Leadership Team

Vice Chancellor Blake Spahn, a leading global educator, founded Franklin in 2021 to expand innovative educational opportunities for high school students in Jersey City and the surrounding community. He has strategic oversight of all Franklin operations, ensuring the efficient and effective management of all facilities, systems, and staff in support of Franklin’s cutting-edge programs.

Dr. Spahn also serves as Vice Chancellor of Dwight School in New York City, with the same strategic oversight of all operations across multiple campuses in Manhattan, as well as Vice Chancellor of The Dwight Schools.

William Campbell brings extensive experience in leadership, innovative curriculum design, and building effective, inspiring academic teams to launch Franklin as Founding Head of School. A native of Australia, Mr. Campbell most recently served as Director of the Physical Education Department and Sport, Exercise, and Health Science (SEHS) Program at Dwight School. He expanded the International Baccalaureate SEHS course, Anatomy, and Physiology program, and the PHE continuum curriculum.

Associate Head of School Nicole Hamilton brings two decades of exceptional teaching, technology, and leadership experience to Franklin. She also currently serves as Head of the Math Department at both Dwight School in New York and at Dwight Global Online School — ranked by Newsweek as the second-best online high school in the U.S.

Allison Feldman is an innovative marketing leader with over 20 years of experience in educational publishing, developing programs, partnering with school districts, and collaborating with academics. She worked at Scholastic Inc. and Amplify Education, Inc., where she helped develop ground-breaking classroom programs and teacher professional development, reaching hundreds of thousands of students and teachers around the world. Having also worked at Nickelodeon, Ms. Feldman’s entire career has been focused on children.

Jason Rowley brings more than 20 years of entrepreneurial and real estate investment and development experience in Jersey City and New York City to expand and deepen Franklin’s community collaborations as Director of Strategic Operations.  

Nick, a New Jersey native, brings to the Dwight family of schools over 21 years of educational technology and IT experience. He began his career in Information Technology working for The College of New Jersey's IT department while earning his bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems Management. Upon graduation, he served as a Systems and Support coordinator for the Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey, until he eventually found himself across the Hudson River at Dwight.

Diana Stravoiu brings over 20 years of experience in the education and technology industry to Franklin School. She launched her career in technology by working with the International Securities Exchange in New York City, which was created by the founder of E-Trade. There, she was recognized for her excellent leadership and was introduced as the face of the International Securities Exchange in the Money and Business section of The New York Times Newspaper.

Named a “Teacher of the Future” by the National Association of Independent Schools and a Senior FabLearn Fellow by Stanford University, Jaymes Dec has also gained industry recognition as President of Nerdy Derby, a non-profit that nurtures creativity in educational environments and as a maker educator.

Gayle Abrams brings over eight years of human resources and recruiting experience to Franklin, as the School’s Talent Management Specialist. Before joining the Dwight family of Schools, she served as an HR recruiter and generalist for the New York Center for Child Development. 

Brad Greenman started coaching baseball and basketball in 2007, serving as the Assistant Athletic Director, Head Varsity Baseball Coach, and PE teacher at Gill St. Bernard’s School for four years.

Eric Harrield served as the Athletic Program Manager for Success Academy, designing comprehensive basketball programs for the New York network, following his stint coaching St. Anthony High School's freshman basketball team.

Ali Iberraken was a physics teacher for ten years at The Packer Collegiate Institute, where she also taught classes in Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship, in addition to serving as a Dean of Students for four years.

Originally from Australia, Chris Barnes brings extensive educational and leadership experience to Franklin. Prior to joining our School, Mr. Barnes served a two-year term as the Deputy Head of MLC Sydney’s Senior School. Previously, he was the Director of the IB Diploma Program at Trinity Grammar School for 15 years.