Linda Basch - President

A. Greenblatt - Director of Operations

Vivienne Heston-Demirel - Director of Communications

C. Nicole Mason - Director of Research & Policy Initiatives

Delores M. Walters - Director of Research for Institutional Diversity

Ellen Rae Huang - Bookkeeper

Lisa Rast - Development and Operations Coordinator

Cecile Shrestha - Executive Coordinator

Jessyca Dudley - Program Coordinator

Mary Ellen Capek - Former Executive Director

Fellows

Mariam K. Chamberlain - Founding President and Resident Scholar

Elizabeth Horton - Senior Fellow

 

Consultants

Paula Bruno - Corporate Consultant

Susan Stevens, The Stevens Group of Larson Allen - Management Consultant

Bill Tam, Tam & Nester - Accountant

Vivian Todini - Communications Consultant

Anna Wadia - Program Consultant

Linda Basch, PhD, President, has led the National Council for Research on Women since 1996. Under her leadership, the Council has grown into a thriving network of 110 research, advocacy, and policy centers with a growing Corporate Circle of major corporations and a Presidents’ Circle of college and university leaders. Her areas of expertise include globalization; economic security; the impact of public policy on women and families; higher education; gender and diversity in academia, society, and the workplace; women in the corporate world, including work/life balance; human security; women’s leadership; and women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and math. An anthropologist by training, she has examined issues of migration, race, ethnicity, and gender, conducting field research in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and North America.

Previously, she has held positions as Director of Academic Programs at New York University, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Manhattan College, and Academic Vice President at Wagner College. She has also worked for the United Nations as a social policy specialist and a director of research. She has written and co-authored numerous books and articles for scholarly journals and also overseen the Council’s many special reports. Her articles, letters and interviews have been featured in major media outlets including the Associated Press, National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and Fox News.com. She serves on numerous boards and advisory bodies including Ms. Magazine and the Women’s Rights Prize of the Gruber Foundation.

Linda is an Elected Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and a current member of the National Academy of Sciences previously serving as co-Chair of its Anthropology Section. She received her PhD in Anthropology from New York University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

A. Greenblatt, Director of Operations, graduated from New York University ’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Policy with an MPA in Public and Non-profit management. She has many years of experience in the non-profit sector where her work has primarily focused on the areas of hunger and homelessness. Most recently she worked for the Homeless Services Department of the American Red Cross in Greater New York. She functioned in a leadership capacity for a department that encompassed two residential facilities and post-relocation programs for homeless mothers and their children. While at the Red Cross she also worked with a management team to design, implement and administer $100M in emergency financial assistance to surviving family members and people who were physically injured in the September 11th attacks. Prior to working with the Red Cross, Andrea worked for the Food & Hunger Hotline, a city-wide anti-hunger organization.

Vivienne Heston-Demirel, Director of Communications, is a communications specialist who has worked in journalism as well as in public relations for educational, non-profit, and international organizations. She has undertaken numerous assignments for the United Nations where she played a key role in implementing global communication strategies, conducting media outreach and producing public information materials. She began her career as a reporter working for newspapers, magazines and broadcasters. An experienced writer and editor, she has produced a wide variety of information products and materials including website content, annual reports, press kits and promotional tools as well as op-ed articles and speeches. No stranger to gender issues, she has written extensively about the role of women in development and the special needs of women and girls in times of crisis, including humanitarian disasters, armed conflict, and public health emergencies, including HIV and AIDS. She graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with a BA in French Language and Literature and has conducted research and completed graduate coursework in international relations at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey.

C. Nicole Mason, PhD, Director of Research and Policy Initiatives, has worked in advocacy and public education at the local, state, and national levels with a special focus on women and underserved communities. For the last 10 years, her work has centered on violence against women, reproductive rights, civic engagement, youth development and education, welfare reform, and health policy reform. She continues to investigate the intersections of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and other markers of difference and their impact on rights and liberties in the modern democratic state. Nicole has also written extensively on the experiences of black women and gender-based violence and is the author of the Guide to Addressing Violence Against Women: An Intersectional Model and Approach for Service Providers, Advocates and Community Leaders. She has been interviewed by National Public Radio, among other news outlets.

Nicole previously served as the Executive Director of the National Women's Alliance, a multi-issue human rights organization focused on the needs and concerns of women and girls of color based in Washington, D.C. She built strategic partnerships and alliances at the grassroots and national levels and spearheaded innovative research and policy initiatives. She also taught at the Institute for Policy Studies’ Social Justice and Leadership School for Activists and in the Department of Political Science at Howard University. She is a current member of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research Advisory Board for the Status of Women in the Fifty States.

Nicole earned her Doctorate and MS degrees in Government and Politics, along with a Graduate Studies Certificate in Women's Studies, from the University of Maryland, College Park. She received a BA with honors in Political Science from Howard University.

Delores M. Walters, PhD, Director of Research for Institutional Diversity, is a cultural anthropologist and educator with an extensive record of community-based teaching and research. She recently held a joint position with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio and Northern Kentucky University. As a community research specialist, she conducted workshops and courses aimed at restoring the history of people of color, particularly of African American women, to the public memory. She helped introduce the new opera, “ Margaret Garner,” to the public for both the Cincinnati Opera and the New York City Opera. She is currently co-editing a collection of symposium papers called “Gendered Resistance” focusing on both contemporary and historic slavery.

While Delores was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University she also taught in an urban youth program called “Year Up.” She was also Director of the ALANA (African, Latin, Asian, Native American) Cultural Center at Colgate University where she organized co-curricular multicultural programs and taught community-based courses involving cultural competency.

Delores earned a BS in Biology from City College of New York; a BS and RN from Columbia University School of Nursing; and spent 10 years in hospital and public health nursing.  She received her PhD in Cultural Anthropology and an MA in Liberal Studies from New York University. Her post-doctoral research resulted in a video documentary on women’s roles in changing health care delivery and race relations in Yemen.

Here are some more links to Delores’s work.

Lisa Rast, Development and Operations Coordinator, received a B.A. in French and Women’s Studies from the University of the South, and completed a master’s degree at New York University’s Institute of French Studies. Her thesis explored the development of Parisian youth in the wake of the suburban riots of 2005 – specifically the significance of gender identity on France’s immigrant community. Lisa first came to the Council as an intern during the last semester of her master’s program, and stayed on as a Summer Program Associate before assuming the position of Development and Operations Coordinator. She worked previously as an intern in the Development office at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, where she helped to prepare the organization’s first annual report and many grant requests. Before moving to New York City, Lisa worked at the law firm of McCullough & Payne in Atlanta, Georgia. She has studied at the Sorbonne, Paris IV and at St. John’s College, Oxford, and speaks fluent French and conversational Spanish.           

Cecile Shrestha, Executive Coordinator, a native of Kathmandu, Nepal received her BA in Political Science: International Relations from the University of California, San Diego. Following graduation, she worked as a Research Assistant for the International Educational Development Humanitarian Law Project (IED/HLP) based in San Francisco. Through IED/HLP, Cecile attended the UN Commission and Sub-Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. In the summer of 2004, she interned at USAID in Kathmandu, coordinating the efforts of the International Agency Coordinating Group (IACG) against Human Trafficking and the Government of Nepal’s National Plan of Action against Trafficking.

Cecile then traveled to the National Institute for Political Science of Paris for her MA in International Affairs and Development Studies. While working on her MA degree, she consulted for the UN Development Program. She also worked with UNICEF’s Situation Analysis of Women and Children (Sitan) Project in Kathmandu where she led a team in the development of a multimedia CD-Rom, and made cross-country field trips to conduct case studies and interviews. After completing her Masters degree, Cecile worked briefly as a consultant to Family Health International in Kathmandu.

Jessyca Dudley, Program Coordinator received her B.A. in Women’s Studies from Skidmore College and is the founder of The Building Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating opportunities in education globally. Her background is in the non-profit sector, where she has worked at The Saratoga Foundation for Women Worldwide, People for the American Way and Safe Horizon. Jessyca has focused her studies and work on the effects and prevention of domestic violence through international and domestic law.

Mary Ellen Capek, a founding officer of NCRW and Executive Director from 1989-1996, is a philanthropic and nonprofit consultant whose recent work includes "Funding 'Norm' Doesn't Fund Norma: Women, Girls, and Philanthropy," a chapter in The State of Philanthropy 2002 published by the National Committee for Responsive Philantrhopy (available for purchase at www.ncrp.org); Fostering Effective Funding for Women and Girls: A Next Stage Strategy published by Chicago Women in Philanthropy (available online at www.wfnet.org or www.womenphil.org); and Women and Philanthropy: Old Stereotypes, New Challenges (available online at www.wfnet.org). She was instrumental in shaping NCRW priorities that link research, policy, and activism, and launched many of the Council's groundbreaking publications--including Women's Research Network News and Issues Quarterly (IQ). An advocate for using technology to improve access to women's resources, Mary Ellen also produced the award-winning Women's Thesaurus (Harper & Row, 1987).

The former Director of Continuing Education at Princeton University and a faculty member and department chair at Essex County College in Newark NJ, she has served on numerous boards and working groups--among them the Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund, the Independent Sector Research Committee, the Conference Board Work and Family Council, Women & Philanthropy's Action/Research Committee, the Working Group on Funding Lesbian and Gay Issues, and the New Jersey Commission on the Status of Women.

Honored on her retirement from the Council with a $25,000 nonprofit leadership award, Mary Ellen spent 1996-1998 as a Visiting Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, and is now based at the University of New Mexico, where she is affiliated with the Anderson Schools of Management. She is the author with Molly Mead of Effective Philanthropy: Organizational Success through Deep Diversity and Gender Equality (paper, 2007). To order, click here.

Fellows

Mariam K. Chamberlain, PhD, Founding President and Resident Scholar, is an economist by training whose career includes university, government, and foundation employment. She is the Founding President of the National Council for Research on Women and continues to work on international programs and higher education programs.

Mariam's career in philanthropy spans three decades, and involves work at the Ford and Russell Sage Foundations. At the Ford Foundation she served as a Program Assistant in the Economic Development and Administration Program and as a Program Officer in Education and Public Policy in which capacity, she was instrumental in developing the field of women's studies. At the Russell Sage Foundation she was Resident Scholar and headed a Task Force Study on Women in Higher Education. While there, she helped to found the National Council for Research on Women and presided over its growth during the 1980s.

Mariam has also taught at Connecticut College, the School of General Studies at Columbia University, and at Yale University, where from 1960 to 1966 she was Executive Secretary and Research Associate at the Economic Growth Center. Her publications include Women in Academe: Progress and Prospects, and Women of Color and the Multicultural Curriculum. She currently serves on the boards of the Feminist Press, the Institute for Women's Policy Studies, the Network of East-West Women, the Women's Interart Center, and the National Council for Research on Women. She holds an AB in Economics from Radcliffe (1939) and a PhD, also in Economics, from Harvard (1950).

Elizabeth Horton, Senior Fellow, served as Director of Finance and Administration and as Deputy Director at the National Council for Research on Women from 1997 to 2006. During her tenure, she oversaw the development and growth of the Council’s financial infrastructure, participated in the expansion of its programming and organizational reach, and oversaw the development of recent programming, including Taxes are a Women’s Issue and Gains and Gaps. With an MA in secondary education, Liz also has extensive experience in educational issues. She served as a classroom teacher, as Assistant to the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Manhattan College , and as the Board chair of the Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools (an independent pre-K-12 school system in NYC) and of the Literacy Assistance Center (an organization devoted to professional development and institutional capacity building for adult and out-of-school youth education). She currently serves as a Board member of the Literacy Assistance Center and as chair of the Steering Committee of Border Crossers, a start-up organization that addresses the de facto segregation in the New York City education system.

Consultants

Paula Bruno, Corporate Consultant, prior to joining the Council, worked in various capacities in the business world for 15 years. In 1996, she was a founder of United Rentals, Inc., an equipment rental company which quickly went public and became the world’s largest equipment rental company. From 1996-2001, she was Assistant Vice President, Acquisitions with responsibility for analyzing acquisitions in terms of strategic fit, risk, shareholder value and ensuring smooth integration. She assessed risk by examining key areas and components of the acquired businesses, such as critical processes, integration issues, and opportunities for synergy. In this role, she evaluated over 200 prospective companies. This work included analyzing financial statements, preparing pro forma financial statements, using valuation techniques such as discounted cash flow analysis and performing sensitivity analysis and accretion/dilution analysis. Paula was also involved in transaction analysis and deal design working closely with legal teams throughout contract stages. As one of the founders of the company Paula was also involved in preparing press materials and investor presentations, as well as public information related to acquisitions.

Prior to launching United Rentals, Paula was an Acquisition Associate at United Waste from 1994-1996. She is currently a private equity investor particularly interested in companies making a difference in the lives of women and girls. Paula holds a BS degree from Le Moyne College and an MBA from Syracuse University in Finance and Accounting, graduating summa cum laude.

Vivian Todini, Communications Consultant, has extensive experience in creating integrated communications and advocacy strategies for social justice organizations. She has worked with a range of national civil rights, women’s rights and grassroots youth organizations. Her areas of expertise include strategic communications counseling, public affairs, speech and op-ed writing, message development, media training, and website development. She is the former Director of Communications for NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW LDEF). She is a former board member of YouthBASE, an HIV/AIDS education organization for at-risk youth and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Vivian received her B.A. from William Paterson University and her M.A. from New York University.

Anna Wadia, Program Consultant, has dedicated her career to empowering low-income communities to create and improve jobs and have a voice in local and national policy. With almost 20 years experience in domestic and international philanthropy and economic development, Anna specializes in strategic program planning and evaluation, social change philanthropy, integrated technical assistance planning and delivery, and public policy research.

Anna ’s recent projects include: a mid-course assessment of an $18 million Ford Foundation initiative to improve the quality of low-wage jobs by expanding the availability of government and employer-provided work supports; an analysis of the feasibility of expanding the pool of funders supporting improvements in caregiving and human services frontline jobs (for the Ms. Foundation for Women, in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson and Annie E. Casey Foundations); co-authoring a paper on strategies to improve the quality of jobs and the quality of care in the child care and home health care fields for the Ms. Foundation; an assessment of the most effective strategies Ms. Foundation grantees have used to promote the sustainability of women’s microenterprises and social purpose businesses; and an analysis of domestic and international strategies to promote women’s economic empowerment for the Women’s Funding Network.

Prior to launching her consulting business, Anna led the Ms. Foundation’s efforts to improve women’s economic security. She managed one of the country’s leading national funding collaboratives, the Collaborative Fund for Women’s Economic Development, that has directed over $10 million since 1991 to create jobs for low-income women. Anna managed a consensus-based grant selection process with over twenty funders, designed and organized a range of technical assistance opportunities for grantees, and worked with evaluators to document lessons learned. She also spearheaded the Ms. Foundation’s 2004 voter engagement initiative.

Before coming to the Ms. Foundation, Anna worked in international development, where she was a Program Officer in the Africa and Middle East Program of the Ford Foundation and worked in West Africa and Southern Africa for Catholic Relief Services.

Anna co-authored Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs: How Eleven Women Escaped Poverty and Became Their Own Bosses, published by Westview Press, as well as several reports on best practices in microenterprise development. Anna has also organized and presented at numerous conferences and training workshops for foundations and practitioner organizations.

She earned her BA from Yale University in 1984 and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.