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The
Groundwork Board of Directors |
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Groundwork's
Board of Directors come from diverse experiences in both the private and
public sectors. We are proud to have them as part of the team.
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Matt
Klein,
Founding Chair
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Matt
is the Executive Director of Blue Ridge Foundation New York, a private foundation
supporting organizations working in the areas of youth development, education,
community building, and the public interest use of technology. Matt is a
co-founder of LEAP, a nationally recognized youth development agency operating
in high-poverty neighborhoods throughout Connecticut. Begun in 1992, LEAP
has garnered awards from the Children's Defense Fund and the Peter F. Drucker
Foundation, among others. In his legal work, Matt focused on issues of equal
opportunity, clerking for such organizations as the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund and the U.S. Department of Justice. He served as a law clerk for the
Judge Robert L. Carter in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Matt attended
Yale Law School and Yale College. |
Ojeda Hall-Phillips
Vice-Chair |
Ojeda
Hall-Phillips is the Executive Vice President and the Director of the Women©ˆs
Business Center of the Local Development Corporation of East New York. Ms.
Phillips was an associate in the Financial Divisions at two major Wall Street
investment banks in the seven years prior to joining the Local Development
Corporation of East New York in 1999. She is also a recent author of an
article on women and finances for a major national lifestyle magazine. Ms.
Phillips serves on the boards of the New York City Financial Network Action
Consortium (NYCfNAC) whose mission is to build better community development
credit unions in New York City, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, a highly
effective Brooklyn-based job training and employment program in Brooklyn,
and the Genesis Homes Community Development Corporation in East New York,
Brooklyn. She graduated with an A.B. in Government from Harvard University
and is a Masters of Theological Studies candidate at Drew University. |
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Mark Pendarvis ,
Secretary
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Mark
Pendarvis is a native of East New York, Brooklyn and has long been active
in community affairs. He was formerly a member of community school board
19, which serves the East New York community. A graduate of CW Post College,
Mark is currently an investment manager at Morgan Stanley. |
Richard Buery,
President |
Richard
has an extensive background in nonprofit management, youth development,
education, and public interest law. Most recently, Richard co-founded iMentor,
a technology education and mentoring program that connects middle and high
school students with professional mentors. Richard is a co-founder and former
director of the Mission Hill Summer Program, an enrichment program for children
in the Mission Hill Housing Development in the Roxbury section of Boston.
He also taught fifth grade at an orphanage in Bindura, Zimbabwe as a Michael
Clarke Rockefeller Memorial Fellow. In his legal work, Richard was a staff
attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice, and before that was a law clerk
for Judge John M. Walker, Jr. of the Federal Court of Appeals in New York
City. He has also clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Lawyers
Committee for Civil Rights, and the D.C. Public Defender Service. He serves
on the board of directors of City Project, a New York City budget watchdog
organization, and serves on the advisory boards of Community Works, the
NPowerNY Workforce Development Project, Youth Inc., Making Opportunities
for Upgrading Schools and Education (MOUSE), and the Economic Opportunities
Program of the Aspen Institute. Born and raised in East New York, Richard
graduated from Yale Law School and Harvard College. |
Jason Scott,
Founding Board Member |
Jason
has founded, led, and advised both youth development oriented nonprofits
and start up business enterprises. Jason helped found and lead national
youth development organization Public Allies and was President and COO of
software company Togglethis. He has worked as a consultant to the Rockefeller
Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies and venture capital firm Flatiron Partners.
Jason serves on the board of directors of youth development organizations
LISTEN, Inc. (currently co-Chair) and Public Allies, as well as the Full
Circle Fund. Jason is a graduate of Duke University, where he was an instructor
on Social Enterprise issues in 2000 and the author of "After the Bubble:
Recommendations for Investors in Internet-based Social Enterprises in Challenging
Times.". |
Julius Walls, Jr.,
Board Member |
Julius Walls,
Jr. was recently named CEO of the Greyston Foundation, having previously
been the Vice-President for Business Enterprises and Job Development for
Greyston Foundation and CEO of the Greyston Bakery. Greyston Foundation
is a values driven network of not-for-profit and for-profit organizations
founded to help transform the lives of individuals, families and communities.
Greyston is located in and focuses the large majority of its community development
and social service work in the southwest section of Yonkers, New York. Born
in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York and educated at Catholic schools
throughout his early years, Julius went to the catholic college seminary
to pursue the priesthood. He later transferred to Baruch College to study
business. Julius worked first in the accounting field at a midsize CPA firm.
He was given an opportunity to work for a chocolate company and was appointed,
at the age of 27, to the position of Vice President, Operations. In his
final years at the chocolate company, Julius started his own fund raising
company, Sweet Roots, Inc. Sweet Roots was a chocolate bar made from African
cocoa and packaged in a kente cloth designed wrapper and sold to schools
and other organizations for fund raising. He is Vice Chair of the Workforce
Investment Board ú Yonkers, Vice-Chair of SEA Change, and serves
on the boards of the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce and the Yonkers YMCA. |
Josh Wright,
Board Member |
Joshua Wright
is Vice President, Supply Chain Operations at Random House, Inc. Before
joining Random House in January 2001, Mr. Wright was a Senior Associate
at Booz Allen & Hamilton focusing on business and operations strategy
in the media and entertainment group. While attending the Yale School of
Management, Mr. Wright was a Research Associate for the Department of Housing
and Urban Development©ˆs Community Renaissance Program. Prior
to returning to school, he was a Tenant Community Organizer in the Community
Pride Program of the Harlem Children©ˆs Zone (formerly Rheedlen
Center for Children and Families) in Harlem, New York and held various leadership
positions at Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership in New Haven,
Connecticut. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, he graduated with a B.A.
in Economics from Wesleyan University and received an MBA from the Yale
School of Management. He is a founder of the New York City Full Circle Fund. |