BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Linda Villarosa, Chair
Linda Villarosa (she/her) is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine where she covers race, inequality and public health. She is also a professor at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism @ CUNY with a joint appointment at the City College of New York, where she teaches journalism, pre-med and Black Studies. Linda's book Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of a Nation, was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2022 by the New York Times.
Helene D. Goldfarb, Vice Chair, President Emerita
A member of the Feminist Press Board since 1982, Helene D. Goldfarb (she/her) has served as chair and president, and has been the chair of many committees. Helene was an educator from 1951 to 1995, taking a short hiatus to write questions for the TV show Tic-Tac-Dough. A graduate of Hunter College, she has served as president of the Alumni Association and the Scholarship and Welfare Fund, and is currently a board member of the Hunter College Foundation. She was president and treasurer of the Queens Chapter of the AAHC for over fifty years, and serves on the board of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. She received her master’s degree from NYU. For over twenty years, she worked at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center as administrator of the National Critics Institute. She also produced two one-act plays written by Gene Feist, founder of Roundabout Theatre Company, and lit the first show at the Roundabout in the early 1960s.
Nancy Sheppard, Vice Chair
Nancy Sheppard (she/her) is a marketing executive with more than twenty years of success in book publishing at Random House, Penguin USA, Macmillan, and Hachette. She has created and executed hundreds of cutting-edge campaigns for internationally bestselling authors including Sue Monk Kidd, Terry McMillan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Adam Grant, Deborah Harkness, Lev Grossman, Ijeoma Uluo, and many others. She is the director of her own branding and marketing agency, Bluestocking Literary, and lives in New York City.
Matthew Backus, Treasurer
Matthew Backus (he/him) is an associate professor of economics at Columbia Business School, a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. An empirical industrial organization economist, he is an expert on antitrust, auctions, bargaining, and productivity. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Michigan after a brief career in organizing, and now lives in the Upper West Side.
Thomas Bourveau
Thomas Bourveau (he/him) is an associate professor of accounting at Columbia Business School and a faculty fellow at the Millstein Center at Columbia Law School. He is an expert in capital market research with a focus on white collar crime. He earned his PhD in Management Science from HEC Paris, and a Master in Public Affairs from Science Po Paris. He lives in the Upper West Side.
Trieste Ciotola
Trieste Ciotola (she/her) is Director of Institutional Giving at the Vera Institute of Justice where she develops and implements fundraising strategies in support of Vera's mission to end mass incarceration. Prior to joining Vera, Trieste was Deputy Director of Partnership Development at UNICEF USA and held various other resource development positions throughout her career at US-based nonprofit organizations, advocating for education, youth development, and women’s economic independence. Trieste is a graduate of New York University where she studied History and Anthropology, and she’s lived in New York City ever since.
Norrell Edwards
Norrell Edwards (she/her) is a scholar, activist, and communications consultant for nonprofit organizations. Her employment experience and research interests place her work at the nexus of global Black identity, cultural memory, and social justice. She is currently a Distinguished Lecturer for her alma mater, the CUNY Macaulay Honors College. Previous to her position at CUNY, Norrell was the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Texas Christian University and prior to that served as the Assistant Director of Education at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. With extensive scholarship on the Haitian diaspora, Norrell has published in several peer-review journals and has edited collections as well as public work in LA Review of Books, The Grio, and the Black Westchester.
Norrell graduated with a BA in English Literature from Hunter College, followed by a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in twentieth and twenty-first century Black Diaspora Literature.
Hannah Egerton
Hannah Egerton (she/her) is the Director of Candidate Services at the Campaign Finance Board, where she works with campaigns for New York City municipal offices. Through her time at the CFB she has developed training programs and provided trainings to members of the public in partnership with local NYC nonprofits.
Hannah received her MPA from NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and her BA from Smith College. She lives in Brooklyn.
Robin L. Garrell, ex officio
Robin L. Garrell (she/her) is president of the CUNY Graduate Center. Garrell came to the GC after nine years as vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate Division of UCLA. She has been noted throughout her career for advancing diversity, and during her appointment as vice provost and dean, enrollment in UCLA’s graduate and professional degree programs by members of historically underrepresented groups increased 40 percent.
Garrell has served as UCLA’s principal investigator on NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate projects to advance the careers of STEM graduate students and postdocs, and on grants from the Andrew G. Mellon Foundation to implement holistic graduate admissions practices in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. She served as chair of the Faculty Executive Committee of the UCLA College and of the campus Academic Senate. As a professor of chemistry and bioengineering, Garrell led the NSF Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) Materials Training Program. She is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute and serves as an elected commissioner on the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission, and on the Educational Testing Service’s Graduate Record Exam and Test of English as a Foreign Language advisory boards. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
Garrell was born in Detroit, Michigan, and received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry with honors and distinction from Cornell University in 1978. She earned her Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984. She previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was the first female faculty member in the Department of Chemistry.
Laura K. Hamilton
Laura K. Hamilton (she/her) is the Senior Director of Strategic Competition Initiatives at Oracle. She is also a voracious reader, passionate intersectional feminist, and lawyer. Laura's law practice focuses on antitrust policy, anti-money laundering/compliance controls, and white collar crime. She has a BA from New York University in History, with concentrations in French and Middle Eastern Studies, and a JD from The George Washington University Law School. She lives in Washington, DC.
Whitney Hu
Whitney Hu (she/her) is the Director of Civic Engagement and Research at Churches United for Fair Housing and a community organizer based in Sunset Park. She organizes specifically around: tenant's rights, anti-gentrification and displacement, mutual aid, food sovereignty, and immigration justice. Previously, she was the Director of Public Programs for National Book Foundation and the Marketing & Communications Director for the Strand Bookstore.
Hitha Palepu
Hitha Palepu (she/her) is an investor, author, and ardent feminist. Her portfolio is focused on women-founded and women-benefitting companies, including MM.LaFleur, Girls' Night In, iFundWomen, and Werk. She is the author of How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip and curator of #5SmartReads. She lives in New York with her husband and two sons.
Mónica Tavares
Mónica Tavares is the associate vice chancellor for communications and marketing at the City University of New York. She brings a deep well of executive experience in local government, communications and immigrant affairs. She came to CUNY following two years as vice president for external relations at the Hispanic Federation, where she was responsible for managing the organization’s government relations, public relations, marketing teams and its overall communications strategy. Previously, she served as chief of staff in the Office of Communications and External Affairs at the New York City Department of Education, where she also did policy work on immigration and civic engagement. Tavares also served in the administration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. In addition to managing operations, staffing, intergovernmental relations and communications there, she oversaw One NYC One Nation, a two-year civic engagement initiative designed to increase the participation of immigrants in New York City’s civic life. She spent eight years working at El Museo del Barrio, New York’s leading Latino cultural institution, and currently serves on its Board of Trustees.
Tavares holds a B.A. in Latin American literature from SUNY College at Potsdam and a certificate in nonprofit management from the Hispanic Leadership Institute at Baruch College. A native of the Dominican Republic, she lives in East Harlem.
Florence Wright
Florence Wright is a board certified radiation oncologist with Ochsner Health System. She has a passion for women’s sexual health and wellness, a focus on health equity, and a strong commitment to helping her patients manage the emotional and spiritual challenges that accompany cancer diagnosis and treatment.
She holds an M.D. from the University of Southern California and completed residency in Radiation Oncology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. She has served on the faulty at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
As the granddaughter of founder Florence Howe, she has a particular dedication and sense of stewardship for the Press. She lives in New Orleans with her husband and two daughters.
Honorary Members
Johnnetta B. Cole
Nancy Hoffman
Florence Howe, Founding Publisher/Director
Ken Greenstein
Rebecca Seawright
Tricia Wentworth
Executive Director
Margot Atwell