Robin Nelson for Darien's Board of Education
Meet Robin:
Robin is currently a member of the Darien Board of Education and is running for re-election this November. She serves on the Curriculum, Finance, and Communications committees. Robin’s leadership experience as Co-Chair and Budget Co-Chair of the Darien Council of School Parents, community board experience, and 17-year career in strategy and finance, allow her to add value and perspective to the Board of Education in prioritizing the best possible outcome for our students, while balancing good financial stewardship of Darien taxpayers’ money. She believes in academic excellence for all students and the importance of sports and the arts as part of the whole student education. To help realize these goals, she is focused on ensuring thoughtful and effective strategic planning and reporting and on measuring results to ensure that the district continues to adapt to best meet the needs of all Darien students.
​
What Robin brings to the Board of Education:
Robin grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and received her BA in History & Economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Robin began her career in investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons, after which she was recruited as Director of Strategic Planning for a fast-food restaurant company in Ohio. After graduating from HBS, she joined Oxford Health Plans as Director-Strategy & Finance, and then served as COO/CFO of Endeavor Global, a non-profit focused on promoting entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Robin returned to the private sector to join Gerson Lehrman Group as Vice President – Strategy & Finance where she worked for 5 years. She left GLG to raise her 3 young children when her family moved to Darien.
Robin was actively involved for 12 years in leadership roles on the Council of Darien School Parents, including CDSP Co-Chair from 2013-2014, CDSP Budget Co-Chair, Budget Representative for Tokeneke, Middlesex, and Darien High School, and as Secretary of the DHS Parent Association Executive Board. Robin serves on the Darien Foundation Advisory Board and was a Board member for 9 years, where she helped implement the $213,000 DPS Robotics program grant, enabling Darien’s K-12 students to get hands-on experience with real-world STEM applications.
Robin and her husband John moved to Darien in 2010. They have 3 children who have attended Tokeneke, Middlesex, and DHS: Annika (age 18) graduated from DHS and is a freshman at Dartmouth; Peter (age 17); and Trevor (age 15). Robin believes that her children’s experience over the past 14 years attending Darien schools has given her significant perspective on student needs at all grade levels.
FUN FACTS:
Robin rowed in college and was a coach for the Ohio State women’s rowing team. She studied classical piano, played violin in orchestra, and sang in a choral society in New York and a women’s a cappella group at HBS.
