Board of Trustees

David Zurndorfer is a partner at the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP. He has served as President of the Board since BSA was chartered in 2010. David received a B.A. from Penn State University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is also a member of the Board of The Door. In addition, David serves as a member of the New York City Board of Collective Bargaining.

Mónica de la Torre is a public interest attorney who previously served as Director of The Door’s Legal Services Center. Formerly the Director of the Public Interest Law Center at New York University, Ms. de la Torre received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She also serves on The Door’s Board of Directors.

Noah Leff is the Chief Financial Officer at the Touch Foundation. He is a nonprofit financial executive with ten years of expertise in budgeting, forecasting, and financial management and modeling. Prior to the Touch Foundation, he held finance positions with the Freelancers Union, Seedco, and consulted for multiple non-profit and government organizations. Mr. Leff received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in Community Development Finance from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Herb is currently a Fellow for the American Future at The College Board, where he previously served as COO from 2005 to 2013. Prior to The College Board, he was the Director for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and former Chairman and CEO of the Weinton Steel Corporation from 1987 to 1995. From 1996 to 2000, Herb was Chairman of the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Allegheny General Hospital. He is also a Trustee for Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), an organization that identifies and develops exceptional poor high school students and helps them gain entry to highly selective colleges. Herb earned his B.A. from Williams College, attended Harvard Law School, and was a Federal Mid-Career Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Cathy Aquila is a community leader who has served in numerous capacities with various community and charitable organizations. In addition to serving on the Board of Broome Street Academy, Ms. Aquila currently serves on the boards of Breakthrough New York and the Greenwich House. She previously served as President of the Discovery Orchestra (formerly the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey) and was a longtime Board member at Far Hills Country Day School where she led their successful $22 million capital campaign.

Vanda Belusic-Vollor is a life long educator with over 28 years of experience in the New York City Public Schools system. In her role as Senior Executive Director in the Office of Talent Management and Innovation and in her role as Senior Executive Director of the Office of Postsecondary Readiness (OPSR), she has researched, developed, and implemented program models designed to address systematic gaps. These efforts include pioneering college and career readiness benchmarks for New York City; the development of rigorous Career and Technical Education school and programs aligned to current workforce and labor market demands; implementing Learning to Work through Transfer Schools and Young Adult Borough Centers to meet the needs of the City’s over-age, under-credited population; and the Expanded Success Initiative, designed to tackle the disparities slowing the advancement of Black and Latino students, as well as the design and development of 9-14 school models, which include Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) and the Academy for Software Engineering (AFSE) school models.

Lauren Blum is the Chief Investment Officer of Capital Counsel LLC, a New York-based registered investment advisor. She joined the firm at its founding in 1999. Before joining Capital Counsel, Lauren was a Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund where she focused on pollution prevention. She was an Associate in the Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Energy practice of Booz, Allen & Hamilton. She has an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from MIT and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Stephanie Durden Barfield is the Vice President of Operations at Blue Engine, a New York City based education non-profit. Prior to joining Blue Engine, Stephanie served in several education positions throughout New York City including financial analyst at Success Academy Charter Schools; Education Pioneers Graduate School Fellow at New York City Department of Education’s District 79; Director of Finance at Uncommon Schools; and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Uncommon Schools’ New York City region. Stephanie received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the University of Virginia, a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Master of Education in Education Leadership from The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems. She also serves as a Young Patron at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Jeff Katzin is a Principal at Bain & Company, a leading management consulting firm. During his time at Bain, Jeff has led multiple pro-bono initiatives within the education sector, including working with charter schools and networks, and other education non-profit organizations. Previously, Jeff worked at Cambridge Associates, providing investment advisory support to institutional clients, including higher education organizations and other non-profits. Jeff received his B.A. from Tufts University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard University.

A Vice President and Regional Director in Corporate Responsibility at JP Morgan Chase. He has managed development and support of college and career readiness for youth of color in the Eastern Region of the United States. His work includes management of internal volunteer mentorship programming and philanthropic partnerships providing workforce training and skill building for the Military Veteran community. Fernando has helped initiate and lead grant support for workforce training and military to civilian transition skill building. He served as the Co-Chair of the Advocacy and Community Partnerships Committee for the Hispanic and Latino Business Resource Group Adelante. He has 15 years of experience in access to educational equity and policy advocacy.

A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he served in the United States Marine Corps. and Marine Corps. Reserve for nine and a half years where he held the rank of Staff Sergeant. Fernando is a 2018 Council of Urban Professionals Fellow, and a 2020 Coro Workforce Systems Leadership Program participant as well as a Fellow in the Association of Black Funding Executives Connecting Leaders Program. He is also a member of the Blue Star Families Racial Equity Initiative Committee and the Learning, Equity and Grantmaking Committee at JP Morgan Chase.

Elaine Schott is an educator and psychiatric social worker with over 30 years of experience. She has a master’s in Pyschology from New York University and a master’s in Social Work from Hunter School of Social Work. She currently supervises social work interns and is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors or Wurzeiler School of Social Work.

John C. Quinn is a partner and co-founder of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, a boutique litigation firm based in New York City. He joined the BSA Board in 2021. John also proudly serves as a member of the board of the Ali Forney Center, the largest LGBTQ+ youth homeless shelter and community center in the United States, and as a member of the board of the Federal Bar Foundation. John received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Alexandra C. Wood is a Vice President of Product Management at Capital One, focused on building and commercializing the next generation of software as a service. Prior to joining Capital One, Alexandra held a variety of leadership roles in digital innovation and business building, e-commerce, and global operations. A native of New York City, Alexandra earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government and French from Harvard.

Marlene Nadel is a retired attorney with over 20 years of experience in the New York State Judicial System. Before retiring, she served as Special Counsel to Hon. Jonathan Lippman, then-Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York. She received her B.A. from Barnard College and her J.D. from Fordham Law School. Ms. Nadel serves on the Board of Trustees of Temple Shaaray Tefila and is a volunteer tutor in a public school literacy program.

Charles Simon is General Counsel and Director of Policy at Case Commons, Inc., a non-profit that has built a transformative information management system for human services agencies. Previously, Mr. Simon served in senior positions at the U.S. Department of Justice and with New York State. He began his career as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell, and also served as Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Clear/Verified Identity Pass, Inc. Mr. Simon received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Eric Weingartner is one of New York City’s most distinguished public sector leaders having
managed organizations and sector focused programming across the Government, Not for
Profit, and Philanthropy sectors since 1992. Until April 2021, Eric Weingartner was the CEO of
The Door and Broome Street Academy; a role that he held since 2016. The Door, plus Broome
Street Academy, is one of New York City’s most distinctive youth services organizations,
implementing an exemplary multi-sector human services portfolio that is a national model for
programming and design. The Door is a $40 million operation.
Previously, Eric was a Managing Director at Robin Hood, where he led the Survival and Jobs
portfolios, focusing on issues including health, housing, homelessness, hunger, domestic
violence, legal services, and public benefit enrollment. In addition, Eric managed Robin Hood’s
Veterans Fund as well as Robin Hood’s American Dream Fund, two portfolios focused on
veterans and immigrants living in poverty. His portfolio launched over 25 large scale public /
private partnerships with government and best in class not for profit organizations across New
York City. At Robin Hood, Eric oversaw a $60 million grants portfolio directed to over 80 notfor-profit and government agencies.
Before joining Robin Hood, Eric served as a policy advisor to both Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In both cases, Eric focused on issues including welfare reform,
neighborhood economic development, public education, youth development, higher education,
and work force programming. Also, Eric is a former Vice President of FEGS where he managed
the education and workforce divisions including 30 programs and an annual budget of $50
million. Eric is the former Executive Director of Teach For America, New York and was a Teach
for America corps member having taught eighth grade English in the Bronx.
Eric graduated from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and holds a BA in
English and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he was the class
president. Eric lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Jennifer and his children Henry and Ruby.