BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR FEBRUARY 12-18, 2021 37
Cathedral High School, an
all-girls Catholic College Preparatory
school in the heart
of Manhattan, is delighted to
announce a Principal’s Council
composed of an esteemed
group of individuals committed
to the school. Serving as
ambassadors and strategic
advisors to Principal Maria
Spagnuolo, these dedicated
alumnae and supporters are
helping to further the school’s
mission and enhance its visibility.
Through the guidance
of the Principal’s Council, they
will seek to expand Cathedral
High School’s network and develop
new relationships and
collaborations.
Spagnuolo said, “The importance
of a Catholic School
education is needed now more
than ever. The Principal’s
Council will help us navigate
through these unprecedented
times to ensure we achieve
success with hybrid learning
while helping our students to
become productive members
of society with religious and
moral integrity in the pursuit
of social justice. These impressive
men and women have
achieved success in their careers,
and I am confi dent that
they will serve Cathedral with
the same enthusiasm and passion.
I look forward to working
with them in the months and
years ahead.”
Cathedral High School’s
Principal’s Council is composed
of this esteemed group of
individuals:
Lynda Baquero ‘83
Emmy-award winning
Lynda Baquero is NBC 4 New
York’s consumer reporter. Lynda’s
“Better Get Baquero” segments
resolve consumer complaints
and provide updates on
the latest consumer alerts. She
is also host of the long-running
series “Visiones” which highlights
issues that affect the
Hispanic community. Baquero
has been with NBC 4 in a variety
of high-profi le positions
and has fi led reports both at
home and abroad. The recipient
of a 1998 local Emmy Award
for “Religious Programming”
for her coverage of the Pope’s
visit to Cuba, Baquero also
received a 2006 Emmy award
for “Best Evening Newscast”
with Chuck Scarborough. She
was named one of El Diario La
Prensa’s “Mujeres Destacadas”
(Outstanding Women) and received
the Consulate General
of Israel’s “Woman of Valor”
award. Lynda was honored
by New York University College
of Arts and Sciences with
their “Alumni Achievement”
award and received the “Excellence
in English Language Media”
award from the Hispanic
Organization of Latin Actors.
Dedicated to helping young
people achieve their potential,
Baquero is on the Board of Directors
of Let’s Get Ready, a
non-profi t organization that
serves the educational needs of
NYC students and the Byram
Hills Education Foundation
which supports students in
Westchester County. Baquero
is a graduate of New York University
and holds a Bachelor of
Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism.
Ursula M. Burns ‘76
Ursula Burns is a Senior
Advisor of Teneo Ltd., Retired
Chairman and CEO of VEON
Ltd., and a Retired Chairman
and CEO of Xerox, where she
became the fi rst African American
to head a Fortune 500
company. A strong advocate
for gender and racial diversity,
Ursula continually breaks
down barriers for generations
of women leaders. She is a
board director of Exxon Mobil,
Nestlé, and Uber and regularly
appears on the Fortune and
Forbes lists of the world’s most
powerful women. President
Barack Obama appointed her
to help lead the White House
national STEM program from
2009- 2016 and she served as
Chair of the President’s Export
Council from 2015-2016 after
having served as Vice Chair
from 2010-2015. She provides
leadership counsel to several
community, educational and
non-profi t organizations including
the Ford Foundation,
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) Corporation,
Cornell Tech Board of
Overseers, the New York City
Ballet, and the Mayo Clinic. A
member of the National Academy
of Engineering, The Royal
Academy of Engineering and
the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, Ursula holds a
master’s degree in mechanical
engineering from Columbia
University and a bachelor’s in
mechanical engineering from
Polytechnic Institute of New
York University. She is inspirational
as a role model to Cathedral
students. Ursula cites her
mother’s focus on education as
laying the foundation for her
success and her extraordinary
rise in the business world.
She was the honoree at Cathedral’s
110th Anniversary Gala
in 2016 and is a generous supporter
of student scholarships.
We are honored that the Ursula
M. Burns MakerSpace, on our
3rd fl oor, is host to Cathedral’s
innovative STEM program.
Thomas W. Crawford
Thomas W. Crawford was a
Partner at KPMG in NYC from
1981 to 2009. During that time,
he served as the Area Managing
Partner for Tax for NYC
and the Northeast as well as
other leadership positions.
Tom had various client responsibilities
as lead tax partner
and global tax partner on several
major international clients
of the Firm. After retiring
from KPMG, he was the
CFO and head of tax at Berggruen
Holdings, a family offi
ce in NYC with various direct
holdings in the US and globally
for 5 years. In 2015 Tom and
his wife, Diana, moved to the
San Francisco Bay Area to be
near his 3 daughters and their
families. Since 2016 Tom has
been the VP of Tax at Hillspire
LLC, a family offi ce in the Bay
Area. Tom is a CPA in California
and previously in NY and
has an MBA with distinction
in Taxation from Pace University
and has a B.S. in Accounting
and Economics from Iowa
State University. Tom was the
Treasurer and a member of
the board at Cathedral High
School from 2008 to 2015. Over
the years, he and his daughters,
who were working in NYC
at the time, sponsored Women
in Business seminars and personal
health activities for the
Cathedral students.
Sr. Margaret T. Egan ’56
Sister Margaret Egan, SC,
Ed.D. is a member of the leadership
governance of the Sisters
of Charity of St. Vincent
de Paul of New York. Prior to
that, she served as elementary/
middle school teacher,
then as Professor of Teacher
Education and Vice-President
for Student Development at
the College of Mount St. Vincent.
During her time as Chair
of Teacher Education she developed
the Master’s Program
in Education and enrolled the
department in the National
Honor Society in Education.
She was President of the New
York State Colleges for Teacher
Education and received the
Teacher of the Year Award
from the New York State Association
of Teacher Educators.
After serving on the Cathedral
High School Board of
Trustees for 10 years, Sr. Margaret
presently serves on the
Board of the Sisters of Charity
and St. Joseph Hospital, Yonkers.
More importantly, Sr.
Margaret is an alumna of Cathedral
High School.
Maria-Cecilia Salazar ’87
Maria Cecilia Salazar, ’87
CHS alum, has over thirty
years of experience in the fi -
nancial services industry. Her
career in fi nance started out
thanks to a Junior Achievement
program during senior
year at Cathedral High School
which led to an internship
at the IBM Metro Employees
Federal Credit Union, where
she remained a part-time employee
for several years while
continuing her education. In
the following years, she completed
an associate’s degree
from The Wood School and a
Bachelor of Science in applied
mathematics from the City
College of New York. Despite
her interest in math, science
and English at Cathedral and
several changes of majors, the
time at IBM Metro made her
realize she wanted to remain
in the fi nancial services industry,
working with people
instead of numbers and building
client relationships. Upon
graduation from CCNY, she
began her career at The Bank
of New York and also attended
The Lubin School of Business
at Pace University where she
received an MBA in Financial
Economics. Since then,
she has worked at Standard
& Poor’s as an index market
analyst and during the last
seventeen years has been at
J.P. Morgan, where she is currently
the head of relationship
management for Latin American
corporate clients for a division
called American Depositary
Receipts.
Glenn Shannon
Glenn Shannon is a vice
chairman of Shorenstein
Properties LLC, a privatelyowned
company headquartered
in San Francisco that
owns offi ce buildings and multifamily
properties located
in major U.S. metropolitan
areas. Glenn is a member of
the Urban Land Institute and
Lambda Alpha International,
a member of The Real Estate
Roundtable, and cochairs The
Real Estate Roundtable Political
Action Committee (REALPAC).
He serves on the Real
Assets Advisory Committee
for the Williams College Investment
Offi ce, the Advisory
Board for Kinship Capital
and for Carmel Partners,
on the investment committee
for Wind River Trust Company,
and as an independent
non-executive director for
The Addax and Oryx Group
LLC. Glenn is the chair of
the Ambassador Council
of Aim High, a tuition-free
summer school program for
middle school students in
underserved Bay Area communities,
and the vice chair
of the National Eating Disorders
Association (NEDA), an
organization that advocates
for and supports individuals
and families affected by eating
disorders. He graduated
from Williams College with a
B.A., and from University of
Michigan Law School with a
J.D. A long-time contributor
to Cathedral and sponsor of
student scholarships, Glenn
is one of 5 children of Edna
Marie Rasmussen Shannon
’44, whose classmates named
her “the golden lass of our
class”. Glenn and his family
support Cathedral as a way
to honor Edna, who passed
away in 2015 and fi rmly believed
that her time at Cathedral
changed the trajectory of
her life.
Debra De Jesus-Vizzi,
MSW, LCSW ’81
Debra has dedicated her
life and work to helping those
in need. A thought leader and
changemaker for child welfare,
education, and poverty,
her passion and drive come
from her personal experience
as a foster child in New York
City and the capable adults
who changed the trajectory of
her life in much the same way
she aims to support vulnerable
youth today. She has come full
circle and is now Executive
Director of Student Sponsor
Partners, an organization that
impacted her by providing the
opportunity to attend Cathedral
High School and have a
supportive mentor. Prior to
joining Student Sponsor Partners,
she served as President
and CEO of the Community
FoodBank of New Jersey, the
largest anti-hunger and antipoverty
organization in the
state. Debra received the 2015
New Jersey Humanitarian
Award from CASA of Monmouth
County and a Distinguished
Alumnus Award from
the State University College at
Buffalo, and she was a fi nalist
for the 2015 Smart CEO: Deals
of Distinction Award. She
is a Licensed Clinical Social
Worker and received her Master
of Social Work from Rutgers
University and her bachelor’s
degree from the State University
College at Buffalo. She is
completing her doctoral studies
in Social Work at the University
of Southern California.
Debra was the commencement
speaker at the Class of 2020
graduation at St. Patrick’s
Church this summer.
Cathedral High School