Board of Trustees

Laura was born and raised in Upstate New York outside of Syracuse, New York. During childhood, Laura spent a lot of time with her maternal grandmother, a dedicated community organizer supporting African refugees living in and around Central New York. Laura’s earliest memories attending community events with her grandmother ignited a passion for community work, and ultimately, led to Laura’s legal and advocacy work in the area of human rights. After law school, Laura began her legal career in 2003 in New York City as a plaintiff’s side employment law attorney. She continued her career in Colorado for the next six years (2004 -2010), working as a labor and employment defense attorney, representing and defending employers and organizations in both the public and private sector.
In 2010, Laura shifted to part-time legal work in order to care for a family member with terminal cancer; she continues to be grateful for the time she had with her loved one before her passing in 2015.
In 2016, Laura was hired as a full-time staff attorney at the Worker Justice Center of New York in Kingston, New York. In 2019, Laura was promoted to a Senior Staff Attorney position. In the summer of 2023, Laura accepted a job with the New York State Office of the Attorney General and continues her work with the NYS-OAG today.
Laura is a photographer, certified yoga instructor and reiki practitioner — and has a deep appreciation for meditation and its relationship to spiritual health. Laura currently lives in Kingston, New York.

During her academic journey, Lucia gained valuable experience as an intern at the Sanar Institute, where she contributed significantly to grant writing and submission, collaborated on a Human Trafficking Task Force, and managed various social media platforms. In her current role within Human Resources for an Ashley Furniture licensee, Lucia’s responsibilities encompass employee wellness program management, the development of professional training initiatives, and the oversight of employee rewards, recognition, and feedback programs.

Seamus graduated with a BS in Accounting from Ramapo College of New Jersey. Seamus has expertise in project management with his Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Disciplined Agile Scrum Master, and Project Management Institute Agile Certified Practitioner. He has also received his Certified Fraud Examiner Certification. Seamus is training to be an ICF certified Coach.

She has served in various leadership roles including Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer. These venues have provided exposure to a wide range of clinical opportunities resulting in a broad clinical experience. Currently, she operates her own private practice, specifically geared toward integrative and functional psychiatry, assisting patients in their journey toward health and wholeness. When she is not seeing patients, she enjoys reading, cooking, baking, working out, and most things related to nutrition, wellness, and spiritual growth. But what she enjoys most is doing life and laughing with her tribe of hilarious humans.

The goal of the program is to empower and support Peer Advocates to use their own experience and knowledge to build trusting relationships and connect people to resources.

Nancy previously worked for Breaking Ground as a Social Enterprise Director and for Housing Works, managing their Used Book Cafe in Soho.

She has a Master’s in Organizational Change Management from the Milano School of Policy, Management and Environment. 

After receiving his doctorate from Columbia University in development psychology, he served as the Juvenile Justice Administrator for the City of New York for from 1982 to 1995. In 1993, he was appointed to the American Psychological Association’s Cadre of Experts in Youth Violence.

He subsequently was appointed as the founding Executive Director of the Violence Institute of New Jersey at the University of Medicine and Dentistry (now Rutgers University) at which he was the Principal Investigator on several federal and state grants, including a Department of Justice Children Exposed to Violence grant.

He then founded the Center for the Prevention of Violence at a large not-for-profit in New Jersey.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Prevention Science Coalition and serves as its Chair of the Violence Prevention Task Force. 

He also serves as a founding member of the Youth Advisory Board for Newark, N.J. and on the Advisory Board of New Jersey Child Assault Prevention organization.

In addition, he serves on the Board of the Sanar Wellness Institute and the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern N.J. 

He has written numerous journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews on youth violence, human rights, and positive youth development.