New to Milton
Neal Litvack
Mark J. Stanek
Fidelity Executive Named CFO
Named First Middle School Principal
Neal Litvack joined Milton’s team of administrators this past spring as chief financial officer. Neal is responsible for overseeing Milton’s business and financial functions, including budget, endowment management and strategic financial planning in addition to overseeing buildings and grounds, dining services, security operations, and human resources services.
To provide distinct and focused leadership for the experience of middle school-aged students, Mark J. Stanek joined Milton this summer as the first Middle School principal.
Neal’s career in marketing, operations, and financial leadership at Fidelity Investments— where he most recently served as president of Fidelity Retail Marketing, a unit of Fidelity Investments—prepare him well for the challenges Milton and all schools confront in maintaining financial equilibrium in challenging times. His avocation, however, singled him out as a person capable of and enthusiastic about participating in life at Milton.
Neal’s experience as a trustee at Dedham Country Day School (1997–2002) gave him indepth experience with the school issues he will now supervise. In addition, work in the school environment was so gratifying that it stimulated his career change from finance to education. Neal’s colleagues have found him an energetic and a tireless worker, a person who listens well, values input and process, and is a good team player as well as a leader, as had his colleagues in business and at Dedham Country Day. Neal received a bachelor’s in economics and psychology from Vassar College, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Neal lives in Weston with his wife and two children.
A native of upstate New York, Mark comes to Milton from the Athenian School in Danville, California, where he was dean of students for the middle school, a mathematics teacher and coach of the school’s track and field team. Mark’s experience as a teacher, administrator, coach and leader of extracurricular activities began in 1992, upon his graduation from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. In addition to his work at the Athenian School, Mark’s independent school experience spans Culver Academies (Culver, Indiana), Kentucky Country Day School (Louisville, Kentucky) and Samuel Proctor Academy (Trenton, New Jersey).
“I was drawn to Milton Academy because of its commitment to respect, diversity, creativity and challenging academics—important and continuing School traditions,” Mark says. Mark earned a master’s in educational administration, with a concentration in private school leadership, from Columbia University’s Teacher College and attended the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In a 10-year career, Mark has won five awards for excellence in teaching and coaching. He was also awarded the Rose Fellowship and Klingenstein Fellowship at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is also apparently a believer in lifelong learning: “My three biggest accomplishments over the last few years,” Mark said, “were running a marathon, learning elementary Spanish, and standing up on a surfboard.”
51 Milton Magazine