The iMentor Team

Staff & Boards

iMentor (and its 1,600 program participants) are powered and supported by iMentor's dedicated staff, Board of Directors, Young Executive Board, and Board of Advisors. Learn more about our team, including bios below.

iMentor Staff  |   Board of Directors   |   Young Executive Board   |  

Board of Advisors

iMentor Staff

*Click on staff names for bios and contact information.

Lauren Andrews, iMentor Interactive Partnership Manager

Catherine Ang, Senior Program Coordinator

Cleo Brooks, Managing Director of Development

Michelle Young Choi, Program Manager

Devon Claridge, Executive Assistant

Amy Cruz, Program Coordinator

Kimberley Ednie, Managing Director of Programs

Unique Fraser, Director of Curricula

Sandra Henry, Volunteer Coordinator

Alexander James, Program Coordinator

Susanne James, Chief Operating Officer

Molly Lopez, Development Manager

Ellen Mahoney, Volunteer Manager

Meredith Maier, Program Coordinator

Mike O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer

Caroline Kim Oh, President

Zulay Olivo, iMentor Interactive Program Coordinator

Nicholas Ortiz, Operations Manager

Dana Saxon, iMentor Interactive Director of Partnerships

Theresa Stroisch, Managing Director of iMentor Interactive

Jonathan Vallejo, Program Coordinator

Cleo Brooks joins iMentor with a range of experience in the field of education, and has developed an expertise in collaborative partnerships, experiential learning and mentoring programs. In her most recent position as a Program Associate with The Blue Ridge Foundation, Cleo orchestrated strategic consulting projects with portfolio organizations. Cleo also worked with The Princeton Review, K-12 Services, where she helped develop and create an organizational marketing plan to improve outreach strategies and partnerships with school districts throughout the country. At Junior Achievement as the Director, Education Cleo was responsible for creating and sustaining partnerships between New York City public schools and corporate sponsors. Serving as a liaison between the public and private sectors she evaluated partnerships in search of strong models that increased experiential learning opportunities, enhanced program sustainability and provided ongoing financial support to New York City public schools. Cleo received her M.P.A. from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001. Email Cleo   (212) 461-4330 ext. 27

Michelle Choi comes to iMentor with a great deal of experience in education and youth development, both at the federal and local levels. Originally from Southern California, her interest in youth and education was sparked by her involvement with the Orange County chapter of America’s Promise--where for two years she served as a mentor for Melissa V., a middle school student. She spent the next four years in Washington, DC. There, Michelle interned for the U.S. Department of Education, Senators Kennedy (MA), Feinstein (CA), and Schumer (NY). Working with education legislative staffers, she closely followed federal education legislation. Additionally, Michelle was a volunteer for DC Reads. After receiving her B.A. in Political Science with a focus of Public Policy from George Washington University, she moved to Brooklyn and worked as an Educational Workshop Leader for the Center for Family Life, a local youth development agency. Capitalizing on years of experience, Michelle joins iMentor in a continued effort to match deserving youth with innovative programs.

Email Michelle  (212) 461-4330 ext. 21

Devon Claridge comes to iMentor after working in a variety of positions with a youth-based non-profit, Girls for Gender Equity (GGE). Her most recent work there was as the Outreach Coordinator for the Urban Leaders After-School Academy at Atwell Middle School (MS61) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Through her work at MS61 and GGE, she strengthened her understanding of the need for mentor relationships, especially with youth in underserved communities. She has also been working with the Girls and Boys Project this school year facilitating an after-school curriculum to 5th grade girls in the Lower East Side. Devon recently graduated from CUNY, Hunter College with a BA in Women’s Studies and Africana/Latina Studies. She has a strong passion for empowering youth and is very happy to be joining iMentor in working toward that mission.

Email Devon   (212) 461-4330 ext. 52

Amy Cruz is a recent graduate from Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in Urban Studies with a concentration in Sociology. While earning her degree she coordinated numerous events while at CU including fundraising events for Camp Heartland (a camp for children infected/affected with HIV/AIDS), career panels, and university visits from local middle and high schools. Originally from Long Beach, California, she began her work experience in New York City as an intern for Senator Schumer and soon developed an interest in working within the urban community to improve the quality of life for its residents, adults and youth alike. From this first internship, she learned the importance of the non-profit sector and thus began the search for her niche within it. During her last academic semester, she simultaneously interned at the United Way of New York City and Aspira of New York where she further defined her interest in working in the non-profit sector to improve the life of urban youth and learned that a sustainable community can only be achieved through effective programming that targets the issues facing its youth.

Email Amy  (212) 461-4330 ext. 36

Kimberley Ednie: With more than six years of experience teaching writing in diverse environments, Kimberley believes in the power of language expression to instill personal and academic confidence. Before coming to iMentor, Kimberley worked as an adjunct writing instructor at Hunter College while earning her Master’s degree in British and American literature. Additionally, she served as a high school reading and writing instructor at an enrichment school in Flushing, Queens. She has also worked as a writing tutor at Hunter, SUNY Geneseo, and Boston University with students of varying English fluency and comprehension skills and as the program assistant at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. While an undergraduate at SUNY Geneseo, Kimberley participated as a mentor in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Livingston County and is thrilled to be facilitating mentor-mentee relationships in her current position.

Email Kimberley  (212) 461-4330 ext. 22

Unique Fraser has a strong background in urban youth education that developed through work in after school and summer programs with high school students. Before joining the iMentor team, Unique created literacy enrichment curricula for an after school college counseling program to promote academic success. She is a firm believer that with a strong foundation in multiple literacies and learning styles, young people can achieve excellence in and outside of the classroom. Unique earned her B.A. in Latin American Studies from Barnard College in 2000 and completed her M.A. in Latin American and African Diaspora History from Rutgers University in 2006. She is also a proud, native Brooklyn-ite.

Email Unique   (212) 461-4330 ext. 23

Sandra Henry joins iMentor after working for the Penny Harvest, a program of Common Cents, for over two years as their Operations Fellow. While there she orchestrated the production, dissemination and collection of program materials and information to over 1200 schools and libraries. She also directed and negotiated Penny Harvest kit delivery and massive penny pick up efforts, and directed grants administration. In addition to her operational duties Sandra helped market the program to recruit schools, facilitated during program professional development and consulted with program coaches (teachers). She graduated from Kenyon College in May 2005 with a degree in Sociology. Inspired by her various sociology courses and a seminar titled "Education and Difference," Sandra is fueled by her passion for education and social change and hopes to continue to enrich the lives of New York City youth through her hard work at iMentor.

Email Sandra   (212) 461-4330 ext. 55

Alexander James comes to iMentor directly from the NYC Department of Education, where he taught English for two years at Renaissance H.S. in the Bronx. With an interest in the arts, he has assisted in a variety of student performances and after-school activities. He received his B.A. in English and Film from Connecticut College. As a New York City Teaching Fellow he earned a Master's degree in Education with a focus in Middle/High School English education from Lehman College. Over the past two years he has examined the relevance and methods of successfully encouraging critical thinking in the English classroom. Prior to teaching, he worked as a videographer and editor for a local TV news station in New Jersey.

Email Alexander   (212) 461-4330 ext. 33

Susanne James joins the iMentor team after 8 years as Chief Operating Officer of Computers for Youth (CFY), a national educational non profit that uses technology to improve the home learning environment of middle school students. While at CFY, Susanne was responsible for all organizational and programmatic operations, and expanded the organization’s reach to serve almost 15,000 students and their families in New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Susanne has more than 10 years experience in technology and economic community development. She was the principal architect of a strategic technology plan for the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU), where she also managed a $25 million Investment loan fund. She built her own technology consulting business and authored software on mortgage lending. Her focus within community development has been on financial literacy, low-income housing, mortgage lending, and technical assistance. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Susanne is a Scottish born British citizen who now proudly calls New York her home.

Email Susanne    (212) 461-4330 ext. 54

Molly Lopez joins iMentor after more than five years of writing and reporting for People magazine, where she enjoyed working on stories that focused on youth. Among the stories she has worked on: a former foster child who founded a mentoring program for at-risk teens in Kansas City; a barber who started an organization that cuts homeless kids’ hair for free in Maryland; a woman in Montana who started a therapeutic program to help troubled international adoptees; and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology director who developed laptops to be distributed to disadvantaged youth around the world. In addition, Molly volunteers with the Young Friends Group of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, an organization that raises funds for children with Type 1 diabetes. While working at People, Molly obtained her MS in Global Affairs from New York University, where she focused on human rights and NGOs. Prior to studying at NYU, she earned a dual degree in journalism and political science from Boston University. During her time in Boston, Molly joined B.U.’s Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and was impressed and inspired by her Little Sister. She is excited to work with iMentor to help others participate in the rewarding experience of being both mentor and mentee.

Email Molly    (212) 461-4330 ext. 56

Ellen Mahoney's ten years of work in adolescent education has been driven by the belief that all children can succeed with the right community support and equal access to opportunities. She received her BA in English from the University of Oregon in 1999. Previously to her position at iMentor, she worked at The Arthur Ashe Educational Guidance Program in Queens, where she provided guidance counseling and educational assistance to teenagers and their families and trained guidance counselors and coaches on adolescent development and high school and college admissions. Prior to her experience in New York, she spent six years working in Washington DC's public and alternative schools and worked towards her Masters in Counseling at George Washington University. She taught Humanities and Media Literacy, counseled teens and their families, developed and implemented transition programs for incoming high school freshmen, and developed a guidance program to increase the academic achievement of students of color. Ellen has enjoyed 8 years of volunteer experience as a mentor and tutor for The Lab School of Washington, The Latin American Youth Center in DC, and Girls, Inc in Oregon.

Email Ellen  (212) 461-4330 ext. 28

Meredith Maier: A recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Meredith earned her BA in both Spanish and Communication Studies. During high school and college, this North Carolina native worked as a lifeguard and swim lessons instructor. At a group home located in her hometown of Thomasville, NC, Meredith served not only as a lifeguard but also as a mentor to young adult residents placed in the home because of unsatisfactory home situations.  During college she was an active volunteer, and she also took the opportunity to study abroad for a year in Valparaiso, Chile, where she solidified her fluency in Spanish.  After returning to the States, Meredith finished her senior year at UNC-Chapel Hill while working as an after school leader in a local public school.   Most recently, she worked as an assistant Spanish teacher at a bilingual immersion Montessori school in Chapel Hill, developing and implementing curriculum for a Spanish summer camp.   She loves traveling and diverse cultures, has a passion and enthusiasm for working with children and teens, and is very excited about joining the iMentor team!

Email Meredith  (212) 461-4330 ext. 38

Mike O'Brien came to iMentor in 2003, after three years of working with New York City's at-risk youth in academic, athletic, and community-based settings. After graduating from Bucknell University with B.A.'s in both English and Psychology, Mike began teaching at William H. Maxwell Career and Technology High School in East New York, Brooklyn. In addition to teaching English and coaching the boys' basketball team, Mike launched after-school programs that included poetry workshops, literary magazines, tutoring programs, and borough-wide basketball tournaments. He has also worked with underserved communities and schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

Email Mike  (212) 461-4330 ext. 25

Caroline Kim Oh joined the iMentor team in 2000 as its first Director of Programs, and was named Executive Director in 2002. In her current role as iMentor's President, Caroline works closely with iMentor's executive staff, Board of Directors and Young Executive Board on iMentor's organizational growth and development issues. Under Caroline's leadership, iMentor grew to serve 800 mentor and mentee pairs annually and launched its national program, iMentor Interactive. Prior to iMentor, Caroline was with the Small Business Congress of New York City, a federation of over 60 small business associations advocating the rights of small enterprises. Caroline also managed student-computing facilities for New York University and was a consultant to the Documentary Heritage Program for the NYS Department of Education and Korean American Small Business Center. Caroline currently serves on the Board of Directors for Row New York (an after-school rowing, academic, and self-esteem building program) and Youth Improving Nonprofits for Children (Youth I.N.C.). Caroline also serves on the New York advisory boards for the Taproot Foundation. Caroline is a frequent speaker on the issues of youth mentoring, nonprofit management and leadership development. Caroline received her M.P.A. from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and her B.A. from Cornell University.

Email Caroline  (212) 461-4330 ext. 26

Zulay Olivo earned a Bachelors of Science in Computer and Information Science from Syracuse University, with a minor in Philosophy. While attaining her degree, she developed another passion for combining information technology with youth outreach programs. At SU, she helped develop a Shadow Day Program bringing at-risk elementary students into the university to follow college students, giving them inspiration to aim for college matriculation and laying ground work for access to higher education. She has coordinated numerous events for SU including Habitat for Humanity programs, Chancellor Initiatives and the National Feminism and War Conference. She began implementing her IT knowledge with the non-profit sector by interning at The Arch, Inc., a non-profit organization aimed to make a positive difference in the community, primarily through creativity-based and multicultural education. She is eager to join the iMentor team and is enthusiastic to excel with the progression of iMentor Interactive.

Email Zulay   (212) 461-4330 ext. 40

Nicholas Ortiz joins the iMentor team after gaining experience in operations while working as an analyst at firms such as UBS and Goldman Sachs. While earning his B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, he attended summer internships for Citigroup in 2003 and 2004 in New York City through INROADS, a national internship program for minority students with high academic standards. Being motivated by his twin sister who is a high school history teacher in Brooklyn, he decided to use his experience to contribute to youth development. Wanting now to give back to the communities of the city, he felt unfulfilled working for major banks and companies and believes that iMentor is a perfect fit. Being born and raised in New York City, he loves the fact that he can help improve the underserved and underprivileged areas of the city by working for this wonderful organization that specializes in the development of high school youth in these areas. Nicholas joins iMentor with great dedication towards assisting the organization in growing and progressing, as well as contributing to the mission of improving the lives of youth through mentoring.

Email Nick   (212) 461-4330 ext. 24

Dana Saxon joined iMentor as the first full-time iMentor Interactive team member in August 2007. Formerly, Dana worked with New Leaders for New Schools, managing fundraising and partnerships to support the ongoing growth and development of the New Leaders Bay Area program. She has also conducted legal research and analysis regarding affirmative action programs and disparity studies, drafted proposals, and managed the implementation of projects for Mason Tillman Associates, a public policy firm located in Oakland, CA. Dana has experience teaching some of the most underserved students in the Philadelphia schools system, has worked as a law clerk at the Center for Disability Law and Policy in Philadelphia, and volunteered with the Homeless Advocacy Project, where she assisted clients who were homeless or living in shelters with legal issues. She earned her B.A. in Africana Studies from Vassar College and her law degree from Temple University in 2003. With the potential to impact mentoring relationships on a national level, Dana is thrilled to be a part of iMentor Interactive’s development and expansion.

Email Dana  (212) 461-4330 ext. 31

Theresa Stroisch has spent the past 10 years in education, technology, and leadership positions.  Theresa's first experience working with youth was as a middle school teacher at Zion Preparatory Academy in Seattle, Washington. Her keen interest in technology and libraries led her to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she spent 3 years working on the National Library Project in rural communities around the country.  Most recently, Theresa spent over five years honing her technology and management skills at NPower NY, where she worked closely with the leadership of countless nonprofits around the country to increase their strategic approach to technology. It was there that she also launched a managed network service designed specifically for nonprofit organizations. During 2007, Theresa took the opportunity to hone her leadership, strategy and technology skills within the corporate environment.  Having joined iMentor in the Spring of 2008, Theresa is excited about returning to the nonprofit sector with the goal of expanding iMentor Interactive's reach and the possibilities for youth mentoring around the globe.

Email Theresa  (212) 461-4330 ext. 51

Jonathan Vallejo joined the team in August 2007 with more than three years in Youth Development experience and years of multicultural learning. He earned his BA in Government from Skidmore College and comes with experience in international travel and foreign languages. During his college years, Jonathan participated in a six-month study abroad program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, studying Brazilian foreign policy and Portuguese. He was also a Student Assistant Program Coordinator for the Intercultural Center, which promotes better understand of and cooperation between student cultural groups and multi-faith based student organizations. After graduating Cum Laude from Skidmore College, Jonathan joined the United States Peace Corps. As a Youth Development volunteer, He was an English Teacher and a community development worker in a rural town in the region of Casablanca, Morocco. While there, he learned about the Arabic/Islamic cultures in Morocco and currently speaks fluent Moroccan Arabic (along with Spanish and Portuguese). Jonathan was also elected to be a representative of the Gender and Development Committee (GAD) that encourages and plans projects that promotes better understanding and participation of the roles of men and women in Morocco. After finishing his mission in the Peace Corps, Jonathan was a Director of the Advantage Program at Score! Educational Center, a subsidiary of Kaplan Inc., where he managed over $100,000 in revenue and ten part-time staff members while maximizing center growth and handling operations. Jonathan is a native Puerto Rican and a proud Bronxite.

Email Jonathan  (212) 461-4330 ext. 39

Board of Directors

Richard Buery, Board Member

John Delaney, Board Member

Mark Gerson, Board Member

Tim Grant, Board Member

Lawrence Griff, Board Member

John Griffin, Chairman and Founder

Kimberley Hatchett, Board Member

Tracey Kemble, Board Member

Matthew Klein, Secretary

Elisabeth Mason, Board Member

Karen Pavlin, Board Member

William Richards, Board Member

Richard Buery
A co-founder of iMentor, and iMentor's first Executive Director, Richard has an extensive background in nonprofit management, youth development, education, and public interest law. He 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 at NYU School of Law, 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 DC Public Defender Service. He is an active volunteer and board member for several non-profit community organizations in his native New York City. He is currently the Executive Director of Groundwork, a community based organization serving East New York. Richard received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Harvard College.

John Delaney
John F. Delaney is a partner in the New York office of Morrison & Foerster, where he serves as Co-Chair of the office's New Media Practice Group. He is a frequent lecturer and author on legal issues in the interactive media field, and has been quoted in publications such as Newsweek, Advertising Age and The Wall Street Journal on emerging intellectual property law issues. In 1999, he appeared on the cover of the American Lawyer as one of the lawyers for the new economy.

Mark Gerson
Mark Gerson is the CEO of the Gerson Lehrman Group, a Manhattan based investment research company. A 1998 graduate of Yale Law School, he is the author and editor of several books, including In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School That Works. His articles and essays have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal,The New Republic, Commentary and many other magazines and newspapers.

Tim Grant

Tim Grant is a Managing Director at UBS. After serving as Head of UBS Delta Americas at UBS Investment Bank for the last 8 years, Tim has recently moved to a senior management role at the UBS Group level reporting directly to the Group Executive Board and specifically to the Group Chief Risk Officer, Joe Scoby. He is currently working within the Asset Workout Group which will house and manage the multi-billion dollar distressed asset portfolio related to the ongoing credit crisis. Tim has an M.A. in Materials Science and Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge and underwent a year of research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne before completing an M.Sc. in Financial Engineering from the University of London.

Lawrence Griff
Lawrence Griff is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s New York Office which he joined in 2002. Prior to Ernst & Young, he was a Partner in Arthur Andersen’s New York office. He specializes in audits of media and entertainment clients. He is head of Metro New York inbound work which includes coordinating multidisciplinary teams to serve US subsidiaries of foreign companies. Lawrence Griff graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Economics and received his MBA in Finance with Honors from New York University. He graduated number one in his Master of Accounting class from New York University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is a licensed CPA in New York and Connecticut.

John Griffin
John Griffin is the founder and President of Blue Ridge Capital, and the founder of Blue Ridge Foundation New York. John also serves on the Board of Directors of The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Tiger Foundation, the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce, and as a Patron of the Christ the King Elementary School in the South Bronx. John is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Columbia Business School and a Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. Before founding Blue Ridge Capital, John was the President of Tiger Management in New York City. John received an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce.

Kimberley Hatchett
Kimberley Hatchett is an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management Division which she joined in 1991. She graduated in 1991 from Harvard Business School and 1984 from the University of Virginia majoring in Rhetoric and Communications. Prior to business school, Kimberley worked at Chase Manhattan Bank as a middle market loan officer. She was a four time All-American student athlete in both high school and college and qualified for the 1984 Olympic Trials in track and field.

Tracey Kemble

A graduate of University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a degree in Journalism and Art History, Tracey Kemble has 13 years of experience in the entertainment industry. With a passion for developing diverse stories that elicit poignant emotion from audiences, Tracey has honed her skills as both a film executive and producer throughout her career. She was named creative executive of Hollywood Pictures, a Walt Disney Company, in 1993, where she oversaw Dead Presidents, directed by the Hughes Brothers and starring Chris Tucker and Larenz Tate. Drawn to provocative, character driven dramas, she joined Russell Simmons’ company, Def Pictures, as Vice President of Development and Production. During her tenure there, she produced Gridlock'd starring Tupac, and Tim Roth. The film marked Vondie Curtis Hall’s directorial debut.

In 1996, Kemble became Vice President of Production at HBO NYC. While there, she developed several films including the Emmy award winning, A Lesson Before Dying starring Don Cheadle and Mekhi Phifer, and Disappearing Acts directed by Gina Prince Bythewood starring Wesley Snipes and Sanaa Lathan (both book adaptations), as well as the film Cheaters produced by Suzanne de Passe.

In 2004, Kemble joined Edmonds Entertainment as Senior Vice President of Production. Kemble worked closely with Tracey Edmonds and developed projects that were set up at various studios, including the comedy His And Hers written by Shonda Rhimes (Disney), Welfare Queen starring Queen Latifah (Universal) and Ollie written by Preston Whitmore (New Regency).

Currently based in New York, Tracey has been developing various projects as an independent producer, as well as consulting as a development executive for The N, a teen network under MTV Networks umbrella.

Matthew Klein
A co-founder of iMentor and the Executive Director of Blue Ridge Foundation New York, Matt works intimately with the iMentor team to develop the organization. Matt is a co-founder of Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), a nationally recognized youth development agency operating in high-poverty neighborhoods throughout Connecticut. In his legal work, Matt focused on issues of equal opportunity, clerking for such organizations as the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as a law clerk for federal judge Robert L. Carter in New York. Matt graduated from Yale Law School and Yale College.

Elisabeth Mason
Elisabeth is the Senior Advisor for Innovative Philanthropy, and recently served as the Director for Youth and After School Programs and the Acting Director for Family Support Programs at the Robin Hood Foundation. Prior to that, Elisabeth practiced law at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. Elisabeth is the Founding Executive Director of the Kukula Foundation, which is a program for street and working children in Costa Rica. She was also a Founding Member of the Central American branch of the Latin American Movement for Children's Rights during the six years she lived and worked in Latin America. Her other professional experience includes work with CIDA, UNICEF, and the Peace Corps and serving as a member of the Costa Rican Presidential Commission on Youth. Elisabeth holds a J.D. from Columbia University, and an M.A. in International Development and Education and a B.A. in History from Harvard University. She is presently a member of the International Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Child Rights Committee of the American Bar Association, and is active in a number of direct service, non-profit boards, including her recent appointment to the Amnesty International's US Children's Rights Advisory Committee.

Karen Pavlin

Karen L. Pavlin is the Global Account General Manager responsible for Citigroup one of Xerox’ Premier Global Accounts. She is responsible for strategically leading and implementing global solutions within Citigroup. This is accomplished through comprehending key client priorities at the LOB level and ensuring every solutions, service and technology deployed will result in a positive growth impact to Citigroup. Karen joined Xerox in 1988 as a Account Representative selling office/production services and technology to Tier 2 Major Accounts in New York City. She held several positions within direct sales from office to production product specialist to Sales Manager to one of Xerox’ top Financial Services Account Teams in the NYC Downtown District in the early 1990’s.

Karen transitioned from various sales roles inside of the NYC Midtown and Downtown Districts to a National Account Manager in 1997 supporting Time Warner on a national bases within MAO where she led the team in implementing a Bi-Coastal Print Operation for Warner Bros. in NYC and Los Angeles. In 1999 she became for the GAM for PriceWaterHouse and Coopers & Lybrand at the time of the merger of the two major accounting firms which became PricewaterhouseCoopers. Karen led her team in conceptually building and later implementing a business integration plan in the office for the merging of these two firms based on one of the first Office Document Assessments completed in 1999. In 2001 Karen became the GAGM for Citigroup where she has been managing a $60M global revenue stream. Several successes within the past 5 years include: An office business integration plan implemented for Citibank/Banamex merger in Mexico, Citigroup Investment Bank (CIB) Print-to-Copy-Center Hubs globally deploying Xerox Color Production Technology and Services in the US and Asia and The Global Document Portal- first web based “end-to-end” closed loop communication solution to create and distribute personalized and static documents for Smith Barney Financial consultants to name a few.

Karen attended the University of Virginia where she graduated earning her BA followed by her MA in Marketing Communications/ Business in 1986. During her 6 years at UVA Karen was an All-American Track & Field Athlete participating on the US Team in the Pan American Games and the Olympic Trials. She is presently on the Board of Directors for iMentor and The Learning Project in NYC.

Karen resides in NYC with her husband and two children.

William Richards
William B. Richards is Managing Director for UBS, a global financial services firm. He served as Infantry Lieutenant for the U.S. Army during Vietnam when he was awarded a Bronze Star, Army Commendation for Valor, and a Combat Infantry Badge. He is a 1976 graduate of Denison University with a B.A. in History and attended the American Graduate School of International Management from 1970-1971. He currently serves on a number of boards including The Vietnam Childrens Fund, The Veterans Corporation, The Mental Health Foundation, The Urology Advisory Board, The Vestry, The Church of the Incarnation, and The Children of War Advisory Board.

Young Executive Board

Melissa Benjamin, YEB Member

Stephanie Chisholm, YEB Member

Sumat Chopra, YEB Member

Sarah Cullen, YEB Member

Kenny Eng, YEB Member

Rebecca Erber, YEB Co-Chair

Mina Faltas, YEB Member

Amanda Fung, YEB Member

Alissa Grad, YEB Member

Nicole M. Griffith, YEB Co-Chair

Peter Henderson, YEB Member

Aaron Holiday III, YEB Member

Benjamin W. Jones, YEB Member

Thair Joshua, YEB Member

Evan Kessler, YEB Member

Sunny Kim, YEB Member

Tim Kleiman, YEB Member

Jamie Meltzer, YEB Member

Nneka Norville, YEB Member 

Melissa Pendolino, YEB Member

Sean A. Smith, YEB Member

Waine K. Tam, YEB Member

Antonia Townsend, YEB Member

Melissa Benjamin

Melissa has been a part of the iMentor family since 2000, first as a mentee during her senior year at Erasmus Hall Campus: High School for Business & Technology, and now as a mentor since 2007. She is currently a Development Associate in the Alumni Department of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, a private catholic school in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to her work with iMentor, Melissa serves as a board member of the Erasmus Hall High School Alumni Association. She is also very active with her sorority, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and is the president of the organization's New York City Alumnae Chapter, as well as an Advisor for the sorority's colony at Pratt Institute, an art school in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated Cum Laude from Johnson & Wales University in 2006, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports/Entertainment/Event Management. She will begin pursuing her Masters Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Non-Profit Management at Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus in the fall of 2008.

Stephanie Chisholm

Stephanie joined the Young Executive Board in 2006, after having served as an iMentor mentor since 2001. She is a Fine Artist that has exhibited her art work internationally. She created ArtChiz Studios New York. This studio is dedicated to showcasing her artwork. She was awarded the Saint Gaudens Medal for Draftsmanship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was also Awarded the BRIO Grant from the Bronx Council of the Arts. She also received her B.S from Cornell University.

Sumat Chopra
Sumat Chopra currently works at Goldman Sachs in New York. He has prior work experiences in finance, strategy and consulting with multi-national companies such as Microsoft Corporation and Morgan Stanley. He joined the Young Executive Board in 2007, after having served as a mentor at iMentor in 2005. He has other mentoring experiences with StreetWise Partners and with similar organizations in India. He is passionate about social entrepreneurship and presently involved as a strategy consultant for the Insaan Group. Sumat completed his undergraduate education with university honors from Carnegie Mellon. He graduated with a major in Computer Science and with minors in Business Administration and Mathematical Sciences. He was a visiting undergraduate student at Harvard University.

Sarah Cullen
Sarah Cullen has been a mentor since 2005 and joined the Young Executive Board in 2007. She works for Viking Global Investors in the Chief Investment Officer's office. Prior to 2001, she worked in South Africa in the advertising industry. She has a B.A. (Honours) in Political Science and French from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Kenny Eng
Kenny Eng is a first year member of the Young Executive Board, after having served as an iMentor mentor since 2001. He was also a volunteer mentor with the Pittsburgh-area Big Brothers and Big Sisters from 1993 to 1995.Kenny received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University and currently works at Citigroup in their Institutional Clients Group. Kenny was born in New York City and currently resides in Brooklyn.

Rebecca Erber

Rebecca joined the Young Executive Board after having served as a mentor with iMentor since the Fall of 2004. She has worked with many charitable organizations including the National Academy Foundation, Gods Love We Deliver, Operation Fairy Dust, and the Jewish National Fund and sat on the Volunteer Committee at UBS. Rebecca received a B.A. from Duke University and most recently worked as an Associate Director with UBS in the Industrials Group within Investment Banking. She is currently pursuing an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Mina Faltas
Mina Faltas is currently a Vice President with JP Morgan's Proprietary Positioning group, investing the bank's capital in companies involved in distressed and special situations. He graduated from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce in 2000 with a B.S. in Commerce, and concentrating in the areas of Finance, Economics, and Foreign Languages. Mina joined the YEB in summer 2002 after completing his first year as a mentor.

Amanda Fung
Amanda Fung is a reporter for Crain's NY Business covering technology, telecom and advertising.  She has worked at Crain's for over two years. Earlier in her journalism career she was a reporter for Institutional Investor News and American Banker. She graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science in 2000.

Alissa Grad
Alissa Grad is currently Director of Marketing and Investor Relations at D.B. Zwirn & Co., a global alternative investment manager and merchant capital provider. Prior to DBZ & Co., Alissa worked for 3 years as Director of Business Development at TAG Associates, an asset management firm and multi-family office. A graduate of Cornell University, Alissa started her finance career as an investment bank Analyst at J.P. Morgan.

In addition to working with iMentor, Alissa is Co-Chair of Hedge Funds Care's Junior Committee of Hearts, and an "Angel" of 100 Women in Hedge Funds. Alissa is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) as well as the AFL-CIO. In 2007, Alissa was the youngest recipient of the "Top 20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds" award by Institutional Investor, for which she acknowledged iMentor's Board Member, William B.Richards, as her mentor. Bill introduced Alissa to iMentor over 5 years ago.

Nicole M. Griffith
Nicole Griffith graduated from Cornell in May 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. Her first post-graduate experience working with students was as an Assistant Counselor. She is now a Vice President at Morgan Stanley in Human Resources. She is mentor with the Cornell Alumni-Student Mentoring Program, a Summer Search Career Advisor and has worked with iMentor since 2001.

Peter Henderson
Peter Henderson, MD is originally from Seattle and is now a resident in general surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital -- Weill Cornell Medical Center. He has served as an iMentor mentor for three years.

Aaron Holiday III
Aaron Holiday is a native New Orleanian and 2004 graduate of Morehouse College, earning a B.S in Computer Science. He currently is a technology analyst supporting the Equities Program Trading Desk at Goldman Sachs & Co. While in college, Aaron developed the Post Graduate Development Seminar Series - a model program that brings corporate representatives to Morehouse to increase students' awareness of career opportunities in technology. Aaron recently launched PARADIGM Proprietary Investing, LLC, a capital investment venture whose mission is to create and maintain exclusively-held portfolios containing a diverse set of securities across various asset classes. He also serves as a mentor with Amachi, a program designed to provide youth whose parents are incarcerated with positive role models. Aaron has served as a mentor through iMentor for two years.

Benjamin W. Jones
Benjamin W. Jones currently serves as a consultant to early-stage companies within the consumer internet, digital media/entertainment and digital signage industries. Previously, Ben served as a Vice President at media advisory firm TRget Media in New York City. Prior to TRget Media, Ben worked in the hedge fund industry and consulted to the President & CEO of Gartmore Emerging Managers LLC, a strategic business unit within global asset management firm, Gartmore Group. Before that assignment, Ben was responsible for helping to build two venture-backed, privately-held enterprise software companies, most recently in San Francisco, CA. Prior experience includes consulting and business development positions at Ernst & Young Management Consulting and Merrill Lynch & Co. Ben earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Bucknell University. 

Thair Joshua

Thair has been a mentor since the fall of 2004. He is currently a Compliance Officer at Bloomberg Tradebook LLC in New York City. Prior to joining iMentor, he was a mentor in the Refugee Project Circle Mentoring Program and taught basic accounting principles to sixth-graders as part of Junior Achievement. In addition to iMentor, Thair is also involved with Everybody Wins!, a national literacy organization devoted to increasing children's prospects for success through one-to-one reading experiences. He graduated from Drexel University in 1998, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

Evan Kessler 

Evan currently works in the portfolio management group at Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) a fund of hedge funds. Previously, he was an AVP at Citigroup working as a risk analyst in the market risk management group. Evan graduated from the Fordham Graduate MBA program in 2005 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average while studying finance, and has an undergraduate degree from New York University where he studied psychology. He has previously volunteered as an ESL instructor, and has tutored young children through Columbia University’s America reads program. For the past two years, Evan has been volunteering as a mentor in the iMentor program.

Sunny Kim
Sunny Kim is a Senior Development Officer at New York University School of Law where she is responsible for cultivating and soliciting major gifts to help raise funds for scholarships, faculty recruitment, the Library, student clubs, journals, and other areas of need. In addition to major gifts, she joins iMentor's YEB with experience in corporate and family foundation solicitations, special events planning, writing grant proposals and reports, and mail campaigns. She has worked with many charitable organizations, including Asian Professional Extension, another mentoring organization that provides mentors to Asian American young people, and Women In Need, which provides housing and supportive services to homeless women and their families. She received her M.P.A. from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and her B.A. in English Literature and East Asian Studies from New York University. Currently, she is also involved with iMentor as a mentor.

Jamie Meltzer
Jamie Meltzer joined the Young Executive Board after having served as a mentor since 2005. She has worked with many other charitable organizations, including Wall Street Volunteers (for which she currently serves on the Executive Team), YAI National Disabilities Network, and the New York Road Runners Association. Jamie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. She currently works in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs in Equity Capital Markets, where she covers the financial institutions sector.

Nneka Norville
Nneka has been a mentor since the fall of 2003. She is currently Manager of Public Affairs at BET Networks where she manages charitable contributions, pro-social campaigns and overall corporate social responsibility initiatives. Prior to joining BET, Nneka was a Program Officer with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Entertainment Media Partnerships department managing media partnership campaigns in relation to domestic and international public health awareness campaigns. Nneka received her B.S. from Boston University and her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. A graduate of the National Urban Fellows leadership development program, she went on to receive her M.P.A. from Baruch School of Public Affairs. In addition to iMentor, Nneka also volunteers with G3 (Girls Gone Good), a monthly giving circle.

Dea Reece

Dea Reece is currently an Assistant Director of Human Resources at Ernst & Young LLP. She graduated with a BS in accounting from Fairfield University in 1996 and began her career after graduation as an auditor at Ernst & Young. She transferred to a Human Resources role approximately three years after she started with the firm.Dea was a mentor with iMentor from 2003 to 2005 and joined the Young Executive Board in 2005.

Sean A. Smith
Sean Smith is a Marketing Associate at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management. Prior to his current position, Sean worked with JPMorgan Investor Services as a client service administrator and project manager. Sean received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Duke University. He is a Team Leader with New York Cares and has worked with iMentor since 2002.

Waine K. Tam
Waine Tam currently works at Sunridge Capital, a hedge fund based in New York City. Previously, he was employed at Goldman Sachs in various capacities, including Equity Capital Markets and Investment Banking. He has served as a mentor at iMentor since 2003 and joined the Young Executive Board in 2004. Waine graduated from Princeton University in 2001 with a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and a Certificate in Finance.

Antonia Townsend
Antonia joined the Young Executive Board in 2007 after having served as a mentor with iMentor since the Fall of 2004. She works independently enabling start-up companies to launch operations, develop marketing strategies and raise capital for market expansion. Prior to this, as the VP of Marketing and Product Development at Clear, she was instrumental in building the company's marketing operations, launching the product in ten geographies and acquiring over 70,000 customers. Antonia received a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Board of Advisors

Diane Adams, MSW, Mount Sinai Medical Center

Robin Berholz, Student, Harvard Business School

Zach Boise, National Mentoring Partnership

Jean-Claude Brizard, Local Instructional Superintendent, New York City Deparment of Education

Barbara Chang, Executive Director, NPower New York

Maria Chiodi, Vice President & Counsel, Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.

Mary Corallo, Supervising Associate, and Metro NY Area Community Relations Program Coordinator,

Ernst & Young

Carolyn Demefack, Education Consultant, Teaching Matters

M. Lorraine Ford, Associate, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Danielle Brown Fuller, Director of Technical Assistance, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC

Steve Galanis, Event Coordinator, Cinema Hospitality Company

Robin Kovat, Teacher, Sheepshead Bay High School

Roger M. Machlis, Director & Counsel, Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.

Sharon Martin, Controller, Blue Ridge Capital, LLC

Lori Mastromauro, Manager, NYC Mentoring Program, Board of Education

Lexy Mayers, Executive Director, Cool Culture

John Merrill, Vice President, Credit Suisse First Boston

James O'Neal, Executive Director, Legal Outreach

Martha Polin, Principal, Lower East Side Preparatory Academy

Mara Rose, Student, Columbia Business School

Rob Rosenberg, Associate, McFarland Dewey & Co., LLC

Andrea Rothenberg, MSW, Mount Sinai Medical Center

Fabio Silva, IT Consultant

Sarah E. Sully, Associate, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Aaron Wald, CEO, eleven prospect

Fred Wambolt, Teacher, Brooklyn International High School

Garth Wolkoff, Teacher, High School for Public Service