Education

NPC endorses two for Bronxville school board

After an initial postponement due to COVID-19, the Bronxville Board of Education Election will be held on Tuesday, June 9. Voting will be by absentee ballot only, and we recommend eligible voters check the Board of Education’s website for the latest details.

The Bronxville Committee for the Non-Partisan Nomination and Election of School Trustees, NPC,  has chosen to endorse two nominees, Jennifer Russo and Michael Finley, as its candidates to fill the two vacant seats on the Board of Education.

Each of the nominees is currently a school board trustee and is seeking re-election to the position.   The NPC is very enthusiastic about the candidates and the
skills and abilities they bring to the School Board.

To give the Bronxville community  the opportunity to speak with the nominees, the NPC typically hosts an open-house reception at this time.  However, current social distancing guidance and rules preclude this.   To try to provide a similar forum for the community in lieu of the reception, we welcome your emailed questions for the nominees instead at bxv_NPC@yahoo.com.

Background for each nominee:
Jennifer Russo
Since moving to Bronxville in 2003, Russo has been extensively involved in the community through her work with the school, her neighborhood association and a number of philanthropic organizations in the area. She is currently working as an SAT/ACT tutor. She previously worked in interior design following several years on Wall Street as a corporate bond analyst at Lehman Brothers.  Russo is currently a trustee of child services organization Graham Windham, where she co-chairs an annual holiday program for more than 100 children living in Graham’s residential facility in Hastings.

She is also a school programs guide at the Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other nonprofit work includes volunteering as a college coach for ScholarMatch and tutoring at Mount Vernon High School for Destination College.  In addition, she has contributed extensively to The Bronxville School through multiple leadership positions on various school councils and the PTA.  Russo and her husband,  Jim, have two daughters at The Bronxville School, one in 12th grade, the other in ninth. Jennifer attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in East Asian Studies, and then returned to earn her MBA from The Wharton School.

Michael Finley
A Bronxville resident since 2004 and a member of the Board of Education  for the past three years, Finley has had an extensive career in private equity, first at Lehman Brothers and then, for the past 20 years, at two private equity firms that managed multibillion-dollar funds. Over the course of the last 15 years, Finley has been a member of multiple private and public company boards, interacting with all levels and types of management teams. He holds an MBA and is a certified public accountant.

Finley and his wife, Denise, are raising two girls—one who went from Kindergarten through the 12th grade at The Bronxville School and is now a rising senior in college and a younger daughter is a sophomore in the high school. He attended Union College and the University of St. Thomas in his native Minnesota,
where he majored in business and economics. He received his MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
(Submitted)