PHILADELPHIA – In a public meeting today, the Educational Nominating Panel voted to recommend nine candidates for the Board of Education to Mayor Jim Kenney.

As required by the Education Supplement to the Home Rule Charter, the Mayor convened the 13-Member Educational Nominating Panel to recommend possible Board of Education candidates to the Mayor, who will make appointments subject to City Council’s advice and consent. 82 individuals applied to fill three vacancies on the School Board. 

The Mayor will select three appointees from the Panel’s nine recommendations, and will share his selections with City Council. Mayor Kenney has ten days (until December 26) to request additional names from the Panel if needed. 

The nominees are:

Karima Bouchenafa
Karima is a valued member of the education community. She currently serves as the Assistant Director for the Honors Institute at Jefferson University. She has held leadership positions at Rutgers University and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as being a faculty adjunct at other Philadelphia colleges, including the Community College of Philadelphia. She is currently completing her doctorate in education at Rutgers University. She is a native of Philadelphia and attended Philadelphia’s public schools from elementary school to high school. 

Tariem Burroughs
Tariem Burroughs has had a multifaceted career focused on quality services for children and families, particularly in the area of public health and community engagement. He has held positions at Temple University School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Philadelphia Fight and Public Health Management Center. Currently, his work is focused on increasing workforce options for those affected by the opioid crisis. Tariem also has years of experience in the out-of-school time sector, including serving as the Academic Director at SquashSmarts, Inc. He holds a masters degrees in organizational development and leadership, education entrepreneurship, and sociology. He is a product of Philadelphia’s public schools and would provide the board with a multidisciplinary perspective drawn from his diverse experiences. 

Natalia Dominguez Buckley
Natalia Dominguez Buckley is a Vice President at Santander Bank focused on Government and Specialized Banking. Through this work, Natalia partners with non-profit, higher education, health care institutions, municipalities and state agencies, providing them banking expertise. She also worked at the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) a quasi-governmental entity as a Project Manager in the Finance Division managing multi-million-dollar RACP projects. Natalia is an immigrant and has lived in Philadelphia for over 20 years. She has served on many boards including The Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Natalia has received a number of awards including the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2020 Minority Business Leaders Awards.

Gavin Keirans
Gavin Keirans attended Philadelphia public schools as a child and has a B.S. in Business Management from Penn State University. Now a Partner at Rox Strategy, a management consulting business, Gavin has previous leadership and management experience as the Vice President for The Madison Square Garden Company, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Altice USA, and Management Consultant for Accenture. He is the founder and president of the Philadelphia Catholic League Service Corps, and was the Executive Director of New Leaders Council Philadelphia from 2012-2015. Gavin is a new father to a future SDP student and his wife is a special education teacher in the school district of Philadelphia.

Azeb Kinder
Azeb is an experienced educator, facilitator and trainer who works to dismantle racial inequalities. She is CEO of the Kinder Group, which provides consultation to  individuals, groups, and organizations, equipping them with tools necessary to develop the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to be anti-racist practitioners. Previously, Azeb worked in the School District of Philadelphia as a teacher and then as an administrator leading the development of the District’s strategic partnerships with universities and cultural institutions. From there Azeb was a Math Specialist at West Oak Lane Charter School, giving her teaching experience across education sectors. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Gwynedd Mercy University. She is a lifelong Philadelphia resident and attended Philadelphia public schools.

John (Jack) Lynch
Jack Lynch is a proud product of Philadelphia public schools. He is an alumni of Tilden Middle School and Bartram High School. Jack became a teacher later in life and taught social studies at Strath Haven High School in Wallingford. Swarthmore School District for over 20 years and served as the Woman’s Basketball Coach in addition to serving as class sponsor and new teacher mentor. During his tenure, Jack was President of the Wallingford Swarthmore Education Association, a 300 member union, from 2008 until his retirement in June of 2020. In this role, Jack served as lead negotiator for three Collective Bargaining Agreements from 2011-2020. Jack lives in Philadelphia and remains an active member of the Bartram High School Alumni Association.

Lisa Salley
Lisa is an alum of the Philadelphia High School for Girls and completed her junior high at JR Masterman. She has had a robust career as a mechanical engineer at Fortune 50 companies before transitioning into more executive roles where she effectively positions sustainable profitability by driving revenue growth, improving cost efficiencies, and solving customer issues. Her strengths include building human capital, developing business systems and strategic analytics. 

Reginald Streater
Reggie is an Associate at Archer & Greiner, P.C. Prior to Archer Greiner, Reggie worked for the Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals and The Pennsylvania Innocence Project. He serves as the Vice President of the Greater Philadelphia ACLU Executive Board and as such has spearheaded an effort to make the ACLU more accessible to the Black community by planning and executing programing and outreach in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. He is a product of the Philadelphia public school system attending Leeds MIiddle School and Germantown High School. In addition, he is a parent to two children who currently attend a Philadelphia public school. 

Cecelia Thompson
Ceclia Thompson is the Chairperson of the Philadelphia Right to Education Local Task Force, Appointed Panel Member, Secretary for the Governors Special Education Advisory Panel (SEAP). A Board Member of Philadelphia Family Voices and, most recently, a Commissioner to the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities. Her past work experiences include serving as a Community Education Outreach Coordinator at the Arc of Philadelphia and she is currently a Family Interviewer under the Philadelphia System of Care. Cecilia has worked with the school district through various professional capacities in addition to personal capacities, navigating her son through the special needs program and also attended Philadelphia public schools herself.