Cheltenham SD Announces Board Rotation, New Members

ELKINS PARK, Pa. (January 18, 2018) – The Cheltenham School District Board of Directors is pleased to announce its annual leadership rotation, in addition to its four new members.

Selected by the board through a nomination process, Julie Haywood and Joel Fishbein were tabbed as president and vice president, respectively, for 2018.

Following November elections, the School Board welcomes four new members:

A township resident for 18 years, Pamela Henry is a change practitioner who develops and facilitates programs to engage stakeholders in advancing organizational Henry holds a Bachelor of Science in human resource management and is a talent development manager in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining the School Board, Henry was an active member of the community, having volunteered as team manager for a youth track and field organization and as past board member of the Cheltenham African American Alliance (CAAA). She is married with three daughters and one granddaughter. One of her daughters is a Cheltenham graduate and another attends the high school.

A native North Philadelphian educated in the Philadelphia Public Schools, Christopher Pender Sr. has worked with young people, families and fathers in different capacities including coach, mentor and facilitator for more than 25 years. Employed by the Girl Scouts of Central & Southern New Jersey, Pender is a published author and curriculum designer. He was honored in 2009 with the Chester State Correctional Institute Volunteer Award and in 2010, earned the NAACP Extraordinary Citizens Award. Pender has been married for 35 years and has four children. He holds an undergraduate degree in business from Rochester Institute of Technology and a graduate degree in human services from Lincoln University.

An Elkins Park native and 2005 Cheltenham graduate, Daniel Schultz returned to Cheltenham with his family in An Eagle Scout from local Boy Scout Troop 116 and member of the Cheltenham Library System Board of Directors, Schultz has spent the past decade programming computers for the public good as a civic technologist. A senior creative technologist at the Internet Archive, the world’s largest digital library, Schultz has worked with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Boston Globe, Lenfest Institute and Mozilla Foundation to create tools for journalists. He’s designed and taught courses for Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications program. Schultz received a bachelor’s degree in information systems from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree from the MIT Media Lab.

A township resident for six years, Kate Thomson has extensive executive leadership experience in the advertising and marketing realm. The principle of Kate Thomson Consulting, she previously led marketing efforts for Nationwide Insurance’s northeast business region, served as vice president/ account director for McKinney Advertising in Durham, North Carolina, held leadership roles at the Boston advertising agencies Arnold and Digitas and was director of marketing and communications for the Duke University Talent Identification Program in Durham, North Carolina. A 2000 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with a degree in psychology, Thomson is an avid yogi who has assisted many local women and families in childbirth as a birth doula. She resides in Glenside with her husband and two daughters.