Jeff Lippman

Head of School

Jeff Lippman is an experienced educator with a commitment to student-centered education. He began his three-decade career as a high school social studies teacher; since then, he has taken leadership roles at schools in the United States, France, Spain and Brazil. Jeff was most recently head of middle school at the American School of Paris. Prior to that, he served as head of middle school at São Paulo's Graded School and high school principal at the American School of Valencia in Spain.

A native of Carmel, California, Jeff earned his B.A. and M.A. from Duke University. He also earned a degree in Educational Leadership through the Teachers College at Columbia University. Jeff and his wife Adriana, also an educator, have two children. With roots in the San Jose area, they are excited to relocate to California. He is an avid reader and enjoys travel and playing tennis and basketball in his free time.

Matt Linden

Head of Early Learning Center

Matt Linden has worked in early childhood education in the Bay Area for more than 20 years. Upon completing his foundational training at Stanford's Bing Nursery School, Matt worked as a teacher at Bing and One Fifty Parker Avenue School in San Francisco, where he took on his first full-time administrative role. Matt was most recently executive director at The Little School in San Francisco, where he furthered the school's commitment to fostering an open, inclusive and diverse environment, putting relationships at the center of social-emotional learning.

Matt earned his B.A. from Stanford and his M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in San Carlos with his wife, Amanda and their two children. Matt enjoys running, hiking, yoga and playing ukulele.

Sarina Fierro

Head of Lower Division

Previously head of the lower school at Curtis School in Los Angeles, Sarina Fierro brings 23 years of education experience to Avenues Silicon Valley. She began her career as a kindergarten teacher in New York. In 2001, she took a position at PS 41, one of the city’s distinguished elementary schools, where her classroom served as the lab site for developing the Lucy Calkins Writers’ Workshop curriculum with Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Sarina holds a B.A. from Syracuse University and an M.A. in elementary education from the School of Education at Manhattanville College. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D in educational leadership at the University of Southern California.

Robyn Chapel

Head of Upper Division

Robyn Chapel is a global educator passionate about developing agency and empathy in her students. Robyn began her 25-year-long career as a social studies teacher in the Bay Area before moving into leadership roles at schools in the United Kingdom, Spain and Mexico. Prior to joining Avenues, Robyn served as the director of teaching and learning at the American School in London. She has also served in upper school head roles at the American School of Valencia and the American School Foundation in Mexico City.

Robyn earned her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her M.A. from Stanford. A California native, Robyn is excited to return to the Bay Area to join the founding leadership team of Avenues Silicon Valley.

Amrit Chima

Director of Operations

Amrit Chima joins the Avenues Silicon Valley team after serving as Dean of Operations with Summit Public Schools, a leading charter network with schools in California and Washington. Prior to her time at Summit, Amrit was part of the founding Upper School faculty team at the Nueva School. In her role as Director of Athletics, she grew the program from 5 teams to 19 teams in its first four years. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in public and independent schools, from PK-12 to the university level, as a teacher, coach, mentor, and administrator.

Amrit earned her B.A. at Stanford University, where she was a member of the women's field hockey team. She has an M.S. from Miami University (OH). Outside of work, Amrit dabbles in woodworking, enjoys staying active, and considers herself an aspiring vegetable gardener.

Amy Helbig

Director of People and Culture

Amy joins the Silicon Valley team from Avenues’ headquarters, where she served for two years as Avenues’ first global people operations manager. In that role, she helped build a system to provide robust support for faculty and staff across Avenues’ campuses. Amy began her career as a middle school math teacher in New York City Public Schools. Subsequently, she spent six years at Achievement First, a high-performing public charter school network, first recruiting teachers as the organization grew from 20 schools to more than 30, then driving organizational growth by developing people and communications processes across the network.

Amy earned her B.A. at Bowdoin College and her M.S. from Fordham University. In her free time, Amy is an avid reader, podcast-listener and long-distance runner.

Tamar Adegbile

Director of Student Wellbeing

Tamar Adegbile brings nearly two decades of college counseling experience to Avenues Silicon Valley. Prior to joining Avenues, Tamar served as the director of college counseling at the Cate School in Santa Barbara, CA. Previously, she worked for 12 years as an upper school dean at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. A native of New York, Tamar also served on the college counseling team at Riverdale Country School. She began her career in college admissions, with positions at Columbia and her alma mater Vassar College.

Tamar and her husband Dipo have two sons. She loves music, travel, hiking, barre and boot camp classes and spicy food. Tamar is a die-hard New York Knicks fan but will have no problem rooting for the Golden State Warriors.

David Buckwald

Global Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management

Dave joined Avenues in 2018, bringing 15 years of experience in highly selective college admissions. Most recently, Dave served as one of the directors in the undergraduate admission office at Columbia University, overseeing international admissions and strategic initiatives. In his more than 10 years at Columbia, he also led engineering recruitment, revived a joint undergrad program between Columbia and The Julliard School, and traveled extensively for the university, often as a keynote speaker and panelist at top high schools across the nation and world. Previously, Dave was the director of admissions at Bates College, where he helped to bring in one of the most selective and diverse incoming classes in the college’s history. He began his admissions career at his alma mater, Fordham University in Bronx, NY. Dave also has a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.