Former Chair of the Board Janine Udoff Receives Lindabury-Thomas Award 

Former Chair of the Gill St. Bernard’s Board of Trustees, Janine Udoff P '16, '17, '21, '23, was honored at the Faculty, Staff, and Trustees Year-End Celebration on Friday, May 3, 2024, when she was presented with the prestigious Lindabury-Thomas Award by Head of School Sid Rowell. 

Udoff began her relationship with the school as a parent volunteer, helping out in the classroom when her children were young and getting involved in fundraising efforts for the school as they got older. Over her time with the school, she signed up to be the Parent Chair for the Annual Fund, Vice President of the Parents’ Association, Co-Chair of Homecoming / Family Day, and School Room Parent, as well as serving on various committees for the school’s auctions and Fashion Show.  

 As time went on, her passion for the school grew, and she sought out other ways to support its mission going forward. That desire to help translated into serving on the Board of Trustees beginning in 2009 and, in 2011 and 2012, assuming the Chair of the Committee on Trustees and the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee roles, respectively. Her dedication to the school and to her board service resulted in her being named Chair of the Board in 2015, the first woman in GSB history to do so. She held the Chair position until 2019, when she rotated off the board and assumed an Honorary Chair role. 

“The school has meant so much to me because it was the perfect place for all four of my children, all of whom are so very different,” Udoff said. “I love how they have grown into wonderful adults, and I know that GSB played a significant role in their development.” 

“Janine’s dedication to the school was unsurpassed,” Rowell said. “She consistently supported the school and strove to make it the best it could be so that all families could have the transformative experience that hers did. Not only was she an incredible influence on the school’s community, but she was the first woman in GSB history to hold the Chair of the Board position, a very high honor.”  

The Lindabury-Thomas award is given annually to a former trustee in recognition of outstanding service to Gill St. Bernard’s and is considered the highest honor that the school confers on a trustee. Named in honor of Richard Lindabury, an original trustee and one of the founders of St. Bernard’s School, and Henrietta “Retty” Thomas, a dedicated trustee and GSB Board Chair, the award recognizes trustees who go above and beyond to support the school.  

Past recipients of the award include: 

2023 – John Howard 

2022 - Elizabeth “Ebie” Nametz  

2021 - Samuel Corliss  

2019 - Richard & Susan Markham  

2018 - Michael Mandelbaum  

2017 - Andrienne Kirby  

2015 - Michael Golden  

2014 - Brandon Clark  

2013 - William F. Conger  

2012 - Richard Emmitt  

2011 - Joseph F. Behot and Barbara Evans  

2010 - Alberta Edwards and Robert Sameth, Sr.