Welcoming the New AAUW NYC Metro 2026/27 Board!

We recently had the pleasure of ringing in our new 2026/27 board members. This year, because of the For Girls in STEM program expansion, we also created a special For Girls in STEM Committee. Please welcome and congratulate this year's new board members!

Board Officers: 

Raegan Sealy - President 

Raegan Sealy is a British-born, Brooklyn-based performing artist, speaker, and strategist. On stage, she is a fearless front-woman who has shared the mic with Ice-T, Kae Tempest, and Shane Koyczan. Behind the scenes at her firm UCurricula she is the world’s best wingwoman, helping leaders and institutions bring world-changing ideas into the world. Raegan’s work is recognized by TED, Fulbright, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, and The Nantucket Project. 

Ariah Tough - Treasurer 

Ariah has served on the AAUW NYC Metro board for two years, and has been instrumental in helping to organize several of our most successful fundraising efforts, including Girls for STEM 2025, a youth-oriented event at Smashburger, the 2025 holiday party, and most recently this weekend a mother-daughter paint n’sip. She is an actuary and Vice President at the reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, where she runs the analyst development program. She's also a former Fulbrighter — and was an English Teaching Assistant in South Korea — and a former three-year co-op board president. 

Randi N Gray - Secretary 

Randi N. Gray is the Founder and CEO of Stronger Systems Group, LLC, where she helps leaders and organizations navigate the intersection of artificial intelligence, workforce readiness, and leadership systems. She currently serves as the Head of Global IT Operations for a rapidly growing beauty brand. Randi is also a longtime civic and community leader. She has served in board and executive leadership roles within nonprofit, service, and professional organizations, where she has developed programs focused on empowerment, governance, and leadership development — particularly for women. Randi graduated from Binghamton University with a BS in Management/Marketing, earned advanced certificates from Columbia University and Pace University, and an MA in K- 12 Educational Technology from Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Naba Rizvi - VP Policy

AKA the Scientist in Pink, Naba is an AI researcher with a PhD in Computer Science from UC San Diego and research experience at Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Adobe. She brings over a decade of nonprofit leadership advancing women in STEM, including work on the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world's largest conference for women in computing. In 2023 she received a White House commendation from Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on inclusive AI.

Kari Fuentes Quinteros - VP Communications 

Kari is a Chilean-born Design Strategist and Educator working at the intersection of AI, emerging technologies, and social impact. She has led initiatives across healthcare, education, and nonprofit sectors throughout Latin America and the United States, building cross-sector partnerships, sustainable funding models, and community-centered programs. Her work explores the evolving role of design in the age of AI, using systems thinking to help organizations navigate complexity and meaningful change.

Jessica Sims, PhD - VP Development 

Dr. Jessica Sims brings over ten years of nonprofit and academic leadership to her role as Vice President of Development. Currently Senior Development Manager at St. George’s Society of New York, she directs major fundraising initiatives and $150,000 in annual CUNY scholarships. A 2016 AAUW American Fellow and former branch Treasurer and VP of Membership, Dr. Sims is dedicated to expanding funding and advancing educational equity for women statewide.

Board Members:

Donna Willenbrock

Donna is an Associate Professor at the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Executive Director of Student Health at Hofstra, where she manages a $2M budget serving more than 11,000 students. She holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice, is a frequent lecturer, and has served as president and treasurer on several nonprofit boards. Prior to nursing she spent almost 20 years in corporate America. 

Arlene R Keizer

Arlene Keizer is a literary critic, poet, and professor at Pratt Institute, where she chaired the Department of Humanities and Media Studies. An AAUW American Fellowship in 1995 supported the completion of her doctorate at UC Berkeley, and she has spent the subsequent three decades publishing scholarly books and articles and teaching in the fields of African American, American, and Caribbean literary and gender studies. Arlene has returned to creative writing in recent years, teaching workshops on writing poetry about visual art and publishing her debut collection of poems in 2023. As a tenured faculty member and academic administrator at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Brown University, UC Irvine, and in her current position, she has promoted gender and racial equity in higher education through pedagogy, mentorship, curriculum development, program reviews, and hiring.

Mikiko Sawanishi

Mikiko ("Miki") Sawanishi was an AAUW International Fellow in 1992–1993 and, with the support of the fellowship, completed her Master of Public Policy degree at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She currently serves as Senior Programme Officer and Deputy Executive Head of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), where she works to promote democracy at the grassroots level by supporting civil society organizations worldwide. Prior to joining UNDEF, she worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Geneva and Timor-Leste. She also served at Japan's Ministry of Education, where she worked on issues related to gender equality and international understanding in education. Miki holds an LM from the New York University School of Law, a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (DEA) from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and was a Fulbright Scholar.

Tammy Hensrud

Tammy Hensrud, an international opera singer has performed throughout Europe, South Africa, Japan and the United States at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Theatre de Chatelet in Paris, Salzburg Festival, in concert at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland and many other venues. She is Coordinator of Vocal studies and Adjunct Professor of Voice at Hofstra University, the Executive Vocal Director of the Oyster Bay Summer Music Festival, and on the faculty of several International Music Festivals. A Fulbright Scholar to Germany, she founded Feminine Musique dedicated to the performance of historical and contemporary women composers and mentors young women in the arts. Her research in women composers and the salon, has led to invitations for lecture recitals throughout Europe and the United States. She is a contributing author to Women and the Nineteenth-Century Lied (Routledge Press) and is fluent in German.

Chen Wang 

Chen is a neuroscientist at Columbia and an AAUW International Fellow. Over nearly two decades in science, she has mentored students and early-career researchers, including many women, from around the world, and created Columbia's "Sex, Gender, and Everything in Between" symposium, which brought together biologists, clinicians, social scientists, and humanities scholars to explore sex and gender across disciplines. Outside the lab, she is a frequent concertgoer drawn to the common threads among science, music, and immigrant identity.

For Girls in STEM Committee: 

Marina Lozovik Joseb 

Marina is the founder of Marina Space, a life and health coaching practice in NYC with focus on sustainability and decluttering. She holds two master's degrees — including one from King's College London. Previously spent a decade leading global marketing and comms events at the FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO tournaments. Fluent in Russian and English.

Johanna Quinn

Johanna Quinn is an associate professor of sociology at Fordham University, where her research focuses on racial and gender equity in education and where she co-leads the New York Center for Public Anthropology and Sociology. A former special education teacher in New York City public schools, she brings classroom experience to her scholarship on how schools can better serve all students and workers. Dr. Quinn is an AAUW Postdoctoral Fellow and has secured more than $700,000 in foundation grants to support her research. She has presented her work at two AAUW branches and looks forward to continuing her engagement with the AAUW community.

Rebecca Ravenelle

Rebecca is a neuroscientist, Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and an Adjunct Professor at LaGuardia Community College. An AAUW American Dissertation Fellow, she previously served on the AAUW STEM Advisory Board and as a Society for Neuroscience Policy Ambassador lobbied Congress to support robust investment in biomedical research. She is passionate about science advocacy and has worked to introduce non-traditional and underrepresented students to careers in STEM. When she isn’t working Rebecca enjoys taking courses at the Art Students League of New York and hiking with her dog Bailey. 

Nathaly Luna

Nathaly is a civil servant, gender advocate, and community builder who works across government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector to advance social impact, community access, and equity. An AAUW Fellow, she holds an M.A. in Global Gender Studies and a Professional Certificate in International Development from NYU, and has served as a Gender Equality and Social Justice Fellow at Save the Children U.S. She is also a U.S. Department of State exchange alumna as both a Gilman International Scholar and Critical Language Scholar in Arabic, with lived experience in Morocco. As a first-generation college graduate who accessed higher education and international study through scholarship, she is committed to building those same pathways for the next generation of women and girls. Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Chandana Papudesu

Dr. Chandana Papudesu is a physician executive at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, where she leads clinical operations and quality initiatives while caring for diverse patient populations, including veterans. She began her career as a federally funded scientist conducting research at the NIH before transitioning to clinical medicine through training at Emory University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Papudesu serves on national committees with the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American College of Physicians, advancing patient-centered care, elevating the patient voice, improving healthcare quality and safety, and promoting equitable access to care. Passionate about developing future leaders, Dr. Papudesu mentors young women pursuing careers in STEM and serves as a Peer Advisor and Alumni Admissions Committee member for Columbia Business School.

We are looking forward to a successful 2026/27 year!