Horizons National Board of Directors
Jane Stoddard Williams, Chair
Ms. Williams has been involved with Horizons for more than two decades, first as a member of the Horizons at New Canaan Country School board of directors, and since 2000 as a member of the Horizons National Board. Ms. Williams is the Host of Bloomberg EDU, a weekly national radio program about K-12 education.
Monica Lamontagne, Vice-Chair
Ms. Lamontagne is the Vice Chair of Horizons National, the Co-Chair of the Governance Committee and a member of the Development Committee. She is a former board member of Horizons at New Canaan Country School and of the New Canaan Country School and is also involved with the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and New York City Center.
Mary-Jo Gabel, Treasurer
Ms. Gabel is a financial consultant for not-for-profit corporations. Prior to her finance career, she taught secondary mathematics. Ms. Gabel has served as Board Chair of The Harley School, Horizons at The Harley School, Horizons National and Career Development Services of Rochester. She is presently a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester and a Board member of Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association, a not-for-profit corporation promoting quality summer learning and enrichment programs to children in low-income situations.
Lindsay Ormsby, Secretary
Ms. Ormsby holds a law degree from the University of South Carolina Law School, and has held positions at various firms, most recently as partner at Albert, Pastore & Ward in Greenwich, CT from 1987-1995. She is the past Co-Chair of the Program Committee of the Fund for Women and Girls, Fairfield County Community Foundation. Additionally, she currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Fund for Women and Girls and is a trustee of Historic Deerfield.
Mary Brock
Ms. Brock serves on multiple boards including The Manhattan Choral Ensemble in NYC, the Board of Advisors for the Winship Cancer Institute, the Board of Visitors for Emory University, and the Dr. Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. She has a particular interest in cancer research and, along with her husband John, has funded chairs in biomedical engineering at Emory University and Georgia Tech University. Mary Brock joined the WNBA Atlanta Dream in January 2011 as co-owner with Kelly Loeffler.
Joseph F. Chan
Mr. Chan is the Executive Vice President of Business Development of the Empire State Development Company. He holds a BA in Metropolitan Studies and a Masters in Urban Planning from NYU. Mr. Chan is a graduate of the Horizons Program in New Canaan, CT, a former teacher in the New Canaan Horizons Program, and Chair of the board of Horizons at Brooklyn Friends School.
Karen Chaplin
Ms. Chaplin is involved with numerous associations, including Jack and Jill of America, Inc., The Links, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and serves as a trustee on the following boards: The Lesley University Board of Trustees, Jack and Jill of America Foundation Board and is Vice-chair on the Greenwich Affirmative Action Advisory Board. She has served on the boards of The Urban League of Southern Connecticut, Overlook Hospital Foundation, The Connection for Women and Families, Summit African American Action Association, SAGE Eldercare, and The Summit Board of Education.
Eric Cochran
Mr. Cochran is a corporate partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, LLP in the Mergers & Acquisitions department. He is an enthusiastic supporter of schools and of several charitable organizations, including A Better Chance, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Mass MoCA. He has served as a board member and treasurer of Little Red Elisabeth Irwin, the progressive K-12 independent school in Greenwich Village, and is currently on the Board of Trustees of Williams College. He is currently President of the Gerken Building Corporation.
Gary Cohen
Mr. Cohen is the President and CEO of Timex Group. A seasoned executive in global consumer products, he was formerly the Global General Manager of Playtex and part of a turnaround team that sold the business to Energizer Holdings. He built his career with Procter & Gamble/Gillette working on Gillette’s core product categories, where he helped double the size of the Oral-B business in a six-year period. Along with spending free time with his family, Mr. Cohen serves on the Board of Trustees of Temple Israel in Westport, Connecticut.
Amy Chan Downer
Ms. Downer is a graduate of Horizons at New Canaan Country School and a past board chair of Horizons National. She is a former Chair of the board of Horizons at the New Canaan Country School and a former member of the board of New Canaan Country School. Additionally, Ms. Downer is currently the Co-Chair of the Fund for Women and Girls, Fairfield County Community Foundation, a member of the board of the Stamford Health Systems and Chair of the Quality and Clinical Affairs Committee.
C. Brandon Downs
For the past two years as an Affiliate Representative for the Horizons National Board of Directors, Mr. Downs has assisted in providing continuity and communication between National and all Affiliates. He currently serves as Treasurer for Horizons Atlanta, and is co-founder of Harbor Wealth Advisors, a wealth management firm based in Atlanta, GA. Mr. Downs enjoys fly fishing, golf and spending time with his family.
Charity Steinruck Ferreira
Ms. Ferreira is currently the Associate Director of Development at St. Philip’s Academy and Co-Executive Director of Horizons at St. Philip’s Academy. Prior to joining St. Philip’s, she worked for an association management company, Association Associates, Inc., as Office Manager, Member Services Coordinator and IT Manager. She has worked with non-profit organizations such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals-NJ Chapter and New Jersey Propane Gas Association.
Anthony P. Grassi
Mr. Grassi’s business career was primarily with CS First Boston, where he served as Chairman of the Management Committee, Head of the Corporate Finance Department and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. His volunteer activities have included serving as Chairman of the Boards of The Nature Conservancy, The Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, American Rivers, the Wilton Land Trust and the New Canaan Country School. He is currently a trustee of the Butler Conservation Fund, and the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Sally Grassi
Ms. Grassi served on the board of Horizons at New Canaan Country School for 25 years and as chair of the Long Range Planning Committee in 1997. She was also a past board chair of Horizons National. She served as a District Commissioner and Regional Supervisor of the United States Pony Clubs. Ms. Grassi also served on the Long Range Planning Committee of the Wilton Community Nursery School, where she was a preschool teacher for six years.
Jill Iscol
On the Horizons Board since 2009, educator, social and political activist, Jill Iscol, Ed.D., is President of the IF Hummingbird Foundation. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Center for New American Security in Washington, and was recently appointed to the New York State Commission on National and Community Service. She has just published her first book, Hearts On Fire: Twelve Stories Of Today’s Visionaries Igniting Idealism Into Action.
Carolyn Jeffrey
Ms. Jeffrey will assume the position of Chair of Horizons at New Canaan Country School in 2012, where she has been involved since 2002. Presently, she serves on the Development and Fundraising events committees for Horizons at New Canaan Country School. She began her career at Thirteen/WNET and started her own event consulting business in 1995.
Brenda Jews, Ed.D.
Affiliated with Horizons since 2000, Ms. Jews currently serves as Board President of Horizons Greater Washington. With over 20 years in education, her current full-time focus is assisting non-profits, which steward access to high-quality education for low-income students of all ages including The AEMs Alliance, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Stevenson University, The Kennedy Krieger Institute, and the Caves Valley Golf Club Foundation.
Douglas Karp
Mr. Karp is Managing Partner and co-Chief Executive Officer of Tailwind Capital. He has served on the board of directors of a number of public and private companies including LCI International (telecommunications), Eon Labs (generic pharmaceuticals), Aircast (orthopedic braces), Freedom Innovations (advanced lower leg prosthetics), Trover Solutions (insurance services) and VersaPharm (generic pharmaceuticals) as well as the City Parks Foundation, Morningside Nursing Home, and Food by the Ton.
Leslie B. Littlejohn
Ms. Littlejohn joined the Horizons National Board in 2008. She has served on the Board of New Canaan Country School, the YMCA and was a founding Board member and Chair of Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, CT. She is currently on the Board of the Taft School and is co-chairman of their development committee. She has also previously worked as a fashion editor with Glamour Magazine and Harper's Bazaar.
Ned Mandel
Mr. Mandel is in his third year of Horizons National board service. He is currently heading our Finance Committee. Mr. Mandel is the Development Director at Septima Clark Public Charter School, Washington DC's first and only all boys' public charter school. He also serves on Septima's board.
Lyn McNaught
The founder of Horizons National and its first Executive Director, Ms. McNaught has been connected with Horizons since 1976. She is the former Executive Director of Horizons at New Canaan Country School, a position she held for 27 years, during which she saw more than 2,000 students go through the program. Early in her career Ms. McNaught taught elementary school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in New York City. She is currently a consultant to non-profit organizations.
Duncan M. O’Brien, Jr.
Mr. O'Brien is currently General Manager for Global Business Development, at the General Electric Company. He worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in a number of different areas and was Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Australia. He is the former Vice Chairman and Director of Investment Banking for George K. Baum & Company. In 1999, Mr. O’Brien formed his own company, Crescendo Capital Partners, LLC. He joined GE Insurance Solutions as Business Development Leader in November 2004 and has held his current position since 2006.
James Rogers
Mr. Rogers was a founding partner of Butler Rogers Baskett Architects where he specialized in the master planning and design of independent school and college facilities, recreational facilities and a variety of non-profit institutions. He founded James G. Rogers Architects in 2009, which focuses on the same practice areas. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is a frequent speaker at educational conferences. He has served as a Trustee at Phillips Exeter Academy for 16 years, 4 as President, and as President of the New Canaan Society for the Arts. He is currently a Trustee of the National Association of Independent Schools.
Sarah Rosen
Ms. Rosen brings a strong background in non-profit fundraising and management, having previously served as Director of Development at Kent Place School and Deputy Director of Development at Thirteen/WNET. Currently, Ms. Rosen serves on the board of the Frances L. & Edwin L. Cummings Memorial Fund, the Summit Area Public Foundation, and Duke New York. She is past president of Bridges Outreach Inc., a homeless outreach organization, and Interweave, an interfaith learning center in Northern NJ, and served as chair of Duke University’s Council on Women’s Studies.
Nicholas Thacher
Mr. Thacher is currently Head of Dedham Country Day School in Boston. For 21 years he led New Canaan Country School, where he was an active Board member of the first Horizons Student Enrichment Program. A former Board President of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, the Elementary School Heads Association, and the Dublin (NH) School, he also served for many years on the Executive Council of the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls as well as on the Blue Ribbon Schools National Review Panel of the U.S. Department of Education.