Allan Shedlin, M.A.
Allan Shedlin, M.A. – Founder and President As Founder and President of REEL FATHERS, Allan is responsible for national outreach and collaborates on program design, fundraising and communications. He represents REEL FATHERS on the Leadership Team for the NM Alliance for Fathers and Families (NMAFF). Allan has been an educator for over 45 years as well as a freelance writer, parenting coach, and national educational consultant. He is the former principal of the Ethical Culture School in New York City and founding executive director of the National Elementary School Center (NESC). Allan is an authority on parenting, education, and child-focused public policy. He served as an advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett. His writing on issues related to fathers and families has been widely published in the popular and professional press. Allan coined the word "daddying" in 1994 to describe the convergence of fatherhood and nurturing, and to express that a father is not something you are, but something you do. In 2012 he created the notion of "DADvocacy" to describe the combination of public/collective and private/individual actions needed to encourage vibrant father engagement. Allan was named a Living Treasure by Mothering Magazine in 2008. He is the parent of three adult daughters and one son, and the grandfather of four grandsons and four granddaughters
