Cross-Sector Innovation Conference Speakers

Speakers & Conference Schedule

We were excited to welcome a series of distinguished speakers to our April 4 conference. We collaboratively explored what innovation looks like in the areas of workforce, healthcare, youth development and public service. Learn more about the speakers below.

Lisette Nieves

President, Fund for the City of New York

Aldrin Bonilla

Executive Vice President, Fund for the City of New York

Aldrin Bonilla

Opening Remarks: Michael Arad

Board Chair, Fund for the City of New York
Partner, Handel Architects, LLP

Michael Arad

Honoree: Sheena Wright

First Deputy Mayor, City of New York

Sheena Wright

Public Sector Intrapreneurs

10AM-11AM

Ellen-Schall

Ellen Schall, Moderator

Senior Presidential Fellow and Dean Emerita, NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Darryl Rattray

Darryl Rattray

Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Partnerships, New York City Department of Youth & Community Development

Gesille Dixon

Gesille Dixon

Vice President, Branch Programs & Services, New York Public Library

Steven Cubero

Steven Cubero

Plant Chief, Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP)

Partner Project Spotlight

11:00AM-11:20AM

Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy

Administrator, Freshkills Park
President, Fresh Kills Alliance

Eloise Hirsch

Eloise Hirsch

Former President, Freshkills Park Alliance

Haym Gross

Haym Gross

Principal Architect, Founding Member, NYC 2030 District

The Future of Healthcare

11:30AM-12:30PM

Linda Lausell Bryant

Linda Lausell Bryant, Moderator

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, NYU Silver School of Social Work
Director, Adaptive Leadership in Human Services Institute, NYU Silver School of Social Work

Helen Arteaga

Helen Arteaga Landaverde

CEO, Elmhurst Hospital, NYC Health & Hospitals

Debra Furr-Holden

Debra Furr-Holden

Dean, NYU’s School of Global Public Health

Mitchell Katz

Dr. Mitchell Katz

President and Chief Executive Officer, New York City Health + Hospitals

Partner Project Spotlight

12:30PM - 12:50PM

S. Mandisa Moore-O'Neal

S. Mandisa Moore-O'Neal

Executive Director, The Center for HIV Law and Policy

Susan

Susan Rodriguez

Founding Director, SMART

Richard Buery

Chief Executive Officer, Robinhood Foundation

Richard Buery

Honoree: Darren Walker

President, Ford Foundation

Darren Walker

The Future of Work(ers)

2:00PM-3:00PM

Randy Moore

Randy Moore, Moderator

President, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) Foundation

Maria Torres-Springer

Maria Torres-Springer

Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, City of New York

Noel Anderson

Noel Anderson

Steinhardt Director of Leadership and Innovation, New York University

Maria Flynn

Maria Flynn

President & CEO, Jobs for the Future

Partner Project Spotlight

3PM-3:20PM

Noel Hidalgo

Noel Hidalgo

Executive Director, BetaNYC

Gregory J Morris

Gregory J. Morris

CEO, New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)

Terri Carta

Terri Carta

Executive Director of Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC)

The Future of Youth Development

3:30-4:30PM

Christopher Caruso

Christopher Caruso, Moderator

Managing Director for School-Age Children, Robin Hood

Sabrina Evans-Ellis

Sabrina Evans-Ellis

Executive Director, Ramapo for Children, New York City Office

Sandra Escamilla

Sandra Escamilla

Executive Vice President, Children’s Aid Society

Cynthia Rivera Weissblum

Cynthia Rivera Weissblum

President & CEO, Edwin Gould Foundation Accelerator

Michele Cahill

Michele Cahill

Senior Advisor, XQ Institute

Partner Project Spotlight

4:30PM-4:50PM

Anju

Dr. Anju J. Rupchandani

Executive Director, Zone 126

Closing Plenary: Georgia Boothe

Executive Vice President, Children’s Aid Society
Treasurer, Board of Directors, Fund for the City of New York

Georgia Boothe

Honoree: Errol Louis

Host, “Inside City Hall,” NY1
Political Commentator, CNN

Errol Louis

Performance: Cuarteto Guataca

Cuarteto Guataca

Speaker Bios

Lisette Nieves, President, Fund for the City of New York

Lisette Nieves

Lisette Nieves is the President of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY), an institution charged with developing and helping to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices and technology in order to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. Lisette is also a Distinguished Clinical Professor at NYU, overseeing doctoral students and supporting research initiatives in the Doctoral Program in Leadership and Innovation, which she co-founded.

Lisette has served in a variety of cross-sector leadership positions. She is an experienced social entrepreneur and public sector leader. She has supported social entrepreneurs, educators and organizational leaders nationally through her work with Lingo Ventures. Lisette has also held senior leadership positions in the municipal and federal government. That includes roles with the Department for Youth and Community Development in the Bloomberg administration, the Corporation for National Service in the Clinton Administration, and the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the Obama Administration.

Lisette, a policy expert on youth workforce and education, also served as the founding Executive Director of Year Up NY, an innovative workforce development program, where in the span of five years she grew the organization from a $250,000 seed grant to a $6 million operation with over 20 corporate partnerships.

Lisette is a proud first-generation college student who received her B.A. from Brooklyn College, B.A./M.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a doctorate with distinction in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar, Aspen Pahara Fellow, 2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow and she is among the 2021 Top 100 Women We Admire in New York State.

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Aldrin Bonilla, Executive Vice President, Fund for the City of New York

Aldrin Bonilla

Aldrin Rafael Bonilla is the Executive Vice President of the Fund for the City of New York. Aldrin leads signature Fund initiatives such as the Sloan Public Service Awards, Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Math, and the NYC Community Planning Fellowship program. Aldrin also leverages his experience in civic engagement, innovation, technology and training in order to expand and scale the Fund’s programming and impact in these focus areas citywide.

Currently, Aldrin also serves as Commissioner and Chair of the New York City Equal Employment Practices Commission which audits, evaluates, and monitors the City of New York’s employment programs, practices, policies, and procedures to ensure that municipal entities and the City as an employer maintain a properly structured, efficiently administered affirmative employment program of equal opportunity for minority group members and women employed by, or seeking employment with, City government.

Prior to this position, Aldrin was the Manhattan Deputy Borough President. In that capacity, he also served as a Trustee to the New York City Employee Retirement Pension Fund and on the board of directors of the Theater Sub-District Council. As Deputy Borough President, Aldrin led Community Board reform efforts, civic technology initiatives, community leadership trainings, police-community relations forums and advocacy for responsible pension fund investing. Within his portfolio, Aldrin directed the Community Affairs and Constituent Services Units, as well as managed the Community Board and Solid Waste Advisory Board membership appointment process and technical assistance. Aldrin chaired monthly Borough Boards, which consist of the Manhattan City Council delegation and Community Board Chairs, and he also chaired the monthly Borough Service Cabinet meetings, which include Community Board District Managers and City Agency Representatives.

For over 25 years, Aldrin has served in a variety of government, nonprofit and academic leadership positions including executive positions in education (CUNY in the Heights), youth development (The Valley, Inc.), civic technology (Fund for the City of New York), government (US Census Bureau) and diplomacy (United Nations).

Aldrin has a BA from Colgate University in International Relations, as well as an MA in Political Science and an MPA in Public Policy Analysis from Binghamton University. He also holds advanced certificates from Harvard University’s Institutes of Higher Education, UPENN’s Wharton School of Business and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

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Michael Arad, Board Chair, Fund for the City of New York; Partner, Handel Architects, LLP

Michael Arad

Michael Arad’s design for the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site, titled “Reflecting Absence,” was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation from among more than 5,000 entries submitted in an international competition held in 2003. Mr. Arad joined Handel Architects as a Partner in April 2004 where he worked on realizing the Memorial design as a member of the firm.

A native of Israel, Mr. Arad was raised there, the U.K., the United States and Mexico. He came to the United States and earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1994 and a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999.

Mr. Arad became a resident of New York City following his studies. He worked for Kohn Pedersen Fox in the city before joining the Design Department of the New York City Housing Authority, where he was working during the Memorial competition.

In 2006 Mr. Arad was one of six recipients of the Young Architects Award of the American Institute of Architects. In 2012, he was awarded the AIA Presidential Citation for his work on the National September 11 Memorial. In addition, he was also honored in 2012 by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council with the Liberty Award for Artistic Leadership. His work on the Memorial was recognized with Honor Awards from the AIA and ASLA.

In 2017 Mr. Arad was selected to design a memorial to the victims of the 2015 Charleston church massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Ellen Schall, Senior Presidential Fellow and Dean Emerita, NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Ellen Schall

As Senior Presidential Fellow since 2013, Ellen Schall works closely with the President and with the chair of the Board of Trustees. She leads the university initiative on affordability, staffs the Trustee committees on academic affairs and the committee on trustees, manages the Executive level searches for the University (having staffed those searches as well), provides strategic counsel to the President and other members of the senior administration, is responsible for special assignments and projects, and is involved in the review of University policies and practices.

She is the Martin Cherkasky Professor of Health Policy & Management and Dean Emerita at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and has been at NYU since 1992. She served as Dean of the Wagner School from 2002 to 2012, during which time she led the school from an institution with a strong local and regional reputation to one that is widely recognized nationally and internationally. While a faculty member, Ellen focused her research on leadership and organizational transformation. She has extensive experience in non-profit management and governance, including more than 30 years of active membership on the board of University Settlement House. She began her career as a Legal Aid Society criminal defense attorney and served as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice from 1983 to 1990. Ellen serves on the Board of the New York Women’s Foundation.

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Darryl Rattray, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Partnerships, Department of Youth & Community Development

Darryl Rattray

Born and raised in the Bronx, Darryl Rattray was inspired to give back to his community from a young age, garnering leadership experience as a youth group president, where he participated in nonprofit and city agency meetings, wrote grants, attended non-violence seminars, and became a youth commissioner on human rights as a high school student. Mr. Rattray is currently the Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Partnerships at the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). The DYCD Strategic Partnerships Division is designed to support the vision, mission, and direction of the agency by working across all DYCD program areas to create partnerships and strategies that enhance the quality of work done by DYCD and our contracted providers. The goal of strategic partnerships is to strengthen DYCD connections to neighborhoods throughout NYC and deepen impact to better support community needs and positive experiences provided by DYCD programs. Mr. Rattray has been with DYCD for over 21 years and helped to create, expand, and support signature DYCD programs, including, Beacon, Cornerstone, OST/COMPASS, and the DYCD sports engagements and special events. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Sloan Public Service Award.

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Gesille Dixon, Vice President, Branch Programs & Services, New York Public Library

Gesille Dixon

Gesille Dixon is the Library’s Vice President of Branch Programs & Services, responsible for developing and executing a strategic vision for the creation, expansion, and continuous improvement of learning initiatives, programs, outreach, and services offered by two key departments: Youth Programs & Services and Adult Programs & Services. Additionally, Dixon manages a staff of over 100 educational and outreach professionals and a significant program budget.

Dixon started her Library career in 2000 at Woodstock Library as a Librarian Trainee. Since then, she has served in positions of increasing responsibility, from a Senior Librarian to a Library Manager, where she was recognized with the 2006 New York Times Librarian Award. From there, she became a Library Network Manager in charge of a dozen branches, and in 2016 she was tapped to serve as the Bronx Borough Director in charge of all 35 branches. In 2019, she was awarded the Sloan Public Service Award. Prior to being named Vice President, Dixon served as Senior Director, Branch Programs & Services.

Gesille holds a Bachelor’s Degree in the School of Education for Therapeutic Recreation Management from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Library Science degree from Queens College. In 2018, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations at Baruch College.

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Steven Cubero, Plant Chief, Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP)

Steven Cubero

As the Plant Chief of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment facility, Mr. Cubero is in charge of one of the five largest wastewater treatment plants in the United States. This $5 billion facility sits on 53 acres in Greenpoint, Newtown Creek and can process up to 720,000,000 gallons of water in a single day, treating the wastewater and sewage of a service area that covers nearly one million people. Mr. Cubero’s 21 year-long career began in his freshman year of college, working as an electrician’s helper for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). After thirteen years at the MTA, Mr. Cubero transitioned to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2013 to work as a Stationary Engineer Electric at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. In 2016, Mr. Cubero was promoted to Deputy Plant Chief for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, where he helped to run New York City’s largest wastewater treatment facility. He only remained in this role for a year before he was asked to become the Plant Chief for the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in College Point, Queens.

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Mark Murphy, Administrator, Freshkills Park; President, Freshkills Park Alliance

Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy is the Administrator of Freshkills Park and the President of the Freshkills Park Alliance. A fourth generation Staten Islander, Mark Murphy brings years of both public service and private sector experience to the Freshkills Park Alliance. He promotes a culture of team work, equity, inclusion and effective leadership.

Mark grew up in the West Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island. He attended Xavier High School and the Catholic University of America. After which, Mark worked as a legislative staff member on Capitol Hill, before joining the Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch. Mark pursued professional opportunities in finance, real estate and media on the west coast. During this time, he was appointed vice president of the prestigious real estate development and land master planning firm The Irvine Company.

Mark took these successes and built a real estate advisory and brokerage business in Staten Island and the metro New York area. Mark has helped countless families make one of the most important decisions in their life, buying and selling their homes, and has advised corporate clients on sophisticated lease and purchase transactions, navigating the complex zoning and code restrictions in the city of New York. Mark holds a NYS Real Estate Broker license and a NYCDCA contractor’s license.

Additionally, Mark volunteers and supports Camp Good Grief of Staten Island, a camp for children who have lost a loved one, ensuring children will never be alone in their grief and loss. This is a group especially close to Mark, and his wife Jessica, who lost her brother on 9/11.

Mark is committed to our environment and open spaces, and to Staten Island and its community, and strives in his work to ensure Staten Island is cleaner, greener, safer and stronger.

Mark and his wife Jessica Schoenholtz, live and raise their family in West Brighton, Staten Island.

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Eloise Hirsch, former President, Freshkills Park Alliance

Eloise Hirsch

Eloise Hirsh is the former Administrator of Freshkills Park and the first President of the Freshkills Park Alliance. At 2,200 acres, the Freshkills Park project is one of the most ambitious public works projects in the City’s history. The transformation of what was the City’s biggest landfill for 50 years, into a productive, vital, beautiful destination open to all is a powerful symbol of renewal with challenges and opportunities on an unprecedented scale.

Eloise Hirsh has an extensive career in public and non profit sector management. She spent 18 years in Pittsburgh, where she was Mayor Tom Murphy’s Director of City Planning during his first two terms, Director of the Mayor’s Commission on Public Education, and, as firm principal of the consulting firm Iron Hill Associates, led projects on open space preservation and development, transportation issues, affordable housing and child and family welfare.

Before relocating to Pittsburgh in 1988, Eloise spent 20 years in New York City government where her responsibilities ranged from infrastructure and park management as First Deputy Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, to labor relations and productivity improvement as Director of New York City’s first Labor Management Productivity Committee.

Eloise has been on the faculty of the Heinz School for Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. She is a 2020 Sloan Public Service Award winner.

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Haym Gross, Principal Architect, Founding Member, NYC 2030 District

Haym Gross

Haym Gross has practiced as an architect for over 30 years, providing design and consulting services to realize diverse projects for commercial, residential and institutional clients.

Sustainability has long been at the center of Haymʼs work. He has completed projects to integrate renewable energy technologies into a range of buildings, including solar electric and thermal projects for multi-family residential properties. Haym has worked on solar plus battery storage projects for resilient emergency power systems at community
facilities in flood-prone areas of New York City.

Haym is the founding member of the NYC 2030 District, a partnership of stakeholders, which has established a dedicated urban sustainability district, accelerating progress to
confront climate change in New York City

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Linda Lausell Bryant, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Director, Adaptive Leadership in Human Services Institute, NYU Silver School of Social Work

Linda Lausell Bryant

Linda Lausell Bryant is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Clinical Associate Professor, Master Teacher, and the Katherine and Howard Aibel Executive-in-Residence at NYU Silver. Dr. Lausell Bryant’s professional interests focus on research and practice issues related to developing the leadership capacities of social workers and other human services professionals; the intersection of race, ethnicity, and social justice; models for developing parenting skills among teen parents; the use of self in management and leadership roles; and the role of spirituality in mental health and adolescent development.

Dr. Lausell Bryant’s career spans 34 years in youth services in both the private and public sectors. She introduced the Adaptive Leadership framework into the graduate social work curriculum at NYU Silver, including the launch of an Adaptive Leadership Fellowship program and new graduate and doctoral level courses grounded in the framework. For nine years, she served as the Executive Director of Inwood House, a nonprofit youth agency focused on improving outcomes for young mothers in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Her work in government includes serving as associate commissioner for the Office of Youth Development at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. She was appointed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York City Panel for Education Policy. At Inwood House, she convened a Citywide Dialogue on Teen Pregnancy, which featured stakeholders from government child welfare, health, education, and poverty agencies, as well as research, philanthropy, policy, and service providing agencies. She has used her extensive knowledge of youth development to launch program initiatives in the violence prevention, reproductive health, child welfare, and after school arenas.

She is the co-author of A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity and Our Mutual Humanity (2017). Dr. Lausell Bryant currently serves as the president of the board of the National Crittenton Foundation, which seeks to empower young women and girls, including young mothers. She has served as member-at-large on the board of the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers from 2011-2014 and was featured in New York Times journalist Adam Bryant’s “Corner Office” column. Her insights were featured in Mr. Bryant’s 2014 book Quick & Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation. She is a frequent presenter on panels, in conferences, and on television appearances including WABC’s Tiempo, Here and Now, One to One with Sheryl McCarthy, and NY1. She is the recipient of the Latino Social Work Coalition’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award, NYU Silver’s 2020 Distinguished Contribution to Student Engagement Award and NYU’s 2022 Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award.

Dr. Lausell Bryant received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Pace University, her Master of Social Work degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work of the City University of New York, and her Doctor of Philosophy from NYU Silver. Her dissertation study compared the amounts and sources of perceived social support for college-going between foster care and non-foster care students.

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Helen Arteaga Landaverde, Chief Executive Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst

Helen Arteaga

Helen Arteaga-Landaverde has served as CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a 545-bed Level 1 Trauma and Academic Medical Center serving over a million patients a year, since February 2021. She is the first woman of color and the first Latina to lead the hospital’s executive team. During her tenure at Elmhurst, Helen has worked closely with the hospital’s clinicians to oversee an unprecedented COVID-19 testing and vaccination program throughout multiple waves of the pandemic, and has guided the institution’s recovery as it moves into a post-pandemic future.

Under her leadership, Elmhurst has improved clinical quality measures and patient satisfaction and secured funds for a major renovation of the hospital that will include critically important areas such as the hospital’s main entrance, operating suites, intensive care units, HIV Clinic, Labor and Delivery suite and Women’s Pavilion for expectant mothers. She has overseen an ambitious campaign to build community partnerships and expand public health outreach to underserved people of color throughout Central and Western Queens, with a special focus on COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant communities disproportionately impacted the virus. Helen has also recognized the critical need to provide extra support to healthcare workers at Elmhurst by overseeing the implementation of NYC Health + Hospitals first comprehensive Wellness program. As the hospital enters its second century, she looks forward to further developing Elmhurst’s mission to provide comprehensive, safe, and accessible healthcare for all those who need it.

Prior to her role at Elmhurst, Helen served as Assistant Vice President, Queens Network and Executive Initiatives at Urban Health Plan, a network of community health centers located in three boroughs in New York City. Her passion for the healthcare field grew out of her own family’s difficult experiences in accessing vital medical services while she was growing up in Corona, Queens. These obstacles propelled her towards realizing her dream of establishing a community health center that would provide quality health care to local residents. Following the death of her community activist father, she set out to build that health center in her beloved neighborhood. Working with Our Lady of Sorrows Church and other community leaders, she sought out Paloma Hernandez, the President and CEO of Urban Health Plan, Inc., to make her dream a reality. Together, they opened Plaza del Sol Family Health Center in Corona in June of 2009. Last year, Plaza Del Sol provided care to more than 29,000 patients regardless of their ability to pay. The health center was dedicated in her father’s memory in 2014.

Helen has a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She completed a fellowship with the National Hispana Leadership Institute and Harvard Kennedy School of Government in September 2010. In March 2016, she was appointed to the NYC Health + Hospitals Board of Directors and to the NYU Alumni Board of Directors. She is currently completing her doctoral degree at CUNY-School of Public Health. She was one of 31 women selected by the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues to be featured in “NYC Women: Make it Here, Make it Happen,” a series highlighting women who made a difference in their communities. Helen is a recipient of the Community Impact Award, Humanitarian Award and City of New York American Dreamer Award. In both 2021 and 2022, she was named as one of City and State’s Queens Power 100 and has been named one of Crain’s New York Business’s Notable Hispanic Leaders and Executives. She was also honored by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz during Hispanic Heritage Month for her contributions to the community.

Helen is married to Victor Landaverde and is the proud mother of 3 amazing children: VictorLuis, Moses, and Victoria. She continues to reside in her beloved Corona, Queens.

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Debra Furr-Holden, Dean of the School of Global Public Health
Professor of Epidemiology, New York University

Debra Furr-Holden

The NYU School of Global Public Health begins a new chapter along its path to excellence in education, research, policy and practice with the appointment of C. Debra M. Furr-Holden, an epidemiologist and passionate advocate for health equity, as Dean of GPH and Professor of Epidemiology. A public health professional with broad expertise in health disparities and policy-level interventions toward health equity, her scholarship encompasses a range of topics including drug and alcohol dependence epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, and prevention science.

Dean Furr-Holden hails from Michigan State University, where she was the C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health and associate dean for public health integration. In announcing her appointment, effective July 2022, NYU President Andrew Hamilton noted Dr. Furr-Holden’s extensive experience working with local and national policymakers, her skill at team-building and success as a mentor, and her exceptional talent as a communicator on public health and health equity issues.

Indeed, it is Dean Furr-Holden’s action-oriented research and commitment to training the next generation of public health practitioners that dovetails perfectly with GPH’s mission to use data-driven interventions and cutting-edge innovation to identify and implement equitable solutions to both domestic and international public health challenges.

In addition to her endowed professorship at MSU, Dr. Furr-Holden served as director of the NIH-funded Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions at the College of Human Medicine. During the Covid-19 pandemic she was appointed to the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, the Greater Flint Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Inequity, and the New York City African American Covid-19 Task Force. Most notably, in Michigan and Flint the racial disparity in Covid-19 cases and deaths among African Americans was eliminated.

Prior to her appointments at MSU Dr. Furr-Holden was an assistant (2007) and later associate (2011) professor at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she retains an appointment as an adjunct professor. Before Johns Hopkins, she was a research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation and a faculty member at Morgan State University.

Dean Furr-Holden is a widely published scholar whose writings include more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals. In 2021 she published a seminal article in Addiction that highlighted racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths over the past two decades, and she was recently quoted in an exclusive article in The New York Times examining the demography of deaths nationwide from Covid-19.

Dean Furr-Holden is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Junior Faculty Mentoring Award; and the Meeting the Moment for Public Health Award, recognizing the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, of which she is a founding member.

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S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal, Executive Director, The Center for HIV Law and Policy

S. Mandisa Moore O'Neal

S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal (she/hers) is the Executive Director of CHLP, a national research and advocacy organization that fights stigma and discrimination at the intersection of HIV, race, health status, disability, class, sexuality and gender identity and expression, with a focus on criminal and public health systems. Based in New Orleans, she is a Black feminist attorney, a trained facilitator, and a cultural and political strategist. Before joining CHLP, Mandisa founded The Moore-O’Neal Law Group, LLC, a Black Feminist law and policy practice. Her practice focused on HIV De-criminalization litigation, education and advocacy; family law litigation, education and advocacy; employment and public accommodations discrimination litigation and education; and police accountability litigation and advocacy. She was also the Litigation and Policy Director at Frontline Legal Services. Mandisa is a founding member of the Louisiana Coalition on Criminalization and Health and in 2012 received her JD from Louisiana State University Law Center. Mandisa has researched, published and presented on abolitionist lawyering, reproductive justice and the law, HIV De-criminalization, punitive social policies, and state violence. At its core, her legal work is best defined as using a Black feminist and abolitionist framework to craft legal strategies that move us closer to liberation.

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Susan Rodriguez, Founding Director, SMART

Susan Rodriguez

Susan Rodriguez was born and raised in Brooklyn and has lived in East Harlem for over 25 years. She
graduated from Brooklyn College with a BA in Fine Arts.

Susan was diagnosed with HIV in 1995 and became quickly aware of the dearth of information and resources
for HIV+ women. In 1998, she co-founded SMART University in East Harlem to provide treatment, prevention,
and overall health education in a supportive peer community of self-identified women. Today, SMART’s variety
of programs, including nutrition education and technology, offer a comprehensive and holistic approach to help
address the challenges and inequities faced by women. SMART Health provides health and wellness
information and resources through in-person outreach activities in the Harlem community. Please go to
www.smartuniversity.org for more information.

Susan has received numerous awards for her work, including the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health
Leader Award (2010) and Union Square Award for Grassroots Activism (2001). She became the first
Community Spokesperson for the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund in 2004 and was featured in an internationally acclaimed
2008 documentary, “Love in a Time of HIV: I Love New York” (BBC World News & Showtime).
Susan has three children—Samantha, Christina and Joseph, and is a proud grandmother of Julian and
Christopher Blaze.

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Mitchell Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals

Mitchell Katz

Dr. Katz is the President and Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health care system in the United States, with 11 acute care hospitals, 5 skilled nursing facilities, dozens of community health centers, a home care agency and an insurance plan, MetroPlus Health.

Since his appointment in 2018, the health system has significantly expanded access to health care, including the creation of NYC Care, a universal health access program that provides care to more than 100,000 uninsured New Yorkers. He oversaw the creation of a modern electronic health record system, increased the number of nurses working in the system, developed a modern ambulance transport system, and launched new street outreach programs to improve the health of homeless New Yorkers. He also led the financial turn-around of NYC Health + Hospitals by eliminating the deficit through enrolling more New Yorkers into health insurance and appropriately billing insurance plans.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Katz provided strategic guidance to Mayor Bill de Blasio, while directing the public health system’s response to the surge of patients that peaked to a maximum of 3,700 patients, requiring the tripling of ICU capacity at its 11 hospitals to save New Yorkers. As the epicenter of the epicenter, NYC Health + Hospitals became the trusted care provider for thousands of New Yorkers, led the city’s Test and Trace operation, and administered more than 1.3 million COVID-19 vaccines.

Previously, Dr. Katz served as Director of the Los Angeles County Health Agency, which combines the Departments of Health Services, Public Health, and Mental Health into a single entity to provide integrated care and programming within Los Angeles. The Agency has a budget of $7 billion, 28,000 employees, and a large number of community partners. Dr. Katz served as the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), the second largest public safety net system in the United States. During this time, he created the ambulatory care network and empaneled more than 350,000 patients to a primary care home. He eliminated the deficit of DHS through increased revenues and decreased administrative expenses, and used ACA funding to pay for a new integrated electronic health system. He moved more than 4,000 medically complex patients from hospitals and emergency departments into independent housing, thereby eliminating unnecessary expensive hospital care and giving the patients the dignity of their own home.

Before he came to Los Angeles Dr. Katz served as Director and Health Officer of the San Francisco Department of Health for 13 years. He is well known for funding needle exchange, creating Healthy San Francisco, outlawing the sale of tobacco at pharmacies, and winning ballot measures for rebuilding Laguna Honda Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital.

He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Medical School. He completed an internal medicine residency at UCSF Medical School and was an RWJ Clinical Scholar. Dr. Katz continues to practice as a primary care physician and sees patients at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

He is the Deputy Editor of JAMA Internal Medicine, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (previously the Institute of Medicine) and the recipient of the Los Angeles County Medical Association 2015 Healthcare Champion of the year.

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Richard Buery, Chief Executive Officer, Robinhood Foundation

Richard Buery

A first-generation, Panamanian American born and raised in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Richard R. Buery, Jr. has spent his career fighting to advance equal opportunities for families and communities often left behind. In September 2021, Richard became the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the nation’s leading anti-poverty organizations.

At just 16 years old, Richard graduated from Stuyvesant High School and attended Harvard. He later earned a law degree from Yale and brought his talent and skills home to put them to work immediately. Most recently, Richard served as the CEO of Robin Hood’s community partner Achievement First, a network of 41 charter schools across New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Richard has extensive experience as a leader, manager, and social innovator within local government, as well as New York’s vast social service nonprofit sector.

As Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives for the City of New York, Richard was the key architect of the City’s Pre-K for All initiative, enabling 50,000 additional 4-years to get an early start on their education through a free, full-day program. He also launched Schools Out NYC, offering free after school programs to all NYC middle school students, stood up 200 new community school partnerships, and led the City’s effort to recruit 1,000 men of color to become public school teachers.

Additionally, Richard launched the mental health reform initiative, ThriveNYC, and managed the City’s relationship with the 250,000 student City University of New York System (CUNY), stewarding significant investments that improved college persistence for NYC students. Richard also managed a range of city agencies, including the Departments of Probation, Aging, Youth and Community Development, People with Disabilities, and Immigrant Affairs, and created the New York City Children’s Cabinet, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprises.

As a leader in the nonprofit sector, Richard has worked for or led four major nonprofits that are among Robin Hood’s grantees: the Brennan Center at NYU’s School of Law, KIPP, Children’s Aid, and Achievement First. Additionally, Richard founded Groundwork to support the educational aspirations of public housing residents in Brooklyn, and was cofounder of the national nonprofit, iMentor, which pairs high school students with mentors to help them navigate to and through college.

Richard founded his first nonprofit at a Roxbury housing development while still in college. He was a teacher in Zimbabwe, a campaign manager to former Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves, and clerked at the Federal Court of Appeals in New York.

Today, Richard also serves as a Public Service Fellow at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where he was the Distinguished Visiting Urbanist during the Spring of 2019. He is also a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, a Senior Fellow at the GovLab at NYU, and a partner at the Perception Institute. He serves on the boards of the Kresge Foundation, iMentor, United to Protect Democracy, Atria Health Collaborative, the Grace Church School, and on the Alumni Advisory Council of the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School. A fellow of the Pahara Institute and the British American Project, Richard has previously taught courses in social entrepreneurship, New York City affairs, and the financial management of nonprofit organizations at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, New York Law School, and the Baruch School of Public Affairs.

A husband and father, Richard lives in Manhattan with his wife Deborah and their two sons.

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Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation

Darren Walker

Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $16 billion international social justice philanthropy with offices in the United States and ten regions around the globe. He chaired the philanthropy committee that brought a resolution to the city of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy. Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation became the first non-profit in US history to issue a $1 billion designated social bond in US capital markets for proceeds to strengthen and stabilize non-profit organizations in the wake of COVID-19.

Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs including the Rebuild New Orleans initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990s, as COO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation—Harlem’s largest community development organization—he led a comprehensive revitalization strategy, including building over 1,000 units of affordable housing and the first major commercial development in Harlem since the 1960s. Earlier, he had a decade-long career in international law and finance at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and UBS.

Darren co-chairs New York City’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, and serves on The Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform and the UN International Labour Organization Global Commission on the Future of Work. He co-founded both the US Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy and is a founding member of the Board Diversity Action Alliance. He serves on many boards, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the National Gallery of Art, Carnegie Hall, the High Line, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. In the summer of 2020, he was appointed to the boards of Block, Inc. and Ralph Lauren. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and is the recipient of 16 honorary degrees and university awards, including Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. In 2022, he was awarded commander of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, the nation’s highest cultural honor, for his work as a benefactor of the arts. He was also appointed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/US relations.

Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren was a member of the first class of Head Start in 1965 and received his bachelor’s and law degrees from The University of Texas at Austin, which in 2009 recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award—its highest alumni honor. He has been included on numerous leadership lists, including TIME’s annual 100 Most Influential People in the World, Rolling Stone’s 25 People Shaping the Future, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Ebony’s Power 100, and Out magazine’s Power 50. Most recently, Darren was named Wall Street Journal’s 2020 Philanthropy Innovator.

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Cynthia Rivera Weissblum, President & CEO, EGF Accelerator

Cynthia Rivera Weissblum

Cynthia Rivera Weissblum knows firsthand the challenges and successes of growing and sustaining nonprofits. In her role at EGF she conceived and developed the EGF Accelerator, New York City’s only long-term residential incubator for nonprofits. Cindy works closely with leaders in the Accelerator, advising them on how to refine their programs, guide and develop staff, manage their boards and raise money. She is a coach at heart, helping leaders develop confidence and skill while building high-performing organizations. She often speaks nationally on issues of educational equity and leadership. As a first-generation college graduate, she is deeply grateful to those who have guided her and, with great joy, serves as a mentor to many young people and their families.

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Randy Moore, President, CD&R Foundation

Randy Moore

Randy Moore has spent the majority of his career serving as an advocate for underserved/underestimated talent and communities. His experience spans adolescent/adult pedagogy, corporate, non-profit, philanthropic, and educational leadership. He currently serves as the Foundation President at Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (CD&R), a private global investment firm, where his charge is to lead the Firm’s philanthropic strategy and investments to create economic access through employment for underserved talent in the U.S. and U.K. He has also held leadership roles within COOP Careers, The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation/HERE to HERE, CUNY’s (City of the University of New York) Guttman Community College, and Year Up. He is a graduate of Wilberforce University (HBCU), holds a master’s degree in Bilingual Education from Adelphi University, and is pursuing an Ed.D. in Leadership & Innovation at Arizona State University

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Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, City of New York

Maria Torres-Springer

Maria Torres-Springer is the NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, charged with spearheading the administration’s efforts to strengthen and diversify its economy, invest in emerging industries, bolster small business, connect New Yorkers to family-sustaining jobs, and expand access to arts and culture.

She previously was Vice President of US Programs at the Ford Foundation where she oversaw the foundation’s domestic grant making and made historic investments to support racial equity, workers’ rights, voting rights, and arts and culture across the country.
As commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Maria focused on the production of housing for the city’s most vulnerable communities, while also launching several new programs to protect tenants’ rights. She led the implementation of Housing New York, a five-borough, 12-year plan to create or preserve 300,000 affordable homes; and she steered the financing of approximately 60,000 affordable homes.

Earlier, as president and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation, Maria led the implementation of the new citywide ferry service and made major investments in key sectors of the city’s economy. She also spearheaded several neighborhood revitalization plans. Prior to that, as commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, Maria prioritized efforts to raise wages and support women and immigrant-owned businesses and worked to prepare New Yorkers for 21st-century jobs.
Maria earned her bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University and a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

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Noel Anderson, Steinhardt Director of Leadership and Innovation, New York University

Noel Anderson

Noel S. Anderson currently holds the positions of Steinhardt Director of Leadership and Innovation and Clinical Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. He is responsible for leading and growing the Steinhardt EdD in Leadership and Innovation, Executive Education Leadership programs, and other innovation initiatives within NYU’s global network.

For over 25 years, Noel S. Anderson has served in a variety of leadership positions in the public and private sectors. He has led in large public school districts, higher education institutions, and national non-profit organizations. Prior to NYU, Noel was National Senior Program Director (Chief Program Officer) for Year Up, Inc., a national workforce and education organization that develops young people for internships and job placement in Fortune 500 companies, and was responsible for overseeing program development, innovation and quality for a growing network of over 15 cities across the United States, serving over 3000 young adults yearly. He also served as interim Executive Director for Year Up, New York, Year Up’s largest market, directing corporate partnerships, fundraising, leading a staff of 40, and managing a budget of $8 million.

Before leading at Year Up, Noel was a tenured Associate Professor and interim Chairperson in the Department of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His academic research focuses on career and post-secondary pathways for low income youth and race and equity in education. Much of his research integrates the capabilities approach (a theory developed by Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize winner in welfare economics) to education and equity, one of only a handful of U.S. scholars applying this complex methodology to education.

Noel has taught and lectured around the world. He was Visiting Professor of Politics at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and has shared his research widely in Europe and South Africa on “disconnected youth” (those not working or in school).

Noel has authored and edited numerous scholarly articles and books on urban education, youth development and youth labor markets, emphasizing youth voice. His most recent co-authored book is Working to Learn: Disrupting the Divide between College and Career Pathways for Young People (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020), which blends research, policy analysis and assessments from professional practice to examine how young people navigate and integrate the worlds of work and school in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Noel has earned over a dozen awards and fellowships. Recently he was Presidio Institute Cross-Sector Leadership Fellow. He also received the prestigious Whitney M. Young, Jr. Education Leadership Award from the National Urban League for developing “Project Ready”, NUL’s signature college access program. He served on United States President Joseph Biden’s Education Policy Committee, lending his expertise to inform the campaign’s national platform on career readiness.

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Maria Flynn, President and CEO, Jobs for the Future

Maria Flynn

Maria Flynn is president and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit that is driving the transformation of education and workforce systems—and encouraging disruptive new approaches—to help millions of people of all backgrounds secure quality jobs. Before joining JFF in 2007, Maria was a senior official in the U.S. Department of Labor who worked across the Clinton and Bush administrations. Maria speaks at national events sponsored by the Milken Institute, Fortune, Aspen, and the Atlantic, on leadership and the future of work, the role of technology in the labor market, employer engagement, workforce policy, and career pathways for individuals underserved by existing systems.
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Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director, BetaNYC

Noel Hidalgo

Mr. Hidalgo stands at the crossroads of technology, government, community, and impact. He believes in participatory communities and uses technology to improve people’s lives. His work has been achieved through patience and organizing problem-solving teams. Mr. Hidalgo is known as an effective organizer who can walk between worlds.

Since 2009, he has organized BetaNYC to be a driving force to improve New York City’s use of technology and share its data. BetaNYC has advocated for a suite of government transparency laws, including the city’s transformative open data law and city record online law. BetaNYC runs the New York City Civic Innovation Lab/Fellows program, in partnership with the Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, and curates the NYC School of Data community conference.

Mr. Hidalgo is an Eagle Scout. He was a Technology and Democracy fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; served as an inaugural member of Code for America’s National Advisory Council, and is a former fellow / currently an affiliate at Data & Society Research Institution.

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Gregory J. Morris, CEO, New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)

Gregory J Morris

Gregory J Morris became CEO of New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) in October 2022.  With more than 25 years of experience serving as a leader, practitioner and advocate on a city and state level for education and workforce development, and a demonstrated commitment to expanding multi-generational, neighborhood-based programs and initiatives in support of children, families, and seniors, Morris is guiding NYCETC’s efforts to respond to the City’s current labor market crisis. He currently serves as a member of the Mayor’s Future of Workers Task Force.

Prior to joining NYCETC, Morris served as the President and Executive Director of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center (Isaacs Center) starting in September 2013.  Morris holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College School of Public Affairs. He is a member of Community Board 8 (CB8) in Manhattan and co-chair of CB8’s Housing Committee.

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Terri Carta, Executive Director, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC)

Terri Carta

Terri Carta is a leader in public space stewardship and nonprofit management. As Executive Director of Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC), Terri is responsible for advancing its mission to improve public parklands and wetland areas throughout Jamaica Bay and the Rockaway peninsula. In partnership with city, state and federal park agencies and multiple community stakeholders, JBRPC works to expand public access; increase recreational and educational opportunities; foster citizen stewardship and volunteerism; preserve and restore natural areas, including wetland and wildlife habitat; enhance cultural resources; and ensure the long-term sustainability of the parklands.

Terri’s career spans leadership positions in public engagement, community development, and leadership development. As the first Executive Director of Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Terri advanced the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway as a critical connector of people and places, a component of New York City’s open space and mobility plans, and a mechanism for community-based visioning and engagement. Terri also built a coalition of partners from across New York City and led the campaign for a fully developed equitable 5-Boro greenway network to serve all New Yorkers. Terri previously served in various leadership roles at Central Park Conservancy, including developing the Institute for Urban Parks where she served as its Associate Vice President. Prior to her career in New York City, Terri served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa, in a community development role within a USAID-led watershed management project.

Terri is passionate about advancing a transdisciplinary approach to improving urban environments and the greater public realm. She earned an M.S. in Ecological Teaching & Learning, a B.S. in Conservation Biology, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. Terri lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn with her 12-year-old son and 3-year-old dog.

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Christopher Caruso, Managing Director for School-Age Children, Robin Hood

Maria Torres-Springer

Christopher Caruso has spent his career at the intersection of schools and communities to advance equity and improve educational outcomes for young people. He is currently the Managing Director for School-Age Children at Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting philanthropy, where he leads the team responsible for the strategy and implementation of the foundation’s work in K-12 education, youth development and social and emotional learning. Prior to joining Robin Hood, Chris was the founding Senior Executive Director of the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Community Schools where he oversaw policy and support for students experiencing homelessness and built a citywide system of over 300 community schools that integrate academics, health, and social services supporting 150,000 students. Independent research found that NYC’s Community Schools improved student academic and social outcomes. Chris has degrees from Providence College and Columbia University and is an alumnus of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Children and Families Fellowship.

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Sabrina Evans-Ellis, Executive Director, Ramapo for Children, New York City Office

Sabrina Evans-Ellis

Sabrina Evans-Ellis is a youth development and organizational development specialist who has provided technical assistance to nonprofit agencies for more than 20 years. Her experience in the field includes direct service, program administration, leadership and management training, strategic planning and fund development. Sabrina rejoined Ramapo for Children in 2020, 11 years after serving as Ramapo’s Director of Out-of-School Time Development. She currently oversees Ramapo’s New York City office, which is comprised of The National School Climate Center, Ramapo Training and The Youth Development Institute. Sabrina’s previous positions also include: Executive Director at YDI; Senior Consultant at the Community Resource Exchange; Deputy Director of Youth and Education Services for the St. Nick’s Alliance; and faculty member at The Institute for Nonprofit Management at the Columbia University School of Business. Sabrina holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Sandra Escamilla, Executive Vice President, Children’s Aid Society

Sandra Escamilla

Sandra joined Children’s Aid in 2016. In her current role as EVP, she supports leaders to deliver high quality services in community schools, centers and in college/career and workforce initiatives. She also supports the innovation and dissemination of promising practices in national collective impact and community school movements.

Sandra spent the years prior to CA advising nonprofits on leadership and staff development. That followed 14 years at the Fund for City of New York’s Youth Development Institute, the last 5 of which she spent as the executive director, leading initiatives designed to help youth-serving organizations across multiple sectors, maximize their impact.

In 2015, she founded PUSH NYC, where she provides coaching globally with a focus on DEIB. She received her MSW from Columbia University and her BA from Hunter College.

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Michele Cahill, Senior Advisor, XQ Institute

Michele Cahill

Michele Cahill has five decades of experience in education, youth development and urban affairs. She currently serves as Senior Advisor at XQ Institute, the nation’s largest innovative effort for reimagining high school. Since XQ’s founding in 2015 Michele has had key roles in the development of XQ Learner Outcomes, School Design principles, and redesign partnerships with schools and systems.

Prior to XQ Michele led work on high school design for equity and excellence through philanthropy as Vice President for National Programs at Carnegie Corporation and in government at the New York City Deartment of Education where she was a member of Chancellor Joel Klein’s Senior Leadership Team for Children First. Michele led the development of over 200 new, small innovative high schools in New York City and the pioneering multiple pathways to graduation strategy targeting accelerated learning and graduation by overage and disconnected students. Children First resulted in a 20 percentage- point gain in NYC’s graduation rate amid the raising of NY State academic standards.

In the 1990’a Michele founded and directed the Youth Development Institute, at the Fund for the City of New York, supporting the NYC Beacons Initiative, the largest public investment in youth and community development in the country, and initiated the field-building and continuous improvement Networks for Youth Development. She also confounded the Partnership for After School Education (PASE) in 1993.

In the 1980s Michele led two national school dropout prevention demonstration projects involving 30 urban school districts and community partners. In the 1970s Michele co-founded, the Public Policy Program, an innovative associate degree program for adult community activists at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. Michele began her work as a community organizer at El Centro Catolico in Jersey City with talented young people who had been pushed out of high school. From these youth she learned how talent, opportunity and love of learning can be unleashed through youth development and education that empowers.
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Dr. Anju J. Rupchandani, Executive Director, Zone 126

Sandra Escamilla

Dr. Anju J. Rupchandani is the Executive Director for Zone 126. Originally born in the Bronx, Dr. Rupchandani’s family went over the Triborough Bridge and settled in Astoria/Long Island City, Queens in the 80’s. She is a product of three NYC DOE public schools in District # 30 (PS 70Q, IS 10Q and William Cullen Bryant High School). Dr. Rupchandani first began her career in the field of youth development in high school when she took an after-school job as a tutor working for NY Edge (formally known as Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation) at PS 70Q. A part-time job stoked her passion and commitment for education and leveling the playing field for youth often overlooked by others. While attending undergrad, Dr. Rupchandani continued to work in the field of youth development expanding her learning about program design and how leadership and finance align to programmatic metrics. She completed her dual bachelor’s degree from PACE University in Adolescent Education from the School of Education and History from Dyson’s College of Arts & Science. Her experiences growing up in poverty as a mixed-race child of immigrant parents have helped her to develop a keen understanding about equity and access and how leadership plays a critical role in advancement. Dr. Rupchandani has facilitated a wide array of trainings and has extensive experience in managing city, state, and federal government contracts along with private foundation funding that align to ensuring outcomes are met and that children/youth and families are supported. She previously worked for the Educational Alliance/Boys & Girls Club of America before she joined the team at Zone 126 as the first hire spearheading the community engagement efforts on the ground in NYCHA Astoria Houses. While she has managed to build a cradle-to-college-to-career pipeline of services while overlaying a collective impact framework that supports results driven accountability she has done so while remaining close to the work as a practitioner first and foremost. Since joining the

team in 2011, Dr. Rupchandani has earned her Executive Management Certificate from Fordham University, her Executive Certification from Columbia Business School and a Master’s Degree in Leadership in Community-Based Learning from Bank Street College of Education. She completed her doctorate at New York University from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development focusing her doctoral dissertation on students who are chronically absent who reside in NYCHA public housing. When asked about her dissertation topic Dr. Rupchandani states “I was a chronically absent student, my family lived paycheck to paycheck, we did not have enough food, it was chaotic, and I am here because a few people believed in me along the way. I believe and see children/youth living in public housing as at promise when most people believe the odds stacked against them are too high. I believe that young people can tap into their greatest potential when they have access to caring adults who nurture and support them. I will continue to advocate and champion for students who are chronically absent because they need someone who will always look for them no matter what.

In her spare time Dr. Rupchandani likes to cook, bake, read (specifically Caribbean and LatinX literature), craft, cycle and travel.

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Georgia Boothe, Executive Vice President, Children’s Aid Society; Treasurer, Board of Directors, Fund for the City of New York

Georgia Boothe

Georgia Boothe joined Children’s Aid in 2015 and currently serves as Executive Vice President overseeing the agency’s Child Welfare and Family Services as well as Health and Wellness. She leads the organization’s work with young people who have become involved in Foster Care and the juvenile justice system as well as prevention programs, which work to strengthen families that are involved in the child welfare system. She provides oversight for a full array of physical, dental, and behavioral health services, as well as a variety of fitness and nutrition programs that address the whole body and mind. She also leads a deeply experienced team of social workers and other front line staff in serving children and families with special needs. Georgia previously served as executive director at Pathways to Housing NY. She holds an M.S.W. from Columbia University and earned her undergraduate degree from Skidmore College, where she studied social work and American studies.

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Errol Louis, Host, “Inside City Hall,” NY1; Political Commentator, CNN

Errol Louis

Errol Louis is the Political Anchor of Spectrum News NY1, where he hosts “Inside City Hall,” a nightly prime-time show that focuses on New York politics. He is lso a political analyst for CNN, regularly appearing since 2008.

He regularly interviews top political and cultural leaders, and has moderated more than two dozen debates, including the race for mayor, public advocate, city and state comptroller, state Attorney General and the U.S. Senate. He also was a panelist in a 2016 Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Additionally, Louis is an adjunct professor of Urban Reporting at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Prior to joining Spectrum News NY1, Louis served on the Daily News’ editorial board, and he still pens weekly opinion columns for the newspaper. He also hosted a weekday talk show on AM1600 WWRL.

A graduate of New Rochelle High School, Louis attended Harvard College, where he graduated with a B.A. in Government. He also earned an M.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

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Conference Schedule

9-9:30am: Breakfast
9:30-10am: Opening Remarks/Honoree
10-11:20am: Public Sector Intrapreneurs
11:30am-12:50pm: The Future of Healthcare
1-2pm: Lunch & Keynote Speaker/Honoree
2-3:20pm: The Future of Work(ers)
3:30-4:50pm: The Future of Youth Development
5-5:30pm: Closing Plenary/Reception & Honoree

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