To reach any of our national staff members by phone, please call (212) 293-5480 and enter the extension listed below.


NATIONAL STAFF

Cheryl Alleyne
Office Manager
Ext. 16 | e-mail

Elizabeth Boehmler
Director of Special Projects
Ext. 22 | e-mail

Lisa Castillo Richmond
Vice President, Program
Ext. 35 | e-mail

Iris Chen
President & CEO
Ext. 21 | e-mail

Sherrie Deans
Vice President, Development & Marketing
Ext. 19 | e-mail

Lori Donoho
Managing Director of Training & Support
(301) 686-9380 | e-mail

Courtney Joseph
Accountant

Lindsay Lake
Director of Training & Support
(503) 287-7203 Ext. 10 | e-mail

Lauren Masters
Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Ext. 34 | e-mail

Marcella Nurse
Director of Program Design
Ext. 17 | e-mail

Marina Schreiber
Chief Administrative Officer
Ext. 20 | e-mail

Melodi White
Director of Operations & Performance Management
Ext. 36 | e-mail

Rosemary Wilson
Director of Operations for Development & Communications
Ext. 18 | e-mail

Hannah Wise Schwartz
Program Consultant
e-mail

Katarina Yee
Operations Associate
Ext. 37 | e-mail

Cheryl Alleyne
Office Manager

Cheryl joined the "I Have A Dream" staff in January 2003. In addition to her duties as Office Manager, she provides general administrative support to the national staff. 

Prior to joining "I Have A Dream", Cheryl worked at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), where she was a member of the national staff for 13 years. She studied computer programming at Fordham University. Cheryl is a member of the North Central Bronx Hospital Auxiliary Board advocating for improved patient care for a predominantly immigrant community. 

Elizabeth Boehmler
Director of Special Projects

Liz joined "I Have A Dream" in August 2007 after earning her MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Liz is helping to develop the organization's five-year strategy. 

Prior to attending business school, Liz worked for seven years in Debt Capital Markets at Banc of America Securities LLC, where she served as an analyst, associate, and then vice president. As a vice president in Global Structured Products Strategy, Liz supported business strategy development and execution for a division within the Global Corporate Investment Bank. 

Liz graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina with a bachelor's degree in political science. She currently mentors two high school seniors who attend a charter school in Brooklyn, sits on the Junior Board of the Beginning with Children Foundation, has volunteered with other organizations including Junior Achievement and Venable Elementary School, and was recently appointed as a member of the Board of Visitors of Davidson College. Liz spent the summer between her first and second years of business school as an Education Pioneers Fellow at the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence.

Lisa Castillo Richmond
Vice President, Program

Lisa joined "I Have A Dream" as Vice President of Program in October 2008. Previously, she spent six years at Junior Achievement of New York, most recently as the Senior Vice President of Programs, where she was responsible for the oversight and strategic direction of all organizational programming. Key areas of impact included building annual outreach to 95,000 K-12 students in New York City and Long Island, leading an initiative to significantly increase outreach to middle and high school students, and piloting and evaluating new programming in the areas of workforce readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. Lisa had also held the positions of Vice President of Community Partnerships, Senior Director of Collaborations and Program Manager at Junior Achievement. Before moving to New York, Lisa worked as an associate in the business and market development department at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, WI.

Lisa holds a bachelor's degree in public relations from Marquette University and a certificate in non-governmental organizations and global affairs from New York University. She is fluent in Spanish and is active in various organizations that serve women and children. Lisa is a member of the Young Professional Advisory Board for the Mentoring Partnership of New York and enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Iris Chen
President & CEO

Iris has served as President & Chief Executive Officer of the "I Have A Dream" Foundation since June 2007. Prior to this role, she served for four years as Teach For America's New York City Executive Director, where she led a major expansion in the city and grew the local corps from 250 to 1,000 teachers. Previously, she worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Iris got her start in education as a 1990 charter corps member with Teach For America in New York City, where she taught fourth and fifth graders for three years at P.S. 307 in Brooklyn. After completing the Coro Fellows Program in 1993-94, Iris joined Teach For America's national staff, serving in several positions including Director of Public Affairs and then Vice President of Program, where from 1995-98 she led the recruitment, selection, training, and ongoing support of corps members nationwide.

Born in Washington, D.C., as the middle of seven children, Iris graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies. She earned her JD/MBA from Harvard University, where she graduated with honors and was awarded the Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowship for nonprofit leadership. Iris currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Achievement First-Bushwick Charter School, and on the advisory boards of Delaware Valley College, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York, Children For Children, New York Civil Rights Coalition, and Metro New York. She is also a member of the New York Bar. In her spare time, she likes to run marathons, cook, and entertain. She completed her first ultramarathon in the fall of 2007.

Sherrie Deans
Vice President, Development & Marketing

Sherrie joined "I Have A Dream" in January 2009 as Vice President of Development & Marketing. She is responsible for defining and executing the foundation's development strategy and managing marketing initiatives. Prior to joining "I Have A Dream", she spent over a decade in the financial services sector. Most recently, she was Vice President of Sales for AIG's Consumer Finance Group, responsible for maximizing consumer sales and launching new distribution channels in 10 countries throughout Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Sherrie has also held various positions in Marketing, Strategies, and Operations for American Express and MBNA America, where her responsibilities ranged from launching a large call center to managing marketing strategies for cobranded loan programs.

Sherrie holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Columbia University. She enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and spending time with her husband, who is a principal in Brooklyn, and her young son. 

Lori A. Donoho
Managing Director of Training & Support

Lori joined the "I Have A Dream" national team in November 2004 as the Director of Programs after serving six years as the Program Director of an "I Have A Dream" program in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Chris & Sue White. Eighty-six percent of her Dreamers graduated from high school, and 70% entered higher education. Now the Managing Director of Training & Support, Lori is responsible for providing guidance, training, and technical assistance to the "I Have A Dream" network. 

Immediately prior to working with "I Have A Dream", Lori served as an Education Program Specialist with the Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at SERVE (Southeast Regional Vision for Education), where she provided research-based technical assistance and professional development for mathematics and science education reform to school systems. Lori was also a Teach for America charter corps member, teaching mathematics at Northdale Magnet Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She then went on to serve as the Southeast Regional Recruiter for Teach For America. Lori graduated from Emory University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science. She plays an active role in her church as a member of the drama ministry and women's group, and through her work with the church's high school. 

Courtney Joseph
Accountant

Courtney helps to manage the finances part-time at the "I Have A Dream" Foundation. Courtney previously worked at The Children's Scholarship Fund as a Controller for five years. After that tenure, he started his own accounting and bookkeeping company and works as a tax preparer. A graduate of Iona College with a bachelor's degree in accounting, Courtney serves as treasurer for a football league and a softball league in New York City, and also plays both sports.

Lindsay Lake
Director of Training & Support

Lindsay joined "I Have A Dream" as the Director of Training & Support in November 2008. Prior to "I Have A Dream", Lindsay worked at Teach For America in New York City, most recently as a Program Director for 25 corps members in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Upper Manhattan. She also served as Director of Workshops and Resources at two Teach For America summer training institutes, and as a corps member in East New York, Brooklyn, where she taught fourth grade. As a teacher, she worked with her students to advance more than 1.5 grade levels in math and reading and started clubs and professional development workshops that continue to be offered at the school.

Lindsay holds a master's degree in teaching from Pace University and a bachelor's degree in public policy and sociology from Pomona College. At Pomona, she completed policy research on Southern California schools that was published on the SCCORE web site and completed a thesis on Portland Public Schools that was used by the mayor's office to mediate contract negotiations. Lindsay enjoys traveling, playing sports, and going to the theater, as well as being a mom to her new baby boy.

Lauren Masters
Special Assistant to the President & CEO

Lauren joined "I Have A Dream" in August 2007. She supports the President with a wide range of administrative and support tasks, including coordinating events and meetings, preparing background documents, and facilitating incoming and outgoing communications. Lauren also helps with the programmatic efforts of "I Have A Dream", including updating the program model to ensure more and more Dreamers get to college.

Lauren is an alumna of Teach For America in New York City, where she taught kindergarten for two years at P.S. 63, Author's Academy, in the South Bronx. Under her stewardship, Lauren's students made significant academic gains during both years of her tenure, each year advancing 2.0 grade levels in reading and showing 89% mastery of math objectives at grade level. Lauren received a bachelor's degree in international business from Pepperdine University, and holds a master's degree in education from Pace University. Lauren continues to work closely with children by volunteering with the children's program at her church on Sundays. She completed her first marathon in Fall 2008, and is now training for her second, to take place this fall in New York City.

Marcella Nurse
Director of Program Design

Marcella joined the "I Have A Dream" team in June 2008 as Director of Program Design. Marcella develops curricula, materials, and resources for "I Have A Dream" affiliates across the nation. Marcella joins "I Have A Dream" from the City of New York's Office of Youth and Community Development, where she worked as Deputy Director of the NYC Ladders for Leaders program. 

At the Office of Youth and Community Development, Marcella designed curricula for 42,000 youth in the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program and developed a training program for 300 high school and college summer interns. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Director of NYC GirlsREACH, where she worked with teenagers in a direct service role.  Marcella has held research and consulting positions at Columbia University Teachers College, Harlem Children's Zone, Cornell University's Weill Medical College, and Georgetown University/National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and she has co-authored papers published in Psychiatry Research and presented at Research on Women and Education and the Society for Research in Child Development.

Marcella received her clinical and counseling training at Columbia University, Teachers College; holds a Master of Education in human development specializing in Adolescent Risk and Prevention from Harvard Graduate School of Education; and a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame. She is actively involved in mentorship through Year Up, an intensive education and apprenticeship program for urban young adults, and she currently sits on the advisory boards for the Harvard Center for Public Interest Careers and Resources for Educational and Employment Opportunities. Marcella has also recently served as a Senior Program Advisor for Girls Career Workshop in New York.

Marina Schreiber
Chief Administrative Officer

Marina joined "I Have A Dream" in August 2007 after nearly five years at the New York City Department of Education, where she served as Director of Special Projects in the Office of the Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration. At the Department of Education, Marina led the citywide build-out of the regional offices established under Chancellor Joel Klein's Children First reforms, and also directed citywide initiatives in class size reporting and special education financial operations. In her current role at "I Have A Dream," Marina is responsible for managing finance, administration, human capital, operations, and technology for the organization.

Previously, Marina was a Principal at American Management Systems, an information technology consulting firm, where she led client engagements to improve operations in the healthcare industry and also managed her practice's human capital program. Marina holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Columbia University, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. On Sunday mornings, you will find Marina surrounded by 14 preschoolers in a Montessori classroom where she enjoys singing songs and presenting new materials to the children. 

Melodi White
Director of Operations & Performance Management

Melodi joined the "I Have A Dream" Foundation in January 2009. As Director of Operations & Performance Management, she will endeavor to build out the foundation's infrastructure and expand organizational capacity so that "I Have A Dream" can continue to help more students gain access to college.

Melodi joins the team with 10 years of private-sector experience as a management consultant for both PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. Over the years, she helped clients address technical issues through large-scale system implementations, developed reporting processes to track portfolio performance for global sales efforts, and drove education work streams for emerging solutions in Corporate Social Responsibility. More recently, Melodi decided to pursue her strong interests in education and public service. She holds s master's degree in Education Policy & Management from Harvard's Graduate School of Education and a bachelor's degree in Business Management & Marketing from Cornell University. 

Rosemary Wilson
Director of Operations for Development & Communications

Rosemary joined "I Have A Dream" in December 2004. In her role as Director of Operations for Development & Communications, Rosemary is working to expand the organization's development capacity and communications infrastructure. In addition, she works closely with the President & CEO on Board management.

Prior to joining "I Have A Dream", Rosemary worked in retail management and as a web designer for nonprofits and businesses. Rosemary studied psychology at The University of Melbourne, Australia, and holds a certificate in graphic and digital design from Parsons The New School for Design. Rosemary donates her design skills to organizations including Operation Photo Rescue, a global network of photo restoration volunteers who restore photos damaged by Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters. 

Hannah Wise Schwartz
Program Consultant

Hannah joined the national team as the Director of Project Management in 2005, after serving for seven years as the Program Director for the "I Have A Dream" - Chelsea-Elliott Program, the first public housing based "I Have A Dream" program in the nation. Seventy-six percent of Hannah's Dreamers graduated from high school and an additional 13% earned their GED. So far, 62% of her Dreamers have gone on to college.  

Before joining "I Have A Dream," Hannah served for two years as an AmeriCorps Community Service Team Leader with the same Dreamers she later led. Hannah holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Carleton College and a master's degree in non-profit management from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.  She currently serves on the board of Rocking the Boat, Inc., a Bronx-based not-for-profit, and is the class agent for her high school graduating class. 

Katarina Yee
Operations Associate

Katarina joined "I Have A Dream" in April 2008. Katarina is part of the communications team to support media and outreach efforts, and the special projects team to help build central development operations and information systems infrastructure. Prior to "I Have A Dream", she served as Operations Manager for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions in Queens, NY, where she was responsible for managing classes at the Astoria center and in 15 off-site locations throughout the borough. While at Kaplan, she also helped to improve operations, which increased the efficiency of the center and growth of its business.

In her hometown of Boston, MA, Katarina worked to help ensure that public school students could compete on the same level as their private school-educated counterparts to gain entrance into the city's three public exam high schools. Currently, she volunteers as a tutor for the Ravenswood II "I Have A Dream" program in Queens. Katarina earned a bachelor's degree in Print & Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College in Boston.

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