Tuesday, May 11, 2021
6:30 PM – 7:15 PM
Charles “Charlie” Bendit is the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Taconic Partners, an owner, operator, and developer of commercial and residential real estate. A graduate of George Washington University, Charlie is actively involved in the educational community serving on The George Washington University Board of Trustees and is a member of the Advisory Board of the University’s Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis. Charlie has served two terms as the Manhattan representative to the Board of Regents of the New York State Education. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York and on the Board of the Partnership Fund for New York City.
Charlie has long dedicated himself to the field of education, believing it to be the cornerstone of a high quality of life for everyone. From providing internships to students from Taft High School in the Bronx, to teaching 3rd- through 5th-graders about their built environment in the Lower East Side’s District One, to serving on the New York State Board of Regents, Charlie has invested his time and resources in pursuit of a better education for all New York City students. For him, success lies in giving students the opportunity to see beyond what they thought was possible; to think bigger about what they can accomplish.
Charlie’s work with Bank Street College is motivated by his belief in its excellence in teacher training and preparation. As Charlie says, “What I like about Bank Street is the work they are doing to prepare those teachers to be as good as they can be; to be the types of teachers who inspire students by raising their level of awareness, of inquisitiveness, so they can be ready for their next challenge.”
John B. King Jr. is president and CEO of The Education Trust, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and close educational opportunity and achievement gaps. King began his career as a high school social studies teacher and middle school principal, before serving as New York State Education Commissioner and US Secretary of Education in the Obama administration.
Pamela Cantor, MD, practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She founded Turnaround for Children in 2002, after co-authoring a study on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on New York City schoolchildren. A Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she holds an MD from Cornell University Medical College and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College.
Stephen Schwartz is a prolific lyricist and composer whose work spans musical theatre, film, and opera and includes the music and lyrics for the Broadway hit, Wicked. Mr. Schwartz has been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and he has won three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, and he has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tony Shalhoub, Master of Ceremonies
Jane Kaczmarek, Master of Ceremonies
Bank Street’s Annual Dinner is the College’s signature benefit that increases awareness of Bank Street’s mission in the greater community and raises funds to support its vital work.
Each year the President and the Board of Trustees invite existing and new friends of the College to come together in celebration of Bank Street’s contributions to the world of education and to honor those who share this passion for progressive education.
Jeffrey Sussman, Co-Chair
Paul Pariser, Co-Chair
Jody Feldman
Yolanda Ferrell-Brown
Felice Friedman, GSE ’76
Russell Granet
Fern Khan
Jessica Licata
Kate Sussman, SFC ’85, GSE ’98