National Heritage Academies Adds to Executive Team

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- National Heritage Academies, a leading public charter school organization, announced today that Robert J. Bellafiore has been named Vice President of Partner Services and Strategic Initiatives.

For more than a decade, Mr. Bellafiore has been a leader in charter school efforts nationally and in New York. While a senior aide to then-New York Gov. George Pataki, Mr. Bellafiore played a key role in the adoption and implementation of New York's charter school law.  Later, as President of the State University of New York's Charter Schools Institute (CSI), which was created by the State University of New York Board of Trustees to implement their new role as a charter school authorizer, he put in place top personnel and accountability systems that gained CSI a national reputation for quality and effective charter school authorizing.  Mr. Bellafiore was also a founding board member of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

Since leaving New York State government in 2003, Mr. Bellafiore has served numerous charter schools and charter school organizations as a Senior Partner at Eric Mower and Associates, a strategic communications and marketing firm. In 2007, then Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed Mr. Bellafiore to the NYS Leadership Team for High Quality Charter Schools.

Most recently, Mr. Bellafiore concluded a five-year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, the nation's largest comprehensive public university system.  He will join NHA on September 20.

"We are proud that Bob has joined National Heritage Academies in a role that will strengthen our ability to create and manage great public charter schools in partnership with local boards," said National Heritage Academies President & CEO Jeff Clark.  "Bob brings a strong reputation as someone who works to create quality charter schools and is a great addition to an already strong NHA team."

Mr. Bellafiore will be responsible for managing relationships with boards that partner with NHA and have organization-wide oversight of new school development and charter renewal.  He will have the additional responsibility of overseeing external communications and reputation management among boards, authorizers and policymakers.

"Public charter schools have a tremendous capacity to improve the lives of children in the most important way – by providing them with an education that prepares them for the future," Mr. Bellafiore said.  "NHA is an organization committed to making this vision work for children and I'm proud to be a part of the effort."

Bob's career includes nearly a decade working as a journalist, covering New York State government and politics for The Associated Press, as well as service as Gov. Pataki's first press secretary and later deputy chief of staff for policy and planning. He has also served as a volunteer on the National Education Advisory Panel for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.  

About National Heritage Academies:  NHA partners with community groups to build and operate K-8 public charter schools.  For the 2010-11 school year, NHA will partner with 67 schools in eight states serving more than 40,000 students.  NHA schools are designed to eliminate achievement gaps and provide school choice to families and prepare children for success in high school, college and beyond.

For more information, please see www.heritageacademies.com.

SOURCE National Heritage Academies