Stephen Rosenthal, Board Chair
Stephen Rosenthal is owner and CEO of Strategic Comp, a workers compensation insurer. A New Orleans native, Rosenthal graduated from Amherst College and received his MBA from The Wharton School. Rosenthal 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 in New Orleans which currently runs KIPP Believe College Preparatory School and McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts. Rosenthal 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 Peyser 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, a position he held from 1999 through 2006. During his tenure, the Board instituted comprehensive learning standard 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, 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 of five 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
Dr. Hales 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. Dr. Hales 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 Banks.
Mahlon Sanford, Board Treasurer
Mahlon Sanford 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 a member of NSNO’s Finance Committee.
Anthony Recasner, Ph.D., Board Member
Operator of the city's first charter school, Dr. Recasner 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 is also active in charitable and educational organizations in New Orleans and nationwide, serving not only on the board of New Schools for New Orleans, but on the governing boards of Teach for America, Children’s Hospital and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
Ian Arnof, Board Member
Ian Arnof 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.
Sherif A. Ebrahim, Board Member
Sherif A. Ebrahim, FACHE is President & CEO of Strategic Management Group, Inc., a nationally recognized Private Equity and Health Care Firm. He is a board certified health care executive, a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a NAPH Health Systems Management & Finance Fellow from New York University. Mr. Ebrahim also serves on the faculty of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He has served on various White House Health Care Task Forces and Committees under the administrations of President William Jefferson Clinton and George W. Bush. He has served as CEO of several corporations and in senior management positions in Fortune 100 companies. He has also served on several boards of private corporations and civic organizations.
Okyeame Haley, Board Member
Okyeame Haley is the son of the late civil-rights activists Richard Haley and Oretha Castle Haley. He earned a B.S. degree in Finance from Xavier University of Louisiana, a J.D. degree from Howard University School of Law, and an LL.M. degree in taxation from Washington University School of Law. He works at Xavier University as Director of Planned Giving and teaches in Xavier’s Division of Business. He also partners with Haley & McKee, LLC on tax law matters.
Okyeame serves as a board member with the Youth Empowerment Project, New Schools New Orleans, the City of New Orleans’ Ethics Review Board, the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee, and the A.P. Tureaud Legacy Committee. Previously, Okyeame worked as a law clerk for Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson and Orleans Parish First City Court Judge Angelique Reed. Additionally, he worked in the United States Congress as a legislative aide to Congresswoman Maxine Waters and for the House Banking and Financial Services Committee. Okyeame was a member of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s Economic Transition Team in 2007. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, Melissa, and their two children, Nia and Kai.
Sarah N. Usdin, Founder & CEO, New Schools for New Orleans