The Island School Board of Directors

Alessandra is the past board president of the Lyford Cay Foundation and also past Chairman of the Lyford Cay International School Board of Directors. She was a founding force in the establishment of the FOCUS project, an academic summer enrichment program in Nassau for underserved families. She has four children – and is happily married to Stephen.

Chris founded The Island School in 1999 while serving as a residential house master and teacher in the Interdisciplinary department at Lawrenceville School. After graduating with a BA in history from Yale University, Chris served six years as an officer in the US Navy SEAL community. While at Lawrenceville he received a Joukowsky Fellowship and holds an M.A. degree in Marine Studies from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Stephen is in his third year as Head Master of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey after ten years as Headmaster of University School in Cleveland, OH. He began his career at Deerfield Academy, where he taught, coached, and worked in the administration. He has served on a number of boards, including the Center for the Study of Boys’ and Girls’ Lives, Citizens’ Academy Charter School, and Greenwich Academy. Steve and his wife Sarah have five children, including son James, who attended Island School in the fall of 2011 and returned in 2015 to work at CEI for a spring semester.

Francesca is a post-doctoral associate at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami and has a Ph.D in Marine Biology and Fisheries and an MSc. in Marine Affairs and Policy. She attended The Island School in Fall 1999 and returned to work as a SCUBA instructor in Fall 2001. She served on the Cape Eleuthera Foundation Board from 2004 until she joined the CEIS board in 2012. Francesca lives in Miami with her husband Ian.

Trevor is the Director of Marine Programs at the Moore Charitable Foundation. He is on the boards of Oceans 5 and Shark Conservation Fund, funders’ collaborative dedicated to protecting our oceans and preventing the overexploitation of sharks. Since 2011, Trevor has worked on multiple shark research expeditions with the Island School. He is an avid free diver and amateur underwater photographer.

Dr. Téemar Carey is a board-certified diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Carey earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Louisiana State University in 2007, and then went on to serve as a high school teacher in her home country, The Bahamas, for four years before pursuing her career in dentistry. Some of her academic interests are interprofessional education and game-based learning in medical/dental education, while her clinical interests include contemporary operative caries management and expanding care to vulnerable child populations. Dr. Carey is a graduate of The Island School Semester in Spring 2002 and is currently a Pediatric Dentist in Nassau, The Bahamas. She has a diverse array of experiences that revolve around two themes, education and child welfare. She has served in both childhood and adult education, at the junior high school, senior high school, graduate, and post-doctoral medical and dental education levels, for over a decade. While her clinical specialty is pediatric dentistry, she advocates to ensure the well-being of the whole child.

Mr. Fields served as Senior Vice President of Retail Services and Public Affairs for Atlantis from 1998-2020 and continues to serve as General Manager of Ocean Club Residences and Marina. He is the Principal of EF consulting with clients such as Atlantis, Lyford Cay Club and Global Ports Holdings. A well-known radio host with a diverse background, he serves as Director of the Bahamas Airport Authority, Catholic Board of Education and Downtown Nassau Partnership. Mr. Fields is the Founder and Chairman of the non-partisan, non-profit organization ‘We the People’. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from St. John’s University in Minnesota and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Georgia.

Stephen and his wife Alessandra have four kids and three dogs and live in Nassau, The Bahamas. His family has roots in Eleuthera, stretching back to the early 1700′s. Stephen is a graduate of Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, RI, and from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. His career stops include teaching English in Japan, Television Tokyo’s Washington, DC bureau, and Goldman Sachs, in New York and London. Stephen is currently a partner at a Nassau-based hedge fund. He and his sister co-founded the Ride for Hope Bahamas, a cancer-related charity in The Bahamas.

Jerome Lightbourne is a Pediatric Cardiologist who returned home to The Bahamas in 1995 and serves as the country’s only Board Certified Pediatric Cardiologist with responsibility for public and private patients. He is a consultant physician of the Public Hospitals Authority and Doctors Hospital where he is department chair of pediatrics. He is trustee of the Sir Victor Sassoon (Bahamas) Heart Foundation and a past president of the Bahamas Heart Association. He sits on the board of the Nazareth Centre for Children. He is the founding and current chairman of the Bahamas Antidoping Commission. He is founder and managing director of the Children’s Heart Centre (1995) and Pediatrics Specialists of the Bahamas (2000), with a satellite office in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera. He is married to Natasha nee Chea and they have 3 daughters: Teisha, Alicia and Adrienne, all avid competitive swimmers who have represented The Bahamas at many international swimming competitions including the World Championships.

Charles ‘Chuck’ Murphy was on the Lawrenceville Board of Trustees in 1998 when the then headmaster Michael Cary and CFO Bill Bardel proposed a field trip and loan to start The Island School. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but little did he know it would pull him back to take a leadership spot in 15 years later. A physician in the Bay Area, Chuck is a long time visitor to the Bahamas.

Ben Snyder is formerly the head of the upper school, now director of experiential and international programs at the Noble and Greenough School, which has sent more students to The Island School than any other school since 2000 with Ben’s direct support and leadership. His daughter Abby attended the Island School in Spring 2006. He helped launch both a software technology start-up and a new college in California before ending up in Massachusetts, and brings his perspective and expertise at dealing with clients in the high- expectations environment of a selective school. His love for breaking students out into the world as part of their high school experience is evident in the increasing commitment he has fostered on the part of Nobles to international learning. He has personally led student trips to many places; Vietnam and South Africa among them.

David and his wife Beverly have sent daughter Renee (S03) and son Travis (S05) to The Island School Semester program. Dave is a doctor of ophthalmology in private practice in Grand Rapids, MI. He is a member of several medical associations and serves in an advisory capacity to many community-based organizations including the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation, Macatawa Park Cottagers Association, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum.