ROBERT BOWNE FOUNDATION STAFF
Lena Townsend — Executive Director
Lena O. Townsend joined the Robert Bowne Foundation (RBF) in 2000 as Program Officer and became Executive Director in 2001. She previously served as Director of Community Initiatives for the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, CUNY. She has taught at the New York Public Library Centers for Reading and Writing, the Lehman College Adult Learning Center and Bronx Community College. Her prime assets include knowledge of grantmaking practices, public policy, educational theory and research in the teaching of reading and writing, professional development and management practices. She has extensive experience in developing and directing professional development initiatives for youth practitioners, adult educators and teachers. She was on the founding steering committee of the Partnership for Afterschool Education and has published articles in the areas of reading, professional development and adult literacy. She holds an M.A. in reading from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.P.A. in not-for-profit management and policy from NYU’s Wagner School.
Contact at bownefoundation@gmail.com
Anne Lawrence — Program Officer
Anne Lawrence joined the Robert Bowne Foundation in 2002 as Program Officer. She has over 30 years of experience in adult and youth education as a teacher, staff developer, evaluator and manager of volunteer and adult education programs. She began working with the RBF in 1987 as a consultant and technical assistance provider. She continued to work in that capacity until she joined the Foundation as Program Officer. Before joining the RBF she served as Associate Director of Education for Literacy Partners of New York City. She has managed professional development, evaluation and adult literacy education programs at the Literacy Assistance Center, the City University of New York and the New York Public Library Centers for Reading and Writing. She was on the founding steering committee of the Partnership for Afterschool Education and has published articles in the areas of evaluation, adult and youth literacy and professional development.
Contact at annehlawrence@gmail.com
Sara Hill — Research Officer
Sara Hill joined the RBF in 2002 as Research Officer and held that position until 2007. She was instrumental in designing and delivering the Afterschool Matters Practitioner Fellowship, the Edmund A. Stanley, Jr. Research Grants, and was the managing editor for the journal Afterschool Matters. She is currently an educational specialist at the community based organization Family Dynamics based in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. She has designed and delivered training, professional development and networking opportunities for hundreds of educators at all levels, from youth and staff at youth organizations to public school teachers and administrators. She is the author of many articles, research studies, and curriculum guides on the topic of community education, Out-of-School Time, and professional development for youth workers, including the book Afterschool Matters: Creative Programs that Connect Youth Development and Student Achievement.
Contact at sara@sarahill.net
ROBERT BOWNE FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Jennifer Stanley — President
Jennifer Stanley has served as President of the RBF’s Board of Trustees since 2001. She is founder and director of Oxford Kids Camp in Oxford, MD; she also founded and continues to direct the Oxford Community Center’s afterschool program. She currently serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations including the Town Creek Foundation, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, and WINGS for Kids in Charleston, SC and she has served on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation board.
Suzanne C. Carothers — Vice President
Suzanne C. Carothers is Vice President of the RBF’s Board of Trustees. She is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education, Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University. She previously served as professor in the Department of Education at City College. As adult literacy program director for the City of New York, Dr. Carothers coordinated a groundbreaking effort in the movement to provide literacy instruction for adults. She earned a Ph.D. from New York University in 1987.
Jane Quinn — Secretary
As Assistant Executive Director for Community Schools with the Children’s Aid Society, Jane Quinn leads local and national work to forge effective long-term partnerships between public schools and other community resources. From 1993 to 1999, she served as program director with the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund. Prior to that, she directed a national study of youth organizations for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which resulted in publication of a book entitled A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours. She has also worked for Girls Clubs of America; the Washington, DC, Health Department’ and the Center for Population Options. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and has done post-graduate work at the Columbia School of Business Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. She joined the Robert Bowne Foundation Board of Trustees in 2004.
Photo: Christopher Zajac
Susan W. Cummiskey — Treasurer
Susan W. Cummiskey is Treasurer of the RBF’s Board of Trustees. She served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources, for Bowne & Co. from December 1998 to November 2010. Previous positions with Bowne & Co. include Vice President, Human Resources, and Director, Human Resources. Prior to joining Bowne & Co., Ms. Cummiskey served as Vice President, Human Resources, for the chemical group of Degussa Corporation.
Andrew S. Fisher — Trustee
Andrew Fisher was named the first Executive Director of the Lavelle Fund for the Blind, Inc., in 2000. The Fund supports programs promoting the development of blind and visually impaired people of all ages, together with programs that help people avoid vision loss. Lavelle’s primary focus is on the New York City area, but support also goes to eye care in the developing world. He served as Senior Program Officer at the Charles Hayden Foundation from 1996 to 2000; as Program Officer at the Wallace Foundation from 1990 to 1996; and as Vice President for Philanthropy at Chase Manhattan Bank from 1985 to 1990. Before his foundation career, Dr. Fisher taught for six years —first at independent schools and then part-time at the college level. He has also served on the boards on such nonprofits as: the Teachers’ Network, the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education (NSEE), Youth Action Programs and Homes, and the Disabilities Funders’ Network. He earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from Brandeis University in 1982 and in 1981 was awarded an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.
Mitchell Lee — Trustee, Chair, Finance Committee
Mitch Lee joined KKR (New York) in 2016 and is a member of the Client and Partner Group. Mr. Lee co-leads KKR’s efforts in insurance company business development and helps provide solutions for KKR’s insurance company asset management clients. Prior to joining KKR, he spent six years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) where he was a senior relationship manager within GSAM’s insurance asset management business and prior to that was involved with institutional fundraising and investor relations for GSAM’s alternative investments platform. Previously, he worked at American Capital in internal strategy and investment capacities. Mr. Lee’s prior experience also includes practicing private equity and corporate securities law as an attorney. Mr. Lee holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and a J.D. and B.A. from Cornell University.
Robert M. Stonehill — Trustee
Robert Stonehill is Managing Director, Education, American Institutes for Research (AIR). As such, he is responsible for a range of projects at the national, state, and local level that support the effective implementation of education policy and reform initiatives. Before joining AIR, Dr. Stonehill was the deputy director for academic improvement and teacher quality programs in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. He managed a $6.2 billion annual portfolio of programs to support improved teaching and learning in high-need communities, including the ESEA Title II-A program, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), and the Mathematics-Science Partnerships, among many others. The 21st CCLC program, which Dr. Stonehill directed since its inception in 1997, provides more than $1 billion a year to support afterschool programs in high-poverty areas and was the winner of a 2002 Public Service Excellence Award.
Cecelia Traugh — Trustee
Cecelia Traugh is the Dean of the Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Throughout her career, Dr. Traugh has combined her roles as a teacher, administrator, and researcher in pursuit of the kind of education that grows out of a valuing of the capacities of children, parents, and teachers. Prior to joining Bank Street in 2015, she served as dean and professor at Long Island University’s School of Education. She began her career teaching high school history, and taught at a child detention center in California. She then taught at Wichita State University, where she directed a statewide program offering an urban experience to potential teachers. She worked with Vito Perrone at the University of North Dakota, and participated in programs educating Native American teachers for reservation schools. She directed the Middle School at Philadelphia’s Friends Select School, and taught graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, she became the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, where she began her school-based inquiry groups and contributed to a monograph series about the work of teachers teaching teachers in New York City. Dr. Traugh holds a BA and MA from UC Riverside, and a PhD from UC Berkeley.
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