Judy Fox

Head of School

Judy Fox is an education leader with more than three decades of experience, and returns to Avenues New York having served as head of the Upper Division from 2015 to 2017. Judy has served as interim head at multiple leading independent schools, including the Elisabeth Morrow School in New Jersey, Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco and La Jolla Day School in Southern California. Previously, Judy served as head of school at Princeton Day School in New Jersey (2001-2007) and principal of Scarsdale High School (1988-1997). Judy graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Science Education and Biochemistry. She also holds an M.S. from Queens College in Science Education and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Columbia University.

Nancy Schulman

Head of Early Learning Center

Nancy Schulman is one of the country’s most prominent and highly regarded early childhood educators, leaders and authors. She was the director of the 92nd Street Y Nursery School from 1990 to 2011 and has been involved in independent schools in New York City for more than 30 years. Under Nancy’s leadership, the 92nd Street Y Nursery School was consistently regarded as one of New York City’s very finest nursery and pre-k programs, building a national and international reputation in the process. Before the 92nd Street Y, Nancy was the admissions director and a teacher at Horace Mann Lower School in New York from 1973 to 1990. Nancy received a B.S. in elementary education from Syracuse University and an M.A. in early childhood and elementary education from New York University. She is the co-author of Practical Wisdom for Parents: Demystifying the Preschool Years (Knopf, July 2007).

Todd Shy

Head of Upper Division

Todd Shy joined Avenues in 2012, the school’s first year of operation, as a humanities instructor for the middle grades. He went on to become the director of the Mastery Program and the program director of High Intensity Practice in writing. During the 2017–18 school year, Todd served as an upper school head at Town School for Boys in San Francisco, California. Avenues had the pleasure of welcoming Todd back in Fall 2018 to assume the role of head of Upper Division.

Prior to Avenues, Todd taught social studies at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina; philosophy at North Carolina Governor’s School in Raleigh; and history at Rocky Mount Academy in Rocky Mount, NC.

Todd received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, completed graduate coursework at King’s College London and obtained a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Daniel Greenblatt

Director of Operations and Administration

Daniel Greenblatt joined Avenues in the fall of 2018 as the director of operations and administration at Avenues New York. Prior to joining Avenues, Daniel was the chief operating officer for iMentor, an organization that empowers first-generation college students from low-income communities to graduate high school and succeed in college and beyond. Daniel also has a decade of experience with the NYC Department of Education, having served in a variety of leadership roles. He began his career as a New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching math at a Title 1 middle school in Brooklyn and later went on to work with the Superintendent of schools to support the academic achievement of 100,000 students across the borough. Daniel graduated from Connecticut College with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and obtained a Master of Science in education from Brooklyn College, where he was the vice president of Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education.

Becca Howlett

Director of People and Culture

Becca Howlett brings a lifelong commitment to education and more than a decade of talent experience to her role as the director of people and culture at Avenues New York. Becca started her career as a social studies teacher in New York City public schools. After six years of teaching, she joined Achievement First, a high-performing charter school network. During her 11-year tenure, she advanced from the organization’s first teacher recruiter to vice president of recruitment, while the organization expanded from five schools to 31 and from 50 to 1300 colleagues. Becca is also the founder of a non-profit organization, Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, aimed at building libraries for incarcerated youth. She earned a B.A. in history at the University of Connecticut and an M.S.Ed from Bank Street College.

David Buckwald

Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management

With 15 years of experience in highly selective college admissions, Dave joined Avenues in summer of 2018. Most recently, Dave served as a director in the undergraduate admission office at Columbia University. In his 12 years at Columbia, Dave’s responsibilities ranged from directing recruitment for engineering to reinvigorating a joint program for students between Columbia and The Juilliard School. Notably, he was a seasoned chair of an admissions committee with final decision authority on tens of thousands of applications. Previously, Dave served as director of admissions at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, helping to bring in the most selective and diverse incoming class in Bates’ history (at that time). He started his admissions career at his alma mater, Fordham University in Bronx, NY. In addition to graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Fordham College, he also earned a Master of Arts in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.