Steven J. Fredericks

Steven J. Fredericks is Executive Director of National Thought Leadership at New York Edge, the largest after-school program in the United States. Dr. Fredericks is an educator and international business professional with more than 30 years of management experience and academic achievements in the United States, Europe and China. His professional education career began as an elementary school teacher in the South Bronx, New York. He went on to co-lead the Urban Education program at Indiana University and was named Department Chairman of the History, Principles and Philosophy department of the Graduate Division of the Bank Street College of Education.

IBM recruited Dr. Fredericks for its High Potential program where he began a long and varied career in business, eventually spanning industries ranging from technology to Hollywood film making to internet start-ups to advertising. During that time, he helped found and operate Digital Domain which became the largest digital visual effects studio in the world and received Oscar awards, Grammy awards, and nominations for work on movies including Titanic, music videos, and television commercials. He then proceeded to lead a variety of companies as the Chief Executive Officer and was also an Adjunct Professor of Entertainment Finance at New York University. In 2008, Dr. Fredericks returned, to his roots in the field of education, where he is currently the Executive Director of the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation and the Managing Director of the Excellence Project.

Dr. Fredericks has served on the Board of the Center for Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong, authored a book titled, StrADegy, Advertising in the Digital Age, serves on the National Advisory Board of the School of Education at Indiana University and has consulted with educators and academic researchers at Indiana University, Harvard University, University of Connecticut, and Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Fredericks holds a B.A. in Sociology and Mathematics from Indiana University, an M.A. in Political Science from the New School for Social Research, an Ed.D. in Curriculum Theory and Educational Philosophy from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Stern School of New York University.