THE BLOOM TEAM

Neil is relentless in identifying paths for educational organizations to best serve their students, regardless of the historical barriers or disadvantages placed upon students and their communities.

Neil began his K-12 educational journey nearly 20 years ago as a Teach For America corps member with the School District of Philadelphia. As a 7th and 8th grade mathematics teacher, spanning five years with the School District of Philadelphia, Mastery Charter, and KIPP Philadelphia, Neil observed the extraordinary learning needs many students faced by the time they reached middle school. He also witnessed the incredible grit students and families brought to learning every day. Combining his students’ determination with his high expectations and lots of joy, Neil empowered his students to grow.

While teaching, Neil found that a lack of organizational systems in schools often reduced the capacity of teachers and leaders to focus on student learning. With the goal of augmenting the capacity of teachers and leaders, Neil dove into school operations with KIPP Philadelphia Charter School in 2009 and has not looked back. In the ensuing years, his daily focus has been on identifying ways to reduce organizational stress on teachers and leaders through more effective and efficient operations.

In 2016, Neil had the opportunity to develop school-based operations-manager roles with the Camden City School District so that school leaders could focus on their most important work—teacher development and student growth. While coaching a team of 16 school-operations professionals he emphasized the mantra: Operational excellence leads to academic achievement through effective team management and systems that support student learning outcomes.

During his time in Camden, Neil participated in The Broad Residency in Urban Education, earning a master’s degree in K-12 leadership while building his applied leadership skills and top-to-bottom understanding of managing public schools—traditional and charter—and their complex teams. His experience, project management skills, and ability to navigate across teams enabled him to manage Camden’s city-wide transportation needs and lead the district’s pandemic response.

Neil’s experience in the traditional public and charter school environments in teaching, supporting school-based operations, and managing across network, school, and collective-bargaining groups makes him uniquely prepared to support K-12 and school-adjacent organizations in pursuit of academic excellence.

When Neil is not spending time on school operations, he is likely reading books, playing cards, or making delicious meals with his wife and amazing teacher, Megan, savoring every moment as a “Girl-Dad” with his two incredible daughters, or riding around Philadelphia on one of his bicycles, including his favorite 1960’s red-and-white tandem.