NSNO Current Board Members
Stephen Rosenthal, Board Chair
Stephen is owner and CEO of Strategic Comp, a workers compensation insurer. A New Orleans native, Stephen graduated from Amherst College and received his MBA from The Wharton School. Stephen has been actively involved in New Orleans public education for more than 20 years and is a strong advocate of charter schools. He was a founding board member and served as Board President of the New Orleans Charter Middle School and S. J. Green Charter School. He is a founding board member of KIPP New Orleans. Stephen was named Volunteer of the Year by the National Association of Partners in Education and the 1990 Business/Education Leader by the University of New Orleans.
Jim Peyser, Board Vice-Chair
Jim is a Managing Partner with NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit grantmaking organization that supports education entrepreneurs throughout the United States. Jim is a former chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education. During his tenure, the Board instituted comprehensive learning standards along with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), established the state’s first performance-based high school graduation requirements, developed a school and district accountability system, reformed the teacher preparation and certification process, and expanded the number of charter schools. Prior to joining NewSchools Venture Fund, Jim served as education advisor to Governors Mitt Romney and Jane Swift. He worked close to eight years as Executive Director of Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. Before joining Pioneer in 1993, he worked for over seven years at Teradyne Inc., a world leader in the manufacture of electronic test systems. Jim also served for three years in Washington, D.C. as Director of the Export Task Force, a bipartisan congressional caucus on international trade. Jim serves as a board member for charter management organizations in New York and Chicago. He is also a member of the board of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Jim holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher Schools (Tufts University) and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.
Stephen W. Hales, M.D., Board Secretary
Stephen has practiced pediatrics in New Orleans for over thirty years. He is a member of the clinical faculty of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, where he teaches a first year course in medical ethics. Stephen has served on and chaired the boards of New Orleans’ Children’s Hospital, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, St. George’s Episcopal School, Metairie Park Country Day School, and the New Orleans Regional Alliance of Not-for-Profit Hospitals. He also serves on the boards of the Parenting Center, the Research Institute for Children, the Pro Bono Publico Foundation, and the Good Shepherd School, a Nativity Mission School serving inner city children. He is the Director and serves on the Executive Committee of Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank.
Mahlon Sanford, Board Treasurer
Mahlon is currently a Partner at Carr, Riggs & Ingram, L.L.C. As an executive with deep knowledge and experience in financial consulting, accounting, and auditing, Mahlon brings to New Schools for New Orleans essential financial expertise. Mahlon also currently serves as a Board Member for the Good Shepard School and on Board Committees of the Louisiana Mutual Medical Insurance Company and the Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank. Mahlon also serves as a member of NSNO’s Finance Committee.
Michael Brown, Board Member
Since 2001, Michael has served as Senior Executive Vice-President of IBERIABANK Corporation, an $11.5 billion dollar regional bank holding company, the largest financial holding company based in Louisiana. In September 2009, Michael was appointed Vice-Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the management of all IBERIABANK markets, which include Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Florida. Prior to joining IBERIABANK, Michael served in several senior roles with Bank One Louisiana, including Chief Credit Officer. Additionally, he served as Senior Vice-President of First Commerce Corporation in New Orleans. Michael began his banking career at Wachovia Bank in 1987. He holds an MBA from Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business and a BA from Louisiana State University, has an MS in Accounting, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is an active member of the Tulane Association of Business Alumni and serves on the board of Idea Village Inc, a non-profit business accelerator. Michael has served on the Boards of WYES, New Orleans Children’s Museum, Stuart Hall for Boys, Trinity Episcopal School Endowment, Episcopal School of Little Rock and the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Mary Kay Parker, Board Member
Mary Kay is a newcomer to the educational scene, and a strong supporter of the charter movement. A 1979 graduate of LSU with a BS in Business Administration - additional courses taken at UNO to fulfill requirements for the CPA exam - Mary Kay is a CPA with 15 years experience in the oil & gas industry. She is currently a trustee of the Booth-Bricker Fund. Mary Kay sits on the Board of the New Orleans Charter Schools Foundation that governs McDonogh City Park Academy and the voluntarily surrendered charter of the New Orleans Free Academy. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for Teach for America - GNO area.
Hunter Pierson III, Board Member
Hunter is an investment manager at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He is responsible for managing the assets of foundations, endowments, and wealthy families across the Southeast. Prior to Goldman, he served as the Executive Director of Teach for America - Northern California. Hunter began his career as a public middle school teacher in Oakland, CA. A native New Orleanian, he earned both his AB and MBA at Harvard University. Currently, he serves on the boards of Teach for America - Atlanta and the New Orleans Start-Up Fund.
David Sylvester, Board Member
David is a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic investment organization based in the District of Columbia. Prior to joining VPP in 2007, for 24 years David was an attorney whose practice included advising private and public companies in the areas of early through late-stage venture capital financings, public offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate law. In 2000, he established the Northern Virginia office of Hale and Dorr LLP (now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) where he was instrumental in connecting early stage companies in the region with venture capital financing as well as in assisting later stage companies access the public capital markets. Prior to joining Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, David worked with Silicon Valley companies at the firm of Fenwick & West in Palo Alto. Throughout his career, David has been active in the community. A New Orleans native and former New Orleans public housing resident, he has spent a portion of 2005-2007 as a volunteer on both informal and formal rebuilding efforts in the hurricane damaged region. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Isidore Newman School and the Board of Directors of The Idea Village Inc., a non-profit business accelerator, both in New Orleans.
Sarah N. Usdin, Founder & CEO, New Schools for New Orleans (Read Sarah's Bio Here)
NSNO Board Members Emeritus
Ian Arnof, Board Member Emeritus
Ian is the retired Chief Executive Officer of First Commerce Corporation in New Orleans, Louisiana, a $9.3 billion regional banking holding company at the time of his retirement. A graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, Ian received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Ian has over 30 years of banking experience, has held the role of Chief Financial Officer and became the Chief Executive Officer in First Commerce Corporation when it merged with the Bank of New Orleans in 1983. He has held leadership positions on numerous civic, charitable and professional organizations including Chairman of the Jewish Endowment Fund; Member, Visiting Board of Xavier University; Chair, Community Hospital of Monterey (CA) Hospital; Trustee, Big Sur Land Trust.
Anthony Recasner, Ph.D., Board Member Emeritus
Operator of the city's first charter school, Tony is a psychologist whose nontraditional school experience allows him to approach school design from a different perspective. A graduate of Walter L. Cohen High School, Tulane University and Loyola University, Tony (known throughout his schools as “Doc”), was trained as a child psychologist, and specialized in working with kids and their families. He left his post as a psychology faculty member and administrator at Loyola University to become Director of James Lewis Extension in 1994; he and Jay Altman founded New Orleans Charter Middle School (now called Arthur Ashe Charter School) together in 1998; and he founded Samuel J. Green Charter School which opened in July, 2005. Under Tony’s leadership, these schools have received national support and recognition for their innovative educational practices. In 2008, Tony cofounded FirstLine Schools, to create and inspire great public schools in New Orleans not only by directly operating schools but by supporting education across the city with training programs for teachers and school leaders in open-admission public schools. Tony currently serves as the CEO of Agenda For Children and is active in charitable and educational organizations in New Orleans and nationwide, serving on the governing boards of Teach for America, Children’s Hospital and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.