Claudia L. Edwards is the President and Founder of Edwards Consulting Group and is recognized as a high performance leader in government, corporate, and not-for-profit sectors. Her areas of expertise are in board development, strategic planning, organizational structure, organizational change, workforce `diversity training and executive coaching .

As a successful senior executive for over 30 years, Claudia has a demonstrated history of leading non profit organizations to financial stability and growth. As an assistant professor, she worked with administrators and executives pursuing their education doctoral degree (EdD). In addition to serving as chair for several dissertation committees, Claudia provided instruction in social theory, public policy, law and ethics; applied research and preparing leaders for building and sustaining a diverse workforce. Her publication, Who Stole Public Schools from the Public (2011) is recognized by researchers across the country. She is also co-author with Jerry Willis, PhD for their publication, Action Research: Models methods and examples (2014).

Claudia was re appointed for six terms by the Governors of New York—Governor Pataki and Governor Cuomo to serve as a trustee for the Westchester Medical Center (20 years). She was appointed by the County Executive to serve on Westchester County’s Planning Commission (nine years) and the Department of Transportation Board (two years). In addition she served on the advisory committee for Westchester Fund for Women and Girls (three years). She has been recognized by the New York Times as a distinguished African American in corporate philanthropy and has been awarded several prestigious proclamations and awards.

Claudia holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Graduate School of Education, at Fordham University; a Masters of Urban Planning from New York University, Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from Purchase College at State University of New York.

George Colabella has more than 30 years’ experience and expertise as a nonprofit executive and fund development specialist. As principal of Colabella & Associates he has conducted strategic planning for numerous organizations in the New York Tri-State area. George has particular expertise in the areas of board recruitment and training, staff development, organizational management, financial planning, and fund development. He has demonstrated success in the areas of major gifts, capital campaigns, annual giving and donor cultivation. Working both as a consultant and in-house he has provided the means by which organizations advanced their mission through expansion and enrichment of services and programs.

George has sat on several boards as well as providing extensive pro bono services. He is the author of numerous professional articles, has taught non-profit management on the graduate level, and is often called upon by previous clients to provide further insight and guidance. George is the author of two published books, fiction and nonfiction.

George holds a Master of Arts Degree in Psychology from Hunter of CUNY, as well as post-graduate training in management. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Canisius College, NY and he is a nationally certified NonProfit Executive.

Marian has a distinguished record of designing strategies that combine profit and purpose to drive business and social value. Her more than 30 years’ experience includes advising executive leaders, nonprofit board members, and business owners in industries ranging from consumer products to cancer research. In her many roles, she has developed business, nonprofit and educational alliances, launched foundations, advised on granting millions to causes and helped nonprofits raise substantial resources to achieve long-term goals. Her accomplishments include securing a $1M investment from a health foundation for Ronald McDonald House New York and forging several national partnerships including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Fujifilm, and the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Marian serves on the Board of Grace Children’s Foundation and chairs its Strategic Partnerships Committee. She is passionate about creating strategies that combine profit and purpose to benefit causes and create social value. Marian is also an adjunct faculty member at Manhattanville College and served as guest lecturer at Baruch College on cause marketing and corporate partnership development.

Marian has an EdD in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College and an MBA in Marketing from Iona College. She was named as Academic Scholar by Cornell University’s Center for Healthy Futures for her work at the intersection of healthcare and hospitality.

Judith A. Riggs is founder and president of Judith Riggs & Company, Inc., a firm specializing in leadership, workforce development and training, and president of Judith A. Riggs Consulting Services, LLC. Judith is also founder and president of MIS Technical Resources, Inc., a firm dedicated to information technology consulting and senior level executive search. Judith has spearheaded business development and human resource management for a technology consulting and search firm in NYC; and has been a Senior Account Executive for a technology industry leader; a Resource Development Manager for a non-profit organization; and Congressional Intern for Lyndon Baines Johnson, US House of Representatives.

Judith is a trustee of the Purchase College Foundation where she serves as a Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. She also serves on the Executive Committee, the Board Governance and Student Success Committees and is a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Judith is commissioned as a national and international Ambassador for Peace. She was among the 120 female leaders who represented the US at a convocation in Beijing, China, designed to strengthen US relations and trade with China. In addition, she participated in a Middle East Peace Initiative in Israel which assembled international leaders, government officials, and academicians to discuss strategies to embrace peace among religions and nations. Judith has also represented the US in South Korea where she joined representatives from the United Kingdom and France at an International Leadership Conference.

Judith has earned a Doctor of Education in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College, a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Mercy College, and a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College.

Gloriana (Ginger) Waters is a senior executive with extensive experience in the higher education and public sectors, specializing in leadership, human resources, and diversity. For ten years she was the Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Management at the City University of New York (CUNY) where she developed and drove enterprise-wide efforts related to talent acquisition and management, diversity and inclusion, shared services, compliance, and workforce strategic planning. She also provided consultant services to the University’s leadership as to utilizing the current workforce and recruiting/retaining talent with attention to external and internal policies and regulations.

Her many accomplishments include leading a collaborative effort with the Board of Trustees to redesign the optional retirement program to conform with industry best practices; establishing an HR strategic planning unit focused on metrics, analytics and benchmarking; providing oversight to a comprehensive diversity study designed to identify strengths and challenges in recruiting and retaining staff; and providing leadership to the Professional Development Office, delivering enterprise-wide training that included an Executive Leadership Program. Ginger also served as Executive Sponsor on a technology project to migrate from a legacy personnel system to an enterprise-wide system with a human resources component. Since leaving CUNY, Ginger continues to assist organizations with HR challenges through her work on Boards of Directors and Interim assignments.

Ginger holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Baruch College/CUNY. She also received certification from the International Public Management Association as a Certified Professional.

Pamela’s expertise is in social research. She has a foundation in study design as well as in quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (narrative) data analysis. As Research Assistant at the Ossining Public School District, Pamela performed data collection, reporting, and analysis for internal and external use. She has experience in finding creative solutions for managing deadlines set by New York State Education Department and the US Department of Education. This work afforded Pamela the ability to use her advanced computer, logic, organizational, and communications skills to help district administrators, teaching, and administrative staff to understand and to use data to advance the district’s objectives. When the Ossining Public School District migrated to a new student information system, Pamela was promoted to Database Administrator and served as the district’s data migration leader.

In addition to her work at the Ossining Public School District, Pamela founded her consulting business, Your Research Assistant. Over the past decade, she has worked with doctoral students to organize and analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected for their dissertation research.

Pamela holds a Master of Social Work, with a concentration in Social Research from Fordham University. There, she received the annual Thesis Award for her secondary data study on attitudes among judges on sexual offending. She also holds a bachelor’s degree and Performance Certificate, in French Horn Performance from the Eastman School of Music.

Donna DeSimone was most recently an Administrative Assistant to the Site Director of the Ed.D. in Executive Leadership program for St. John Fisher College (SJFC) at their satellite campus in New Rochelle, NY. Her areas of expertise include copy editing, data organization and management, statistical analyses, and utilization of Microsoft’s suite of Office software.

Donna served as primary liaison between SJFC based in Rochester, NY and the satellite host school based at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. She developed strong relationships with the main campus administrators and faculty and provided administrative support to the director and to the assistant director for the host satellite office. In addition, Donna maintained the digital records and required documentation for all doctoral candidates, executive mentors, and dissertation committee chairs. She was instrumental in helping SJFC maintain their accreditation status; she coordinated the logistics for the annual graduate-hooding ceremony and she managed the logistics for new students entering the program.

Prior to her administrative days, Donna spent 36 years in various positions from Customer Service Representative, through Energy Conservation Specialist, Economic Development Supervisor and up to Manager of Electric Operations Emergency Management for the Consolidated Edison Company of NY, Inc.

Donna holds an Associate of Arts Degree in Communications/Theatre from Nassau Community College and she completed a course in Strategic Thinking and Management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Donna also completed 30 credits towards a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management at the City University of New York, Staten Island.