Naomi Ostriker Seligman
When Naomi Ostriker Seligman sent her son, James, to Allen-Stevenson in 1964, little did she realize that she had begun a 50-year association with the School. James Daniel Seligman graduated from Allen-Stevenson in 1973. Now married to Mouna Guessous, he is the father of two Allen-Stevenson boys, Jad Seligman, '12 and Adam Peter Seligman,'14. Naomi feels both her son and her grandsons have benefited from the myriad choices including the arts and sciences - available at Allen-Stevenson. Naomi was instrumental in creating the Library Committee and, as Chair, of inaugurating the Book Fair. She overcame Headmaster Tiffany's rule that parents were not admitted to the building during the School day and was astounded when she first brought her grandchildren to School and saw parents streaming into the building.
Back Row: Ernest M. von Simson, Mouna Guessous Seligman and Naomi Ostriker Seligman Front Row: Jad ’12, Jim ’73 and Adam ’14
sity is a sense of self which is developed by both family and School.
She is the Senior Partner with her husband, Ernest M. von Simson, at Ostriker von Simson. This firm helps the largest worldwide enterprises establish and implement IT strategies concerning the assessment, acquisition, monitoring and management of emerging technologies and technology-related ventures. They chair the CIO Strategy Exchange which is a private sector think tank and a joint venture with Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. Her Directorships include Akamai Technologies, Inc., The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Inc., TellMe Networks, and Oracle Corporation. She is also a Trustee of the Boston Science Museum and a Board member of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children). She was previously the co-founder of The Research Board. Naomi is a magna cum laude graduate in Economics from Vassar College, with a graduate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Naomi has devoted her time and talents to innovations and achievements in various fields, technology chiefly among them, beginning at a time when women were underrepresented in this field.
With their experience and expertise, Naomi and Ernie are an important resource to Allen-Stevenson for innovative ideas and concepts in the fields of technology and science. Believing
Remarking on the School's growth over the years, she described AllenStevenson a school that truly encourages independent thinking. This School also provides boys with a comfort zone where they can explore various options and develop a lifelong love of learning. What keeps one going in times of adver-
strongly in the School's growing commitment to technology, they have helped provide resources to this program, funding the equipment for our new Computer Lab and our Advanced Computer Lab. They are impressed by how the curriculum has grown with the expansion of technology while keeping a commitment to the arts. They spoke of their grandson, Jad, who is engaged in animation and movie making, and how extraordinary such a program this is for a younger child. Certainly, Naomi Seligman is someone who has accomplished much, professionally and personally. When asked to remark on the “skills for life” theme of this Lamplighter and some of the skills she feels are important for our current students to obtain, she commented: “When you are a child, you cannot connect the dots going forward - you only see the pattern as you look back. AllenStevenson gives you the basic skills to connect the dots in the future - a platform from which to grow and the opportunities of choice.”