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Staff DirectoryLeadership & Administration:
WHEDCo’s Programs:
Executive LeadershipNancy Biberman President Tom Guiltinan Vice President, Finance/Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Kramnick Chief Operating Officer & Interim Development Director Davon Russell Vice President, Programs Elizabeth Ghunney Executive Assistant
Development & CommunicationsDebbie Grunbaum Communications and Development Manager Rachel Barany Development Officer Nina Liebman Director of Fund Development
Research & EvaluationMeredith Reitman Director, Research & Evaluation
FinanceMaruja Saavedra Human Resources Administrator Maggie Colon Controller Samantha Victor Grants Manager Carolyn Rondon Accounts Payable Specialist
Information TechnologySteven Lujan Director of I.T./Chief Technology Officer
Education & Youth DevelopmentKathryn Aylwin Director of Youth Programs Chris Nieves Youth Development Associate Yovanny Ossorio Parent/Community Liaison/Youth Programs Assistant Nicole Jennings Project STEP Program Director
Family Day Care Microenterprise NetworkDiana Perez Director Family Daycare Microenterprise Network Veronica Caraballo Child & Adult Care Food Program Administrator Natalie Carlo Program Assistant Darlene Crichlow Clerical Assistant Evelyn Montes Home Visitor Specialist Elizabeth Morales Home Visitor Specialist Maria Sanchez Home Visitor Specialist
Family SupportDoxene Roberts LCSW/ACSW Director of Family Support Services Marco Berrios Family Support Worker Anthony Davis Family Support Worker Marcus Gotay Relocation Specialist Dawn Burley Family Support Worker Emily Rivera Program Coordinator Gilbert Rodriguez Relocation Specialist Lorell Rosa Family Support Worker Melissa Thomas Family Support Worker Idalis Vazquez Senior Case Manager
Head Start – Early Childhood Discovery CenterRose Rivera Director Head Start –Early Childhood Discovery Center Margarita Rojas Education Director, MS Norma Fernandez Family Service Coordinator Constance Manley Secretary/Record Keeper Yvonne Banks Teacher, MS Sue Ellen Larkin Teacher, MS Jessica Melendez Teacher, MS Aida Negron Teacher Cindy Ramos Teacher Martha Geraldo Family Worker Maria Perez-Soto Family Worker Lauris Laureano Family Worker Estella Leonard Assistant Teacher Katia Pena Assistant Teacher Linna Perez Assistant Teacher Maria Perez Assistant Teacher Kordula Toribio Assistant Teacher Lorena Meza Assistant Teacher Judith Buchalter Assistant Teacher Jacqueline Guerrero Assistant Teacher Adrian Hodge Assistant Teacher Maria Challinger Cook Celia Gonzalez Assistant Cook Housing & Community DevelopmentValerie Neng Director of Housing and Community Development
Urban Horizons KitchenRobin Chesser Kitchen Manager
Executive Leadership & Program Director BiographiesNancy Biberman President, founded WHEDCo in 1991. With the dream of reclaiming the abandoned Morrisania Hospital to create affordable housing coupled with an economic development center designed to create opportunities for women and their families to succeed at home, in school and at work. With her broad background in developing housing and homelessness programs and providing legal services to low-income New Yorkers, Ms. Biberman made her dream a reality. The Fannie Mae Foundation awarded Ms. Biberman a Johnson Fellowship to advance the fields of housing and community development. During her fellowship in 2007, Ms. Biberman will have a special opportunity to work with historians and other scholars to explore the impact of urban renewal on Bronx residents. By more fully understanding the Bronx’s rich cultural history and the lasting impact of the economic and social collapse of the 1970s, Ms. Biberman will lead WHEDCo’s program development and formulate policy recommendations that will make a sustainable difference in the lives of Bronx residents. Before she launched WHEDCo, Ms. Biberman directed a $60-million, city-financed housing rehabilitation for low- and moderate-income families in the South Bronx from 1988-91. Upon completion of a Revson Fellowship at Columbia University School of Architecture and Planning in 1986, she conceived and developed the West End Intergenerational Residence, a facility on Manhattan's Upper West Side that is nationally recognized for its services to homeless families and seniors. Prior to that, Ms. Biberman was Director of the East Side SRO Law Project form 1980-85, where she represented mentally ill and elderly clients. She began her career as a practicing attorney from 1973-85, where she focused on housing and domestic violence issues affecting low-income women and children. Ms. Biberman has been a public policy advocate for more than two decades, working at all levels of government on issues of housing, welfare, and domestic violence prevention. In addition to writing several publications on housing law and policy, Ms. Biberman has taught at New York University School of Urban Studies, New York University Law School, and CUNY Law School. She has also served as a Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard University. top Tom Guiltinan Vice President of Finance & Chief Financial Officer has been at WHEDCo since 2004. Prior to joining WHEDCo, he worked with a start-up community development venture capital fund known as Opportunity Growth Fund here in New York. Before that, Mr. Guiltinan worked for Yale University Properties in New Haven, where he was responsible for overseeing and strengthening Yale's community development initiatives. For a summer, he worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation researching and assembling a database to critique the art museum industry and develop a more sustainable business model for museums. Mr. Guiltinan started his professional career in Philadelphia, where he was Executive Director of United Communities Community Development Corporation, an organization devoted to revitalizing an economically distressed urban community through planning, real estate development, and economic development initiatives. He earned an MBA from Yale University and a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the board of several not-for-profits, including the Greater Dwight Development Corporation in New Haven and the Grass Roots Alliance for a Solar Pennsylvania. top Rebecca Kramnick General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer is responsible for legal issues related to WHEDCo’s work, and for the overall operations of WHEDCo’s programs and facilities. She joined WHEDCo after serving as senior staff attorney at Lawyers Alliance for New York which provides legal services to New York City’s community-based organizations. At Lawyers Alliance, Ms. Kramnick headed the employment group, advising nonprofits on human resources and personnel matters. She also directed Lawyers Alliance's youth services initiative, advising nonprofits on a wide range of legal issues related to working with children. Ms. Kramnick frequently lectured to nonprofit managers on employment law, nonprofit law, contracts, insurance, volunteers and other topics. She has led workshops for the Robin Hood Foundation, The After-School Corporation and United Way of New York City. She has taught continuing legal education courses to attorneys on subjects related to nonprofit and employment law. Prior to joining Lawyers Alliance, Ms. Kramnick practiced employment and employee benefits law as an associate with three New York City law firms. At Chadbourne and Parke, LLP (1992 -1996) and Richards and O'Neil, LLP (1997-1998), she advised corporations and union employee benefit plans. At Cohen, Weiss and Simon (1998-2001), she advised labor unions as well as pension and benefit plans. Ms. Kramnick is a 1992 graduate of Cornell Law School and a 1987 graduate of Harvard College. A daughter of a feminist writer mother, a social activist father, and pro-choice pioneer grandmother, Ms. Kramnick is also a founding board member of Ibis Reproductive Health, an international nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts which aims to improve women's reproductive autonomy, choices and health worldwide. top Valerie Neng Director of Housing & Community Development, joined WHEDCo in 2007. She is project managing Urban Horizons II and Foyer, two buildings slated for construction completion in 2008. She is also leading the Urban Horizons Retrofit Project, WHEDCo's efforts to create a replicable model for building owners to retrofit affordable housing into sustainable, high performance buildings. Prior to WHEDCo, Ms. Neng worked in the Division of New Construction Finance at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD). At HPD, she helped manage the NYC Housing Trust Fund, a subsidy program funded with $130 million in Battery Park City monies to create and preserve affordable housing citywide. Also, she worked on a variety of green building initiatives at HPD. Before entering the public/nonprofit realm, Ms. Neng was a researcher with management consultants McKinsey & Company. She has a B.A. in International Studies from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.top Diana Perez Director of Family Daycare Microenterprise Network coordinates the Family Day Care program that builds a high-quality community network of certified providers who care for children in their homes. Ms. Perez and her staff conduct home visits, teach standardized child care curricula, work with child care agencies in the community, and help providers with the tools necessary to turn their endeavors into viable, family sustaining businesses. Prior to joining WHEDCO in 1995, she worked with the Athena Project. Her background also includes working as a parent educator with the Mount Hope Housing Corporation in the Bronx, and training in early childhood development, child abuse, and family day care at Bank Street College of Education. Ms. Perez is a advocate and advisor on policy and licensing issues and practices. top Meredith Reitman Director of Research and Evaluation, joined WHEDCo in 2007 to develop an intensive, field-based research agenda for the organization and its programs. This research investigates the impact of WHEDCo’s programs on the population served while helping to establish and track the organization’s performance metrics. Dr. Reitman has over ten years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research. Before joining WHEDCo, she worked as an evaluator for state and federal energy assistance programs. Prior to that, Dr. Reitman was based at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as an assistant professor, teaching and conducting research on the role of race in the workplace and labor market. Dr. Reitman holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Washington, an MA in Geography from UCLA and a BA in Geography and Economics from Vassar College. top Rose Rivera Director of Head Start –Early Childhood Discovery Center joined WHEDCo in 1997 to direct our on-site childcare facility that fully services the needs of 104 neighborhood pre-school children and their families each year. She has over 30 years of experience in the field of childhood education – as an assistant teacher, paraprofessional, and teacher – in both public and private school settings. Ms. Rivera previously worked as an early childhood program developer for the American Red Cross, director of an LPOS pre-school, and education director for a Head Start program for The Children's Aid Society's Community Schools Program in Upper Manhattan. top Doxene Roberts, LCSW/ACSW Director of Family Support Services manages both WHEDCo’s center- and school-based Family Support programs that that helps women and their families with basic needs and wrap-around supportive services. She develops and oversees protocols and systems consistent with accepted social work standards. She joined WHEDCo’s staff in March 1998 with over a decade of clinical and administrative experience working with individuals and families in the Bronx and Westchester. Ms. Roberts serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Prevent Child Abuse New York and organizes a neighborhood walk each April to raise support and awareness. top Davon Russell Vice President, Programs joined WHEDCo in 1997 to develop and launch our award-winning after-school program at our neighboring school PS/MS 218 which formally opened in September 1999. In January 2007 he was promoted to Vice President, Programs with full responsibility for developing, maintaining and overseeing quality programs that best address the needs of our community residents. As the Director of Education & Youth Development, Mr. Russell coordinated and supervised the After-School, Summer Arts, and Teen programs. He managed a staff of over 100 with a $1.3 million budget and served as the liaison between WHEDCO and the school’s staff. In fall 2006, he launched an additional after-school program at PS 2 in Morrisania. Mr. Russell is the 2001 recipient of the PASEsetter Award Certificate in recognition of outstanding service to New York City’s youth from the Partnership for After-School Education. He serves as a Program Coach in The After School Corporation's Coach-Mentee Program, and the Advisory Committee of the Madison Square Garden Cheering For Children Foundation. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, appointed Mr. Russell to serve on the Community Education Council of the New York City Department of Education. Mr. Russell holds earned a BA in Telecommunications and Film and a MA in Theatre from the University of Oregon, Eugene. He worked as a professional actor for five years. top
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