Philanthropy New York Welcomes New Board Chair and Members
On May 15th, during the business meeting of Philanthropy New York's 46th Annual Meeting, the membership elected a new Board Chair, Don Chen, President, Surdna Foundation, four new members, and two were elected for a second term on the Board of Directors. Philanthropy New York is fortunate to have a dedicated board – each member contributing their time and talents to ensure that this organization is a vital resource for the philanthropic community in New York. We want to thank those who are rotating off the Board as well, Laura Aden, Rosanna Aybar, Neill Coleman, Tanuja Dehne, Nicole Howe Buggs, and Mariko Silver, for their time and dedication to Philanthropy New York and our community over the last few years. The new board members will play a critical role in implementing PNY's recently released strategic direction, which seeks to address current inequities in the philanthropic sector.
The new members of the board are:
Beatriz de la Torre
Chief Philanthropy Officer, Trinity Church Philanthropies
Beatriz (Bea) de la Torre has served as Chief Philanthropy Officer since May 2023. In this role, she leads Trinity’s Philanthropies team and mission grant-making function, which includes its efforts to address housing and homelessness, racial justice, mission real estate development, and leadership development.
Ms. de la Torre first joined Trinity in 2019 as Managing Director of Housing & Homelessness, where she was responsible for grants, Program Related Investments, and Mission Investing designed to address housing insecurity. She also led several strategic impact investing initiatives to increase the supply of low-income affordable housing, including the refinancing of St. Margaret’s House–a 249-unit subsidized apartment building that serves seniors and mobility-impaired adults– and the development of an underutilized parcel in Lower Manhattan.
Before joining Trinity, Ms. de la Torre managed the housing and homelessness portfolio at Robin Hood. She also focused on the creation and preservation of affordable housing through such projects as The Eliza in Inwood, which co-locates low-income housing over a redesigned public library. Before that, Ms. de la Torre worked in New York City government for eight years, including in various positions at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Small Business Services.
Ms. de la Torre serves on the boards of the CUNY School for Professional Studies Foundation, The Clemente Soto Velez Art Center and Fundacion Colibri. She also participates on advisory boards including Enterprise NY Policy Advisory Group and the Local Initiatives Support Community Corporation (LISC) New York Advisory Board.
Ingrid Rasmussen
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, The Wallace Foundation
Ingrid Rasmussen joined the Wallace Foundation in 2024 as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. She is responsible for overseeing the finance, accounting, grants management, IT, and operations of the foundation.
Prior to Wallace, Rasmussen was Chief Financial Officer at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, where she oversaw all finance, accounting, grants management, and related functions. At RPA, her team managed $350 million annually in grantmaking and supported approximately 120 sponsored projects and funds in a range of nonprofit issue areas.
Before joining RPA, Rasmussen was COO at Unbound Philanthropy, a private foundation where she oversaw the finance, accounting, IT, human resources, operations, and grants management functions; vice president, finance and operations/CFO of the Heron Foundation; director of financial planning and analysis at Helmsley Charitable Trust; and vice president of finance/controller at Nonprofit Finance Fund. In her free time, Rasmussen is just as passionate about nonprofit finance and operations. She serves as chair of the finance committee of the International Refugee Assistance Project and is on the Governing Board at Mayors Migration Council. She is also currently a member of the finance committee of Philanthropy New York. She previously served on the boards of New Community Corporation, Hot Bread Kitchen, Bronx House, and Stevens Cooperative School, where she was Board Chair.
Rasmussen earned a master’s degree in international development from American University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Tufts University. She lives in Jersey City, NJ, with her husband and daughter.
Euan Robertson
Chief Operating Officer, The Simons Foundation
Euan Robertson joined the Simons Foundation’s leadership team in 2019 as the foundation’s first Chief Operating Officer. Prior to The Simons Foundation, Robertson was at Columbia University, where he advised senior faculty and administrators on issues of entrepreneurship, innovation, tech transfer and real estate development.
In the past, Robertson served in a variety of senior economic development roles under both the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. During his time in city government, he focused particularly on projects designed to grow the New York City tech economy and strengthen relationships between research institutions and industry.
In addition to his work in the U.S., Robertson has held leadership roles in the private and not-for-profit sectors in the U.K. and Canada. These include being COO of the MaRS Discovery District, a not-for-profit innovation campus in Toronto; COO of a London-based internet startup; and technology strategist for both the U.K. National Health Service and the U.K.’s largest privately owned electricity generator, British Energy Group plc.
Robertson holds an M.B.A. with distinction from London Business School and an M.A. with honors from the University of St. Andrews.
Robertson serves on the boards of the New York Climate Exchange and the University of St. Andrews American Foundation, and on the Science & Technology Action Committee.
Toya Williford
Executive Director, The AC & JC Foundation
Toya Williford serves as the founding Executive Director of The AC & JC Foundation, Inc., a private family foundation based in New York City. Ms. Williford brings more than 20 years of experience in philanthropic services, program and organizational development, fundraising, and community organizing. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Williford was the Executive Director of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City where she oversaw the overall management of the Mayor's Fund and led the effort to foster public-private partnerships between City agencies, the private sector and the philanthropic community. Ms. Williford joined the de Blasio Administration as the Director of Programs and Policy and helped to launch and sustain the Center for Youth Employment, a multi-million dollar initiative created to improve the quality and scale of publicly funded youth employment programs.
Prior to joining the Mayor's Fund, Ms. Williford served as the Program Director at the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the first and only foundation solely dedicated to Brooklyn's charitable community. Committed to the advancement of her community, Ms. Williford takes special interest in programs and policies related to workforce development, gender equity, and women’s health and safety. Ms. Williford is an active board member of the Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, the New York City Fund for Public Health, Elluminate, and the Central Park Conservancy. She is a certified vinyasa yoga and prenatal yoga instructor. She received a Master's degree in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor's degree in Rural Sociology from Cornell University. She currently lives in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with her family and two cats.
Second Term Candidates
Channon Lucas
Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President of External Engagement. Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
Channon oversees the day-to-day administrative, governance, and operational functions of the foundation, as well as the external relations communications, community relations, and public policy teams. Prior to joining the foundation at its startup in 2018, Channon spent 12 years at the Archdiocese of New York with increasing responsibilities during her tenure. She was the driving force behind a successful multi-million-dollar annual fund, oversaw a major gifts portfolio, and curated and hosted a series of fundraising and donor cultivation events. In 2015, Cardinal Timothy Dolan asked her to serve as Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York. In this role, she worked on initiatives such as Pope Francis’ historic visit to New York in 2015, and the launch of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought and Culture. Channon completed undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, earning a B.A. in Politics. She completed her M.S. in Global Affairs at NYU in 2011. Channon has been a member of Chief, a private membership network for female executives, since its founding in 2019. She has also served on the Board of Directors of Philanthropy New York since 2022.
Jennifer Negron
Senior Program Officer, The Pinkerton Foundation
Jenny has a unique perspective on the value of Pinkerton grants. In 1998, three days after graduating from New York’s high school for pregnant and parenting teens and six weeks after the birth of her son Joel, she went to work as an “Explainer” in the Science Career Ladder program at the New York Hall of Science–a longtime Pinkerton grantee. During her tenure there, she rose to lead the program while earning degrees from LaGuardia, Queens, and Baruch College. She brought her interest and expertise in youth programs and STEM education to Pinkerton in January of 2012. The first proposal she reviewed was for the NYC STEM Education Network, a coalition of organizations working to provide STEM learning opportunities for all. Jenny has been recognized as a Next Generation Getty Leadership Fellow and a Rockwood Equity in Philanthropy Fellow. She currently serves on the STEM Funders Network executive committee and the Philanthropy New York board. Joel was an Explainer himself and in Spring of 2022 graduated from Hunter College, marking that the fifth CUNY degree earned between the two of them (he also graduated from Guttman). Longtime Pinkerton-watchers will note that until exchanging vows with her beloved Anthony on September 18th, 2016, Jenny was known as Jennifer Correa. (We like her by any name.)