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Board Members

Board Members

Alan Fishman

Chairman

Alan Fishman has had a long career in banking and finance with key positions at Manufacturers Hanover, Chase, and as the Chairman and CEO of Independence Community Bank and President of the NY-NJ Division of Sovereign Bank; he is currently the Chairman of the Meridian Capital Group. One of Brooklyn’s most eminent civic leaders, Alan also chairs the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and co-chairs the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

Martin Baumrind

Martin Baumrind is a principal of Baumrind and Baumrind, a real estate investment firm in New York. Mr. Baumrind currently serves on the boards of Ohr Haganuz, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. He is a member of many professional associations including the NYS Association of Realtors, Small Property Owners of New York and the Real Estate Boards of New York and Brooklyn. Mr. Baumrind is also a member of the ACLU, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, American Jewish Congress, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Prospect Park Alliance and other local and international nonprofit organizations. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Richmond College.

Robert Catell

Chairman

Robert Catell is Chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook (AERTC) and the NYS Smart Grid Consortium. He began his career with Brooklyn Union in 1958, rising to CEO; Chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation, the successor of Brooklyn Union; and Chairman, U.S., National Grid which acquired KeySpan in 2007, until his retirment in 2009. Mr. Catell has served on numerous Boards in Brooklyn and beyond and currently chairs Futures in Education Endowment Fund, Cristo Rey Network's Lourdes Academy, and co-chairs the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership

Rohit Desai

Board Member

Rohit Desai is Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of Desai Capital Management Inc. which he founded in 1984 as a private equity investment firm. He has served on the boards of several public and private companies involved in varied businesses. Mr. Desai is a Trustee of the East West Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Trustee Emeritus of the Asia Society.

Donald Elliott

Board Member

Donald Elliott, a lawyer, has worked for various law firms as well as serving as Chairman of the NYC Planning Commission where he was responsible for some of the more notable developments in the City. With extensive experience in land use, he is currently involved in a major effort to renew downtown Brooklyn. He serves on the Boards of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Edward F. Gentner, Jr.

Board Member

Edward F. Gentner, Jr., a lawyer born and raised in Brooklyn, is a partner of Cullen and Dykman, LLP with a specialty in banking, real estate and corporate litigation, much of which is Brooklyn based. He currently serves on the Board of the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service.

Ralph Herzka

Ralph Herzka founded Meridian Capital Group, LLC in 1991 and currently serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Herzka has been in the real estate finance business for more than two decades, driving his firm’s overall growth and successful expansion into new markets to make Meridian one of the largest commercial mortgage brokers in the United States.

Sr. Elizabeth Hill

Board Member

Sr. Elizabeth Hill, CSJ, is President of St. Joseph’s College. A lawyer and historian by training, Sister Elizabeth was a staff attorney in the Catholic Migration Office in Brooklyn. She serves on many Boards including the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson

Board Member

The Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson is the Executive Director of the New York chapter of the Children’s Defense Fund and Associate Pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn. She was the Executive Director of Girls Inc. and the Executive Vice President of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation before moving to CDF. She serves on several Boards including the Union Theological Seminary where she received her Masters in Divinity and the Weeksville Heritage Center.

Malcolm MacKay

Board Member

Malcolm MacKay served as Managing Director of the Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive recruitment firm, and led its not-for-profit practice. A lawyer, MacKay has years of experience in law, management and government service and has served on numerous Boards including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Historical Society and Pratt Institute. He currently serves on the Boards of Episcopal Social Services and Greenwood Cemetery.

Richard W. Moore

Richard W. Moore is a partner of Duckworth & Moore. His practice is concentrated in the areas of trusts and estates including estate planning. Dick graduated from Harvard College in 1971 and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1975. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and of the New York State and American Bar Associations. Dick and his wife Barbara, a teacher, have three grown children and live in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, where they are involved in a number of community organizations and activities.

Maria Fiorini Ramirez

Board Member

Maria Fiorini Ramirez is President and CEO of Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc., an independent global economic and financial consulting firm founded in 1992. With extensive background in the money markets, Ms. Ramirez is a regular guest on TV and radio business reports and has served on various Boards including Ballet Hispanico, the New York Women’s Agenda and the Medic Alert Foundation.

Constance Rogers Roosevelt

Constance Rogers Roosevelt has been a writer and editor at Time/Life Books, American Heritage, William Morrow and Company and Viking Press. She has served on a number of nonprofit boards including the Brooklyn Museum and the New York Society Library. Ms. Roosevelt holds an MA in Anthropology from University of Pennsylvania, a BA in English from Vassar College and is currently enrolled in an MA program in Conservation Biology at Columbia University.

Hildy Simmons

Board Member

Hildy Simmons has extensive experience in the philanthropic world, currently advising select clients on their philanthropic activities. Before becoming a consultant she was a Managing Director and head of the Global Foundations group at JPMorgan and ran its corporate philanthropy program. She serves on many Boards including the Taconic Foundation and Jerome L. Greene Foundation and chairs the NYC Board of Correction.

Lester Young

Board Member

Lester Young is a lifelong educator, currently Professor of Human Development and Leadership at Long Island University Graduate School of Education and the Regent at Large of SUNY. With extensive experience as a principal and superintendent in the NYC public school systems he has been responsible for establishing some of the more successful high schools and middle schools in the City. He also serves on the Boards of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and the Billie Holiday Theater.