Our Board of Trustees
Scott Novak - Chair
Education: Fairleigh Dickinson University (B.S., Accounting, 1981); Temple Law School (J.D., 1984); New York University (LL.M., Tax, 1989).
Employment: Mr. Novak has worked as a tax lawyer at Price Waterhouse and MetLife in addition to doing private legal work. He has also been a senior executive at MetLife, Seligman Advisors (a mutual fund company) and National Marketing Director for EPS Settlements (a Structured Settlement company). Mr. Novak has also been a life insurance and investment producer, being fully licensed to sell those products. He has worked as a lighting technician on many movies, tv shows and commercials in NY and has owned a café. He is now in private practice in Hackensack, specializing in tax law.
Speaking and Publications: Mr. Novak has a wealth of experience speaking in the areas of tax law, structured settlements, environmental structured settlements, annuities, investments and insurance. He has written numerous articles and provided many CE seminars for the legal, accounting and investment communities.
Other: Chairman, Montclair Community Pre-K Board of Trustees
Member, Local 52, IATSE (former board member)
Andrew Kemeny - Treasurer
Andrew Kemeny is a retired business executive. He began his career with AT&T in New York in 1960 as an Engineer, and advanced through the technical and management ranks, serving in numerous business units and divisions. His highly diverse experience includes engineering, manufacturing, materials management, finance, human resources, forecasting, quality management and most extensively, information systems. Andrew retired from AT&T in 1995 as Chief Information Office Transition Planning Vice President.
Following retirement, he continued to work as a consultant and as a teacher. As an Adjunct Professor, taught graduate level courses at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and at the Central European Management Center.
He assumed his current role with the Montclair Community Pre-K in July, 2008.
Mr. Kemeny is a long time resident of Montclair, having lived in town for over 30 years. Both of his children (now grown) have attended the Montclair public school system from pre-K through high school.
Sean Flynn
Sean Flynn is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking division, based in New York. He is Global Head of Investment Bank Strategy and Analytics. In this role he works with senior management to develop strategy for business in the Investment Banking division and assess overall performance. This includes adapting the Investment Bank franchise to the changing industry landscape, optimizing individual business performance, and evaluating and assessing strategic acquisitions and investments. In 2011 Mr. Flynn helped to establish a Global Equity Capital Markets operating model and served as Global COO for ECM.
Mr. Flynn joined Credit Suisse First Boston in June 2004 from Deutsche Bank, where he worked in bank strategy. Mr. Flynn began his career as a Financial Economist at the US Treasury Department in Washington, DC, working on federal debt financing policy and financial markets initiatives. He also worked on the first redesign of U.S. currency in more than 60 years.
Mr. Flynn holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and undergraduate degrees in Economics and Business Administration from Benedictine College. He lives in Montclair with his wife and three daughters, all recent graduates of MCPK.
Angela Durham-Knight
Angela Durham-Knight is the founder and managing partner for Redwood Consulting, specializing in coaching, leadership development and team facilitation. Previously Angela was the chief diversity officer for Wyeth, a global pharmaceuticals company acquired by Pfizer in NYC and was a leadership development executive working with company acquisitions and non-US leadership teams at Lehman Brothers. Angela brings a broad range of board experience to the MCPK including her recent appointment to the Essex County Ethics Committee for the NJ Office of Attorney Ethics; but as the mother of a MCPK alum, Angela brings her passion for community engagement to her work on our Ambassador and corporate partnership initiatives. Angela earned her undergraduate and MBA degrees from The Wharton School. She and her family have been Montclair residents since 2002.
Donald Zief
Michelle Johnson-Lewis
Michelle Johnson-Lewis has been passionate about her desire to help anyone in need since she was a child. She joined church and political groups involved with community service as early as middle school and her commitment to helping others has never waivered. Over the last 10 years she has supported causes such as Jersey Battered Women’s Service and The Human Needs Food Pantry, Montclair, NJ (Board of Directors, 2002–2006). Michelle has been actively involved in various community projects through the public service sorority she pledged in her sophomore year of college; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is currently a member of the Montclair Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has chaired various committees within the chapter. However, her focus has always been on children. It is important to Michelle that all children have an opportunity to obtain a quality education and have exposure to positive role models. She is currently the co-chairperson of the chapter’s Scholarship and Education Committee. In this role she is involved in planning and coordinating college symposiums for High School students from Montclair and the surrounding towns as well as coordinating the selection and dissemination of scholarship awards. She has also co-chaired the organization's Delta Academy program which is an educational program for young at-risk African American girls, ages 11-14 that provides the opportunity for enriching and enhancing the education that these teens receive. The women of the sorority mentor the young ladies and augment their scholarship in math, science and technology, their opportunities to provide service in the form of leadership through service learning, and their sisterhood defined as the cultivation and maintenance of relationships. Michelle also continues to support her High School; Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, NY, the law school she attended; Fordham University School of Law and the Montclair Community Pre-K which her 14 year old son attended at the ages of 3 and 4 years old.
Michelle also strongly believes that early childhood education plays an important role in the academic success of children and in some communities it is essential for some children to be involved in a pre-k program to be able to compete with their peers even as early as kindergarten. Because of her strong belief in early childhood education she has supported the Montclair Community Pre-K for over 10 years.
Michelle is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School; she has a BS in accounting from New York University and a JD from Fordham University School of Law. She currently practices law at a bio-pharmaceutical company in New Jersey.
Michelle is married to Earl Lewis and they have one son Jarrett Lewis who attended both the three (3) and four (4) year old programs at the Pre-K.
Rae L. Oliver
Sheldon Kugelmass - Secretary
Sheldon Kugelmass brings a wide range of experiences to the Montclair Early Childhood Corporation Board. His professional career has focused on Engineering Project Management and Technology Development in early stage ventures in both the semiconductor and biotechnology industries.
In addition, for over 20 years, he has served in Board leadership roles with the Mask and Wig Club of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s oldest musical comedy organizations. Most recently, as President, he led the Club’s capital campaign and oversaw a major renovation of its landmark Clubhouse in Philadelphia.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from Cornell University, both in Electrical Engineering. His hobbies include running and genealogy.
Sheldon Kugelmass and his family have been Montclair residents since 2003. Both his daughter and son are alumni of the Montclair Community Pre-K.
Stephanie Fitzgerald
Stephanie Clark Fitzgerald, founder of Strategy for Education, is focused on supporting educators and community members in realizing the kind of public education all our children deserve. Her public education consulting practice is focused on human capital development, strategic planning, meeting facilitation, new school creation and/or expansion and developing learning cultures for children and adults. Her two main clients include New Leaders, where she is leading development of the curriculum for the Emerging Leaders Program and Perspectives Charter Schools, where she is the project manager for their Social Emotional Learning curriculum, funded by a federal dissemination grant. Before launching Strategy for Education, as an Executive Director at New Leaders, Stephanie was responsible for the design and implementation of professional development for all program personnel. She is the immediate past President and CEO (and continues to serve as an advisor) of the Rodel Charitable Foundation of DE, which is committed to helping Delaware create one of the finest school systems in the nation, driven by student performance and responsive to the demands of our ever-changing world. Stephanie began her career as a middle school social studies and language arts teacher in Chicago, where she also founded the first Perspectives School, served as principal of the independent pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade Harvard School, and was the Director of Planning and founding leader of Ariel Community Academy. As an education consultant, Stephanie assisted in opening two schools in Washington, D.C. for the Edison Project; and with KPMG Consulting, conducted performance reviews for districts and states and assisted in developing and marketing an education data warehouse. She received her BA from Harvard University, MA in Education Leadership and Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and MA in Economic Education and Entrepreneurship from the University of Delaware.
Rich Murnick, Township Council Liasion
Eve Robinson, M.S. Ed., Executive Director
