Board President

Nisa Geller has a passion for social justice and building partnerships that enhance communities. Prior to working at WYA she served as the Board Co-chair and Advisor to the Executive Director of Generation Ubuntu, a agency that provided social and emotional support for children living with AIDS and HIV in South Africa. For over a decade, Ms. Geller was the Photography Editor of Scientific American Magazine. After that she returned to graduate school to re-tool for a digital world. She then served as a Producer for NASA –funded grants to develop online content for the American Museum of Natural History designing some of the first digital interactive exhibits and websites. She is a proud mother of three amazing humans, two WYA alums, and an active member of her community where she serves on the Advisory board of Katonah Museum of Art. She holds a BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MPS from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Vice President

Lori Benson has recently retired after more than 25 years as a financial consultant. Professionally she has always been passionate about young adults and created a firmwide committee to focus on harnessing the fantastic energy and insights of this cohort. Lori volunteered for and served on the Board of the Youth Advocacy Project; its mission had been to help teens and young adults aging out of the foster care system to learn to advocate for themselves and take control of their lives. Lori has lived in Westchester for 20 years with her husband Neil and together they raised two boys in the Pocantico Hills and Briarcliff Manor school districts. She was on the board of Pocantico Hills School Foundation which raised money to fund grant requests to support teachers’ goals. She loves hiking, skiing, reading, and NYT games.

Vice President

Mary is passionate about advocating for women, underserved communities, and especially young people. She currently serves on the Board of the YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester and has previously served on the Katonah Village Library Board and the Town of Bedford DEI Committee.

Mary has a background in education, technology, and law. She holds a B.A. in Government and Literature from American University, an M.A. in Instructional Technology from San José State University, and a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Her career in education included working directly with high school students, coordinating library/media services, and developing Westchester County’s first information literacy curriculum. She also practiced law before returning to education because of her passion for working with teens.

Mary believes there is no better measure of a good day than knowing she has helped a young person believe in herself.

Secretary

Now retired, Laura spent most of her career at Mastercard, where she was most recently Senior Vice President, Corporate Solutions, Healthcare. Past roles included enterprise strategy, product and relationship management, and marketing, and Laura twice served in the Office of the CEO. Laura also spent time at IBM and Brodia, an electronic wallet start-up, and served as a freelance producer on the “Forum” program at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. Laura and her husband Dave have two grown sons and live in Chappaqua.

Laura is excited to join the WYA Board at a time when our world is increasingly divided. She believes that personal connections are the key to breaking down barriers, and that equipping our youth with the opportunity, tools, and confidence to advocate for change can have a lasting impact on how they move through the world.

Treasurer

Tom Morton is a finance and operations executive with extensive experience helping organizations strengthen operations, improve performance, and navigate growth. He has worked across a range of industries, including consumer products, professional services, manufacturing, pharmacy, and e-commerce.

Tom has held senior leadership roles with Accenture, CSC, Maxwell House, and Kraft Foods, and has served as a fractional CFO for more than a dozen companies. He has also advised startups and middle-market businesses in COO and CFO roles, including successfully guiding one company through its emergence from Chapter 11. Tom has served as co-chairman of the Executive Forum Angels in the New York Metro area and previously served on the board of Second Chance Toys.

Tom holds a BBA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Iona University. He brings to WYA a strong combination of financial expertise, operational leadership, and strategic experience.

Past President

Laurie Hirsch Schulz is the owner of LHS Coaching, a coaching and consulting practice working with individuals and small business owners to activate change and growth in their careers and organizations. Her coaching combines expertise developed through a successful 20+ year corporate career in marketing and business strategy at Kraft Foods and Visa Inc. with the tools of transformative coaching.  Laurie founded Broad River in January 2019, a women’s networking organization based in the Westchester Rivertowns that has grown to 300+ members within the first year.  She served on various committees and in executive positions on the board of Pleasantville Community Synagogue for nine years through June, 2019. 

Board Member

Angel Gray is the Program and Policy Manager at Westchester Children’s Association, a multi-issue children’s advocacy organization. Throughout her career, she has worked in psychiatric hospitals, alternative high schools, residential treatment centers, and community-based home visiting and mental health programs, providing family support, education, intervention, and prevention services.

Angel holds a B.A. in Psychology from Spelman College and master’s degrees in Organizational Leadership from Mercy College and Social Work from New York University.

A strong believer in the power of youth to drive positive change, Angel is passionate about ensuring young people have access to the support and opportunities they need to thrive. She joined WYA to help advance resources and guidance that address the social-emotional, economic, developmental, and societal needs of Westchester’s youth.

Board Member

Julia began her career in banking operations in Chicago before moving to New York and eventually settling in White Plains. In the early 2000s, she transitioned to education, serving as a Special Education Assistant Teacher in the White Plains City School District and facilitating the Learning Strategies Program at Eastview Middle School for more than 18 years. She also helped develop and advise the Eastview Humanity Project, a student-led initiative focused on kindness and strengthening the school community.

Now retired, Julia remains actively engaged in community service. She is a team leader with Westchester Moms Demand Action, supporting gun violence prevention efforts, and volunteers with Westchester PFLAG, advocating for LGBTQ+ youth and their families. A longtime member of Congregation Kol Ami, she teaches in the Religious School and participates in social justice initiatives.

Julia lives in White Plains with her husband, Jory, where they raised their two sons.

Board Member

Emily Winograd Leonard is an Assistant Attorney General at the New York State Office of the Attorney General, where she works on law enforcement accountability and oversight. She is also adjunct faculty at Columbia Law School and St. John’s University, where she teaches courses on police oversight and criminal procedure. Previously, Emily was a public defender at The Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Emily also serves as a director of connectED, the Bedford Central School District’s special education parent-teacher organization. She is honored to serve on the Westchester Youth Alliance Board and is committed to supporting young people and strengthening community connections across Westchester.

Board Member

Howard spent 43 years in public education, the bulk of these in Scarsdale. Trained as an English teacher and later as an administrator, he helped to start the interdisciplinary Civic Education Program in the 1980's.   In the early 1990’s he helped to found and served as the first director of the Senior Options Program.  In 2005 he became director of the Scarsdale Alternative School where he led that democratic community school until his retirement in 2017.  Born in Brooklyn and raised in a small town in north Georgia where he attended public school, Howard completed his undergraduate work at Brandeis University, and he holds two Masters degrees.  He and his wife live in White Plains where they raised their two sons.   An active member of Congregation Kol Ami, Howard is committed to interfaith dialogue and social activism. He has been a featured speaker, writer and workshop leader on moral education, democratic education, staff development, experiential education, and on school reform, across the country.

Board Member

Jackie Kunhardt is the Director of Family Ministries at Bedford Presbyterian Church. Prior to BPC, Jackie worked in development for over 10 years, most recently as Director of Development & Communications at Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), an organization that helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts. While completing a Master of Divinity degree at Yale Divinity School, Jackie worked as a community organizer with churches, synagogues and mosques in New Haven, CT and helped organize a grassroots campaign to ensure undocumented students could access in-state tuition at state universities in CT. Jackie lives in Bedford, NY with her husband and two young children. She is honored to be a part of WYA’s vital mission and can’t wait to see her sons grow into WYA participants.

Board Member

Andres Castillo-Quintana is a government and nonprofit professional. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. With many years of experience as a program manager in the healthcare industry and having previously served as a council member in the Town of Bedford, he is passionate about creating equitable systems, policies and resources that enable all communities to thrive. As a first-generation immigrant from Peru who grew up in northern Westchester, he also has a deep understanding of underserved families and what it will take to empower youth from all walks of life. 

Board Member

Lisa Zimmerman received her B.S. from Lehigh University and launched her career in public accounting. After receiving her MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, she worked in magazine publishing for 18 years at Time Inc. and American Express Publishing, in finance and production roles.

In 2004, Lisa entered the non-profit world, joining Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture shortly after its founding — just around the corner from her home in Briarcliff Manor. As Director of Finance & Operations, she helped grow the organization over the next 16 years.

Now retired, with her husband David still working and her son Will launched in his own career, Lisa is glad to bring her non profit, financial and operational experience to the WYA and its mission to build bridges across our county’s youth.