MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Board Members

Email

Term Expires

Sarah Fischer (President)

fischers@madisonnjps.org

2024

Kelley Browning (Vice President)

browningk@madisonnjps.org

2024

Stephen Tindall

tindalls@madisonnjps.org

2025

David Duran

durand@madisonnjps.org

2026

Lisa Ellis

ellisli@madisonnjps.org

2026

Eric Fontes

fontese@madisonnjps.org

2026

Carmen Vasto

vastoc@madisonnjps.org

2025

Richard Bruno (Harding Twp.)

brunor@madisonnjps.org

Annual Appointment

SARAH FISCHER

SARAH FISCHER (PRESIDENT)

Sarah has served on the Madison Board of Education since January 2019. She currently serves on the Education and Operations Committees, on the Negotiations team and as the BOE representative to Sustainable Madison.

Sarah moved to Madison in 2011 with her husband and partner Owyn. They have two children, one who attends Kings Road School.

Sarah holds a BA from Hamilton College (NY) and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) from Dartmouth College. Sarah has over 20 years in education as a classroom teacher, administrator and in nonprofit management. She is excited to be working as a member of the Madison Board of Education for a fourth year in addition to her job as the Director of Community Service and CAS and an Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Humanities teacher at Newark Academy in Livingston.

In addition to her work on the Board, Sarah has served the Madison school district as a founding member of the Kings Road School Green Team and the Garden Coordinator. In this capacity she helped integrate the garden into the school community by writing the garden curriculum and running the parent volunteer group that maintained the garden and helped teach lessons. She has headed the May Day and Veterans Day beautification projects at the school. She also served as the PPEC representative to Kings Road and as a room parent. She has volunteered at the school in various capacities.

2019 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Policy

2020 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Operations

2021 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Human Resources

2022 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Operations, Negotiations

2023 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Policy

Term Expires: December 2024

KELLEY BROWNING (VICE PRESIDENT)

BIO COMING SOON!

Board of Ed Committee Membership:

Term Expires:

Contact: browningk@madisonnjps.org

DAVID DURAN

David Duran joined the Madison Board of Education in January 2024. 

He and his wife Jennifer moved to Madison in 2011, shortly before their first child was born. They were attracted to Madison for its walkable streets, sense of community, and of course, its great schools. After a temporary work assignment abroad from 2017-2020, they returned to Madison and quickly reconnected with the community via school events, the Madison Rotary club, and Recreation Track.

Professionally, David holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University and spent the majority of his 20-year career in the Pharma and Consumer Health industries. From early stage research and development, through manufacturing and commercial execution, David has led interdisciplinary teams to find innovative solutions to complex problems. He hopes to apply this same collaborative and problem-solving approach to help move our schools forward and keep them at the top of the class.

In his personal life, David spends his time as a father, husband, triathlete, and generally curious person. He completed his third full distance Ironman triathlon in 2022, loves to cook, plan family adventures, and is still working on perfecting decent latte art.

Term Expires: 2026

Contact: durand@madisonnjps.org

LISA ELLIS

BIO COMING SOON!

Board of Ed Committee Membership:

Term Expires:

Contact: ellisli@madisonnjps.org

ERIC FONTES

Eric Fontes joined the Madison Board of Education in January 2024. He currently serves on the Education and Human Resources committees. 

Eric moved to Madison in 2012 with his wife, Kimberly. They have two children who attend Torey J Sabatini. Eric holds a BA in Mathematics and a BA in Newspaper Journalism from Syracuse University. He holds an MA in Secondary Education from City College of New York and an MA in Educational Leadership from Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

After a brief stint as a journalist, Eric began his teaching career as a math teacher at a public high school in New York City in 2007. He started teaching math at Summit High School in 2012. In 2021 he became math supervisor for the Summit Public School District, overseeing all secondary math classes and teachers. He is excited to bring his educational experience to the Madison Board of Education. 

Eric has a history of volunteering his time coaching youth sports (cross country, baseball, and softball). He is an avid runner who you will often see running through town.

Board of Ed Committee Membership: Education and Human Resources

Term Expires: 2026

Contact: fontese@madisonnjps.org

STEVE TINDALL

Steve Tindall has served as a member of the Madison Board of Education since January 2020. Steve and his wife Jocelyn have lived in Madison since 1992 and in New Jersey since 1987.

Steve earned a BA in Chemistry from Hendrix College and a PhD in Biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine. He began his scientific career as a staff researcher in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before he moved into biotechnology research in the pharmaceutical industry at the Schering-Plough Research Institute and later founded a biotechnology testing laboratory, Argo BioAnalytica.

Steve is now retired. His ongoing interests are Linux-based information technology and both vegetable and flower gardening. Steve is a founding member of The ELRepo Group (elrepo.org) and continues his extensive volunteer work with the group since 2009 to support the interface between the Linux operating system and hardware.

Term Expires: December 2025

Contact: tindalls@madisonnjps.org

CARMEN VASTO

CARMEN VASTO

Carmen Vasto joined the Madison Board of Education in January of 2023.

Carmen is a third-generation resident of Madison. He and his wife, Bridget have two sons, one in the Madison Junior School, and another at Kings Road School. He graduated from Madison High School in 1999 and then attended Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison campus) where he graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Master’s degree in Counseling.

Upon completion of his Master’s degree, Carmen began specializing in helping improve the lives of children and adolescents. He began his career at Catholic Charities where he provided therapy to underserved children and teens, and later supervised various mental health programs. Carmen later transitioned to St. Clare’s hospital to establish numerous crisis-oriented services that provide a level of care to prevent hospitalization. While at St. Clare’s Carmen participated as the lead clinician and research analyst for the National Institute of Mental Health’s RAISE (Recovery After Initial Schizophrenia Episode) study in young adults. He then moved on to Atlantic Health and offered outpatient therapy to children and teens across all 6 of their hospitals.

Carmen has a history of volunteering his time coaching youth basketball in Madison as well as sponsoring a recreational girls softball team in town. Currently, he can be found running his private counseling practice in Green Village, NJ.

2023 Board of Education Committee Membership: Education, Operations

Term Expires: December 2025

Contact: vastoc@madisonnjps.org

RICHARD BRUNO

RICHARD BRUNO (HARDING TWP)

Richard has been a member of the Harding Township Board of Education since January 2017. During his time on the Harding Township Board, he has served on the Finance; Facilities and Technology committees.

He has been Harding’s liaison to ECS and Morris County School Board. In January 2020 he was selected to serve as the Harding BOE’s appointed representative on the Madison Board of Education.

Richard has lived in Harding since 1991 with his wife, Barbara. They have 4 married children and 5 grandchildren.

Richard earned his undergraduate degrees in History and Political Science at Marist College. He is retired after a career at AT&T and 20 years as the Managing Partner of Bruno & Buchanan Group LLC. While at AT&T, Richard was awarded 18 Patents in Network and Video technologies. While on loan to AT&T Bell Labs, he chaired AT&T’s Strategic Global Video Initiative in developing video distance learning.

In addition to his work on the Harding Board, Richard has served the Harding Community in several volunteer capacities, including the Environmental Committee and the Harding Shade Tree Committee. He also coached HTA Soccer and Baseball. Richard is also Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Harding Green Townhouse Association.