President’s Leadership Team

Dr. Renée T. White became provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs of The New School on August 1, 2021. With more than 25 years of experience working in higher education, Dr. White joined The New School from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, where she served as provost and a professor of sociology since 2016. She previously served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons University from 2011 to 2016. Before working at Simmons, Dr. White served in faculty roles, including professor of sociology and Black studies and academic coordinator for Diversity and Global Citizenship at Fairfield University and a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Research Center at Purdue University.

Dr. White is the editor of three books, including the acclaimed Spoils of War: Women of Color, Cultures, and Revolutions, and is the author of Putting Risk in Perspective: Black Teenage Lives in the Era of AIDS. She has served as editor of the Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children and Youth and as editorial advisor to the Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services. Dr. White also was a Wye Faculty Fellow at the Aspen Institute and completed a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in Black film studies. Her current research is in the areas of the impact of public discourse on social policy concerning reproductive rights, representations of Blackness in popular culture, and applications of Black feminist theory to higher education leadership.

Dr. White holds an AB with honors from Brown University and an MA and PhD from Yale University, where she was awarded a Mellon Foundation doctoral fellowship. She is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education. She also serves on the Vision 2020 National Leadership Circle and as a member of the Rachel Carson Council (RCC) National Advisory Council. From 2019 to 2021, she served on the Chief Academic Officers Task Force of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

Tokumbo Shobowale joined The New School in 2013. He oversees the management of institutional financial resources and physical infrastructure, working closely with colleagues to strengthen the university’s financial position and operating efficiency in support of its mission. Recent accomplishments include leading the university’s transition to a remote-first, hybrid administrative service model to support better work-life balance for staff and help make The New School a preeminent leader in access, equity, inclusion, and social justice in higher education. This vital work was supported by implementation of a Cloud-based enterprise resource planning system and a staff needs assessment to provide insight into workload, productivity, and the impact of remote work on personal life. It led to the creation of new co-working administrative hubs to facilitate collaboration and in-person gathering. Working with the provost, Tokumbo also launched a new multi-year budget process to increase alignment of resources with strategic priorities in the context of financial constraints and opportunities. Early in his New School tenure, he facilitated a collaborative process to develop a university climate action plan and divest the endowment of fossil fuel holdings. Tokumbo was previously the director of infrastructure and the built environment for New York City’s Initiative on Rebuilding and Resiliency, a response to Hurricane Sandy. He also served as chief of staff to the deputy mayor for Economic Development, overseeing more than a dozen agencies, and as chief operating officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In both roles, he facilitated the city’s economic diversification beyond financial services. Before his public service, Tokumbo was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company and for the United Nations.

Tokumbo holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MA from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and an AB from Stanford University.

Anne Adriance joined The New School in October 2013, charged with elevating the university's public profile. Today, in addition to leading all marketing and communication university-wide, she oversees new ventures including executive and online education, corporate partnerships, and licensing. To enhance university recognition and understanding, she launched a celebrated new brand identity system, with a distinctive algorithm-based font, that graphically integrates the university and its’ colleges. Named the American Marketing Association’s Marketer of the Year, she led our team to create a comprehensive and integrated marketing campaign recognized as groundbreaking in higher education and to establish enterprises that have expanded The New School’s ability to bring its differentiated academic offering to new audiences, including executives, online learners, and partners in a wide range of organizations. Throughout her tenure, Anne’s focus has been on advancing the story of The New School’s distinctive vision, forward-looking educational approach, and remarkable contributions to the world. 

She brings to her job more than 25 years of experience in marketing communication and strategic brand design in commercial, nonprofit, government, and media settings, for companies and organizations such as General Mills, CNN, Cartoon Network, BusinessWeek, Kodak, Procter & Gamble, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Of special note is her work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to launch the nation's largest and most successful public health media campaign and the first national effort to prevent childhood obesity. Anne has held senior executive positions at the Burns Group, a brand consultancy and innovation agency she co-founded; Saatchi & Saatchi, as executive vice president, leading the largest account in the company's New York office; Time Warner, as the senior vice president for Turner Broadcasting's licensing and merchandising and global brand management; and Guideposts, as senior vice president for consumer marketing at the country's largest publisher of inspirational publications and digital content. Anne has a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Monica Barrett serves The New School as Interim Senior Vice President and General Counsel while maintaining her higher education practice at Bond Schoeneck & King Attorneys. In her practice, she provides counsel to colleges and universities, public school districts and independent schools in all aspects of education law, including student affairs, faculty tenure and promotion, governance issues, athletics and academic affairs. Monica previously served in a number of senior higher education roles, including Interim General Counsel at Rutgers, Executive Deputy General Counsel at the State University of New York, Associate General Counsel at Cornell University, and Assistant General Counsel at Barnard College. Monica is a frequent presenter at National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) national conferences and has been widely published on a variety of higher education topics.

As senior vice president for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice, Melanie Hart focuses on elevating the strategies, values, and practices of equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice at The New School. Melanie brings to this work a strong connection to the university and deep experience in social justice-based institutional management and change. Melanie is an alum of the university’s MA program in Public and Urban Policy at the Milano School, where she is presently completing her PhD. She received her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and practiced law as a corporate and securities attorney before returning to public service in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and with city agencies. Most recently, she served as the deputy commissioner for Workforce Development at the New York City Department of Small Business Services. Before that, she was the executive vice president of Community Programs and Development at the New York City Housing Authority. 

Dr. Jennifer E. Hobbs joined The New School in April 2020 as senior vice president for Administration and chief of staff. In these roles, she works in collaboration with institutional leaders, colleagues across the university, and constituents to plan, coordinate, and advance the university’s vision and academic mission. She has been in higher education administration for more than ten years, working to remove impediments to institutional advancement and to develop efficient, data-driven, humanistic approaches to institutional decision making, processes, and policies. Before coming to The New School, she served as chief of staff and vice provost in the Office of the Provost at Emory University. She earned her BS in Biology at Loyola University Chicago and her PhD at Northwestern University through the Driskill Graduate Program in the Life Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Jonah Nigh joined The New School in September 2021 as senior vice president of Development and Alumni Engagement. In this role, Jonah leads The New School’s strategic fundraising, institutional advancement, alumni engagement, corporate and foundation relations, and related areas. An accomplished fundraising leader with 16 years of experience, Jonah comes to The New School from the Jewish Museum, where he served as the director of Major Gifts, senior director of Individual Giving, and acting deputy director of Development before being appointed chief development officer in February 2020. In that role, he oversaw the planning, management, strategy, and execution of the museum’s fundraising efforts during a time of unprecedented challenges. Jonah was previously the major gifts officer for Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was the assistant director of Development for Opera America. Prior development roles include positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Jonah has served as a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and serves regularly as a guest speaker on the topic of fundraising on podcasts, in university arts administration programs, and in other outlets related to development. A classically trained singer, he earned his undergraduate degree at Lawrence University and a Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory. His performance credits include roles at the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Dorian Opera Theatre, and Opera Boston and in national commercials and films. Jonah is a longtime New York City resident and serves on the Executive and Economic Development committees of Bronx Community Board Four.