PAVE Academy’s School Leadership Team passionately adheres to the belief that all children can achieve academic success and be held to high expectations-- irrespective of their socio-economic background. Each member of our Leadership Team has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to urban education.

PAVE Academy’s Board of Trustees has extensive experience working in the education, for-profit, and non-profit sectors. 

Spencer Robertson

Spencer Robertson, Founder and Executive Director, is responsible for overall management of PAVE Academy. Before launching PAVE Academy, Mr. Robertson worked at North Star Academy Charter School of Newark. Mr. Robertson completed the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, which provided him one year to study the highest performing public schools in America. Mr. Robertson holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, with a focus on the non-profit sector. His education career includes three years as a seventh and eighth graders language arts and Spanish teacher and co-founder of the school’s running club. He then served as a program officer at the Tiger Foundation, supporting after-school programs and early child development initiatives throughout New York City. He graduated from Duke University in 1998. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons. 

Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at PAVE Academy.  As a firm believer that top-quality early education provides a road to life-long success, Mr. Burke is committed to ensuring that urban students are provided a rigourous education.  After graduating from Boston College, Mr. Burke recognized that the best way for him to make a lasting impact was to teach our nation's youth.  He worked in the New York City public schools system as a New York City Teaching Fellow before becoming a Lead Teacher at Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant.  He proved that quality teaching yields high results as 100% of his students passed the New York State math assessment and 93% passed the reading assessment.  Mr. Burke was selected to be a Fulbright Scholar, and joined the faculty at the University Catolica of Valparaiso, to train current and future educational leaders in pedagogy, curriculum development and effective classroom management.  Mr. Burke holds a masters degree in Elementary Education from CUNY Lehman College and published his thesis, "Learning Through Literacy Circles" in Education International (2004).

Cooper Westendarp

Cooper Westendarp, PAVE Academy’s Director of Finance and Operations, graduated from Wake Forest University in 2001 where he studied English and financial accounting. After a post-graduate expedition through Australia and New Zealand, Cooper worked as an Associate in BB&T Bank’s Management Development Program in which he helped originate and manage commercial real estate mortgages.  Seeking more, Cooper transitioned to education in 2003 through the Johns Hopkins M.A.T. program which allowed him to teach in Baltimore Public Schools, a springboard to his most recent position as a 6-10 English teacher at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida.  There, Cooper helped build a new high school by coaching tennis, basketball, and golf, advising the yearbook staff, partnering the school with Outward Bound, introducing a global service project, contributing to the school’s strategic plan, and helping mold the English curriculum.  In 2007, Cooper joined the Klingenstein Center’s Education Leadership program at Teachers College, Columbia University where he participated in a study of New York State’s highest performing charter schools, conducted research on corporate philanthropy in education, initiated a Habitat For Humanity volunteer trip to New Orleans, and helped raise awareness for the need of school choice information in the Harlem community. Cooper has volunteered and recruited for the non-profit Volunteer Kenya and most recently acted as an Executive Board member of Columbia University’s Partnership for International Development (CUPID).  Cooper is in the process of transferring his Maryland teaching certification to New York State and applying for his New York State School Building Leader principal certification.