In July, Baldwin welcomed Rachel Gerstenhaber Stern ’83 as its newest Chair of the Board of Trustees. Rachel currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Baron Capital Management, Inc., an asset management company based in New York City, which she joined in June 2024. She had been a director of the company since 2018. From January 2001 until March 2024, she served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Secretary and Global Head of Strategic Resources of FactSet (NYSE, NASDAQ: FDS), a leading global financial information services company. Early in her career, Rachel was a corporate
associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and clerked for Chancellor William Allen of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

 

Rachel has been a dedicated leader in the Baldwin community over the years and has served in a variety of volunteer roles − reunion planning volunteer, member and chair of the National Board of Advisors, member and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees, Co-Chair of The Future Is Baldwin Campaign Committee and Co-Chair of the Ninth Head of School Search Committee. In 2023, she was awarded Baldwin’s Award for Life Achievement.

 

In her role as co-chair of The Future Is Baldwin Campaign Committee and Ninth Head of School Search Committee, Rachel has provided leadership and strategic direction to further the School’s mission to educate girls who make lasting changes in the world. The Future Is Baldwin Campaign, the most successful campaign in Baldwin’s 135-year history, raised more than $32 million to support faculty, staff and students, ensuring the financial support of generations to come at Baldwin.

 

“At Baldwin, I learned to believe that women were just as good as men, if not better, at most everything,” Rachel explains. “Baldwin helped me find a voice and gave me the confidence to pursue a career in what was then a largely male-dominated sector.  I learned that women must help other women. Mentoring and supporting other women now gives me a true sense of joy and accomplishment.”

 

Some of her favorite Baldwin memories are “learning how to see” in art class with Mrs. Fackenthal and painting watercolors on the fire escape of the Residence when the Art wing used to be on the second floor. Rachel also fondly remembers earning a place on the A-squad lacrosse in 8th grade, the senior sleepover at “The Hut,” learning how to write from Mrs. Hunter in 11th grade and the countless hours with friends in the dining hall, on the swings, at prom parties and waiting at the North Door.

 

Rachel earned a B.A. summa cum laude from Yale University, an M.A. with distinction from the University of London and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Law Review. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna. She is admitted to the bar in New York and Washington, D.C. and as House Counsel in Connecticut, and is FINRA certified Series 7, 14 and 24. Rachel is an independent director of Sodali & Company, a TPG Growth portfolio company. In addition to Baldwin’s Board of Trustees Chair, she is a Director of the UJA-Federation of New York and a Trustee of The Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.

 

Rachel has three daughters and lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and their dog. She is an avid runner, ultramarathoner and novice triathlete.