Board of Advisors
Christopher Anderson
Executive Director, MaleSurvivor
Mr. Anderson is the Executive Director of MaleSurvivor, dedicated to helping male survivors of sexual abuse. He has presented to National District Attorneys Association, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence, Department of Defense, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and Penn State University. As a member of Local One, IATSE, Mr. Anderson has worked as a stagehand both on and off Broadway.
Alan Brown, Esq.
Partner, Graubard Miller
Mr. Brown is a partner in Graubard Miller, a multi-dimensional New York City law firm. He practices corporate law with a concentration in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Brown is a graduate of The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law.
Gretl Claggett, M.F.A.
Author, Filmmaker, Child Sexual Abuse Advocate
Ms. Claggett is a well-respected writer, speaker and filmmaker. She holds MFAs in Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction and Theater. Her poetry collection Monsoon Solo: Voices Once Submerged won a National Forward Feature Literary Award and was a finalist for an international book award. Happy Hour, the short film she wrote and directed based on her poem, of the same name has been shown at fourteen film festivals across the country and received several awards.
Robin Goodman, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Public Education and Bereavement for Child HELP Partnership
Dr. Goodman is a psychologist with a specialty in trauma, illness and grief. Currently she is Associate Director of Public Education and Bereavement for Child HELP Partnership. She has served in leadership roles at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and New York State Psychological Association Disaster Response Network. Past positions include Executive Director and Bereavement Program Director for A Caring Hand. She is the developer of Making Connections, a grief group counseling curriculum. Committed to increasing awareness of mental health through various media, she developed Caring for Kids After Trauma and Death: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. Book credits include The Day Our World Changed: Children’s Art of 9/11, Ready to Remember: Jeremy’s Journey of Hope and Healing, and Rosie Remembers: Forever in Her Heart.
Amanda Hack, M.B.A.
Marketing and Business Consultant
Mrs. Hack is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College who received her MBA from Harvard University. She has held management positions in marketing at several companies including American Express. She also has advised non-profit organizations in strategic plan development, marketing strategy, and corporate partnership campaigns.
Gloria Joseph
Philanthropic Leadership and International Realty
A journalist and broadcaster for most of her career, Gloria Joseph now uses her communication skills in non-profit board work and as a sales agent for Sotheby’s International Realty. A graduate of Indiana University and New School University, where she received an MFA in creative non-fiction, Gloria is an advocate of life-long learning. As such, much of her volunteer work centers around peace building efforts through her association with Search for Common Ground, where she currently serves as a member of the President’s Leadership Council. Gloria is also an active member of Women Moving Millions and served as a member of its inaugural Philanthropic Leadership Training curriculum.
Bridget Lavery-Palmieri
Marketing and Product Development Consultant
Mrs. Lavery-Palmeri is the founder and principal of fashion retail marketing consultancy BLP Consulting. An accomplished retail executive with strong team management, merchandising, analytical and negotiating skills, she has spent much of her career managing cross functional teams to achieve results by inspiring and motivating each other to excel. For over 15 years, she held various positions in merchandise strategies, store management, product development, buying, planning, marketing analytics and customer insights at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. She is currently a member of the faculty of Parson’s School of Design in NYC.
Marcia Parness
Public School Parent Volunteer, Social Worker
Mrs. Parness has held various leadership positions as an active Queens NYC public school parent volunteer with a background in social work. As a School Leadership Team member and Executive Board member of PTAs, she has spearheaded the search for and implementation of more effective academic programming as well as chaired fundraising initiatives in order to improve the academic and social outcomes of children and to enrich the entire school community. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Reform Temple of Forest Hills. Mrs. Parness holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.S.W. from Hunter College School of Social Work.
Amanda Salzhauer
M.S.W. Social Worker, Active Philanthropist
Mrs. Salzhauer is a social worker and philanthropist. She holds a BA from Dartmouth and a MA in social work form NYU. She worked at the NYU Child Study Center and is in private practice with a focus on cognitive behavioral therapy for children with anxiety disorders. She has worked with many charitable organizations both as a volunteer and board member.
Mel Schneiderman, Ph.D.
Vice President and Director of Mental Health Services, New York Foundling
Dr. Schneiderman is a licensed psychologist and leader in the field of child welfare. He helped found the Fontana Center, the research and training arm of New York Foundling. He has served on several significant boards related to child abuse and mental health. He has presented at over 50 conferences, received several prestigious grants and is widely published in peer reviewed journals.
Alan Schwarz
Pulitzer Prize Nominated Investigative Reporter, the New York Times
Mr. Schwarz is best known for writing more than 100 articles that exposed the seriousness of concussions among football players of all ages. His work in the mental health space continues with a series of articles on the misdiagnosis of attention deficit disorder among many American adults and children. He received a BA in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a well-known public speaker. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Excellence Statistics Reporting Award and is the recipient of numerous other awards for excellence in journalism.
Eyal Shemesh, M.D.
Chief of the Division of Behavioral and Developmental Health, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics
Dr. Shemesh is a pediatrician and child psychiatrist. He conducts research in the interface between psychiatric and medical disorders. He has won several prestigious awards and federal grants for his work. He is the author of peer–reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters exploring non-adherence to medications and the relationship between life-threatening health problems and PSTD.
Whitney Siavelis
Leadership Coach, Consultant
Ms. Siavelis is a Certified Leadership Coach and Consultant, passionate about helping companies and individuals maximize their success. Whitney has 20 years of leadership experience in companies ranging from Fortune 100 to early-stage startups. She has been trained and certified as a Higher Ground Leadership® Coach by Dr. Lance Secretan and the renowned Secretan Center. She also holds global certifications from two of the foremost accredited professional coaching organizations, the International Coaching Federation and the Center for Coaching Mastery. A devoted philanthropist, she holds mentor and advisory positions with various women’s and children’s organizations including AWARE, Bloomberg Women’s Community, and Cornelia Connelly Center.
Meg Sullivan
Leader of Global Marketing, Paul Hastings, LLP
Ms. Sullivan, Leader of Global Marketing for Paul Hastings, is responsible for an international team charged with supporting the firm’s strategy for growth and innovation in providing legal services. Previously based in Europe for ten years, she was Director of Marketing for Arthur Anderson responsible for Europe, The Middle East, India, and Africa. She serves on the Advisory Council for Women of The Boardroom and is the founder of The Quorum Initiative.
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