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Board Biographies
Dr. David J. Maurrasse, Chairman of the
Board
David Maurrasse is the President & CEO of Marga
Incorporated, a Consulting firm, which advises foundations, government,
universities, and Financial institutions on how to make their resources
as useful as possible in communities and society. He is also
a Research Associate and adjunct professor at Columbia University's
School of International and Public Affairs.
David was a full time professor at Columbia University,
from 2000 to 2004. He had previously been a full time professor
at Yale University as well. As a prolific author, David has
published books that merge scholarship with practical guidance on
strategies for community and economic development that engage both
communities and major institutions, including A Future For Everyone
(2004, Routledge) and Beyond the Campus: How Colleges and Universities
Form Partnerships with Their Communities (2001, Routledge).
David's forthcoming Listening to Harlem: Gentrification, Community,
and Business (2006, Routledge) explores economic, cultural,
and demographic transitions in Harlem, particularly as they are
being experienced by long time residents.
At Columbia, David founded the Center for Innovation
in Social Responsibility, which promoted research and dialogue toward
more effective partnerships between major institutions/industries
and communities.
While at the Rockefeller Foundation, David handled
the "Building Community" portfolio, which supported comprehensive
community development initiatives and seeded innovative university/community
partnerships.
David is a graduate of the University of Michigan,
and he received a PhD in sociology from Northwestern University.
He is the former Chair of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management,
and the current Chair of the Alliance for Community Enhancement
(ACE) at Columbia University (funded by the Ford Foundation), a
student-run nonprofit organization that partners with community-based
organizations in Harlem.
Sara Kochanowsky, Secretary
Sara is a second-year Masters in Public Administration
(MPA) degree student concentrating in Nonprofit Management at the
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Before serving
as the Executive Director for ACE this year, Sara worked with ACE
in the spring of 2003 to help plan the Harlem Treasures book
launch event at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Sara enjoys working with ACE because its staff
members are motivated, hard-working, committed to service, and always
looking to make their community a better place. She has also been
able to learn more about managing a nonprofit during her time at
ACE, gathering skills that vary from dealing with day-to-day responsibilities,
to thinking about long-term organizational strategies and goals.
Prior to coming to graduate school, Sara worked
at a consulting firm for four years. While there, she participated
in their pro-bono efforts in the Boston-area community. Through
that work, she became aware of how much she enjoyed building partnerships
within communities, which led to her study of nonprofits and her
work at ACE.
Jenifer Gager
Jenifer Gager directs the Child Care Business Development
Project, an initiative of the Business Outreach Center Network (BOCN)
designed to create jobs in the child-care field by supporting business
owners with business, legal, and professional assistance. Jenifer
has worked in the community and economic development field for nearly
five years. Past projects include developing a community policing
plan for the South of Market Street neighborhood of San Francisco
and providing technical assistance and consulting for workforce
development programs in New York City and nationwide. A graduate
of the University of Washington (Bachelor’s of Arts) and Columbia
University (Master’s in Public Administration), Jenifer served as
the Executive Director of ACE from 2001-2002.
Randy Goodman
Randolph M. Goodman is a Partner and Lawyer at
Wilmer, Cutler, and Pickering, Hale, and Dorr LLC, where he specializes
in non-profit law, advising leading universities, foundations, businesses,
and other major institutions throughout the country in matters concerning
non-profit organizations, such as: retirement and health law, taxation,
fiduciary responsibilities, business transactions, and executive
compensation.
Randy is also an Adjunct Professor of Public Affairs
at Columbia University where he teaches a course on “Law for Non-Profit
Managers” at the School of International and Public Affairs. With
his expertise in legal matters for non-profit organizations, Randy
played an important role in helping the Alliance for Community Enhancement
create its founding legal documents.
Additionally, Randy is a member of the District
of Columbia Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and
serves as Chair of the Compensation and Benefits Section - Exempt
Organization Committee of the ABA Section of Taxation. He has served
on the Healthcare Advisory Board of the University of California
at Irvine Graduate School of Management as a member of the National
Advisory Board for CCH Financial and Estate Planning. He also has
chaired the Tax Section of the National Association of College and
University Attorneys.
Dierdra Gray
Dierdra Gray is currently the Vice President of
Staffing and Organizational Development at Teach for America. Before
coming to that position, Dierdra worked for many years as the Special
Assistant and Campaign Manager for the Westchester Country Executive,
Andy Spano. As his Special Assistant, Dierdra created the Westchester
Scholars Program for disadvantaged youth. She also oversaw the Westchester
County Trailblazers Awards, which highlight the achievements of
local residents. Dierdra has a Master’s in Public Administration
degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public
Affairs. Before entering Columbia, she was the Director of Outreach
for the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, which was
the college from which she received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree.
Alex Martinez
Alex Martinez is the Director of Access to Health
Care programs at United Way of New York City. In this capacity,
he oversees four programs in the area of adolescent mental health,
access to pharmaceuticals for seniors and the disabled, childhood
asthma, and HIV/AIDS. Alex formerly was the Director of the Women
and Families Initiative, a program that provides supportive service
to women and their families infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Prior
to joining United Way, Alex served as Assistant Director of Government
Relations at the American Museum of Natural History and as Director
of Constituent Services for Council Member Ronnie Eldridge. Alex
has extensive knowledge of State and City governments, non-profit
management, and experience in HIV/AIDS issues relating to women
and children. Through his leadership, the Women and Families Initiative
released a Voices From the Field report on HIV/AIDS in New
York City that has received extensive media coverage. The report
was commissioned to expose the changing face of AIDS, to identify
critical courses of action, and to reinvigorate the fight against
the deadly disease. Mr. Martinez holds a Master’s in Public Administration
from Columbia University with a concentration in Advanced Management
and has Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University.
Susanna Prough
Susanna Prough is the Budget Manager at the Carnegie Hall Corporation.
In this newly created position, she oversees the budget for
the Administration Department and works with various government
agencies to manage public funds
for capital infrastructure projects at Carnegie Hall. Previously,
Susanna was at the New York City Mayor's Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), where she worked with the Department of Citywide Administrative
Services
(DCAS) and the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) to plan
and monitor the City's capital budget for public building projects.
She also monitored the operating budgets for various agencies,
including the Board of Elections and Campaign Finance Board. Prior
to joining the public sector,
Susanna worked primarily with nonprofit arts organizations, including
the New York Youth Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra (CO),
the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the Philadelphia Classical
Symphony. Susanna is a
2003 graduate of the Columbia's School of Public and International
Affairs (SIPA). At SIPA, Susanna concentrated in Advanced
Management Techniques, focusing on Nonprofit Management and Finance.
She was the Executive Director
for the Alliance for Community Enhancement at Columbia University
(ACE) during the 2002-03 academic year. During her tenure,
Harlem Treasures, ACE's guidebook about Harlem and its churches,
was published and a strategic plan
evaluating the organization's role in the community and the University
was completed. She continues to be involved with ACE as a
board member.
Marisol Cunnington
Marisol Cunnington is alumna of Columbia’s School
of International and Public Affairs’s (SIPA) Master of Public Administration
(MPA), Class of 2005. She has a Master of Arts in Developmental
Psychology from Teachers College, New York and a Bachelor of Arts
in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She
has extensive experience working with nonprofit organizations in
various capacities, ranging from volunteering in a Harlem Tutorial
program to being a graduate research fellow for the National Center
for Children and Families. As part of the California Institute
on Human Services, she assisted with the research and writing of
a $3 million grant proposal for after school program, supervised
site staff, led team meetings, organized family and school events,
conducted reading lessons with students, recruited volunteers, planned
programming and events with school staff, coordinated preschool
literacy program, organized community service projects and attended
service-learning and program development trainings.
She was the Executive Director for the Alliance
for Community Enhancement at Columbia University (ACE) during the
2004-05 academic year. During her tenure, ACE secured a $70,000
grant from the Ford Foundation for its Youth Mentoring Program.
She continues to be involved with ACE as a board member.
Robert C. Lieberman
Robert Lieberman is an Associate Professor of Political Science
and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Currently, his
research interests are in American political development, race and
politics, and social welfare policy and the welfare state.
Lieberman is the author of Shifting the Color Line: Race and
the American Welfare State, which won several major book awards.
His most recent book, Shaping Race Policy: The United States
in Comparative Perspective, was published in 2005 by Princeton
University Press. In addition he has published numerous articles
in journals including the American Political Science Review, Political
Research Quarterly, and Social Science History, as well as chapters
in edited collections.
Lieberman holds a B.A. from Yale University as well as an M.A. and
a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has received fellowships from
the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the German
Marshall Fund of the United States, and the National Endowment for
the Humanities, and has been a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage
Foundation.
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