Hanifa L. Barnes, Esq., MBA serves as the Assistant Head of School for Strategy and Operations at the Riverdale Country School in Bronx, NY. Hanifa’s role spans a vast operational capacity where she is charged with leading and building procedural infrastructure and efficiency in key areas, including Finance, Human Resources, Technology, Facilities, and Risk Management. Prior to this role, Hanifa served as an Assistant Commissioner with the New Jersey Department of Education, where she provided strategic oversight and management of organizational functions for the state department of education that serves 1.4 million students in 600+ school districts

As an attorney, she has been a leader in facilitating ethical decision-making in legislative initiatives relating to department priorities such as reducing the digital divide and providing guidance on learning loss and social-emotional learning policies. Prior to this role, Hanifa led operational teams as the Chief of Staff & Strategic Operations at the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and as the Chief Operating Officer with Philip’s Education Partners, a charter school management organization.

Ms. Barnes earned her BA in communications from Georgia State University, her JD from Rutgers School of Law, and her MBA from Cornell University, S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. In addition to her extensive work in financial and operational leadership in the public and private educational sectors, Hanifa served as an elementary educator and administrator earlier in her career. She has also devoted her time to volunteering with the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and Simplified Period, a 501c3 organization focused on ending period poverty and reducing the carbon footprint. Hanifa serves as a founding board member for the NJ Black Women’s Collective and as co-chair of their inaugural leadership institute with Rutgers University. She is a member of the Links, Incorporated, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.