I was brought on as Executive Director of the Foundation with the charge to focus and professionalize grant making. Together with the Board of Directors, I have shaped the mission and strategies of this medium-sized grantmaking organization, which aims to fill a critical niche within the early childhood development arena in New York. The Foundation invests in evidence-based programs that partner with parents, offering them the tools and supports to nurture their children's social, emotional, and cognitive growth as well as their own. Specifically, I identify opportunities for the Foundation to make meaningful improvements in the lives of children and families facing multiple risk factors for poor educational and life outcomes. The Foundation's grantees offer intensive and sustained support for the families they serve. They must also have the organizational and research capacity to evaluate their outcomes and to leverage these findings to promote knowledge in the field and/or programmatic replication. My approach to grantmaking is collaborative. I consider it my responsibility to add value beyond grant dollars by offering support in areas including strategic planning, evaluation, fundraising, building organizational and programmatic capacity, and cultivating partnerships.

I work closely with the Board of Directors both as an advisor to advance and deepen grant making investments and to support and strengthen Foundation governance. Among the portfolios I have developed for this $25 million dollar foundation are Youth Development in New York City and in Israel. Currently, the Foundation's local youth development work seeks to promote positive pathways for at-risk youth to college and career. We invest in a select group of community-based programs that use sports or cultural "hooks" to attract youth and provide engaging developmental opportunities for skill acquisition along with a full range of personal and academic supports. My role is not only to identify grant opportunities and facilitate financial support, but also to enrich the knowledge base of the Directors in their areas of interest and to strengthen the programmatic and organizational capacity of grantees. For example, we are currently providing technical support to grantees to enable them to serve meals to the youth they serve, not only toward practical and nutritional purposes, but also the ongoing goal of helping them provide a "second home" nurturing environment for the youth they serve.

As member of the program team, I developed and managed grants in each of the Foundation's four program areas--Education, Health, Social Services and Arts & Culture--with a personal portfolio totaling more than $4 million annually. Having a varied portfolio enabled me to cultivate a broad spectrum of knowledge across nonprofit service sectors. At the same time, I served as the resident health policy and program expert: briefing the Board and staff on developments in health policy, re-designing the Health Program guideline, and taking the lead on health project development. Key initiatives under my direction were significant efforts to enroll uninsured New Yorkers using information technology and to combat health disparities through a cross-sector, public-private health literacy campaign.

I began my work in New York City government as Special Assistant to the Mayor's Health Adviser. In this role, I wrote speeches for her as well as developed content for mayoral addresses on issues ranging from lead poisoning, primary care expansion to public health threats. After being promoted to Director of Special Programs, I oversaw the Mayor's Campaign to Combat Domestic Violence, which included cross-sector initiatives through the Police, Health, Human Resources and Child Welfare Departments as well as public-private partnerships with law firms and the advertising industry.