Denise Brown-Allen Named Associate Head of School

Dr. Denise M. Brown-Allen will join National Cathedral School in July and assume the joint roles of associate head of school and head of the Upper School, Head of School Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson announced May 10. Dr. Brown-Allen will succeed Dr. Sarah Pelmas, who will become the head of the Winsor School in Boston in July.

Dr. Brown-Allen currently serves the Pingry School, an independent school in Martinsville, N.J., as director of the Upper School. For the past nine years, she has led a team of 90 faculty members, including eight department chairs, who teach 558 students in grades 9-12. Her accomplishments at Pingry include developing student and parent education programs, creating leadership opportunities for faculty, and helping move the school in 2013 from a five-day schedule to a seven-day schedule that allows more time for each class. She also serves the school as an academic adviser and an AP Statistics teacher.

"All who met Denise in the search process were energized by her presence and appreciated the values she expressed during two visits to campus. We were agreed that we had the right candidate for this important role at NCS," Mrs. Jamieson said. 

Dr. Brown-Allen joined Pingry in 2008 from the Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, N.J., where she had spent 15 years. Her roles there included assistant head of the Upper School, Math Department chair, and dean of students.

Dr. Brown-Allen holds a doctorate in educational administration and supervision from Seton Hall University, a master's degree in business administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Seton Hall. She also has professional experience at New Jersey Bell and Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems. She attended Marylawn of the Oranges, an all-girls Catholic school in South Orange, N.J.

As associate head of school, Dr. Brown-Allen will provide strategic vision and leadership for NCS's curricula and programs for all grades. As Upper School head, she will have day-to-day responsibility of the largest of NCS's three divisions, with 315 students.

"NCS seemed the perfect place for the next chapter of my career," Dr. Brown-Allen said. "I attended an all-girls high school, so I am returning to my roots in a way. When I visited, I found the leadership team to be warm, welcoming, and smart. The faculty asked great questions and had a great sense of humor. The students were poised, and their love of the school and each other was quite apparent. I am a Jersey girl, but I am very excited about living in D.C."

Dr. Brown-Allen has been married to Douglas Allen, who is a senior tax advisor with IBM, for 27 years. They have two sons: Dorian, a rising senior at Dartmouth College, and Daniel, a grants management specialist with the EPA in Washington, D.C. Dr. Brown-Allen enjoys reading, visiting museums, and spending time with friends and family.

In making the announcement, Mrs. Jamieson expressed her thanks to "the many faculty, staff, students, and parents who participated in a comprehensive, national search, which provided a wonderful opportunity for us all to evaluate what National Cathedral School needs today."