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CJirauRivera

Carmen Jirau-Rivera


Executive Vice President
Senior Staff

My priorities for The Foundling are 1.) Remain responsive to our constituents in need, 2.) Developing the most professional and responsive workforce that provides a positive work environment, and 3.) Engage our communities to facilitate greater access and opportunities for our clients.”

A long-time Foundling employee dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable children and families, Carmen has provided administrative oversight to The Foundling’s wide array of programs since 1995.

Carmen began her tenure at The Foundling in 1975 as a caseworker supporting children in foster care. Carmen was soon promoted to Unit Supervisor, then Regional Director and eventually became The Foundling’s lead program executive providing oversight to a staff of over 1,500 employees.

Carmen’s long standing relationships with child welfare agencies across New York City, including the Administration for Children’s Services, has made her an invaluable asset to The Foundling, advancing the agency’s connection with the larger New York City community. Carmen is a longtime Bronx resident, having resided there since she was a young child. She has her Master’s degree in Social Work from Fordham University.


Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
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JGentileNYF

Jill Gentile

JGentile

Jill Gentile


Advisor to the CEO
Senior Staff

Jill Gentile has over 35 years of experience serving individuals with disabilities and their families in a diverse range of service settings. Within her current role, Jill is responsible for the overall delivery of supports and services within The Foundling’s DD Division. Jill began her career as a Direct Support Professional at Ability Beyond Disability (ABD), a private, non-profit agency located in Connecticut.

While at ABD Jill was promoted to Executive Director of the New York Division, responsible for developing a comprehensive array of services in New York State. In 2008, Jill was appointed as the Director of Hudson Valley DDSO, the local regional office of OPWDD. Her responsibilities included managing the delivery of services to people with Developmental Disabilities through the State agency as well as through the over 70 voluntary, non-profit providers in the region. In this role she directly supported OPWDD’s mission to enhance and develop individualized and self-directed services.

In 2010, Jill became OPWDD’s Associate Commissioner for Service Delivery overseeing the five regions supporting over 700 voluntary providers. Jill directly assisted in the restructuring of OPWDD to align with the new People First Waiver and with OPWDD’s new Transformation Agenda. Of special note, while at OPWDD Jill was a key player in the closures of 2 institutions and in the planning for additional campus closures; reducing OPWDD’s institutional census from 1,200 to 965.

Jill was also OPWDD’s lead person on not only addressing the on-going challenge of identifying the young adults aging out of school each year, but also identifying the children already in institutional placements and to craft plans to serve these individuals in community-based settings. Jill is a proven advocate for creating individualized, self-directed services that allow for true community participation for individuals with developmental disability and their families.



Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
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Michael Kurtz

Michael Kurtz

Michael Kurtz

Michael Kurtz


Chief Administrative Officer
Senior Staff

Michael Kurtz has had an extensive experience in financial management of complex not for profit organizations. As the Chief Administrative Officer of The New York Foundling, he oversees all financial aspects of social enterprises, government contracts, and foundation grants with revenues of approximately $130 million. Michael is responsible for all internal and external financial reporting and analysis to ensure financial compliance with all regulatory authorities related to diverse funding streams.

Before joining The Foundling in 2013, Michael was the Chief Financial Officer at two other not for profit organizations, Fedcap Rehabilitation Services and Common Ground. At Fedcap Rehabilitation Services, he recruited and restructured the accounting, payroll, contract administration and information technology teams to meet the needs of the rapidly growing organization. He led an evaluation team in selection of ERP system to replace their legacy accounting system, upgraded nonintegrated payroll and HR systems to ADP Enterprise, and prepared annual evaluation of insurance coverage, which led to change in insurance carriers.

While at Common Ground, Michael was responsible for all financial functions of the organization in the provision services for the homeless, including the development and management of supportive housing. He was able to increase revenues at a 20% annual growth rate through improved management of government contracts and management of assets.

Michael is a Certified Public Accountant and holds Master’s degrees in Accounting and Finance from the New York University’s Stern School of Business.



Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
Invest in Potential and Transformation
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Liyan Bao

Liyan Bao

Liyan Bao

Liyan Bao


Senior Vice President, Child Welfare
Senior Staff

Liyan Bao, The Foundling’s Senior Vice President, Child Welfare, leads our Foster Care, Prevention, Family Justice, and Camp Felix programs.

Liyan began her tenure at The Foundling in 2008 as an Administrative Supervisor in the foster care program. In 2010, Liyan assumed the role of Regional Director where she continued her work providing oversight to families and children in foster care, prevention, and day care center programs. She moved to the role of Vice President of Placement Permanency Support in 2015 where she oversaw support programs in foster care, specialized preventive programs, and early childcare programs. Most recently, Liyan held the role of Vice President, Foster Care Services responsible for the oversight of the foster care division, including Homefinding, Intake, Family Team Conference, Adoption & Legal Services, and Records Retention.

Liyan’s passion has always been in the field of Social Work, particularly working with children and families. Liyan is a licensed social worker—she graduated in 2005 with a Master of Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Worker from Hunter College with a concentration in casework and group work.


Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
Invest in Potential and Transformation
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Reina Batron

Reïna Batrony

Reina Batron

Reïna Batrony


Senior Vice President, Community-Based & Education Programs
Senior Staff

Reïna Batrony, The Foundling’s Senior Vice President, Community-Based and Education Programs, leads our current community-based and education programs, as well as our Head Start and Early Head Start program in Puerto Rico.

Reïna joined The Foundling in 2010 as a therapist and later served as a Supervisor, Program Director, and Assistant Vice President. She was most recently the Vice President of Community-Based and Education Strategies. Reïna also supported as a Senior Advisor for The Foundling’s Implementation Support Center (ISC), working with different agencies, jurisdictions, and others with change management and assessing opportunities for best outcomes for children and families using evidence-based interventions. Reïna served as member of the Foundling’s DEI Council and NYS Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health (CCBH) DEI-B and Board Nomination Committees.

Reïna is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who is fluent in English, French, Creole, and (conversational) Spanish. Her background and studies have focused on Education, Clinical Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, Diversity & Inclusion, Leadership, and Systems Design. Reïna received her Standard of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support certification in February 2022 by the National Family Support Network, having recently completed Citizens’ Committee for Children (CCC) of New York Community Leader Course. She was named The 2022 Responsible 100 – City & State New York.


Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
Invest in Potential and Transformation
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Maria Bediako

Maria Bediako


Senior Vice President, Developmental Disabilities
Senior Staff

Maria Bediako brings over 17 years of experience – and a wealth of knowledge –  to the role of Senior Vice President of the Developmental Disabilities Division. As Senior Vice President, Maria is responsible for the overall delivery of services within The Foundling’s Developmental Disabilities Division. As a leader, she works diligently to advocate with and for people with developmental disabilities and to collaborate with colleagues, families, policy makers, and stakeholders to help ensure that the people we support can reach their highest potential.

Maria began her career in the developmental disabilities field as a Direct Support Professional, and moved on to work as a Job Coach and Employment Specialist.  From there, she served in various functions in the field such as Deputy Director at the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and Director of Administration and Operations at the Building Services 32BJ Health Fund. Prior to assuming her current role, Maria served as Vice President of Policy and Organization Development at The Foundling for five years, where she oversaw Program Quality Assurance, Workforce Development and Training for the Developmental Disabilities Division. In this position, Maria created a strong system of oversight and accountability supporting programs with policies and a peer audit system that has created consistency of practice throughout all of the programs.

Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
Invest in Potential and Transformation
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Rosemary Collazo

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Adrian Witzke

Adrian Witzke


Chief Information Officer
Senior Staff

Adrian Witzke is an IT professional with over 25 years of experience in systems engineering, management, and tech advisory.

After over a decade in the finance industry as the IT Manager of the private equity firm Fenway Partners, he transitioned to advising businesses in a variety of sectors including publishing, legal, tech, manufacturing, healthcare and non-profit. He specialized in collaboration systems, cloud architecture and strategic design.  Adrian also co-founded the non-profit FC GIVE, a grassroots collective that pursues social change through fundraising soccer matches, sporting events and charity engagement.

As The Foundling’s Chief Information Officer, Adrian fuses his love for all things tech with his desire to make a community impact. In his spare time, he attempts to surf the Rockaways. He holds a BS from Syracuse University.


Leadership

30,000+
people served in The Foundling's programs every year

Your contribution makes opportunities and support available to people who are working to realize their own strength and independence.
Invest in Potential and Transformation
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Sashoi Grant

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Karen Alexander

Karen Alexander

Karen Alexander

Karen Alexander


Chief Human Resources Officer
Senior Staff

About


Karen N. Alexander, The New York Foundling’s Chief Human Resources Officer, brings more than 20 years of experience in human resources management and development and organizational design – most of which have been in human services.  She utilizes her knowledge, experience, and innovation to The Foundling’s human resources strategy and operations; talent management, including recruitment and leadership development, compensation and benefits, and organizational design. Karen’s track record with expertise in human resource management and development is instrumental to enabling the continued long-term success of our business and culture, as well as ensuring our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is integral to the operations and programs of The Foundling.

Prior to The Foundling, she served as Chief of Human Resources at the New York City Department for the Aging. Additionally, Karen has held human resources leadership positions at the Administration for Children’s Services, the Department of Youth and Community Development and the Community Action Human Services Department in Florida.

She holds a Masters of Public Administration from Baruch College, a Bachelors of Arts from Brown University, and served as a Fullbright Fellow in Public Health in Saint Lucia.


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