Neighbors Helping Neighbors - Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Erica Jo Gilles Born and raised in Brooklyn, Erica Jo Gilles has lived in Sunset Park for three years. Erica is the Deputy Director for Advocacy and Outreach for South Brooklyn Legal Services’ (SBLS) Foreclosure Prevention Project. She worked as a paralegal in the Family Law Unit at SBLS from 2000 to 2002 and returned in 2006 to join the Foreclosure Prevention Project. She is a PhD candidate in History at Princeton University and has taught history at Perkins Theological Seminary, Princeton University, and Rutgers University.

Courtney Horwitz is a Senior Project Manager at Omni New York, LLC an affordable housing real estate development company, which acquires, rehabilitates, and preserves affordable housing in New York State. Courtney manages the pre-development state of development and works to ensure that Omni’s buildings are rehabilitated in an energy efficient manner,

Prior to working at Omni New York, LLC, Courtney worked at HR&A Advisors, Inc. a real estate consulting firm where she worked on an affordable housing, energy program and numerous park development projects. Courtney also worked for a consulting firm that assisted public housing authorities throughout the U.S.

Courtney is currently a board member of Women in Housing Finance and has served on the benefit committee of the New Israel Fund. She is an alumna of the Coro Leadership New York program. Courtney has a Bachelors of Arts degree from Tufts University and dual masters degrees in Public Policy and Urban & Regional Planning from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Courtney lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

Russell P. Langsam is the Associate Director, National Network for PENCIL, identifying and on-boarding affiliate organizations and supporting these agencies as they deliver the organization’s private sector/public school partnerships. From 2001-2009, Russell served as the Director of the Posse Foundation’s New York program, identifying, recruiting and training incredible youth leaders from public high schools to send them to top colleges and universities across the country. Previous positions include directing international volunteer programs for American Jewish World Service, corporate recruiting with TMP Worldwide, Director of People Strategy for Amisto, an adventure travel web site, regional and national volunteer management work with AFS Intercultural Programs, coordinating a statewide Americorps program for the Minnesota Department of Economic Security, and Regional Director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for Amigos de las Americas. Russell holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.A. in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota. He participated in Coro’s Leadership New York program in 2003-04. He joined the NHN Board in 2008.

Shai J. Lauros joined the Regional Integration Center overseeing the development of regional catastrophic plans for the NYC metropolitan region after working as an affordable housing developer for Progress of People's Development Corporation, where she focused on the refinancing of the family housing portfolio and environmental sustainability. Previously, Shai worked as an architect, urban planner, and urban designer at several award-wining NYC-based firms and innovative entrepreneurial ventures in prefabricated housing design and development. In addition to her contribution to the Board of Directors of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, she teaches site planning at CUNY City Tech. Previously, Shai instructed social and economic geography at Temple University in Philadelphia. Other volunteer efforts include the development of sustainable food initiatives and advocacy. She has a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies and economics from Barnard College - Columbia University, a Master of Science in regional and urban planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University.

Julie A. Lawrence As director of the Lawyer Referral Service at the Brooklyn Bar Association from 1994 to 2004, Julie sent many low and moderate-income clients to NHN for assistance with housing issues who might not otherwise have received help the help they needed. She has been active in planning, open space and environmental issues in Williamsburg/Greenpoint for many years. Julie was centrally involved in the outreach, policy development and adoption of that community's award-winning 197-a plan. She serves as a member of Brooklyn's Community Board #1, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Campaign for Community Based Planning at the Municipal Art Society. From 2005 to 2008 Julie was Executive Director of the Bronx Land Trust, a community-based organization which manages and stewards grassroots-run community gardens throughout the Bronx.

Elizabeth Norman is a Sunset Park resident who joined NHN's board in April 2006. She works as a Unit Head in the Health Task Force of the NYC Office of Management and Budget. Elizabeth earned a master's degree in public administration, focusing on public finance, from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU in 2006 and a bachelor's degree in history from Oberlin College in 1996.

Michael Wadman, President is a vice president of real estate development for Phipps Houses, the New York area’s oldest and one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit developers, owners and managers of affordable housing. Prior to joining Phipps in 2008, Michael held a variety of senior positions in the affordable housing industry including managing partner of affordable housing for the Hudson Companies, Inc., a NYC-based for-profit real estate development company, senior vice president at the New York State Housing Finance Agency and Affordable Housing Corporation. Michael holds an MBA in real estate from the Haas School of Business (University of California at Berkeley) and a BA from Harvard University. He has lived in Brooklyn since moving to New York in 1989 and recently moved to the Ditmas Park neighborhood with his wife Maura Minsky and daughters Lucy and Edie Wadman.

Kenya S. White, Esq. is the managing attorney of Kenya White & Associates, PLLC. Her practice focuses on Elder law, Trusts, Estates, Guardianships, Real Estate, Corporate and Contract matters. Previously, she worked at the law firms Moses & Singer and Lissner & Lissner. Kenya received her Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School and is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey. Kenya is a volunteer attorney for the City Bar Justice Center's Elder law/Cancer Advocacy Project. She is also a certified Guardian Ad Litem, Court Evaluator, and Attorney for Alleged Incapacitated Persons by the New York State Office of Court Administration, where she represents the interests of unknown and incapacitated heirs in estate proceedings. Kenya’s experience serving elderly clients and assisting terminally ill patients in executing wills, preparing advance directives, and making custody/guardianship arrangements reinforces her passion and commitment to protecting the wishes and legacies of all individuals.

David Witt, Vice-President Born and raised in Kentucky, David has lived in Brooklyn for 14 years (currently in Sunset Park). He received a bachelor's in economics from the University of Kentucky and a master's in international public policy from NYU. David is Director of Finance & Administration at the International Peace Institute, an independent research organization that works closely with the UN, governments, and others on issues of security, conflict resolution, peacekeeping, and development. Prior to that, he served as Director of Medical Enterprise at Continuum Health Partners, a New York hospital system, and Director of Finance & Operations at the International Trachoma Initiative, a nonprofit working to eliminate the world's leading cause of preventable blindness. David has also held jobs in state government, banking, financial insurance, publishing, and teaching, and has lived and worked in Korea and Japan.