OMG's Board Chair Bernardine Watson Social Policy Consultant Bernardine (Dine) H. Watson is a social policy consultant who works with foundations, the private sector, think tanks and other nonprofit organizations to plan and implement social policy initiatives and document policy issues. Ms. Watson's work focuses mainly on youth and community issues including child welfare, education, juvenile justice, youth development, race and poverty. Since becoming an independent consultant in 2003, Ms. Watson's clients have included, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Foundation for Child Development, Public/Private Ventures, Stoneleigh Center, The United Way of Southeastern Pa., and The William Penn Foundation. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Ms. Watson spent ten years as a vice/president and executive vice president at Public/ Private Ventures, a national youth policy organization where, she was responsible for developing and generating funding for new projects; establishing and maintaining relationships with Congress, federal, state and local government agencies; major foundations and community-based organizations. She was also responsible for developing strategy and policy papers for internal use and external publication. Ms. Watson has published numerous reports on a variety of youth-related issues. Currently, Ms Watson chairs the board of directors for the Organizational Management Group Center for Collaborative Learning. She is active in the arts and has served on the boards of the Painted Bride Art Center and Scribe Video Center. Ms. Watson resides in Washington, DC. Vice Chair Heather Noonan, Vice President for Advocacy League of American Orchestras Heather Noonan is the Vice President for Advocacy for the League of American Orchestras. >From the League's Washington, D.C. office, Ms. Noonan represents orchestras before Congress, the White House, and federal agencies. Her legislative portfolio includes federal policies related to the National Endowment for the Arts, education, immigration, cultural exchange, and nonprofit tax issues. Ms. Noonan serves on the national steering committee of the Arts Education Partnership and has served on the U.S. Department of Education's steering committees for the America Goes Back to School project and Partnership for Family Involvement in Education. Ms. Noonan has served on the board of directors of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras, and was the Newsbreak Editor for the Teaching Artist Journal from 2003 to 2005. She edited the League's 1998 publication and the current web site Artists from Abroad: The Complete Guide to Immigration and Tax Requirements for Foreign Guest Artists. Prior to joining the League in 1996, she was a legislative associate for the American Arts Alliance. Ms. Noonan earned a bachelor's degree in political science and studied art history at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Treasurer Gertrude J. Spilka, Executive Director OMG Center for Collaborative Learning A founding director of OMG, Gertrude J. Spilka has over twenty-five years experience advising public and nonprofit organizations and national foundations on program development and evaluation, strategic planning, organizational restructuring and policy. The areas of her work include the arts, education reform, communications policy, community building, and non-profit management. Much of her recent work has investigated effective policy and systems change efforts across various fields. During her tenure at OMG, Gerri has advised on program strategy and directed numerous evaluations. Ms. Spilka has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Glynwood Center for Sustainable Development in New York, The Charter High School for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia, and the Neighborhood Gardens Association/A Land Trust in Philadelphia. Secretary Valerie Piper, Executive Director Center for Urban Development Excellence, University of Pennsylvania Valerie Piper is Executive Director of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania and President of Piper Advisory Services, which provides advisory and project management services to public agencies, private developers, nonprofit civic and development groups on neighborhood revitalization and urban development projects. Previously, Ms.Piper served in several positions with the City of Chicago's Department of Housing and the Chicago Housing Authority to coordinate local public sector redevelopment activities and revitalize neighborhoods, while producing a less concentrated stock of permanently affordable housing. Working with public and private stakeholders she piloted and institutionalized a community planning and federal procurement process to engage private and non-profit development partners for all CHA's mixed income developments. Developments involving 297 acres of CHA property began during her tenure. Prior to her work in Chicago, Ms. Piper developed new financial products and services for the National Equity Fund, Inc., and its parent organization, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Also, she helped to start new community revitalization initiatives with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Ms. Piper's earlier work with local private and non-profit organizations includes project management with the Cooper's Ferry Development Association in Camden, NJ, civic work for city planning with the Municipal Art Society in New York, NY, and real estate financial analysis with The First Boston Corporation. Ms. Piper holds a Master of Government Administration from the Fels Center of Government, University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Architecture from Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude. Carolyn Asbury, PhD, ScMPH Dr. Asbury is senior consultant to the Dana Foundation, advising on neuroscience, immunology and neuroimmunology grant programs. She also consults on the Foundation's publication designed for the public, called Cerebrum, in which scientists discuss issues related to brain and behavior. Prior to consulting for Dana, Dr. Asbury was a senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and then director of the Health and Human Services Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts. In these roles, she developed and directed grant programs including programs in: dementia and respite care innovations; substance abuse prevention and treatment innovations; critical care and end-of-life prognoses and patients' decision-making; malpractice; development of practicing physician research networks; academic-managed care collaborative training and research models; and clinical research and research training programs. Also, Dr. Asbury consults with other foundations on their grantmaking initiatives and on program evaluations. After earning a ScMPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she received a Ph.D. in systems sciences from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, and became a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to chairing the Board of National Organization for Rare Disorders, Carolyn chairs the Board of the Treatment Research Institute, and the Section on Public Health and Preventive Medicine of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She also serves on the boards the U.S. Pharmacopeia, and is a Fellow of College of Physicians of Philadelphia. J. Blaine Bonham, Jr., Executive Vice President Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Biography coming soon.) Richard Cohen, President Philadelphia Health Management Corporation Recognized nationally as an authority in the public health management arena, Richard J. Cohen, Ph.D., FACHE, has served Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) since 1980, first as its Executive Director and for the past 18 years as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Cohen leads close to 1400 employees, over 250 public health programs and ten subsidiary organizations. Under his watch, the organization has expanded 75-fold and continues to grow. Dr. Cohen's more than thirty publications and conference presentations get to the heart of public health dilemmas, with insight into the marketing of human services, developing leadership, establishing public/private partnerships, assessing long- versus short-term costs, understanding hospital utilization patterns, and many other critical topics. Dr. Cohen is a member of many distinguished health organizations that include American Public Health Association (Treasurer), Alliance of Children and Families (Vice Chair, Chair Elect and Board member of its parent organization Families International), National Council on Crime and Delinquency (past Board Chair), Pennsylvania Public Health Association (Past President), College of Physicians of Philadelphia and American College of Healthcare Executives (Past Regent). He has received numerous awards from groups as wide-ranging as local community alliances and national institutions. Carla Dickstein, Senior Program Officer Coastal Enterprises, Maine Carla Dickstein is Senior Vice-President for Research and Policy Development at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), one of the nation's largest rural Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFI) and Community Development Corporations (CDC) based in Wiscasset, Maine. Carla's research and policy initiatives have included green industries and employment opportunities, rural development and entrepreneurship, and predatory mortgage lending and foreclosures. She also has overseen CEI's work in impact measurement and program evaluation. Prior to coming to CEI she was on the faculty at West Virginia University's Regional Research Institute and the West Virginia University Extension Service. She holds a B.A. from Smith College, a Masters in Planning from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Peter Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer Alliance for Children & Families Peter Goldberg is President and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance for Children and Families and its parent holding company, Families International, Inc. The Alliance for Children and Families formed October 1, 1998 when Family Service America (established 1911) and the National Association of Homes and Services for Children (established 1975) merged. The Alliance for Children and Families represents more than 350 nonprofit child- and family-serving organizations whose members provide a vast array of services ranging from residential care for children to community centered prevention and intervention programs to economic self-sufficiency initiatives. Mr. Goldberg also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Ways to Work and of United Neighborhood Centers of America, two other subsidiaries of Families International. Prior to joining the Families International group of companies in 1994, Mr. Goldberg was President of the Prudential Foundation (1990-94) and head of Primerica's social responsibility programs (1982-88). He was Project Director of the New York State Heroin and Alcohol Abuse Study (1981-82) and Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. government's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1979-81). Mr. Goldberg is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a Board Trustee of The Bridgespan Group, and Chair of the Listening Post Project Steering Committee at the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, he serves on the Executive Committee and is the convening chair of “Leadership 18,” which consists of the major national nonprofit human service organizations in the United States. Mr. Goldberg has served on numerous other nonprofit boards examples of which include the immediate past Chair of The Children's Institute (Oregon), Independent Sector (which he chaired from 1999-2001), National Human Services Assembly, Jobs for the Future, the Advertising Council, and the Community Service Society of New York, and George Street Playhouse. He was also a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and of the Advisory Council of the Harvard Center for Society and Health. Lynn Mertz, Deputy Director Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey Nursing Initiative at the NJ Chamber of Commerce Foundation Lynn Mertz is the Deputy Director of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative. NJNI is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with direction and technical assistance provided by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Prior to her assignment at NJNI, Lynn was the assistant to the president at the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey where she was responsible for policy analysis, research, member services and the coordination of numerous committees. Lynn was the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Bloomfield College, and was Special Assistant at the New Community Corporation, a community development corporation based in Newark, NJ. She also worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and served as a Jesuit International Volunteer, stationed in Micronesia for two years. She is a graduate of Drew University, with a Bachelor of Arts, Economics and Political Science, holds a Masters in Urban Planning from The Wagner School of Public Service, New York University and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Seton Hall University. Lynn's many professional affiliations and activities have included the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; the State-National Information Network; the Association for the Study of Higher Education; the New Jersey Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators; an NCES Fellow; the position of Board President of Jersey Cares; and graduate of Leadership New Jersey. Harris Steinberg, Executive Director PennPraxis School of Design, University of Pennsylvania Harris M. Steinberg is the founding executive director of PennPraxis, the clinical consulting arm of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an adjunct assistant professor of city and regional planning at Penn. Harris's work at PennPraxis focuses on large-scale civic engagement and advocacy processes such as the creation of A Civic Vision for the Central Delaware in 2006 and 2007. The project, authorized by executive order of Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street and funded by the William Penn Foundation with support from the Knight Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, engaged over 5500 Philadelphians in a public process that helped transform city planning in Philadelphia. Harris served on the Philadelphia Historical Commission from 2001 through 2006 and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2006.