, a real estate investment firm. Prior to joining Benerofe Properties in 2004, he taught high school and coached basketball for ten years in the New York City public school system. Mr. Benerofe holds a Masters in Anthropology from Hunter College, a Masters in Education Administration from Baruch College and an Undergraduate Degree from Cornell University.
Steven A. Berger, Berger Webb Hone & Rogin
Steve Berger is a founding partner of Berger Webb Hone & Rogin and the head of its commercial litigation and employment practice groups. Mr. Berger has more than forty years' experience litigating complex commercial disputes.
PJ Englert, PricewaterhouseCoopers
PJ is a Partner in PwC's Asset Management practice in New York, specializing in alternative investments funds and managers. PJ has been with PwC since 2004. He has experience providing assurance and related services to a variety of alternative investment clients, including hedge funds, private equity funds, fund-of-funds, and related advisors and broker dealers. PJ is a licensed CPA in New York and is a member of the AICPA and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants. PJ received his BS in Accounting from Villanova University.
Jordan Epstein, Google
Jordan Epstein is a Sr. Growth Manager on the Head Team of Google's Application Development org, where he focuses on scaling revenue and improving profitability of apps-first businesses by optimizing their digital marketing investments across Google and YouTube. Based in New York, he currently sits on the Advisory Board of ModernGuild, a career development tech platform that provides mentorship and insider know-how for early-career professionals looking to break into finance and consulting. Before Google, Jordan ascended to the apex of the Tech Sales ladder as an Enterprise Sales Executive at Microsoft, where he worked in the field alongside the highest levels of the U.S. State & Local Government by envisioning and architecting creative technology solutions across Finance & Operations, Human Capital Management, and No-Code Application Development platforms. Jordan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Government concentrating on Political Economy from Cornell University's College of Arts & Sciences in 2018 with minors in Business and Law.
David D. Froelich, CVE North America
David Froelich is the Director of Solar Business Development at CVE North America, an international developer, owner and operator of renewable energy power projects.  Previously he was President of Cfuzz Associates, offering consulting services related to renewable energy, water conservation and efficiency. He brings with him over 30 years of executive management experience in operations, strategy and finance. Prior to Cfuzz, Mr. Froelich was the Director of Carports for SunPower Corporation, and Director of Business Development for Solaire Generation until Solaire was acquired by SunPower. Earlier in his career Mr. Froelich was President of Gracedale Fabrics, Inc., a New York-based textile company. He was a strategy consultant in the Chicago office of The Boston Consulting Group and held positions in corporate finance for Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York and London.  Mr. Froelich earned his BA degree from Tufts University and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Henry Johnson, RBC Capital
Henry Johnson is currently serving as Managing Director for Mergers and Acquisitions at RBC Capital Markets. Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Johnson was Managing Director at Barclays Investment Bank from 2008-2013 and Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers from 2001-2008. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. in Economics and his MBA from Duke University.
Carin Ohnell, Ohnell Family Foundation
Carin Ohnell a private investor with a focus on start-ups and real estate. Ms. Ohnell holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MPH from Columbia University. Her professional experience includes working in Real Estate development in Atlanta, Strategic Planning at Foot Locker, and Finance at Greenwich Capital Markets. Most recently Ms. Ohnell worked in healthcare administration at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. Ms. Ohnell is passionate about education and taught 8th grade math for two years in a Stamford, Connecticut public school.
Justin Oppenheimer, Hospital for Special Surgery
Justin Oppenheimer serves as the Senior Vice President, Strategy & Service Lines, at the Hospital for Special Surgery. In this role he leads enterprise strategic planning and execution, and manages hospital-wide initiatives for new partnerships, markets and services. Prior to joining Hospital for Special Surgery, Mr. Oppenheimer was a Senior Engagement Manager for Monitor Deloitte. Mr. Oppenheimer holds a MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Political Economy and Finance from Princeton University.
Dave Powell, King & Spalding LLP
Dave is a Partner in King & Spalding's global real estate practice, and divides time between the Charlotte and New York offices. Dave represents institutional, private equity and non-U.S. investors in structuring and managing U.S. real estate equity and debt investments, often through private real estate investment trusts, partnerships and other joint venture transactions. Dave has been with King & Spalding since 2003. A frequent panelist and speaker on real estate joint ventures, Dave is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and has been a Lecturer at Law at Columbia Law School. Dave is licensed New York, North Carolina and Georgia.
Spencer Rothschild, Coalition Space - Board Chair
Spencer Rothschild's career began in hospitality where he built and managed two multi-unit hospitality companies: Main Street Restaurant Partners and Barrio Foods Consulting.  These companies initiated his passion for capitalizing on new technology. Recognizing the opportunity and necessity for technology within the industry, Mr. Rothschild led his firms' engagement in multiple forward-thinking initiatives. These included recognizable brands, such as opentable.com, harri.com and avero.com, where he served as a beta tester/advisor. As an early adopter of both menupages.com and dinemarket.com, Spencer always valued use of data analytics to add efficiency to operations. In 2017, Mr. Rothschild was tapped to become CEO and Partner of Coalition Space/MicroOffice, a boutique real estate investment firm with a focus on commercial coworking. Mr. Rothschild immediately streamlined operations and built a team for opportunistic growth.  He introduced new technologies and expanded existing proprietary solutions before conceptualizing Open Your Office, an unprecedented network of  discovery, distribution and inventory management within the coworking and flexible space  sector of commercial real estate. Mr. Rothschild's immersive experience and knowledge in launching and managing technology solutions will help ensure Open Your Office's success. Mr. Rothschild earned his BA in Economics and Political Science from Tufts University, and lives in Greenwich, CT with his two teenage children. He has served as the Chairman of the Board for Urban Dove since 2003 and has been a Board Member of Urban Dove Team Charter School since its inception in 2012.
Dr. Daphne Scott, Hospital for Special Surgery
Dr. Daphne Scott serves as the Associate Chief Medical Diversity Officer and an Assistant Attending Physician on the Primary Sports Medicine Service at HSS. She is board certified in family medicine with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. She specializes in the nonsurgical treatment of acute, overuse, and chronic injuries with a focus on the shoulder, hip and knee. Dr. Scott currently serves as the interim Lead Team Physician for the New York Knicks, Head Team Physician for the Westchester Knicks, and the Head Consulting Orthopedic Physician for the UFC. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and then went on to earn a Master's Degree from SUNY Buffalo while completing cancer research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Dr. Scott completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Washington and sports medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona.
Jim Shook, Dozen Digital
Jim Shook is an entrepreneur based in New York City. He currently advises and invests in early stage technology companies through his consulting business, Dozen Digital. Prior to starting Dozen Digital, Jim was the Chief Marketing Officer at a financial services company, and has experience in venture capital and investment banking. Jim earned his BA in Political Economy from Georgetown University in 2007.
David Schwartz, Blackstone
David Schwartz is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group. He is based in New York and focuses on investments in the technology and tech-enabled services sectors. Mr. Schwartz joined Blackstone in 2022, and currently sits on the board of Cvent. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Schwartz spent nearly 14 years at Harvest Partners, most recently as a Partner, where he launched and led the firm's software investing vertical. He additionally invested across the business services, energy and franchising sectors during his tenure. Mr. Schwartz began his career in the Investment Banking group at JPMorgan. Mr. Schwartz earned a bachelor's degree with distinction from the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently serves on the board of Urban Dove.
Steve Swiatkiewicz, Midway Investors
Stephen Swiatkiewicz is an experienced real estate and commercial attorney. In addition, Mr. Swiatkiewicz is a founding partner of Midway Investors, LLC, which owns and manages multi-family and retail properties along the eastern seaboard of the United States and in Texas. He is also an investor and board member of several privately held companies, among them: a New York City based IT staffing company, an owner/operator of fifteen (15) summer camps based throughout northeast and midwest of the United States, as well as a New York City based proprietary school. Mr. Swiatkiewicz received a Juris Doctor degree from New York University Law School, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. Mr. Swiatkiewicz is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

UD Team Charter Schools
Board of Trustees

Heather Bushong, Creative Artists Agency
Heather Bushong is business affairs attorney in the Intellectual Property/Books Division of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) where she handles contracts for authors whose works are optioned for film and television. Heather attended the University of Montana and received her B.A. in History and Linguistics. After working as an ESL teacher for several years, she attended Northeastern University School of Law and received a JD. She began as a business affairs attorney in the Publishing division of ICM Partners in 1999 and continued there until 2022 when it was acquired by CAA.
Patricia L. Charlemagne, Ed.D., J.D., STOKED Mentoring Inc.
Patricia is a founding member of the Board of Trustees of Urban Dove Team Charter School. She brings a deep legal background with a commitment to economic justice advocacy and education innovation. She has over 15 years of legal, entrepreneurship, non-profit management, charter school governance, and instructional experience in higher education in NYC. Patricia is excited about the powerful opportunity to contribute to closing the experience gap for students in the South Bronx through community-based efforts and partnerships. Patricia is currently serving as the President of STOKED Mentoring Inc. She holds a B.A. in African American Studies and Government from Wesleyan University, an M.P.S. in Africana Studies from The Graduate School of Cornell University, a J.D. from the James E. Beasley School of Law at Temple University, and a Ed.D in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Andrew Ehigiator, Walmart Connect
Andrew Ehigiator's love for the Urban Dove runs deep, with his involvement starting way back as a teenager in 2000. After graduating from Widener University with a degree in Management Information Systems, and jumping directly into the tech industry, he was excited to return to the Urban Dove in the capacity as Board Member with an in-depth understanding of UD's mission of energizing, educating, and empowering young people. On top of his degree, he is also certified in iOS development, Product Management & is well versed in all major digital advertising platforms & commerce platforms. Andrew has over 15 years of E-commerce experience, working as an Information Technology Systems Manager in the lighting industry, as Head of Digital for a men's suit apparel company, digital strategist in the agency space and also running his own digital consulting firm helping other small businesses & startups grow online. Andrew is currently an associate at Walmarts digital advertising arm, Walmart Connect, as one of the founding members of its Marketplace Advertising team where he is able to continue his mission of helping smaller companies succeed on major digital platforms.
Patrick Fagan, New York City Department of Education
Patrick is a founding Board Member of Urban Dove Team Charter School and has served on the board for 10 years. Patrick received his M.B.A. in Finance/Management at CUNY Baruch College – Zicklin School of Business. He then worked as Chief of Operations at Urban Assembly school from 2006-2011. Afterwards, he began working at the NYC DOE first as Network Leader for 4 years and then moving into his current position as Deputy Cluster Leader/Chief Operating Officer, which he has been working in for over 5 years. Patrick is a seasoned executive leader with the ability to embrace, drive and implement strategic objectives within complex, multi-dimensional organizations during organizational change – providing direct guidance and leadership to both instructional and operational staff.
Michael Grandis, Tantalus Systems - Board Chair
Michael Grandis' practice focuses on corporate transactional work and he serves in a general counsel role, as management advisor and contract negotiator, for several middle market companies. In addition to mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and private equity investments, Mike's experience includes SPAC deals, divestitures, mezzanine debt transactions, joint ventures, recapitalizations and financings. His practice also includes intellectual property and licensing matters, employment agreements, complex commercial deals, corporate governance and other day-to-day general corporate matters. In addition, he counsels a variety of professional services firms in connection with ownership transition issues, restructuring, management succession, financing, and general business advisory services. Mike handles domestic and international transactions for clients in a broad array of industries, including technology, real estate, health care, financial services, energy, entertainment and media, logistics, internet gaming, advertising, fashion and apparel, camping and recreation, restaurants and telecommunications.
Spencer Rothschild, Coalition Space
Spencer's career began in hospitality where he built and managed two multi-unit hospitality companies: Main Street Restaurant Partners and Barrio Foods Consulting.  These companies initiated his passion for capitalizing on new technology. Recognizing the opportunity and necessity for technology within the industry, Spencer led his firms' engagement in multiple forward-thinking initiatives. These included recognizable brands, such as opentable.com, harri.com and avero.com, where he served as a beta tester/advisor. As an early adopter of both menupages.com and dinemarket.com, Spencer always valued use of data analytics to add efficiency to operations. In 2017 Spencer was tapped to become CEO and Partner of Coalition Space/MicroOffice, a boutique real estate investment firm with a focus on commercial coworking. Spencer immediately streamlined operations and built a team for opportunistic growth.  He introduced new technologies and expanded existing proprietary solutions before conceptualizing Open Your Office, an unprecedented network of  discovery, distribution and inventory management within the coworking and flexible space  sector of commercial real estate. Spencer's immersive experience and knowledge in launching and managing technology solutions will help ensure Open Your Office's success. Spencer earned his BA in Economics and Political Science from Tufts University, and lives in Greenwich, CT with his two teenage children. He has served as the Chairman of the Board for Urban Dove since 2003 and has been a Board Member of Urban Dove Team Charter School since its inception in 2013.

UD Team Charter Schools
Board of Trustees Meetings

Meetings of Urban Dove Team Charter School's Board of Trustees and its committees are open to the public and held in accordance with the New York State Open Meetings Law; members of the public are encouraged to attend. All meetings begin at 6:00pm, and can be attended at either the Brooklyn school (1256 E. 21st St.) or Bronx school (671 Prospect Avenue) unless otherwise specified. Meeting dates, times, and locations are subject to change, so please check back for the most current information. Click on a meeting date below to see the corresponding minutes:

2023-2024 Meeting Dates & Minutes

January 23rd, 2024

 

February 27th, 2024

 

March 19th, 2024

 

April 16th, 2024

This UD Team Board Meeting will take place in-person at 5:00 PM at UD Team Brooklyn.

 

May 21st, 2024

 

June 18th, 2024

For previous years' minutes, please click here.

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