Members

Melanie Cohn was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2021. She is serving as President of the Summit Board of Education for the 2025-2026 school year. She is the Chair of the Negotiations and Personnel Committee and a member of the Education and Student Activities/Services Committee.

Ms. Cohn is the Executive Director of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, an AAM accredited museum, where she has led the organization in growing its community programs, including the establishment of an art therapy program with New Jersey Veterans Affairs. Under her leadership, the Art Center has received several prestigious NEA and IMLS grants. Previously, she led Staten Island Arts, deepening its programs in art and healing, education and folk art. Before that, she spent seven years at the New Museum of Contemporary Art as an administrator in the Curatorial Department. 

She has served on the Advisory Committee for the Urban Art Program for the NYC DOT, and on panels for IMLS, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NJ State Council on the Arts, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She led Staten Island Arts in receiving a 2009 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund Grant, 2010 and 2013 NEA Grants, and a 2014 Design Trust for Public Space “The Energetic City” award. In 2013, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce awarded her the Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award. 

Ms. Cohn is active in arts advocacy and policy, and has served as a New York State Captain for National Arts Advocacy and on the Steering Committees of the NYC Arts Coalition and NY Culture AID (Active in Disaster). She serves as president on the board of the National Organization for Arts in Health, is a member of the Summit/New Providence Rotary Club. Ms. Cohn's son graduated from the Summit Public School system in 2022.

Contact Melanie Cohn

Eileen Kelly was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2023. She is serving as Vice President of the Board of Education for the 2025-2026 school year. She is currently a member of the Communications and Operations Committees.

Ms. Kelly and her family moved to Summit in 2019. Ms. Kelly has served as Technology Chair for the Overlook Auxiliary, has assisted five Summit businesses to secure over $25,000 in COVID-19 grants, and has volunteered as an ESL teacher at the Summit YMCA. She is currently a mentor at American Corporate Partners: a Non-Profit mentorship program for Veterans. Ms. Kelly has also served on various boards in New York City including the Board of Harlem Dowling, Equishiu, and the University Club of New York.

Professionally, Ms. Kelly is Head of Product Strategy at OPIS, a Dow Jones company. Prior to Dow Jones, she spent 15 years working in a variety of financial, operational, and strategic roles, including four years in Buenos Aires, Argentina as an Economic Analyst. In 2016, Ms. Kelly also became a tech entrepreneur and Co-Founder of a mobile travel application called WingIt.

Ms. Kelly holds a BA from Colgate University. She lives in Summit with her husband, Matthew, and their two young sons.

Contact Eileen Kelly

Yon Cho was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2020. For the 2025-2026 school year, he is serving as Chair of the Education and Student Activities/Services Committee.

Mr. Cho and his family have been residents of Summit since 2000. He served on the Board of the Summit Area YMCA from 2009 to 2022, as well as the Board for the Summit Educational Foundation from 2013 to 2019, and chaired the Investment Committee. He is very involved with the scouting programs in Summit, starting with Franklin School Cub Scout Pack 360. He has also been an Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 67 since 2012. Mr. Cho also enjoyed coaching in the Summit Recreation Soccer and Summit Junior Baseball programs when his children were younger. 

Mr. Cho is currently retired after more than 30 years in financial services and real estate investment management at Lehman Brothers, and for the prior ten years at Pacific Coast Capital Partners where he managed the New York office and new investments for the firm. After graduating college, Mr. Cho proudly served four years in the United States Navy as a Surface Line Officer before starting his financial career. He has a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. 

Mr. Cho and his wife Francie have four children who all graduated from Summit High School.

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Mark Gundersen was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2025. He is serving as a member of the Communications and Policy Committees.

Mr. Gundersen has over 20 years of experience in private credit and investment banking. In addition to his recent appointment to the Board of Education, he currently serves on the City of Summit’s Economic Development Advisory Committee, is a member of the Summit Downtowners’ Association, and volunteers as a head coach in the Summit Softball and Baseball League.

A graduate of Bernards High School, Mr. Gundersen earned a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He resides in Summit with his wife Lucy and their son, John. 

Contact Mark Gundersen

Richard Hanley was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2025. Mr. Hanley is serving as Chair of the Operations Committee, as well as a member of the Policy and Negotiations and Personnel Committees.

Mr. Hanley retired in 2023 after more than 35 years of professional experience in the financial services industry. His most recent role was at SMBC Nikko Americas in New York City, when he joined the firm in 2018 as a Managing Director to build their US Equities business from the ground up, and in May of 2019 joined the firm’s Global Equities Executive Committee.

Mr. Hanley previously served on the Summit Board of Education from 2013 to 2018, with his presidency occurring from May 2017 to May 2018. His additional volunteer experience includes serving as a Reese Investment Fund Board Member for the Indiana University Kelley School of Business as well as a Knall Cohen Undergraduate Investment Fund Board Member at the same institution. Mr. Hanley has also volunteered locally at St. Teresa’s, the Summit Recreation Center, and the Summit YMCA.

Mr. Hanley received his MBA from Indiana University, and his BBA from the University of Toledo. He has lived in Summit for 25 years, and four of his five children attended and graduated from Summit Public Schools.

Contact Richard Hanley

Walidah Justice was appointed to the Board of Education in May 2021. She served as President of the Board during the 2024-2025 school year. She is currently the Chair of the Policy Committee, and a member of the Education and Student Activities/Services Committee.

Ms. Justice and her family moved to Summit in 2018. Ms. Justice currently works as the Chief Community Life and Wellbeing Officer at Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey. She has worked in K-16 education for over 20 years. Prior to Kent Place, Walidah Justice worked at Episcopal Academy, in Newtown Square, PA where she served four years as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion and two years as the Associate Director of Admission and Multicultural Outreach. 

Before transitioning to independent schools, Ms. Justice worked for nine years at Villanova University in the Office of Undergraduate Admission, Center for Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Student Development. Additionally, she has worked at Temple University and the University of Delaware before entering independent schools. 

Throughout her career, Walidah Justice has worked actively with marginalized students to provide safe spaces, amplify student voices and support each individual student’s success. Ms. Justice volunteers her time by working with Special Olympics and serving on the Villanova University Alumni Association Board of Directors. Ms. Justice holds a B.A. in Communication from Villanova University.

Ms. Justice and her husband, Breyon, have three children; one graduate of Summit High School and two currently attending Summit Public Schools.

Contact Walidah Justice

J. Carlos Mahecha was appointed to the Summit Board of Education in May 2024. He is Chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the Operations Committee. 

Mr. Mahecha has served as a volunteer and youth coach for the Summit YMCA, Summit Girls and Boys Recreational Basketball, Summit Junior Baseball, and Summit Recreational Girl’s Soccer programs. He is also an adjunct professor at Union College of Union County and has taught Federal Taxation and Accounting courses.  Professionally, Mr. Mahecha is a Senior Finance Manager at Johnson & Johnson Corporate leading global financial systems implementation initiatives.

Mr. Mahecha holds an AAS from Union College of Union County, a BS in Accounting from Rutgers University, and an MBA from Saint Peter’s University. Mr. Mahecha is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants.    

Mr. Mahecha has lived in Summit for 24 years with his wife Laura and three children, including two graduates of Summit Public Schools and one set to graduate from Summit High School in 2025. 

Contact J. Carlos Mahecha