In July 2014, the Children’s Aid Board of Trustees selected Phoebe Boyer to be the organization’s 11th president and chief executive officer. Phoebe came to Children’s Aid from the Robertson Foundation, a $1 billion foundation created by Julian Robertson and his family that takes a targeted approach to supporting critical national issues, including education reform. She spent more than a decade at the foundation, most recently as its executive director, where she oversaw operations and grant-making of more than $100 million annually. During her tenure there, she developed and executed the foundation’s national K-12 education reform strategy.

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Kimone joined Children’s Aid in 2023, bringing more than a decade of experience in health care compliance. Before Children’s Aid, she served as the director of compliance at CorroHealth. Prior to that, she held key compliance positions at Care for the Homeless, the New Jewish Home, Healthix, and Affinity Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree from SUNY’s University at Albany and a master’s degree in legal studies with a concentration in health and hospital law from Seton Hall Law School.

Michelle Avila brings over a decade of experience in government relations, advocacy, coalition building, and policy analysis to Children's Aid. She leads the development and execution of the organization's public policy and legislative agenda at local, state, and national levels through strategic research and coalition engagement. Previously, Michelle was at NYU Langone Health where she served as Manager of Community and City Affairs and also worked in the Office of Development. She has held roles in political campaigns and as an assistant to a NYS Assemblymember in the Bronx. Michelle earned an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management & Policy from NYU Wagner and a BA in Political Science from Fordham University. In 2022, she was honored as one of City & State's Nonprofit 40 Under 40 for her advocacy work.

Martin “Marty” Baicker joined Children’s Aid in 2023, bringing more than 30 years of experience in managing non-profit organizations. As COO, he ensures that Children’s Aid has the operational and technical capacity to meet its mission. He oversees projects from administrative and reporting procedures to construction. Prior to joining Children’s Aid, Marty worked primarily in the healthcare sector, serving as Chief Administrator, COO, and Vice President for New York metropolitan area hospitals. A native of North Merrick, New York, Marty holds a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Empire State College and a master’s from New York University. He has served on the board of several nonprofits and has donated his time and effort to promoting literacy across the country.

Georgia Boothe joined Children’s Aid in 2015 as the vice president of the Child Welfare and Family Services Division. She oversees the organization’s work with young people who have become involved in the juvenile justice system as well as the preventive services program, which works to strengthen families that are involved in the child welfare system. She also leads a deeply experienced team of social workers and other front line staff in serving children and families with special needs. Georgia comes to Children’s Aid after spending more than five years at Pathways to Housing NY, as the executive director. She holds an M.S.W. from Columbia University and earned her undergraduate degree from Skidmore College, where she studied social work and American studies.

Rhonda Braxton is responsible for the overall administrative operations of all health and wellness services. Rhonda has more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, program expansion, and staff development. A significant portion of her professional career has been devoted to ensuring access to health care and education services to underserved populations. She has served as the chief program officer and deputy director of youth services at Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, vice president of planning and operations at Girl Scouts USA, and director of the Adolescent Health Center at The Door. During her tenue at The Door, Rhonda provided administrative and fiscal oversight of a health care facility that provides reproductive and primary health care services to adolescents. She served on several adolescent health care planning committees and offered testimony at New York City Council meetings and the National Institute of Health on the status of adolescent health care for urban youth. Rhonda holds a B.A. in Psychology from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. in Health Care Administration from Baruch College/Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Drema Brown ensures the success of Children’s Aid efforts to provide high-quality educational services to children, ages of 5-13, living in under-resourced neighborhoods. Drema oversees after-school, summer, and parent education programs in Children’s Aid community schools and community centers. Since she joined Children's Aid in 2011, Drema has headed the successful launch of the Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School in the South Bronx, and she will continue to support its full development as a K-5 community school. Before joining Children’s Aid, Drema worked at New Leaders, where she led the design, development, and delivery of a leadership curriculum for its New York City and national principal training programs. Drema holds an Ed.M. from Harvard, a B.A. from Yale, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Moria Cappio was appointed chief of staff in 2023. She serves as a key advisor to the CEO and drives the agency’s cradle-through-college agenda. Moria first joined the organization in 2006 as the director of Early Childhood programs at the East Harlem Center, later overseeing a significant expansion across Washington Heights and more of East Harlem. In 2012, Moria oversaw historic growth when Children’s Aid doubled the number of children in our early childhood programs to 1,200, and in 2014 she was named vice president of the Early Childhood division. During her tenure as vice president, Moria led the strategic charge related to rightsizing the agency’s continuum approach for 0-5-year-olds, which included securing the largest federal Head Start/Early Head Start grant in Children’s Aid’s history. Prior to joining Children’s Aid, Moria was a New York City public elementary school teacher in East Harlem. She holds both elementary and special education teaching certifications and is a graduate of Boston College and Harvard University.

As executive vice president, Sandra supports senior leaders who oversee our community schools and centers to deliver high-quality holistic services and implement strategies that enable children, youth, and families to succeed and thrive. She also supports senior leaders charged with cultivating, implementing, and disseminating best practices in the community schools and collective impact movements as well as our college/career access and workforce development initiatives.

Previously, Sandra spent nearly 15 years with the Fund of the City of New York's Youth Development Institute, the last five of which she served as executive director. She led a host of initiatives designed to help youth-serving organizations across multiple sectors maximize their impact in New York City and across the nation. She also founded a consultancy where she provided executive coaching to local and national leaders throughout the country with a focus on DEIB. Sandra earned an M.S.W. from Columbia University and received a B.A. in sociology from Hunter College, where she also was an instructor in a course on mentorship

Sabrina has nearly 30 years of experience specializing in capacity-building and professional development for nonprofit organizations. Her expertise encompasses direct service, program administration, training, coaching, model development, and strategic planning. Sabrina previously served as Executive Director of Ramapo Training and the Youth Development Institute. She has also held leadership roles at the Community Resource Exchange and St. Nick’s Alliance and was an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s Institute for Nonprofit Management. Sabrina holds a master’s degree in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As the Vice President of Collective Impact, Abe Fernández directs the National Center for Community Schools (NCCS) and oversees the place-based collective impact initiatives at Children’s Aid, one of the oldest and largest social service agencies in New York City. He leverages over twenty-five years of experience in education, youth development, and in the social impact sector.

Before rejoining NCCS in 2019, he was a senior advisor to South Bronx Rising Together, a cradle-to-career collective impact initiative and StriveTogether partnership of which he was a founding co-director. He also led the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative – a statewide effort to plan and implement strategies to mitigate poverty – for the borough of the Bronx. Prior to leading these place-based collective impact efforts, Abe served at NCCS for seven years, during which he provided on- and off-site training, coaching, and consultation to community school initiatives across the country and beyond.

 Prior to joining Children’s Aid, he ran a multi-service community center and led the youth services department of an East Harlem-based settlement house. He started his career as a teacher of middle school mathematics and the director of the Summerbridge program.

Susan Fojas ensures high quality across all Children’s Aid programs by working with staff to ensure all children and youth in our programs experience success. Having led continuous improvement in human services for more than 20 years, Susan is skilled at using practical approaches to improve effectiveness in education, child welfare, healthcare, and youth development programs. Previously, Susan served as associate commissioner at the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, leading efforts to ensure safety and well-being for children in foster care and preventive services. Prior, she evaluated programs at the Jewish Child Care Association of New York. Before working in child welfare, Susan conducted research on child development and cognition and contributed to several federal research studies. Susan has a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland.

B.A. arrived at Children’s Aid in 2023 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she served as Director of Information Technology, Chief Information Security Officer. Prior to that, she worked in information technology and security for Selfhelp Community Services, St. John’s University, and Sandata Technologies. She’s a graduate of SUNY Albany, where she was a founding member of the women’s lacrosse team. An active member of her community, she volunteers for the Cybersecurity Workforce Alliance and previously volunteered for Girl Scouts of Nassau County.

Caroline Gallagher leads the fundraising team in growing private and public revenues. She comes to Children’s Aid from Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children, where she drove fundraising strategy and scaled major gift cultivation, support, and stewardship. Prior to her role at Spence-Chapin, Caroline provided strategic development consultation to a variety of nonprofit organizations as head of her own independent consulting firm and as senior managing director of Changing Our World, Inc. Caroline earned an M.A. in education at Fordham University and a B.A. from Providence College.

Jamel has spent the majority of her career in the nonprofit sector, where she started as a recruiter in 2009. She is certified by the Society for Human Resources Management and holds certification in human resources management from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Jamel also pursued her passion for cooking and attended the Arts Institute, where she majored in culinary arts and occupational studies. In addition to her professional achievements, Jamel is also a loving wife and mother. She is married with two sons and three grandkids, and she cherishes spending time with her family.

Courtenaye Jackson serves as chief legal advisor and ensures that Children’s Aid can best support children and families across NYC. Prior to her tenure at Children’s Aid, she served as General Counsel for the New York City Department of Education, the nation’s largest school district, where she focused on legal and compliance matters, investigations, and equal opportunity initiatives, and provided support for the launch of innovative educational policies and programming.

Jackson also served as Director of the Midtown Community Court, where she created and led community initiatives designed to improve the quality of life for residents and access to services, education, and workforce development for those who were court-involved. She began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and remains committed to achieving social and criminal justice through her work.

Jackson received her Juris Doctor degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law, and her Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.

Sarah provides leadership in developing and implementing programs and services that respond to community needs and prepare youth for success. Sarah previously worked with the NYC DOE Office of Community Schools where she served as Senior Executive Director, supporting more than 300 community schools (the largest and most successful effort in the country). She is an Annie E. Casey Foundation Fellow, chaired the Brookings Institution’s Task Force on Next Generation Community Schools, and served as an advisor to the Obama White House and U.S. Department of Education on the national "My Brother’s Keeper Every Student, Every Day" campaign. Sarah is a certified teacher. She received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education.  

Vanessa leads the agency-wide engagement strategy and initiatives. She has 25 years of experience in leadership development and organizational strategy across various industries. She previously served as Senior Director of Inclusion and Belonging at Columbia University's Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and led Citibank's global Inclusive Leadership Practice. Vanessa has developed teams and leadership strategies worldwide, spanning the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North Africa. Fluent in Spanish, French, and English, she advises across sectors and serves on nonprofit boards. Vanessa holds a PhD (ABD) in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, an MS in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco, and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Puerto Rico, with leadership certifications from Cornell, Harvard, and Cambridge.​ She is an adjunct faculty member at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Shawmell came to Children’s Aid in 2023 by way of the Osborne Association, where he was responsible for building safety, fleet management, security, construction, and upkeep for all Osborne’s leased and owned facilities. Prior to that, he was Assistant Vice President and Facilities Manager at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. He has more than a decade of experience in the facilities management, construction, and architecture fields. He is a graduate of SUNY Delhi, and has a bachelor’s of technology degree in architectural design and building. Shawmell has a reputation as a problem solver, motivator, and leader.

Anthony Ramos manages the public profile of Children's Aid across all media and led the organization’s efforts in its first rebranding process in more than four decades. Since joining Children’s Aid in 2011, Ramos has helped to communicate Children's Aid’s strategic objectives to key stakeholders and enhance its web presence through multimedia. Ramos came to Children’s Aid from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where he served as director of communications. Prior to his work with GLSEN, Ramos managed communications for the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center and the National Hemophilia Foundation.

Margot joined Children’s Aid in 2019 as the Early Childhood Division’s deputy Director of Education and was promoted to Vice President in 2023. During her first four years with the agency, she worked in partnership with staff across the agency to strengthen program quality. Margot came to Children’s Aid from the Therapy and Learning Center, where she was the Education Director. During that time, she was also the Assistant Clinical Director of ABA Services at Kidz Choice Services Inc. She has worked in education as a teacher, facilitator, and director since 2001. Margot has a bachelor’s in psychology from CUNY’s York College, a master’s in education from Touro University, and a degree for School Building Leader Master as well as a District-Leader Advanced Certificate from St. John’s University.

Robert brings over 25 years of experience in public and nonprofit finance to Children's Aid. Throughout his career, Robert has been dedicated to helping organizations strengthen their impact by maximizing resources to better support those in need. Prior to joining in 2024, he held senior finance positions at The Jewish Board, Catholic Guardian, and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services. Robert specializes in aligning budgets with organizational vision and fostering strategic goals through collaboration. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Wagner College and a master’s in public administration from New York University. 

Sheryl joined Children's Aid in 2023 as the agency’s first Chief People and Culture Officer. In this role, she sets the vision and leads strategy for Talent Management, Human Resources, and Learning and Development, while also overseeing agency-wide engagement initiatives.

Sheryl brings more than two decades of experience in the mission-driven nonprofit sector, where she has been dedicated to fostering organizational excellence and driving meaningful change. Prior to joining Children's Aid, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer / Chief Compliance Officer at the Osborne Association, a nonprofit supporting individuals and families impacted by the criminal legal system.

She holds a master’s degree in business administration and is a certified senior-level HR professional (SPHR and SHRM-SCP). In addition to her role at Children's Aid, Sheryl serves as Vice President of the Executive Board of SHRM-LI and sits on the Board of Directors for AABR, Inc.