EXECUTIVE TEAM

Suzanne Otis is President at P2L. As President Suzanne works to build the capacity and vision of P2L in supporting at-risk students and their families in the areas of academic achievement and social emotional growth. Currently, Suzanne overseas operations, development, finance, and evaluation, and provides support to the Board of Directors.

Suzanne has worked for over 20 years in the youth development field developing a knowledge base in methodologies in child development, social emotional learning, and neuroscience; during this time she has worked in grant writing, evaluation, program design, and curriculum development.

Suzanne studied economics at Columbia University and worked previously experience in finance and asset management, earning her designation as a Certified Financial Analyst. As a daughter of a psychiatrist and mother of 2 Suzanne is passionate about supporting the emotional and psychological well-being of children. She also devotes time to environmental causes and is a member of several organizations, including the Aldo Leopold Society. She lives in Millbrook, NY with her husband, 2 children, and a small menagerie.

As Vice President of P2L Yindy Beckim leads a highly effective team in a mission-driven culture and is committed to work that challenges and inspires positive contributions to self and to our greater community.

Yindy has worked for over 15 years in the youth development field, working as a Teacher, Field Supervisor, and Director in over 30 schools in Boston, Brookline and New York City. She has led city wide events, staff development and professional development workshops for educational professionals in New York City and has worked closely developing curriculum, program design and funding streams for various schools and communities. For the past 6 years with the Leadership Program Yindy has led a team of 11 admin staff and 300 professional leadership facilitators serving over 250 schools, more than 18,000 students, 800 teachers and over 2,000 parents and community members a year.

Yindy graduated from Northeastern University and moonlights as a freelance photographer who has been published in the New York Times, Time Out New York, USA Today and the New Yorker. She lives in Brooklyn with her two children and husband.

Jenny Greeman is P2L’s Director of Programming. As such, she supervises site-based programming staff, including P2L’s Community School Directors, and supports them in the development and management of front-line staff. Jenny ensures that programs are implemented at the highest quality and remain in compliance with funders and City agencies. She collaborates with Director of Clinical Services Carl Jackman on the RISE and SBI programs and works closely with VP Yindy Beckim in the areas of staff development and resource mobilization.

Jenny began her work with students almost twenty years ago as a performer for young audiences. She toured the country as the Little Prince in a bilingual production of The Little Prince and as Maryanne the steam shovel in Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel, and spent three seasons at the Theatre at Ellis Island. In 2005 she was invited to lead the Drama Club at the Bronx Lab School and has worked in the field of Youth Development ever since. She started at The Leadership Program as a Trainer in 2009, moving into administration in 2011. Jenny has facilitated with students, parents, and faculty; designed theatre-based workshops and study guides; and supported fundraising and grant writing efforts at multiple organizations.

Jenny holds a Master’s of Public Administration from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, a BA with Honors in Urban Studies from Connecticut College and a Certificate of Non-Profit Management from CUNY/Hostos. She is proudly following the footsteps of her grandmother, a folksinger and guitar teacher; her mother, a Kindergarten teacher of 45 years; her father, a professor of French; and her husband, a teacher of English.

Carl supports P2L’s full-time school-based social work team as well as the graduate MSW social work interns by providing clinical supervision, field instruction, and professional development workshops to develop best practices in school-based social work.

Carl is proud to be part of a team contributing holistically to the support of our young people across New York City. Throughout his school social work career, inclusive of a role as a P2L school-based social worker in East New York in Brooklyn and as a fee-for-service psychotherapist, Carl developed a practice rooted in strengths-based, culturally responsive, and anti-oppressive approaches to partnering and empowering students, staff, and families to support and maintain mental health and wellness.

Prior to his professional social work, Carl immersed himself in youth development by successfully advocating, growing, and increasing access to cultural institution career pathways for high school students historically underrepresented in the museum field and traveled internationally as a chaperone for NYC high school students engaged in global service learning through the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Carl has a Bachelor’s degree in social work from CUNY College of Staten Island, a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a clinical concentration from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service, and a Seminar in Field Instruction (SIFI) certification from NYU's Silver School of Social Work.

Outside of work, Carl enjoys serving as the Board Chair of a local Staten Island arts-based organization, mentoring young people, spending time with family and friends, and finding new vegan restaurants.

leadership TEAM

Gabriela Chinnock currently serves as Restorative Justice Coordinator at the Evander Childs Campus in the Bronx. Her previous roles include Community School Director (CSD) at the High School for Excellence & Innovation in upper Manhattan where she oversaw a team of advisors who mentored students in both individual and group sessions in an effort to increase attendance, and support academics and individual self-care. Gabriela also served as CSD in a Harlem elementary school for five years.  For Gabriela, overseeing the wellbeing of the students, staff and families in a community school is an honor. She adds a layer of focus on mindfulness in her schools, along with a passion for empowering students of all ages to explore ways to feel good about themselves, whether through the arts or through self-care.

Gabriela holds a BA from UCLA in Dance and Choreography and has proudly taught movement in dance, fitness and yoga for 31 years. She began her career as a teaching artist while performing lead roles in classical theater throughout the tri-state area and has worked in youth development for 21 years. She is also trained in therapeutic yoga and has worked for the past 10 years teaching trauma informed therapeutic yoga for teens who experienced various traumas in their lives. She also teaches yoga for anti-anxiety with her students at her NYC school sites.

When Gabriela is not enjoying a colorful NEW YORK CITY work life, she is either learning to garden, reading, or at her favorite place in the world with her family - the beach.

Keldrick Crowder is P2L’s Community School Director at the Academy for Young Writers located on the Spring Creek Educational Campus in East New York, Brooklyn. His focus for the Afterschool program is Performance Arts and Academic Enrichment. With this in mind, Keldrick has significantly expanded the performance opportunities for our students and is building his program as a community hub. Every year Keldrick mentors a cohort of high school students who work in the program and learn to mentor our middle school participants. In addition, he runs a Young Men’s Club dedicated to social justice and student voice.

Keldrick is a graduate of the SUNY Purchase Theater Arts and Film Department where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts. He was part of the first cohort of New York City Teaching Fellows, studying English as a Second Language in graduate school at the City College of New York. Keldrick taught English to Middle Schoolers in the Bronx for two years and then worked for the Henry Street Settlement as a theater teacher and coordinator of performances. Keldrick originally joined The Leadership Program in 2005 as a teaching artist and within one year became a Site Director for two sites in the Bronx. In 2011 he moved on to pursue opportunities with Hiphop4life, LEAP, Stella Adler Education Department and the CUNY Creative Arts Team. Keldrick returned to the Leadership Program in 2017 as the Restorative Justice Coordinator at AfYW. He is grateful for another opportunity to work with the amazing community of P2L, TLP, and AfYW.

Keldrick is a professional performing artist who has performed on many stages in New York City, as well as on film and TV. He is originally a Georgia Peach and Hobbies include being awesome.

David DiGiantomasso is P2L’s Community School Director at PS 96 Richard Rogers in the Allerton neighborhood of the Bronx. David’s strong sense of community and growth is felt throughout PS 96, where he designs programs and workshops based on the community’s needs. David’s focus is to provide positive experiences for students that build life skills they can utilize daily and throughout their lives. He continually works to build strong relationships with families and the wider school community. At PS 96, David runs the recess program, coordinates an art performance, and organizes annual basketball and football tournaments that emphasize community engagement. 

David has been part of the P2L/TLP family for 18 years and has over 20 years of experience working with youth. During his tenure as an assistant high school wrestling coach, his team was number two in the nation under the current Rutgers University coach, Coach Goodale. He has facilitated drumming clubs and coached in multiple sports with students K-1 . David is himself a NJ Wrestling State Place winner.  

David is enthusiastic about life and believes life is an adventure. As a percussionist, musician, and band leader, David has played and toured with Anthony Hamilton, Santana, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Shelby J (of Prince), and recorded with John Legend and Shelby J., among many others. As a surfer, part-time ocean lifeguard, rock climber, and hiker, David believes strongly in outdoor play for the mind, body, and soul.  

Greg Loewer, Jr. is P2L's Community School Director for PS 30x Wilton in the south Bronx, which services students in grades 3K through 5th. As the school's Community School Director, Greg focuses on data-driven decisions to target services that would best serve the needs of the school community. He tracks the progress of student's attendance, manages the 21st Century Afterschool Program, helps manage a support team made up of several key stakeholders in the school, and collaborates with school administration to effect social emotional change within the school environment.

With over 10 years of working with youth in non-profit educational settings, he brings a vast amount of experience to the P2L team. Greg began his work with The Leadership Program in 2011 as a Trainer, facilitating chess, drums, and martial arts in NYC public schools. He has taught in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and The Bronx to students in grades 2nd through 12th, as well as to numerous parents and families. In 2017 he began working as a Community School Director, serving Richard R. Green HS near Wall Street, PS 209 Margaret Meade in Sheepshead Bay, and PS 179 Kensington near Prospect Park.

Greg holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Percussion from California Institute of the Arts, and a Bachelors of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University (Summer Cum Laude). He is passionate about cultures, unity through diversity, and intentional reconciliation. He also enjoys spreadsheets, eats nearly exclusively with titanium sporks, and savors a good cup of Earl Grey tea.

Edna Lopez is P2L’s Community School Director at PS 5 Dr. Ronald E. McNair in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; a phenomenal elementary school dedicated to providing a higher quality experience for the entire community it serves. Edna has aligned with her principal in bringing on dynamic programming that mimics real life experience with the intention of building equity. One way this is accomplished is the financial literacy program taught through a student run bookstore.

With over 15 years experience working in youth development with a special focus in the arts and early childhood education, Edna brings her love and passion for children to every aspect of her role as CSD. Whether that be facilitating her weekly plant based cooking class or organizing special art projects to further build her ever developing relationships with her students.

Edna is a visual artist who creates multimedia collages depicting those typically disenfranchised as royalty. Just as in life, the goal of her art is to highlight pre-existing beauty, uplift, and share joy. However, as much as she adores creating, nothing brings Edna more joy than spending time with her incredible niece and only slightly less incredible dog.

Phoebe Mabry is a P2L School Social Worker splitting her time between the Academy for Young Writers in East New York, Brooklyn and PS5 Dr. Ronald E. McNair in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. In her role Phoebe promotes trauma-informed care and social emotional health in the school community, conducts intake assessments for all students in need of social emotional support/guidance, helps manage a support team made up of several key stakeholders in the school, provides individual and group counseling for students and their families, and collaborates with school administration to effect social emotional change within the school environment. With over 10 years of working with youth in non-profit educational settings, she brings a vast amount of experience to the P2L team.

In addition to her social work practice, Phoebe specializes in teaching dance and movement to youth. Her dance team, Aspire for Greatness (AFG), founded in 2014, has expanded over the years with the support of different schools and organizations around New York State. As an active participant of the Annual African American Day Parade, she has lead urban youth and adults to perform and become a part of African American history for over 15 years. With her recreational work in schools, she has been able to use dance as a bridge to support the social emotional health of youth and has helped them build self-expression, confidence, and voice.

Michael Pierce is P2L’s Community School Director at Spring Creek Community School located on the Spring Creek Educational Campus in East New York, Brooklyn.

Joshua Rosenbaum is P2L’s Community School Director at PS 327 Dr. Rose B. English in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Charese Stokes is P2L’s Restorative Justice Site Coordinator at the Evander Childs Campus in the North Bronx. With a primary focus on community building, Charese partners with student and staff committees to organize events, design and facilitate Social Emotional Learning lesson plans and Professional Development workshops, and coaches stakeholders towards a Restorative impulse. 

With over 15 years’ experience in customer service and youth development, Charese has transferred her exceptional interpersonal skillset with an open mind into the education industry. Before starting with Pathways to Leadership in 2023, Charese spent five years at The Leadership Program as a leadership Trainer specializing in girls’ empowerment groups, jewelry making, and wellness events. She holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from SUNY Purchase.

Charese has written, performed, and published her collection of poetry, Under 25: A Poetic Love Story. In 2022, she founded By Nature Beads, a crystal jewelry business, which has been featured in night markets across New York City.  When not working and creating, Charese enjoys quality time with her family in nature. 

Kathleen Shamwell is the Community School Director at PS 15, P2L’s school partner under the Attendance Improvement Drop-out Prevention Grant (AIDP). As a part of Mayor de Blasio’s community schools initiative, Kathleen is active in building strong relationships with school stakeholders, mobilizing resources for students and parents, and developing strategies to bolster school attendance.

As a member of PS 15’s School Leadership Team, Attendance Team and newly forged Community School Committee, Kathleen creates innovative ways to transform school culture and maximize opportunities for students, parents and teachers. Additionally, she oversees the RISE Program for attendance improvement and dropout prevention as well as the after school program.

With 10 years experience working in the education and youth development field as an in-class Facilitator and Site Coordinator, Kathleen has collaborated with underserved school communities to provide programming rooted in social-emotional learning. She has facilitated parent and professional development workshops, coached teachers, organized school events, traveled oversees with students, and mentored chronically absent youth.

Kathleen holds a B.A. degree in English from the College of New Rochelle and resides in Brooklyn, NY. An avid reader and traveler, she hopes to cultivate more programs designed to encourage youth to read more and explore the world.

Hallie Wilson is P2L’s School Social Worker based at the Community School PS 15, and received her Master’s in Social Work from The Silberman School of Social Work in 2020.  

Hallie has worked with children in various roles and school settings for the last ten years, and while certain aspects have changed, the joy, laughter, growth and curiosity of children is what keeps her inspired.

When the Covid crisis hit in 2020, Hallie was still in Social Work School, working with elementary school children as part of her final internship. After witnessing the immense challenges the students, their families and communities faced, Hallie decided that once she finished school, she would make it her life's work to support children as they continued to both navigate, adjust and heal from this crisis.

Mindful of the frequent transitions, disruptions, and time away from peers over the last two years, Hallie has collaborated with teachers to create lesson plans and activities intended to strengthen peer relationships, self-esteem, and social skills, particularly for those students who may have never had a typical in person school experience prior to the 2022 school year.  When the children “graduated” from these social skills classes, they walked down a “kindness red carpet” and received a diploma, with their peers cheering them on, providing a snapshot into how schools and mental health can be places of healing for our youth.

 Hallie utilizes her passion for nature, art, and the environment through gardening, painting, sewing, and most recently, creating wooden birdhouses with her students, which are displayed proudly in the P2L space, symbolizing what keeps the students safe and secure, much like a real bird house provides refuge for birds. 

 In addition to her work with children, Hallie finds relaxation in adding to her ever-growing collection of houseplants. She also enjoys connecting with nature in Prospect Park, visiting the local animal shelter and doing animal rescue work when she can.

Board of DIRECTORS

Stephanie Jones is the Treasurer for P2L: Pathways to Leadership. She has more than 25 years corporate finance and transactional legal experience working with municipalities, Fortune 500 companies, and small family enterprises. During her legal career with one of New York's premier law firms, she was integral in the debt financing of JFK Airport's billion dollar renovation of its international terminals. Stephanie holds a MBA in Corporate Strategy and Finance, and has worked with dozens of companies looking to restructure both inside and outside of bankruptcy, managing cash flows and strategic acquisitions and divestitures. She currently provides strategic and legal counsel to a family of real estate companies in New York City, managing all aspects of real estate sales and acquisitions and overseeing all related financing activities, including daily operations and liaising with accounting professionals for all internal management and tax reporting. She also serves as an Advisory Board Member to a Los Angeles transmedia content creation company.  Stephanie lives in New Jersey.

Karen Young is the Secretary for P2L: Pathways to Leadership. Karen is the founder of Sanctuary Conservation, a memorial and land conservation organization that provides a natural way to memorialize lives while also helping to save iconic lands. She was formerly the Managing Director of Amazon Advertising and Partner at Gardner, Geary, Coll & Young in San Francisco. Karen has over 25 years’ experience marketing products and services for companies ranging in size from Fortune 100s to ecommerce start‐ups. Karen began her career at the Evening Standard in London before becoming the Advertising Director of Rolling Stone, Europe. She studied literature at Skidmore College and University of Hull, England. She has served on the Board of Larkin Street Youth Services, as a Board Advisor for the Zen Hospice Project and as Project Director for the State of California Department of Health Services ENABL campaign to help prevent teen pregnancy.  Karen lives in California with her husband and Australian Shepherd, Roquefort.

Erin Walker, PhD is a Board Member for P2L: Pathways to Leadership and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Erin earned her PhD in Family Psychology from Seton Hall University, and her master’s degree from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. She formerly worked extensively with at-risk families in various incarcerated settings. As National Program Manager for Community Education Centers, Family Services, Erin led curriculum development teams, trained and supervised student-interns for clinical protocols and program implementation, as well as provided case-consultation. Erin has over 20 years of clinical and administrative experience in the field of mental health. Her research has focused on the themes of gender-specific treatment, co-occurring trauma and substance abuse, relational health and family systems, and has been published in multiple peer reviewed journals. Erin is currently in private practice in Manhattan.