Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of Hyde Leadership Charter School is a dedicated and hard-working group which is committed to the delivery of a high-quality education for our students and their families.

Herbert Fixler, Board Chair

Herbert Fixler, a trusts and estates attorney in Cozen O’Connor’s Private Client Services Group, is resident in the firm’s midtown New York office. He concentrates his practice in the fields of estate planning and administration, providing services to a wide range of clients including family business owners. Mr. Fixler designs and implements plans for the inter-generational transfer of family wealth—including family business interests—the reduction of gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, estate liquidity needs, and charitable gifts and bequests. He also supervises the administration of estates including charitable and other trusts.

In the family business arena, Mr. Fixler advises owners of businesses and commercial real estate on ownership structures, owners’ agreements, compensation arrangements and business succession. He is a board member of Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, a non-profit organization comprised of attorneys throughout the United States.

Mr. Fixler received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Villanova University and his J.D. from the Washington College of Law of the American University where he served as Director of the Legal Aid Society. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a VISTA volunteer ad then entered private practice in New York.

Mr. Fixler is also a semi-professional fine art photographer whose work is frequently exhibited and is included in numerous private and corporate collections. He is also a board member of Photography and Imaging, an organization of individuals dedicated to the photographic arts.

Maureen Singer

Maureen Singer is a Director at Alinda Capital Partners, one of the world’s largest and most experienced infrastructure investment firms. As a Director with the firm, Maureen specializes in portfolio management and energy infrastructure investing, working to ensure that clients receive top-tier service and long-term capital gains. Prior to her work with Alinda Capital Partners, Maureen worked as an investment manager with GE Capital, as well as a consultant with PwC.

Maureen is a graduate of Bowdoin College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Additionally, she has a Masters in Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. In addition to her success in the classroom, Maureen has a history of excellence in athletics; as an undergraduate student, Maureen was a five-time All-American Diver on the Bowdoin College Women’s Swimming and Diving Team.

Finally, Maureen has a long history of supporting children’s education in the United States and abroad. Earlier in her career, Maureen spent a summer with Global Vision International teaching English to children in an orphanage in Nepal. She also served on the Brooklyn Charter School Board of Trustees, and the Hyde Leadership Charter School Associate Board, prior to joining the Hyde Leadership Charter School Board of Trustees in 2015.

Deborah Dumont

Deborah Dumont, is an educational consultant with a focus on progressive education, educational reform and advocacy, with a special interest in children at risk. Ms. Dumont’s 35-year career has led to leadership positions in a broad range of educational organizations, including Head of School, Co-founder of Hawkins Centers of Learning, an educational think-tank, and Videatives, a teacher education company. She held executive positions at Educate and Aramark Work/Life Partnerships, both multi-national education companies. Ms. Dumont currently leads a research and consulting practice focused on early education, school reform, and systems thinking.

Ms. Dumont has published in education journals on topics ranging from professional development models and attachment theory in adolescent education to how school building design impacts learning. In October 2009, she was elected as a trustee of the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx.

Susan Engel

Susan Engel has maintained a tradition of excellence throughout her leadership roles she in various preeminent businesses. She was the CEO of Portero Luxury, an e-commerce company based in New York; the Chairperson and CEO of Lenox Group Inc., a leading company in the collectibles, gift and ornamental industries; and the President/CEO of the ‘Champion Athletic’ division of Sara Lee Corp., the world-renowned consumer goods company formerly based in Illinois.

Susan graduated from Harvard Business School, and then spent 14 years at Booz & Co. (formerly Booz, Allen, and Hamilton) as a corporate strategist and restructurer. She also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University, and then joined J.C. Penney Company Inc., where she worked in its Human Resources and Marketing departments.

Susan’s public board experience is quite extensive. She has served as a Director on the Boards of 10 public and private companies, including Wells Fargo, Lenox Group LLC, Portero, Inc., and Supervalu Inc. Susan currently volunteers with Adopt-a-Classroom and also volunteered on various boards including Chair/President of Guthrie Theater, a secretary/executive committee member of St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a board member of the Volunteer Consulting Group.

Herb Kaplan

Herbert M. Kaplan is a former Hyde parent. Before retiring in 2013, Mr. Kaplan was Senior Director of Development at ORT America, where he was responsible for developing and implementing national fundraising strategies for the organization’s Annual Campaign. Prior to that, Mr. Kaplan had a career in marketing, with responsibilities encompassing account management, sales, product management, market research and strategic planning. Mr. Kaplan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and MBA from Harvard Business School. He brings valuable fundraising experience to the Hyde Leadership Charter School board.

Ruth Jarmul

Prior to her retirement, Ruth Jarmul was the Vice President of Administration of the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), a non-profit organization that has provided nearly $200 million in funds for stem cell research to cure the most significant diseases of our time. Her responsibilities at NYSCF included operations, development, marketing and communications, human resources, and strategic planning. She was responsible for oversight of foundation grants, accounting for more than half of NYSCF’s annual budget, as well as relationships with NYSCF’s high impact donors and Board of Trustees. Earlier in her career, Ruth was a senior executive in the media business, including time working with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, as well as consulting for the Mitchell Madison Group and Quantum Media.

Ruth believes that “education is the key to the future” and that Hyde’s distinct model of working with students holistically with a character and family-based approach is critical. Ruth continues to use her wealth of experience to support the school’s development efforts and share its unique message. In addition to her work with Hyde, Ruth serves on the Board of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. Ruth is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Business School and is the proud mother of three children and three grandchildren.

In addition to her work with Hyde, Ruth serves on the Board and Management Committee of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. Ruth received a BA from Yale College and MBA from Harvard Business School. Her husband Irvin Rosenthal and she have three wonderful daughters and sons-in-law and three also wonderful grandchildren.

Tony Stoupas

Tony Stoupas is the Chief Technology Officer of Lionbridge, a leading translation and localization company that works with many of the worlds largest companies. At Lionbridge, he is responsible for all aspects of the company’s global technology strategy and operations. Since joining Lionbridge in late 2019, he has been driving an effort to dramatically improve the organization’s IT capacity to deliver business value while building a robust and reliable infrastructure.

Prior to joining Lionbridge, Tony was Chief Information Officer at Moodys Corporation for nearly 10 years, and he has held leadership roles with UBS, Mellon Financial Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation, and IBM Australia. Tony is an international IT executive with over thirty years of experience in service delivery, outsourcing, and operations, and he has a proven record of delivering large scale business and organizational change. Tony holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Monash University in Australia.

Finally, Tony brings a valuable perspective to the Hyde Board of Trustees as a Hyde-Woodstock alumni parent and with experience working with the Hyde Foundation. Tony is excited to be a part of the Hyde Leadership Charter School community in the South Bronx, and he looks forward to support of the mission of the school.

Chavon Sutton

Chavon is the first Director of manager Diversity & Inclusion and Emerging Manager Strategy in the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management, where she leads its efforts to diversify the stable of investment managers sourced and utilized to manager the retirement assets for the City’s five retirement funds.

Prior to her role with the City of New York, she spent several years at J.P. Morgan as a Vice President in the firm’s Asset and Wealth Management division, where she managed investment portfolios (~$150mm) for high-and ultra-high net worth individuals, endowments, and foundations. She began her finance career covering Financial Institutions as a Corporate Banker and Credit Analyst at RBC Capital Markets and Bank of America, respectively. Ms. Sutton is also an accomplished business and investments writer with bylines at Forbes, Reuters News America and CNN. As a speaker, she is sought after to discuss topics including diversity in asset management, Environmental, Social and Governance issues, and strategies for building successful emerging manager programs.

A native of Newark, NJ, Chavon is classically-trained soprano with a deep passion for the arts and education. She supports arts organizations across New York City and sits on the Alumni Board of NYU’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Chavon holds an M.B.A. in Finance from NYU Stern, a Masters in Journalism (Business and Economic Reporting) from NYU, and a B.A. (cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a 2019 recipient of the Council of Urban Professionals’ Catalyst in Finance award.

Join Our Board

Hyde is seeking dedicated professionals to serve on our Board of Trustees. The Hyde Board of Trustees is comprised of diverse, committed individuals who give back to children and families in New York City through their gifts, talents, and resources. They oversee the operations of the school at its highest level and raise funds to support the students, families, and teachers at Hyde Leadership Charter School.

Please contact vhunsinger@hydebronxny.org for more information.