Board of Directors

BFS operates under the stewardship of the Executive Educational Director and in partnership with the parent-run Steering Committee and the Board of Directors, made up of alumni families and community supporters.

The board currently includes six independent Board members and is attended by two current member observers. We strive to include a diverse group of qualified individuals who share a commitment to our values and mission but do not have a prior relationship to BFS.

David Heales (Chair)

David serves as the Chair of the BFS Board. He has had two children go through BFS from 2019 to 2023, who between them have been a fixture of each of the BFS classrooms.

David has lived in Park Slope with his wife since moving to Brooklyn from London, UK in 2014. David is a partner at, the international law firm of, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and graduated in law from Oxford University. He has previously served on the boards of trustees of several elementary and middle schools.

Amy Brito

Amy was a BFS parent from 2021-2023, where she was an active member of the BFS community as a class parent. Amy is a technology professional with 18+ years of experience, starting off in engineering and business development at Cisco, and then leading partnership organizations at Amazon Web Services. She currently leads a commerce and agency partnerships team at Stripe, a financial infrastructure company. She earned a degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin.

Amy has lived in Brooklyn with her husband and children since 2018 and New York since 2012. She is originally from Mauritius but also grew up in Vancouver, Canada and Dallas, Texas. She has volunteered at several non-profits, especially those focused on building better lives for women, children, and diverse communities.

Junie Francois Pswarayi

Junie is a non-profit professional, with 15+ years of experience encompassing work in fundraising, development, finance, operations, and human resources. For 6 years she managed the finance, human resource, and operations functions at Democracy Works, a non-partisan civic tech non-profit, and was integral to the growth of the organization which grew in employee and revenue fivefold from 8 - 42 employees and $1million -$14million in revenue. In 2020, she transitioned to the field of fundraising, where she spearheaded the organization's efforts to widen its reach with communities of color in the field of development through partnership, creating fundraising opportunities and partnerships with ABFE, Marcy Labs, and Empower MyHood.

She’s an alumnus of the University of Maryland College Park, holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Montgomery College, and is currently completing a Certificate in Fundraising from New York University as well as being a part of the first cohort of Good Shepherd Services, Anti-Racism Equity Institute. She served as a parent board member for the 2020-2021 school year and was elected as an independent Board Member in 2021. Her son happily attended BFS for two years, first as a Dragonfly and then Sunshine.

Rob Vurens Van Es

Rob was a BFS parent for four years where he served on steering as treasurer and president. Originally from Australia, New York has been home since 2012 and Park Slope since 2015. He works at an investment firm where he focuses on sustainable food and agricultural infrastructure. He is excited to join the BFS Board as the school provided his kids with a great start at school and his family with many great friends.

Mark Buswinka

BFS captured Mark's heart when his children Zander and Leila were with Lourdes, Laura, and Delores in Rainbow in 2002 and 2004. More recently, his son Kenji had the joy of being with Oi, Nycol, and Kathy in Rainbow for 2020-21. He grew up in Cincinnati and his family has called Park Slope and Kensington our home since 1991. As a career educator, he has been a teacher, teacher trainer, and a school leader. He looks forward to supporting BFS to continue to be a truly magical place for children and families.

Nate Martinez

Nate's family has been a part of the BFS community since 2020 when his daughter Aluna started in the Jitterbug classroom. She thrived during her three years at BFS and Nate's partner Fiorella was a part of Steering, first as secretary and then as president. BFS is a very special place for them where their entire family forged meaningful and lasting friendships. Nate grew up in Lewiston, NY and have resided in Brooklyn for 23 years. For the last 13 years their home has been in Carroll Gardens where Nate works in the world of sound: design, composition and also leading mindfulness initiatives for companies utilizing sound.