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Who We Are > Board of Directors
Susan Albrecht (Co-Chair)
Susan Albrecht has been a resident of Greenpoint for eighteen years.
She joined the NAG Board in 2002. In 2000-2001, she served on the
Brooklyn Community Board #1 Task Force on Mc Carren Park Pool, which
resulted in an approved plan to reuse the abandoned pool space as a
multi-faceted, year-round recreational facility. She is also a member
of Park Moms, dedicated to improving the aesthetic and safety of the Mc
Carren Park playground, and serves on the PTA Executive Committee for
Beginning with Children Charter School is south Williamsburg.
Professionally, Susan is Associate Director of Progress of Peoples
Development Corporation, the housing affiliate of Brooklyn Catholic
Charities. Prior to working with Catholic Charities, Susan was Director
of Planning and Agency Relations for the United Way in Greenwich, CT.
She has previously served on the Steering Committee of the Supportive
Housing Network of New York and currently co-chairs the Housing
Committee of the Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York
City.
Eddie Bartosiewicz
One of NAG's founding members, Eddie Bartosiewicz
was born and raised in the Northside. He retired from JP Morgan Chase
after 22 years as a Network System Analyst, and is now studying to be a
locksmith. Eddie is also a Trustee at Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic
Church on North 5th Street.
Ward Dennis
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Michael Freedman-Schnapp (Co-Chair)
Michael lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. His work has encompassed issues of economic justice, globalization, criminal justice, community organizing, race relations, and sustainable urban development policy. Mr. Freedman-Schnapp works at the New York Industrial Retention Network on research and policy issues relating to keeping manufacturing jobs in New York City. He also consults for non-profit and public agencies on policy, urban planning and statistical projects. He is a May 2009 candidate for his Masters in Urban Planning from NYU's Wagner School of Public Policy.
Roseann Henry
Roseann was born and raised on the Northside and has
long been concerned about environmental justice in her neighborhood.
She is a Supervisor at the New York City Police Department's Payroll
Section. Roseann also serves as co-president of the Holy Family Church
Ladies Guild.
Mikki Halpin
Mikki Halpin is a writer and activist living in Williamsburg. As the director of Act Local she puts on benefit concerts for worthy causes, including a 30-band, three-stage event at the Knitting Factory in 2007 that raised more than $20,000 for artists affected by the hurricanes in the south. Other concerts have raised money and support for tsunami victims, landmarking the Domino Sugar Factory, and tenant's rights in North Brooklyn. She is a founder of PoolAid, a citizen's group dedicated to preserving McCarren Pool for the community and keeping it out of corporate hands. Her other local interests include tree planting, density and development issues, environmental concerns, and Automotive High School. She actually enjoys community meetings.
Christine Holowicz
Christine Holowacz immigrated to the United
States from Poland in 1972. She became involved in environmental issues
in the Greenpoint community during the 1980s. President of the
Greenpoint Property Owners since 1989, Christine devotes much of her
time to issues concerning senior citizen homeowners. She is also the
Church of St. Cecilia political and housing coordinator. Christine
served on the Greenpoint Community Board #1's 197a Committee as well as
its Rezoning and Kosciusko Bridge upgrade Task Forces. She initiated
the first meeting in the successful fight against the proposed Key
Span/Con Edison power plant in Greenpoint, leading to the founding of
GWAPP, which she co-chairs. She is currently part of the Greenpoint
Coalition, St Nicholas Preservation and the Greenpoint Williamsburg
Waterfront Task Force, and is the Community Liaison at the Newtown
Creek Wastewater Treatment plant for the Newntown Creek Monitor
Committee (NCMC). Christine received the Woman of the Millennium and
the Carmine "Dusty" De Chair Community awards from the Seneca Club,
(2001 & 2002) for her work with GWAPP and a Citation in 2002 from the
Borough President for her work in the Polish Community. She holds a BA
in Economics and Accounting from Brooklyn College.
Waldemar Kawalko
Waldemar Kawalko emigrated from Poland to USA in 1987 during the Solidarity movement. He has been a resident of the
Northside since 1996, a member of NAG since 1998, and a board member since 2000. Waldemar has worked in the fashion industry since 1970; currently he works as a senior fashion technical designer at The
Limited Inc. He holds a BS from The Fashion Institute of Technology in fashion design and marketing.
Felice Kirby
Born in NYC, Felice came to work in the Northside when
she was hired by the late neighborhood activist Adam Veneski to build a
community organizing department of the People's Firehouse during the
years of property abandonment and arson-for-profit schemes in the late
1970's/early 80's. She has been involved in many local volunteer-driven
efforts to protect and increase affordable housing, jobs, health
service clinics, senior housing, youth after school programs, and the
renovations of Metropolitan Pool and the Williamsburg Bridge. In the
late 1980's, Felice joined the Citizens' Committee for New York City
where she pioneered a New York City and, later, national, program to
train police officers in building partnerships with community
organizations to prevent drug and violence. Felice is the managing
partner of Teddy's Bar and Grill, a 120-year old North Brooklyn
business with a history of community involvement dating back to Tammany
Hall, and is raising her family in the same building.
Jim Rodecker (Treasurer)
Jim Rodecker has been a resident of
Northside Williamsburg for 28 years. He helped co-found NAG in August
1994. Besides heading up the Outreach Committee, he participated in the
Neighborhood Environmental Assistance Program and the Neighborhood
Leadership Institute for the Citizens Committee of New York City. He is
a real estate consultant and full-charge bookkeeper.
Stephanie Thayer (Vice-Chair)
Stephanie has been a leader in the fight for contextual development/against overdevelopment, during and after the rezoning of Williamsburg Greenpoint, as a spokesperson with the North Brooklyn Alliance, and a leader of Stop Our Supersizing. As a founding member of the Waterfront Preservation Alliance, she also works to promote local landmarks and preservation issues. She is a Board Member of the Open Space Alliance, a conservancy raising funds to improve our neighborhood parks. Stephanie is a partner in a small business, a veteran staffmember of several political campaigns, and a former vice-president of a major financial institution.
Evan Thies
Evan Thies is a media and strategic planning aid to some of New York City's largest non-profit advocacy organizations, including ACORN, Housing Here and Now, the Pratt Center, and the Urban Justice Center. Prior to going into private practice, Evan was at City Hall in the office of Council Member David Yassky for nearly five years, where he worked on affordable housing, gun control and other issues. Evan also worked in the office of Sen. Hillary Clinton, and on several campaigns for elected office, including that of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Evan is currently on the board of several civic and issue-based organizations in New York City. He serves as chair of the Environment and Sanitation Committee of Community Board One in Brooklyn.
Joe Weisbord
Joe Weisbord is a senior policy analyst at
Fannie Mae, one of the largest businesses in the United States, where
he directs an initiative to create supportive housing and end chronic
homelessness. He has over twenty years of professional experience in
community development, residential real estate development and public
policy. Joe worked with community based development organizations for
seven years as a member of the Pratt Center for Community Development
staff. He also has extensive experience in nonprofit management, having
spent five years as vice president for management and planning at
Corporation for Supportive Housing. Prior to Fannie Mae, he was staff
director for Housing First!, a coalition of community, business, labor,
civic and religious organizations committed to educating the public and
promoting solutions to New York City's affordable housing crisis.
Housing First! played a key role in facilitating and shaping Mayor
Michael Bloomberg's "New Marketplace" housing initiative. Joe holds a
B.A in urban studies from Oberlin College (1982) and an M.S in City and
Regional Planning from Pratt Institute (1995). |
