Julian Cohen
Julian Cohen is the founder of Shared Lane, a consulting services firm that supports schools and organizations as they prepare youth for the careers of their future. Julian began his career as a founding teacher at Central Park East Secondary School, a pioneer in the small schools movement. He became a teacher of teachers, adjuncting at Teachers College. After more than a decade in the classroom, Julian joined the Office of New Schools at the New York City Department of Education, leading professional development for teams and principals who were planning and launching new small schools. Throughout his career at the district, he was part of several innovative projects: the pilot Innovation Zone to leverage new technologies for learning; the design of P-Tech, a grades 9-14 college and career model; the Expanded Success Initiative, a component of the Young Men’s Initiative to increase college access among Black and Latino young men; and a district-charter collaboration pilot to leverage best practices across sectors. Transitioning from secondary education to workforce training, Julian led a small team that developed a Technology Careers Exploration Program at Per Scholas, an IT training nonprofit, as high school pre-training. Julian holds certification from Columbia Business School’s Executive Leadership Program for Senior Nonprofit Leaders.
Nancy Mann
Bank Street Faculty
Nancy Mann has over three decades of experience in school leadership in urban education. She began teaching at Central Park East Secondary School, a school known for its focus on performance assessment and a restructured school day. She was a cofounder of Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the East Tremont section of the Bronx in 1994, one of the first small schools in the Bronx, where she served as principal from 2002-14. From 2015-18, she was the deputy superintendent for a New York City Department of Education city-wide district of performance assessment schools. Her work with competency-based leadership programs includes the Summer Principals Academy at Teachers College and the P20 program at Bank Street College in collaboration with Rochester and Yonkers districts. She is currently a supervised fieldwork advisor in the School District Leadership Program at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. She continues to be a mentor to educators and principals through her work in New York City and her work with the Institute for Student Achievement.
George Badía
Coach
Born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, George Badía is an experienced educator with a strong background in educational leadership. After completing his high school and college education in the United States, he earned a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Russell Sage College. With over three decades of service in the New York City Department of Education, George has made significant contributions to the institutions he has worked with. George began his career as a Spanish and bilingual social studies teacher at John Adams High School. He later served as the assistant principal of ESL and Foreign Language at the same school. He then took on the role of assistant principal at Pan American International at Monroe Campus in the Bronx, continuing his commitment to improving educational outcomes for students. As principal of Pan American International High School in Queens, George led a remarkable transformation, improving attendance, academics, and safety. Under his leadership, the graduation rate increased from 50 percent in 2014 to 95 percent in 2021, and the school progressed from a Renewal School to a School in Good Standing. In addition to his roles in school leadership, George Badia served as a coach for Project Soaring with the Internationals Network for Public Education. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College, two master’s degrees—one from Columbia University and another in School Administration from New York University—and the completion of his doctoral candidate program at Sage College.
Tabari Bomani
Coach
Born and raised in Hollis, Queens, Tabari Bomani has worked as a social studies teacher, college advisor, and dean in the New York City Department of Education for over 30 years. For 27 years, Tabari worked a social studies teacher, college advisor, and dean at Bushwick Community High School (BCHS), a transfer high school created to educate students who are over-aged and under-credited (labeled by the NYC DOE as drop-outs, pushed-outs, pregnant teens, etc.). While a teacher at BCHS, Tabari also worked for the New Opportunities at Hofstra University Program, the Adolescent Vocational Educational Program for the Economic Commission of Nassau, and an adjunct professor in the African Studies Department at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. Tabari has lectured and performed poetry for various community-based organizations, colleges, and universities. Tabari earned a BA in History and Secondary Education from Hofstra University and a MA in History from Brooklyn College. In 1987, Tabari was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta (the National History Honor Society), and in 2004, Tabari was a recipient of the Fund for the City of New York’s 2004 Sloan Public Service Award. In 2013, Tabari was selected to be a member of the Expanded Success Initiative New School Design Fellowship (ESI Fellows), charged with designing a new school model that would directly work to close the achievement gap, discipline gap, and belief gap that faced African and Latino youth in New York City Public Schools. After a year of design and prototyping, the ESI Fellows launched the EPIC Schools, and Tabari was selected to be the principal of the newly opened Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice On June 28 th , 2022, after thirty-four years of service, Tabari retired from the New York City Department of Education. Since retiring, Tabari has worked as an adjunct professor at City College, lectured for several organizations, has been a guest speaker on several podcasts, and is working on opening a consulting business.
Rod Bowen
Coach
Rod Bowen is an educational leader with over 30 years of experience in public education. He most recently served as chief of high schools and regional superintendent for a Charter Management Organization with schools across three states. Prior to that, he led the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Teacher Development. He also led the NYC DOE’s Office of School Quality. Rod also served as the founding principal of the DreamYard Preparatory School, a small arts high school in the Bronx committed to cultivating scholarship, artistry, and character within its students. He holds a permanent New York State certification as a district level leader and is currently completing a PHD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. His research interests include social justice-oriented school leadership as well as exploring the optimal conditions to professionally develop teachers to embrace mindsets and practices best suited for Black and Brown children to thrive in school and beyond.
Thandi Center
Coach
Thandi Center has spent her career in public education and nonprofit leadership, with a focus on developing the capacity of teachers, school leaders, and system leaders. Most recently, Thandi works as an independent consultant with Bank Street Education Center, the XQ Institute, the Urban Assembly, the District Summer Learning Network, and Newark Board of Education. Thandi’s consulting work centers on helping school districts and education nonprofits clarify and advance their strategic priorities, developing capacity and leadership across their organizations, creating systems for continuous improvement, authoring materials for aspiring educators, and anchoring equity in both process and outcomes. Previously, Thandi served as vice president of programs at the New Teacher Center (NTC), where she spent 10 years cultivating innovative district partnerships across New York City, Newark, and nationally. Under Thandi’s leadership, the New York City program saw significant gains in teacher quality and retention, student learning, and the growth of leadership pipelines. Prior to NTC, Thandi served as New York City program director for the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) and as senior program officer for teacher preparation, induction, and support at New Visions for Public Schools. Thandi also taught social studies and drove the school bus on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, taught in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and created human rights curricula for Amnesty International, PBS, and Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility.
Connie Hamilton
Coach
Connie Hamilton recently retired as master principal of John Dewey High School in Brooklyn. She is also the founding principal of the Kingsborough Early College Secondary School, which is partnered with the Kingsborough Community College and the CUNY Early College Initiative. Her career with the New York City Department of Education included various roles, such as teacher of special education at Sheepshead Bay High School, facilitator and coach for the UFT Teacher Center, leader of Concord High School, assistant principal, director of new small schools for BASIS High Schools, and regional instructional specialist for literacy in Brooklyn and Staten Island High Schools. Both born and raised in Brooklyn and a public school graduate herself, Connie has been committed to helping children of all levels maximize their potential. She earned her associate’s degree in Early Childhood from the Kingsborough Community College, a bachelor’s degree in Special Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and two master’s degrees—one as a reading specialist and the other in administration. Her passion is creating opportunities for underrepresented youth in urban settings. Her work lies in the coaching and mentoring of teachers and educational leaders to help them design equitable school programs for all children and to help them create a positive school culture.
Liliana Polo
Coach
Liliana Polo has over 20 years of experience as an educator, focusing her career on designing learning systems with and for young people whom our systems have not served well. With a commitment to partnerships as a way to transform education, Liliana was the founding principal of West Brooklyn Community High School, an early community school serving youth ages 16-20—in partnership with Good Shepherd Services—in the same neighborhood where she was born and raised. Through the Leadership Academy, Liliana served as vice president of school leadership support, coaching, designing, and facilitating professional development for district- and school-level leaders with their teams across the country. Liliana also served as the chief executive officer of Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT), one of New York City’s largest youth education and workforce development nonprofits. Liliana is currently a technical advisor with FHI 360, designing professional learning for over 100 districts as part of the District Summer Learning Network, and coaching districts to implement evidence-based practices in order to transform summer learning. Liliana is also an executive coach with Latinos for Education and the Leadership Academy, and serves on the Boards of Directors for the Great Oaks Foundation, Building 21, Malverne Afterschool Center, and Latina Moms Connect. Liliana has a Doctorate in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA/MAT from Brown University.
John Widlund
Coach
John Widlund is a lifelong educator and a graduate of McKee High School in New York City. He has been a Leader in Career and Technical Education (CTE) for over 30 years, including as a teaching apprentice, (SVA at McKee CTE HS), assistant principal (McKee CTE HS), principal (George Westinghouse High School and The School of Cooperative Technical Education), and most recently as executive director of career and technical for over 100 schools and 70,000 students. He led the rapid expansion of 40 new CTE programs and supported the creation of the Brooklyn Steam Center with principal Kayon Pryce. His passion is helping schools design high-quality CTE and Future Ready programs, realizing the potential for a dual education that is academically rigorous and real world in nature. Since joining CEI in 2021, John has found a new home and role that is continuing to find solutions to the challenges our schools currently face.
Larry Woodbridge
Coach
Larry Woodbridge began his career in education as a social studies teacher at the McBurney School in 1982, where he also directed the school play. In 1998, he was selected to open the Community School at MS 142 and subsequently in 2003 became the first principal of the Secondary School for Law at John Jay High School (SSL). There, Mr. Woodbridge initiated a dedicated law-related curriculum, an expansion of Readers and Writers Workshop to the high school level, community partnerships that led to enhanced college counseling and social services, and building-wide AP classes. He also mentored aspiring principals for the Leadership Academy. In 2010, Larry left SSL to become one of the inaugural group of facilitators for the Leaders in Education Apprenticeship Program, the first in-house principal preparation program developed by the New York City Department of Education. From 2013-21, he led the principal preparation program team in the Office of Leadership and ultimately became the office’s senior executive director. Larry has been a Klingenstein Fellow and a Cahn Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University.
