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Alumni Council

  

Present Alumni Council Members

List of 16 frequently asked questions.

  • Jed Davis ’56

    Friends was my most rewarding educational experience, which included Princeton, Yale Law School and the Naval Justice Academy. Jed moved to an old farm in Maine in 1971 and currently resides there. Jed opened a law office in Augusta, Maine, where he currently works. Jed is blessed with three great kids and five grandkids.

  • Alice Stern '76

    Serving 2020 through 2025

    After graduation from Friends Seminary, Alice received her BS in Psychology and Education from Emerson College.  After working in children’s publishing for a year, Alice received her Master’s in Library Science from San Jose State University.  Alice worked for many years as a young adults librarian at the central branch of the Boston Public Library. From 2000 to 2022, Alice was the Library Director at the Winsor School in Boston, an independent school for academically motivated girls in grades 5-12.  During her time at Winsor, Alice has served as Faculty Annual Fund Chair, has been a leader in DEI work, and advises the Upper School’s GSA.  Alice has served on a number of American Library Association committees, including the Newbery Award Committee, and has been a book reviewer for library journals.

    The Quaker education Alice received at Friends has served as a guiding principle throughout her life.  Alice has been a class fund agent, and is looking forward to serving Friends in her role as Alumni Council member.

  • Liz Baer ’82

    Elizabeth Baer ’82 (she/her) was a “lifer” at Friends Seminary, attending from K-4 through 12th grade. She spends her days channeling Phil Schwartz as a Latin teacher in the Lenox (MA) Public Schools and has also at times taught Ancient Greek, English, linguistics and ancient literature in translation. As a side gig, Liz writes a biweekly food column for the Berkshire Eagle, and shares those columns on her blog, CulinUrsa (Latin for “kitchen bear”). In addition, she has served as a contributing editor of a dictionary, co-authored an intermediate Latin reader, and continues to freelance as a proofreader and copy editor. Liz and her husband, Hank, live in the beautiful Berkshires, and have four adult children between them and one brand new grandchild!

  • Jocelyn Anker '87

    Serving 2019 through 2022

    After graduating from Friends in 1987, Jocelyn went on to earn her B.A. Cum Laude at Cornell University. Inspired by the expression of identity through storytelling, media and performance, Jocelyn constructed her own major called "Language, Literature and Gender" which was then used as the corner store for creating the forthcoming Women's Studies major open to all undergraduates.  Following her time at Cornell, Jocelyn went to Berlin, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship to study Feminist Jewish identity in the wake of the falling of the Berlin wall. Upon the completion of her Fulbright, she stayed in Germany for another six years, where she was one of the few women leaders at the fore of the underground music scene -- running night clubs, managing performers, as well creating and executing marketing and PR campaigns.
     
    In 1998, Jocelyn returned to New York City where she expanded her repertoire to digital media and television. As the Technical Executive Producer of hbo.com and its sister properties, Jocelyn was the program manager and liaison between HBO's various marketing departments and the back-end technology group. Her responsibilities included technical event management, i.e. setting up cyber cafés (yes, that was a thing), integrating online and broadcast content (think polling and other audience type of integration during live events), and general back-end development to support HBO's core roster and its specialized campaigns.  
     
    Most recently, Jocelyn founded her own agency, Esmerize. Esmerize focuses on the intersection of technology, content and marketing, especially as it relates to both virtual and physical user experiences: web sites, apps, digital signage, event technology, kiosks, etc. Some of her more recent clients have included The New York Stock Exchange, Turner Broadcasting, Lamia's Fish Market, thestreet.com, Brickell City Center, and Evercore. She has also taken great pleasure in volunteering at her daughter's public elementary and middle schools, doing everything from re-branding and marketing campaigns, to building communications and fundraising platforms, to generally playing an active leadership role within the PTA.  Now, Jocelyn looks forward to lending her skills to her beloved alma mater.

  • Alex Tart '88

    Serving 2023-2026

    Alexandra (Mairs) Tart ’88 is a psychotherapist living and working in Brooklyn. She graduated cum laude from Bates College, where she earned a B.A. in art history, and embarked on a 20-year career as an illustrated book editor at Rizzoli International Publications before pursuing her MSW at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. Alex is the mother of Andrew Tart ’22 and James Tart ’22.

  • Jodyann Blagrove ’94

    Serving 2021 through 2024

  • Ronah Harris ’95

    Dr. Harris is the founder of Play Pattern LLC, a digital platform for curious children to learn arts and technology. As a researcher and producer of children's interactive media, she was awarded Two Daytime Emmys for her work on the educational television shows Sesame Street and The Electric Company. Dr. Harris teaches part-time at New York University, and advises on a variety of projects - most recently the engaging Youtube series Super Sema.
     
    Dr. Harris holds a B.A. from The New School, New York (1999), a MSED from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (2006), and Doctorate in technology from Teachers College, Columbia University (2017).
     
    I am currently teaching at NYU and I am leading the company Play Pattern.

  • Elae Moss ’97

    Serving 2024-2027

    Elae is a multimodal artist-researcher, curator, information worker, and producer committed to radical forms of collective pedagogy and practice. They are the creative director of Autonomous Mechanics Design Studio as well as the founder of the long running open source publication and peer education platform, The Operating System and Liminal Lab.

    Elae is a Professor at Pratt Institute where they are the coordinator of the hybrid Architectural Humanities and Media Studies first year program. They are also currently serving as an interspiritual Community Minister at the historic Judson Memorial Church, where intersections between radical faith-as-service, the arts, and social justice are at the forefront of all we do. Elae is also a member of the 2024-25 Solidarity Circles cohort through Vanderbilt Divinity School's Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, a leadership program for faith leaders and organizers building solidarity economies.

    Having just completed two years as a Public Action Fellow at Bennington College, for which they received the program’s prestigious mid-career MFA in Public Action, Elae is now on the path to Interspiritual ordination in 2026. Their educational path has also included the Cultural Anthropology PhD Program at the Graduate Center of CUNY, a masters in Urban Design from the CCNY School of Architecture, and an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College. 

    Elae publishes, performs, and produces media and programming widely, and is currently dedicated to research on retrofitting radical faith institutions and other third spaces for liberatory future building.

  • Golriz Amid ’02

    Serving 2024-2027

    Golriz Amid currently serves as MFA’s Director, Membership Services. The MFA is a trade association that represents alternative asset managers. Prior to joining MFA, Golriz worked at Barclays Corporate and Investment bank and was a Vice President in the Equity Derivatives Business Management team. Prior to that, Golriz worked at UBS as part of the Investment Bank Culture and COO Teams. She has more than nine years of experience working with Investment Banks. Golriz graduated from New York Law School and was licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey. Golriz also graduated from the George Washington University, and has a B.A in Middle Eastern Studies/International Affairs.

  • Remi Gendron ’05

    Serving 2024-2027

    After graduating from Friends in 2005, Remi attended Hamilton College, where he received a BA in English Literature, with a minor in Hispanic Studies. After graduation, Remi returned to New York City and spent several years working in a biomedical engineering laboratory at Mount Sinai Medical School, studying tendon healing and repair. From there, he was recruited to the global organizational consulting and leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder and has worked there for the past ten years. While Remi has held several different roles at Egon Zehnder, he currently leads expert learning and development for the US and sits on the global expert leadership team. As of June 2024, Remi is a Masters candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University in Organizational Development and Change Leadership, under the umbrella of social-organizational psychology. As a behavioral scientist, Remi is interested in systems psychodynamics, group dynamics, power and authority dynamics, and how our increasingly virtual existence plays a role across those topics. 
    In his free time Remi enjoys cooking and making ice cream, reading, playing with his Doberman Puck, tending to his bonsai trees, and playing tennis.

  • Dan Marino ’07

    Serving 2022 through 2025

  • Sam Cammer '08

    Serving 2021 through 2024

    After graduating from Friends Seminary in 2008, Sam attended Emory University in Atlanta and graduated summa cum laude, earning a B.A. in African Studies in 2012. Thereafter, Sam attended Fordham University School of Law and graduated magna cum laude, earning a J.D. in 2015. Sam is an M&A partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City.

    Sam is a corporate attorney who advises public and private companies, as well as private equity sponsors, on mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, spin-offs, securities offerings and other corporate matters, including SEC compliance, shareholder activism and corporate governance. 

    Select examples of Sam’s representations include:
    • Twenty-First Century Fox in its:
    • $85 billion acquisition by the Walt Disney Company and the pre-merger spin-off of certain news, sports and broadcast businesses, which was named The American Lawyer’s 2019 Global M&A Deal of the Year, and
    • $15 billion sale of its stake in Sky plc to Comcast Corporation;
    • Red Hat in its $34 billion acquisition by IBM;
    • E*TRADE in its $13 billion all-stock acquisition by Morgan Stanley;
    • Entegris in its $6.5 billion cash and stock acquisition of CMC Materials;
    • Veoneer, Inc. in its $4.5 billion acquisition by Qualcomm Incorporated and SSW Partners following the termination of Veoneer’s previously announced $3.8 billion acquisition by Magna International Inc.;
    • Iora Health, Inc. in its $2.1 billion all-stock acquisition by 1Life Healthcare, Inc.;
    • WhistlePig, a distiller of luxury rye whiskey, in its partnerships with BDT Capital Partners and Moët Hennessy, and its related liquidity transactions; and
    • Stanley Black & Decker in its acquisition of Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing for up to $1.5 billion.
    Sam also provides pro bono legal services to New York-based clients, including early stage nonprofits and individuals seeking asylum in the U.S. Sam currently lives in TriBeCa with his wife Lisa, also an M&A lawyer.

  • Vittorio Bisin ’11

    Serving 2024-2027

    Vittorio graduated from New York University in 2015 with majors in Mathematics and Economics and minors in Philosophy and Psychology. After staying on at NYU to complete a Master's in Applied Mathematics, he joined a quantitative hedge fund specializing in global macroeconomic investments. Starting as a researcher, he became a portfolio manager developing systematic strategies in futures markets and is currently on gardening leave waiting to join another, similar hedge fund.
    In his free time, Vittorio enjoys watching arthouse films, playing soccer, and watching others play soccer—all activities that originated with friends and teachers at Friends Seminary. Helping on the alumni committee and staying in contact with the Friends Seminary community means a great deal to him.

  • Patrick Smith ’12

    Serving 2024-2027

    Born and raised in New York City, Patrick is a huge fan of basketball, video games, sneakers and Hip Hop. A lifer at Friends Seminary, he started in 1999 and graduated in 2012. He was the leader of the Spirit club, co-leader of the Student-Faculty committee, a Varsity Basketball player and more during his amazing time at Friends. After leaving Friends, Patrick went to Bates College, where he majored in African American Studies, and graduated cum laude in 2016. He wrote an Honors Thesis his senior year on the combination of oral and written culture in Hip Hop, which he successfully defended in front of a panel of his professors. After graduating from college, Patrick began a 7-year career at Complex, where he held various positions including the Associate Director of Social. He currently lives in NYC, and you can probably catch him at a Winter Assembly or Varsity basketball game during the school year.

  • Daphne Darwish '19

    Daphne Darwish '19 graduated from Brown University magna cum laude in 2023 with a BA in Economics, where she also studied French and enjoyed her involvement as a leader of the Women in Business organization and her jobs as a teaching assistant for computer science and economics courses. After graduating college, she started working in asset management on Wall Street, where she is now. In her free time, she loves doing pottery wheel and ceramics (a club she also started with a friend while at FS), doing any activities outside, and cooking and baking with her friends. Friends Seminary also gave Daphne a passion for writing, mainly through her inspiring, witty, and sharp English teachers and through co-leading the school paper, The Insight. Being on the alumni committee means staying connected to the Friends Seminary community which was an instrumental part of shaping who Daphne is today.

List of 1 frequently asked questions.

  • Past Alumni Council

    Doris Broder Korey '38
    Barbara Kugel Herne '41
    Natalie Spencer Fox '43
    Eugenie Grey Laidler '43
    Hope Franz Ligori '44
    Marion Hausner Pauck '45
    Anne Codding Tonachel '48
    Edes Powell Gilbert '49
    Jean Allen McCardell '49
    Linda Frankel Cahill '51
    Stephen Chinlund ’51 
    Elaine Wingate Conway '52
    Martha Manheim Green '52
    Peter A. Rona '52
    Laura Newton Eastham '53
    Sally Christenberry Roth '53
    Joan Brownell '54
    Gay Sourian Cropper '54
    Jackson Bryer ’55
    Sara Lyons O'Neill '55
    Ellen Friendly Simon '55
    Elizabeth Stearns '55
    Edward Carroll '56
    Merrill Cates '57
    John Schwartz '57
    David E. Wartels '57
    E. Peter Krulewitch '58
    Richard Casten '59
    Elizabeth Peale Allen ’60
    Peter Linden '60
    Kathryn Emmett '62
    Steve Lipmann '62
    Barbara Carey '64
    Valentine Hertz Kass '64
    Jonathan Y. Nareff '64
    Sarah Chasis '65
    Joan Hochman '65
    Harlan Hurwitz '65
    Judith Adams Anderson '66
    Susan E. Poole '66
    Howard D. Ressler '66
    Patricia L. Rosenfield '66
    Kenneth Dodge '67
    Penny Craven '68
    Floyd Katske '68
    Patsy Myers '68
    Susan Shaw '69
    Belinda Broido '70
    Gail I. Hessol '70
    Robert Luttrell '70
    Christine DiFrancesco Bricker '71
    Mindy Fischer '71
    John Kastan '71
    Laura A. Ward '71
    Richard (Barry) White ’71
    Derrick Gibbs '72
    Laura Levine '72
    Jessica Amelar '73
    Lisa J. Ernest Mierop '73
    Jerry Weil '73
    Lisa Alter '74
    Norman Feit '74
    David Hochman '74
    Sue Kaplan '74
    Ivy Baer Sherman '74
    Carolyn Ward '74
    Francesca Bruno '75
    Susan L. Cohen '75
    Julie Fenster '75
    Marshall Heinberg '75
    David A. Hirst '75
    Cella Irvine '75
    Susan B. Kane '75
    Adam Owett '75
    Jean Ball Scheinert '75
    Marcy Wachtel '75
    Katherine A. Weil '75
    Sarah Amelar '76
    Christopher Gibbs '76
    Emily Hubley '76
    Nancy Pfeffer '76
    Scott Robbins '76
    Amy Stoller '76
    Suzanne Telsey '76
    Amy Alter Ross '77
    Deirdre Murphy Bader '77
    Suzanne Gluck '77
    Cecily Kahn '77
    Peter Moulton '77
    Debora Nash-Chapman '77
    Alvin Mack ’77
    Ruth Pomerance '77
    Helen D. Reavis '77
    Michael Selverne '77
    Sarah Chinlund Spieldenner '77
    Amy Wagner '77
    Susan Salzberg ’77
    Jack H. Moore '78
    Andrew Owen '78
    Edward Brittenham '79
    Christopher Dunnaville '79
    Darcy Flanders '79
    Lois Perelson-Gross '79
    Victoria Wightman Pierce '79
    Nimia Ramos Beauchamp '79
    Kate Webb '79
    Nina Wolff Feld '80
    Karen Gross Fittinghoff '80
    Raphiel S. Hampton '80
    Tsefan T. Law '80
    Steven Lowen '80
    Harriet J. Barovick '81
    Paul Drazen '81
    Victoria Masi Pryor '81
    Patrick M. Wall '81
    Elizabeth Baer '82
    Jin Lee '82
    Sara M. Pines '82
    Marc Rachman '82
    Matthew Annenberg '83
    Julia B. Bates '83
    Martha D. Ehrenfeld '83
    Michael A. Levine '83
    Brett Miller '83
    Emily Isaacs Samuels '83
    Keith A. Smith '83
    Amanda Miller ’84
    Michele Johnson Ashley '84
    Suzanne Gottlieb Calleja '84
    Sharifa El-Okdah '84
    Katharine Emerson Hoss '84
    Rebecca Moore '84
    Juliet Mallory Rosenbaum '84
    Linda Baer '85
    Michele A. Browne '85
    Philip B. Fisher '85
    Peter Graham '85
    Rhonda E. Harrison '85
    Kim Barker Lee '85
    William Perdomo '85
    Sheafe Walker '85
    Schuyler Allen-Kalb ’86 
    Rachel Shapiro Axinn '86
    Matthew K. Breitman '86
    Nat Caldwell '86
    Gregory Cohen '86
    Laurel Reiman Henneman '86
    Molly Magid Hoagland '86
    Everett Ware '86
    Gideon Alpert '87
    Doug Budin '87
    Ellen Deutsch Diamond '87
    Lynn D. Halpern '87
    Josh Isay '87
    Robin Weiswasser Markus '87
    Leslie Werthamer Rottenberg '87
    Lisa Stone '87
    Kim K. Azzarelli '88
    Shauna Burke '88
    Nicole Darren Donnelly '88
    Bartholomew Freundlich '88
    Christine Jimenez Johnson '88
    Deborah Levitzky '88
    Alexandra Cohen Oblak '88
    Jorge Ramon '88
    Eliza Prettyleaf Siegler '88
    Isaac Solotaroff '88
    Alexandra Mairs Tart '88
    Elizabeth D. Ward-Cuprill '88
    Jordan Barowitz ’89 
    Weston Konishi '89
    Amanda Stern '89
    Frederick D. Talton '89
    Josh Wachs '89
    Nicole C. Zissu '89
    Michael L. Bedrick '90
    Lateef F. Bost '90
    Nicole E. Davis '90
    Daphne Dufresne '90
    Alexis Donnelly Glick '90
    Amanda Peet '90
    Todd Solomon '90
    LuAnna Lemon Tardio '90
    Maisha Yearwood ’90
    Karen Joseph-Cherfils '91
    Oliver Freundlich '91
    Erica Fyvie '91
    Joy Rivera-Hampton '91
    Ia Robinson '91
    Michael Bachrach '92
    Cara Cibener '92
    Anna Crafton Walker '92
    Joshua Fishman '92
    Lila S. Margulies '92
    Zachary Roth '92
    Jessica Rovello '92
    Jessica Wapner '92
    Boji Wong ’92 
    Alexandra Zissu '92
    Natasha Encarnacion '93
    Sandra Jelin Plouffe '93
    Johari Makeba Massey '93
    Helen Rhim '93
    Joshua Silver '93
    Alice Blumenthal Beckman '94
    Jodyann K. Blagrove '94
    David Cooper '94
    Emily Frangos '94
    Sara Garlick '94
    Stephanie Davis Hazelkorn '94
    Kate Krone '94
    Samantha Liebman ’94 
    Georgia Elizabeth Lindahl '94
    Kelly Kent Marin '94
    Brandon Vert Primack '94
    Elizabeth Veit '94
    Sharonda Callender Ware '94
    Benjamin Ensminger-Law '95
    Christopher Frangos '95
    Sara Lenore '95
    Margarita Melikjanian '95
    Evan Pazner '95
    Lee Weiner '95
    Edwin Cruz '96
    David King '96
    Lynne DeSilva-Johnson '97
    Janelle Garrett '97
    Amanda Green Hull '97
    Anna Jane Grossman '98
    Kemi R. Blake '99
    Sabrina Brooks '99
    Mansita Diawara '99
    Andrew M. Laird '99
    Clementine Mallet '99
    Jacob Wolper-Gosler '99
    Fred Isquith '00
    Max Mishler '00
    Jennifer Rothchild Rittberg '00
    Charlotte Greenough '01
    Ashley Herriman '01
    Joey Shapiro '01
    Alex Agnant '02
    Chris Fisher-Lochhead '02
    Joanna Hunter August '02
    Hallie Davison '03
    Eric Obenzinger ’03
    Naledi Semela '06
    Ian Harris ’07
    Evan Olonoff '08
    Francesca Acocella '09
    Lauren Chin '09
    Hugo Torres-Fetsco '11
    Christian Hoyos ’13
    Sahana Mehta '16
    Eitan Darwish ’17

    To notify Friends of additional alumni who served on the Alumni Council in the past, email the Alumni Office.

Mission

The Alumni Council strengthens relationships among alumni and with the Friends Seminary community. The Council advances the School's mission, preserves its historical traditions and is engaged in its current activities and plans for the future.

Operating Principles

Council Members serve a three-year term and nominations and applications are accepted each spring for the coming term. The Nominating Committee seeks representation across class years, gender, industries, interests and demonstrated involvement in the community. Recommendations for service will be extended in the interest of achieving this balance. For Council Meeting minutes, contact the Alumni Office. 
Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.
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Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.