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Families with Children from China Greater New York Chapter
Profiles of 2008 Board Members
MARJORIE BERMAN is President of FCC and joined the Board in the Spring of 2003. Her daughter, Sophia Robbie Ji Kosman, was born in Jiangxi Province on June 1, 1997. Marjorie has been involved with FCC since before Sophia was adopted in 1998. She has been active in providing legal information related to adoption to FCC members and a member of her local Westchester Chapter. Since 2000, Marjorie has been involved in the planning and administration of FCCNY's Culture Day, serving as a Co-Coordinator of the event in 2002 and the Coordinator in 2003. Marjorie holds a B.A. from Brown University (1983) and a J.D. from Columbia University (1989). She is a civil litigation and employment law partner in her firm Krantz & Berman LLP, located in New York City. Marjorie lives in Ardsley, New York located in Westchester County.
MARY NEALON is the Secretary of FCC and is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and currently the
Director of Student Health at The School at Columbia University, a
position which includes responsibilities in the areas of student health,
faculty/staff health, health education, school-wide safety and parent and
staff education. In addition, Mary is a member of the Child Study,
Wellness and Science teams and chairs The School’s Gender & Sexuality
Education Workgroup. Prior to working at The School since its opening in
2003, Mary was a Columbia University officer of clinical instruction in
the department of pediatric neurology caring for children with epilepsy
and their families, as well as a pediatric nurse at Hackensack Hospital
and Rodeph Sholom School (nursery – 8th grade). Prior to becoming a nurse
practitioner, Mary worked on and off-broadway, managing and producing
theatrical shows and not-for-profit fundraising events for 15 years. As
part of her past charitable work, Mary served on the Board of Directors of
GLAAD for 6 years, during which time she served as its chair for 3 years.
She has also helped create and organize educational symposiums and
workshops for students, parents and teachers on bullying, adolescent and
pre-teen development, gender and sexuality education and family diversity.
Mary is the proud parent of 2 daughters, Cece (12) and Gabie (5), who
were both adopted from China, as well as partner for 20 years with Vivian
Shapiro. Mary is excited to become a Board Member of FCC-NY, an
organization that has been an invaluable resource and network for Mary and
Vivian in raising their 2 daughters.
TIM STOENNER is the treasurer of FCC and has been an active member of FCCNY since 1995 when he and his wife Kathy Urbina returned from Wuhan with their daughter Zoe. He held the position of treasurer on the initial board of directors from 1995 until 2000 and returned to the board in 2004. Tim also served on the Board of Also-Known-as, an organization formed by international adoptees. He has been involved in the work of FCC’s Charitable Initiatives Committee from the outset, and has helped to organize the database, financial structure, and the web site to continually upgrade the information and resources available to members. As a member of the Brooklyn regional group, Tim and his wife, Kathy Urbina have organized many local events and waiting family potlucks. He holds a BFA from Hampshire College and is an account executive for Coloredge Visual, a graphics firm involved in printing and displays.
AMANDA BADEN
received her doctorate in counseling psychology from Michigan
State University in 1999. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Counseling, Human Development, and Educational Leadership at
Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey where she teaches
masters students in the counseling program. In 1969 Amanda was adopted from
Hong Kong and raised in a transracially adoptive family. Her experiences
both personally and professionally have lead her to focus her research and
clinical practice on adoption triad members, transracial/international
adoption issues, racial and cultural identity, and multicultural counseling
competence. Her clinical specializations include counseling adoption triad
members, transracial adoptees, and individuals having multiracial
backgrounds. She lives in New York City and is a licensed psychologist with
a clinical practice in Manhattan. More information about Amanda is available
on her website www.transracialadoption.net.
LILY CARDLIN joined the board in 2005. She became an adoptive parent, along with her husband Nick, in August, 2003. Her daughter Ani was born in Yi Yang, Hunan, and was adopted through Children's Hope International. Lily is first generation Chinese American, born and raised in Queens. She works full-time for Fidelity Personal Investments. She acts as Children's Hope International's Long Island contact and resource for pre-and post adoption
support. She's currently active in the FCCLI Waiting Families Committee. Lily also volunteers for the Make-a-Wish Foundation as a Wish Coordinator.
JUDY FIORINI has been a member of FCC since 1999. She is the mother of two daughters from China, ages 6 and 9, from Guangxi and Jiangxi provinces and is a tax attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Manhattan. In the past she has been active in the Brooklyn and Hudson Valley chapters of FCC and has recently been hosting and coordinating events for families in the Warren and Sussex County NJ area. She lives with her husband, Steven Bogedgal and her two daughters in Blairstown, New Jersey.
NICKI GENOVESE is delighted to have joined the FCCNY Board in 2008. She and her husband, actor-playwright Mark Brown, adopted their daughter Michayla Chenxi Griffith Brown at the ripe old age of 7.5 months old from the Chenzhou City Child Welfare Institute in the Hunan Province, in September, 2005. At the time, the Brown-Genovese Family (including the family dog, terrier-Muppet mix, Ebbets) lived in Los Angeles, CA, and were very active with FCC-SoCal. In January 2007, the family returned home to New York City. With nearly 20 years of mostly not-for-profit theater experience, Nicki is now the General Manager of The Public Theater/ New York Shakespeare Festival. As the mom of an incredibly energetic pre-schooler, Nicki hopes to find ways to reach out to and engage the FCCNY families with younger children and grow the next generation together. Nicki received her BA in Radio-Television- Film from Temple University and her MFA in Theater Management form Columbia University. She has guest lectured on not-for profit arts management at Southern Utah University, DePaul University, and Columbia University. Nicki, Mark, Michayla, and Ebbets currently live in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
TIMOTHY HELCK, married to Patricia Helck for 25 years, is father to three biological children and three girls adopted from China. Since 2000, he has been working in the software industry and currently works at the New York Times. Previously, he had worked in the horse industry for approximately 20 years. A member of FCC since 1997, Tim has been involved with the Charitable Initiatives Committee, Culture Day, Arts and Crafts at various events and the FCC Website. His other interests include Art, Music, Reading and History. Tim has expressed interest in working on updating and revamping FCC’s website.
DEB LEVINE joined the board in the spring of 2004. She and her husband, Ian Landau, adopted their now 4-year-old daughter Lili Yang from Hunan in September 2003 and their 1-year-old son Julian Chuan from Chongqing in September 2006. A waiting parent for nearly two years each time, and the still new-ish mom of two young children, Deb hopes to be a voice and sounding board for those segments of the FCC community. Deb is the author of the children's book "Parker Picks" (Simon & Schuster, October 2002) and the editorial director for Nick.com, the website for the kids' TV network, Nickelodeon, where she was a charter member of the Nickelodeon Networks Diversity Team. Deb' s articles on topics ranging from school uniforms to achieving success in the workplace have been featured in a variety of magazines, including Glamour, Time Out New York, Women's Day, and Bride's. Deb received an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She, Ian, Lili and Julian currently live in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn and are overjoyed to finally be a family of four.
ROSS LEWIS is an installation artist and arts educator. He received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Oberlin College and an M.F.A. from Brooklyn College. His study of Chinese landscape painting, calligraphy and the Mandarin language in China and Taiwan over a ten year period has had a lasting influence on all of his artistic endeavors. Public art works in NYC include: "Parallel Motion", a 96-foot long mural, based on Chinese calligraphy and dance, PS/IS 89, Battery Park City and "Roto-Sphere", a 22 foot kinetic steel sculpture, New York Hall of Science. He has lectured and conducted workshops on Chinese calligraphy and landscape painting at such cultural institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, China Institute, and public and private schools in the tri-state area. An FCC board member since 2002, he and his partner, Peter Herbert, are the proud parents of Anwen (born 1998), from Chuzhou, Anhui, China and Lilah(born 2001), from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
MARK MAAS has been a member of FCC since 2000 when he and his wife Diane, and their two sons adopted Jennifer from Changsha. Mark has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from New York Law School. He has been a Board member of his co-op in New York City, as well as a Chairperson for the parent-teacher organization at the Ethical Culture-Fieldston School, where his children attend. Mark is the founder of First Foot Forward, an organization that solicits donations of new footwear from USA shoe makers, and to date has shipped over 500,000 pairs to China.
HOLLEE MCGINNIS has been a prominent educator, speaker and activist in
the adoption community for the past 10 years. In 1996, McGinnis founded
Also-Known-As, Inc., a non-profit adult intercountry adoptee
organization that provides post-adoption services to adult adoptees and
adoptive families. She currently works as the Policy & Operations Director
at the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national nonprofit dedicated
to improving adoption policy and practice. McGinnis, also-known-as Lee Hwa
Yong, was born in South Korea and was adopted by her family at the age of 3.
MARY SELLNER comes to FCCNY with nonprofit management, marketing and fundraising experience. Mary currently works as the director of development with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Prior to AALDEF, Mary was director of development for FilmAid International and executive director of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. She started her career at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization helping nationals of developing countries attract foreign investment. She has worked for the City of New York in economic policy and marketing and also spent time in the private sector as marketing director with Standard & Poor’s. Mary has an M.B.A. in International Finance and lived in Hong Kong for two years. Her daughter, Julie Tai, is ten years old and attends the United Nations International School in Manhattan. Julie was born in Jiangxi Province and became a family with Mary and Paul when she seven months old. She loves to sing, swim and converse in “Pokemon” talk.
FCCNY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MARYLOU COOPER GREEN has served on the Board since 1999. A former banker, she is a past coordinator of FCCNY Chinese Culture Day and serves as a Jill-of-All-Trades in organizing group activities from the Board and locally in her community of Westchester County. She also volunteers with her local PTA’s Multicultural Education programs and as her daughter’s Brownie Scout Troop leader. She graduated from Wake Forest University and earned Masters from Columbia University in Business Administration and in Education. She and her husband Michael Green adopted their now-seven year old daughter Tian in Hangzhou on July 2, 1996 and have three grown children and 5 grandchildren.
JOE KELLY has been a member of the FCC Board of Directors since 1995, a year after adopting Kerong in Hefei with his wife, Clare Timoney. He has been in charge of Adoption Information, Chinese Culture Day (1998) and was president of the FCC board from 1998-2000. He currently edits the newsletter. A former journalist (first job: copyboy, Paterson NJ Evening News) he is now a writer, producer and principal in The Keating Concept, a marketing and communications firm that specializes in integrated communications programs for the high tech industry.
AILEEN KOGER A founding member of Families with Children from China, Aileen helped organize early China adoptive families in 1993. Aileen and her husband, Harry Fogarty, a psychoanalyst in private practice, have three daughters. They traveled to China in July 1992 without a referral and returned home a month later with a very young but healthy daughter, Qiu Meng. Aileen returned to Wuhan with Qiu Meng and eldest daughter Mairin in March 1995 to adopt Mei Lan. Aileen holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. As a licensed psychologist Aileen worked in schools and in private practice, and has had a long professional and personal interest in the welfare of children. Working with other FCC members to form the Charitable Initiatives Committee in 1995, Aileen now directs FCC's Orphanage Assistance Programs and fundraising efforts. Aileen and her family live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
BARRY RADICK has been a Board member for 3 yrs and Counsel to the Board for 6. Barry re-wrote the by-laws of FCC-NY and is actively involved in organizational, policy, and legal issues. He and his wife, Sloane Elman, and their daughters Julia and Olivia (Shanggao, Jiangxi Province, Sept., 1995) live in Manhattan. Barry, who also has 2 sons, retired from the active practice of law in 1999 and currently is a partner in a business consulting firm. Among his other activities, he is the Managing Director of Children of China Pediatrics Foundation, which sponsors the trips of teams of U.S. surgeons and medical personnel to China to care for orphanage children, and is a Director of Doctors of the World-USA, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of an intl. organization that works at the intersection of health care and human rights.
BETH B. ROSENTHAL, joined the Board in 1998, and focuses on matters of organizational development, including structure, diversity and fundraising. Beth is an independent consultant specializing in organizational, community, and collaboration development, for nonprofit organizations, foundations, and government agencies. She is the author of articles and workbooks on collaboration and community organizing, and serves on the faculty of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. She is married to David Berger, Medical Director at the Children’s Center. Beth and David adopted their daughter, Nipu Rose Berger, now 6 and a half, in Zhejiang province in November, 1997. She and her family live in Manhattan.
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