Board of Directors

Judge Analisa Torres has been a member of WHEDco's Board since 1998. Judge Torres currently serves on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District. Prior to her appointment by President Obama in 2012, she served on the Supreme Court, Criminal Division. Previously, she served for four years as a Judge in the New York City Civil Court and Criminal Court. Prior to this, Judge Torres was City Planning Commissioner in the Dinkins Administration where she advocated for low-income housing and increased day care facilities. Judge Torres also spent seven years practicing real estate law with several Manhattan-based firms. As a young child, she lived in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx, where her father was an assistant district attorney and her mother was a social worker at Morrisania Hospital (now the site of Urban Horizons). Judge Torres is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University School of Law.

Nancy Biberman is an expert on green, affordable housing and community development with over thirty years of experience in advocating for greater equity and justice in New York City. Nancy began her career as a Legal Services lawyer and went on to help create the SRO Law Project. While studying at Columbia University's School of Architecture and Planning with a Revson Fellowship, she conceived and developed the West End Intergenerational Residence. Subsequently, she developed over 700 units of affordable housing in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. She founded WHEDco in 1991 and has served as its President since. A frequent contributor to publications on housing law and policy, Ms. Biberman has taught at Harvard University, NYU, and the City University of New York.

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Linda Field has been involved in affordable housing in the Bronx and the New York City region for over 35 years. After beginning her career in City government, Ms. Field worked as Director of Development for a city-wide not-for-profit and then moved on to private practice as a housing consultant. As Principal of Linda F. Field Associates, her clients included not-for-profit and for-profit developers, banks, and community based organizations. Linda Field Associates was the consultant of record for over 3,000 new and rehabilitated subsidized apartments for families and senior citizens. Ms. Field formed Ashton Management LLC with Stephen Warren in 1998, which currently manages over 6,400 sponsor-owned rental apartments at Parkchester Condominiums. Over the last eight years, over 5,000 apartments have been restored by Ashton's on-site staff and rented to new tenants.

Sara Kay is the Programme Executive for Aging and Health at Atlantic Philanthropies. Before taking this post, she served as Policy Director for the New York eHealth Collaborative. Previously, she directed the Nathan Cummings Foundation’s Health Program, which supports nonprofit advocacy organizations across the country that work to improve access to healthcare and a clean environment. She also served in the Office of the New York City Comptroller, first as Senior Counsel and then as Director of the Office of Policy Management, where she and her staff conducted analyses and developed policy recommendations on a diverse set of municipal priorities including health care, economic development, education and social services issues. Her experience also includes teaching at Brooklyn Law School, corporate litigation with a major New York law firm and work as a legal services lawyer.

Lorna Brett Howard has over 20 years of communications experience, specializing in public affairs, crisis communication, and litigation support; and has served as Executive Director of the NY Fund for Public Advocacy, and President of the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women.  She has been an advocate and activist her entire adult life in areas such as women's issues, children's welfare issues, and affordable housing. In addition to her board work for WHEDco, Ms. Brett Howard also currently serves on the C-4 board of New York National Abortion Rights Action League and its Political Action Committee; the board of Voices for Illinois Children and Civic Federation of Chicago, and as a "Friend" of Baby Buggy and Vote Kids.  

Sara Horowitz founded Working Today in 1995 to represent the needs and concerns of the growing independent workforce. This nonprofit organization seeks to update the nation's social safety net, developing systems so that all working people can access affordable benefits, regardless of their job. Ms. Horowitz takes an entrepreneurial approach, pursuing creative, market-based solutions to social problems. In recognition of her efforts to create a self-sustaining organization of flexible workers, Ms. Horowitz was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1999. In 1996, the Stern Family Fund named her a Public Interest Pioneer, and she was an Echoing Green Foundation fellow. Ms. Horowitz is on the Board of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Before founding Working Today, Ms. Horowitz was a labor attorney, a union organizer, and a public defender in New York City.

Leisle is Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Prior to joining the Sloan Foundation, she served as the Executive Vice President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Ms. Lin has experience in the corporate, financial, and nonprofit fields. Her career began at Arthur Andersen & Company, where she worked in both the New York and Tokyo offices; she was Senior Treasury Analyst with Beatrice Company in Chicago; and then in New York, Regional Director of Operations for The Trust for Public Land - Mid-Atlantic Region. Leisle currently serves as a vice chair for the board of Philanthropy New York - the professional association of grantmakers in the NYC metropolitan region. She was elected to the board of the Community Service Society of New York in June of 2012, and also serves on its investment committee. Ms. Lin is a graduate of Yale University and the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Tameka Mayes, Esq. is the Senior Attorney with the U.S. Tax Counsel Group of General Motors. Previously, Ms. Mayes was tax attorney in two New York City law firms: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and Simpson, Thatcher and Bartlett. Ms. Mayes has done extensive pro bono work for New York City-based microenterprises, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. She is a recipient of the Cornerstone Award from Lawyers Alliance for New York, which recognized her outstanding commitment to pro bono legal services for NYC nonprofits. Ms. Mayes is also an active volunteer with other national and New York community-based organizations. She is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and Clark Atlanta University. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Mayes worked as a licensed Certified Public Accountant with Ernst & Young.

Robert McNatt is the Senior Editor for News and Features at Standard & Poors, a position he has held since 2004. He is a sought-after expert in US macroeconomic policy, including housing, credit, and health insurance. Mr. McNatt's recent articles include, "Consumer Credit and Loans: A Chilly Forecast" and "Insurers: Pain from Commercial Real Estate?" From 1996 to 2004, he was with Business Week, as a Department Editor and Associate Editor. Prior to working at Business Week, Mr. McNatt held reporter positions at CNN Financial News, the Detroit Free Press, Crain's New York Business, and Money Magazine. Mr. McNatt holds a degree in Economics from Yale University and attended the MFA program at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Dr. Susana Morales joined the Weill Cornell/NewYork- Presbyterian Hospital faculty in 1998 and is now Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and the Associate Chair for Educational Affairs in the Department of Medicine. She joined the faculty of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in 1989, and served as an Assistant Division Director for Education and Training. Her expertise includes primary care education and psychosocial issues in medicine. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the J. James Smith Memorial Award and of the National Medical Fellowships Community Service Award, presented for extraordinary commitment in the area of public health. Dr. Morales received her AB degree in Biology from Harvard University and her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Susan Saegert is Director of the Center for Human Environments and Professor of Environmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center. Since 1990, Dr. Saegert has worked in partnership with community organizations and coalitions to understand how to improve distressed housing and neighborhoods in New York City. Research with the Taskforce on City Owned Property in New York allowed Dr. Saegert to compare cooperative housing with other housing forms in distressed inner city neighborhoods. The results of this research have been published in Housing Policy Debate (a quarterly journal) and have been used to design programming models. Dr. Saegert co-authored "The Community Development Reader" published by Routledge in 2007. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan and her BA in Government from the University of Texas.

Pamela Sloan, Esq. is a Partner in the law firm Aronson, Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP and specializes in matrimonial law, litigation, and trials and appeals. She has been a member of various professional committees including the New York State Bar Association and International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She was recognized in 2003 as one of the best lawyers in America and in 2007 as one of the top 50 female lawyers in New York. In addition, Ms. Sloan is dedicated to being an active member of her community, having served on the Board of Directors for multiple non-profit organizations including United Way of Westchester, Angela House in the Bronx, and Pelham Education Foundation. Ms. Sloan received her JD from New York University.