Dear BMS students, families and friends,

We are delighted to share some very significant and positive news following the Annual Meeting of the BMS Board of Trustees.

First and foremost, the Board elected Shelby Green as our new Chair. Shelby is a professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has served as a BMS Trustee since 2018. We are extremely excited to have Shelby at the helm as we work to deliver on our mission of making it possible for everyone, regardless of their background and resources, to be able to experience the joy of music and the artistic and intellectual benefits of musical performance.

Shelby is joined by Peter Bordes and Brian Pope as Vice Chairs, Julia Yu — also a newly elected Trustee — as a treasurer, and Jordan Tamagni as Secretary. You can read their bios (and those of the full Board) here. This is a very strong and diverse team of corporate officers to guide the Board and support BMS going forward.

We are also very happy to tell you that four new Trustees have joined our Board.

Carletta Higginson serves as Director and Global Head of Music Publishing for YouTube and Google Play. She has over a decade of content, media and entertainment-related business with a deep understanding of the music landscape.

Samantha McDonald currently serves as the CFO of Flat World Partners, a next-generation advisory firm focused on impact investing. She brings more than 20 years of experience leading mergers and acquisitions and launching new revenue streams.

Jacqueline Parker is Of Counsel at the law firm of Ballard Spahr, LLP, where she is a senior attorney and expert in financial services law, risk management and legal compliance. She also teaches banking law at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law.

Julia Yu has extensive experience as a Controller at Fortune 500 companies and as a CFO. She brings more than 20 years of diversified public accounting and capital management expertise, including extensive work advising the BMS Board on how to enhance and simplify the work of the finance team.

Carletta, Samantha, Jacqueline, and Julia will be invaluable members of the BMS Board, expanding our network of partnerships with donors, corporate sponsors and government officials, bolstering our governance and financial management capacity, and deepening our connections in the music industry. We look forward to everything they will bring to the Board as we guide BMS into the future.

In a related matter, the Board unanimously approved a new Diversity and Inclusion Policy, setting a goal of increasing diversity on the Board from around 25% in 2019 to 40% by 2024. Our new trustees greatly add to our diversity and we are well on our way to meeting our goal. Just as important, the Board is committed to inclusion throughout the BMS community, making sure that the different voices and perspectives of all stakeholders are reflected in our decision making and our business practices.

We are also tremendously excited to report that a charitable foundation will donate $100,000 in two installments in 2020 and 2021 to help upgrade our facility and jumpstart our capital campaign. Following last month’s announcement of our exciting new project with the Gotham Organization to develop a new, 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility adjoining our historic home in Fort Greene, this is great news for the entire BMS community. This builds on the $8.4 million in city and state capital that already has been allocated to BMS as a result of the hard work of our Board.

While there are always challenges to overcome and new milestones to work towards, we feel strongly that BMS is on track for a very successful future. Every one of you is an important part of that bright future. Your engagement and support are critical to achieving our goals and delivering on our mission. We thank you for everything you do to make the BMS community the welcoming, inclusive place it is.

- Brooklyn Music School Board of Trustees