Avenues
New York

Judy Fox

Head of School

Judy Fox is an education leader with more than three decades of experience, and returns to Avenues New York having served as head of the Upper Division from 2015 to 2017. Judy has served as interim head at multiple leading independent schools, including the Elisabeth Morrow School in New Jersey, Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco and La Jolla Day School in Southern California. Previously, Judy served as head of school at Princeton Day School in New Jersey (2001-2007) and principal of Scarsdale High School (1988-1997). Judy graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Science Education and Biochemistry. She also holds an M.S. from Queens College in Science Education and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Columbia University.

Melody Meade

Head of Early Learning Center

Melody Meade joined Avenues in 2021 as the co-head of Early Learning Center (ELC), working alongside Nancy Schulman in Nancy’s final year as ELC head. In fall 2022, Melody assumed the role of head of Early Learning Center. 

Melody is a highly experienced and innovative school leader whose rich career has included a mix of leadership roles overseas and in the United States. She has focused on successfully implementing dual language and immersion programs, in the US, Brazil, France and Belgium, in nursery through grade 12 independent schools. Before joining Avenues, she served as principal of the Early Childhood division at Cayman International School in the Cayman Islands. Prior to this, Melody spent 17 years at Washington International School, including over 10 years as the primary school principal, covering early childhood through grade 5, in a trilingual environment. 

Melody earned her B.A. from the University of Rhode Island and her M.A. from the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership at Columbia University Teachers College.

Kim Lewis

Head of Lower Division

An experienced educator and school leader with a career spanning three decades, Kim Lewis joined Avenues in 2021 as the head of Lower Division (grades 1–5). Kim brings more than ten years of experience as a lower division head—the past seven at Dwight-Englewood (NJ) and prior to that eight at Germantown Friends School (PA), where she also served as the lower division dean of faculty before being promoted to division head. Kim's experience also includes 16 years in the classroom as a 5th and 6th-grade math teacher, curriculum specialist and instructional lead. As a leader, Kim focuses on building and maintaining a nurturing community among students, faculty, parents and colleagues; while also striving to strengthen professional learning and create an atmosphere conducive to excellent educational outcomes.

Kim earned her B.S. in psychology from Howard University, her M.A. in special education from Bank Street College of Education, and her M.Ed in educational leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she is working toward her Ed.D in educational leadership.

Todd Shy

Head of Upper Division

Todd Shy joined Avenues in 2012, the school’s first year of operation, as a humanities instructor for the middle grades. He went on to become the director of the Mastery Program and the program director of High Intensity Practice in writing. During the 2017–18 school year, Todd served as an upper school head at Town School for Boys in San Francisco, California. Avenues had the pleasure of welcoming Todd back in Fall 2018 to assume the role of head of Upper Division.

Prior to Avenues, Todd taught social studies at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina; philosophy at North Carolina Governor’s School in Raleigh; and history at Rocky Mount Academy in Rocky Mount, NC.

Todd received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, completed graduate coursework at King’s College London and obtained a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Daniel Greenblatt

Director of Operations and Administration

Daniel Greenblatt joined Avenues in the fall of 2018 as the director of operations and administration at Avenues New York. Prior to joining Avenues, Daniel was the chief operating officer for iMentor, an organization that empowers first-generation college students from low-income communities to graduate high school and succeed in college and beyond. Daniel also has a decade of experience with the NYC Department of Education, having served in a variety of leadership roles. He began his career as a New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching math at a Title 1 middle school in Brooklyn and later went on to work with the Superintendent of schools to support the academic achievement of 100,000 students across the borough. Daniel graduated from Connecticut College with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and obtained a Master of Science in education from Brooklyn College, where he was the vice president of Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education.

Becca Howlett

Director of People and Culture

Becca Howlett brings a lifelong commitment to education and more than a decade of talent experience to her role as the director of people and culture at Avenues New York. Becca started her career as a social studies teacher in New York City public schools. After six years of teaching, she joined Achievement First, a high-performing charter school network. During her 11-year tenure, she advanced from the organization’s first teacher recruiter to vice president of recruitment, while the organization expanded from five schools to 31 and from 50 to 1300 colleagues. Becca is also the founder of a non-profit organization, Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, aimed at building libraries for incarcerated youth. She earned a B.A. in history at the University of Connecticut and an M.S.Ed from Bank Street College.

Bobbe Fernando

Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management

Bobbe joined Avenues in 2022, bringing a wealth of experience in college admissions both at home and abroad. Prior to joining Avenues, served in a variety of roles at New York University (NYU), most recently as the senior director of global admissions, covering NYU’s campuses in New York, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and various study-away sites around the world. In that capacity, she managed a highly-selective admissions review process for thousands of students. Under her leadership, NYU saw an increase in international enrollment and diversity and an increase from 13% to 25% over ten years in non-U.S. citizens in the incoming freshman class.

Bobbe earned a master’s degree in global affairs with a concentration in international relations from NYU and a bachelor’s degree in applied social studies and English from the University of York, UK.

Ali Snell

Director of Student Wellbeing

Allison (Ali) Snell first joined Avenues in 2017 as a learning specialist and later as an associate division head for the Upper Division at the New York campus. From 2020, she served as an assistant principal at Edwin Markham Intermediate School in Staten Island, before returning to Avenues New York in 2022 as director of student wellbeing. To this role, she brings a deep understanding of how to promote the wellbeing of young people and a passionate commitment to helping students find their purpose in the world.

Ali has an extensive background in education, including as a founding assistant principal at PS/MS 8 in Brooklyn and as a literacy coach for the NYC Department of Education. She has 12 years of experience as a middle school teacher and also served as an adjunct instructor at Bank Street College of Education. Ali holds a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, a master’s degree in learning dis/abilities from Teachers College at Columbia University, and a master of education in leadership for educational change from Bank Street College of Education.