Meet Our Board Members

Sarah Woodside Gallagher

Sarah Woodside Gallagher is a veteran of the entertainment industry having worked in commercials, documentaries, television series and feature films.  She was also the founder of the research firm Sherlock (sold to FindSVP) and crafts-oriented Deep River (sold to the Horchow Collection and co-founded Upper Green Side, the environmental non-profit organization active on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  Nominated for several awards for her work in television, she attended the Fox Lane School and Smith College.

Tori Gilbert

Tori Gilbert has been teaching Science and Foreign Languages for over 26 years, most of those at Saint David’s School. She founded East River CREW in 1999 with a small group of concerned citizens so that everyone could enjoy access onto the water at E. 96th street, healthy rowing and learning about the estuary in our backyard with the snappy traditional 25 foot Whitehall Gig her students built in 1997. Since then, she has become more involved in East River esplanade concerns and joined the board of the Friends of the East River Esplanade to continue her mission to connect the public to its role in preserving the health of its environment.

Reesa Kaufman

Senior Director, Foundation and Government Relations at Hospital for Special Surgery

Jayne Binzer-Jacowitz

Treasurer

Jayne is a Senior Operating Executive specializing in M & A with a Human Resources focus at Cerberus Operations & Advisory Company, LLC, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, LP. She and her husband have lived within a block of the Esplanade for over 35 years and been involved in both their building and block associations.  As an avid runner and sailor, she is passionate about the revitalization and reinvention of the East Side waterfront.   

She was previously a Vice President of Human Resources at Bloomingdale’s and a Principal in a small consulting firm, East End Consulting Partners. She holds a degree in Journalism and Economics from Hofstra University.

Frank (Turtle) Raffaele 

Founder of COFFEED

Sari Chang

Sari Chang is a Registered Architect and a Principal at JACOBSCHANG Architecture in New York City, a firm whose work ranges in scale and scope from large urban park strategies to single family homes, with a focus on sustainable design. Previously she worked at Rogers Marvel Architects and at Pei Cobb Freed and Partners as a designer on a number of campus projects, including Stanford and Princeton Universities. She is a graduate of Princeton University, Yale School of Architecture, and is a longstanding member of the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Professional Ski Instructors of America. Sari also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York. She enjoys biking on the East River Esplanade and in Central Park with her husband and three children.

Francie Emlen

Francie Emlen is the Director of Oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and a long-time east side resident. Francie started her tenure on the East Side as a nursing student, completing her senior clinical rotation at the Weill Cornell Medical Center; as a Hillman scholarship recipient, she was required to work for two years in NYC as a nurse following graduation and was commuting for this last rotation from the University of Pennsylvania in an effort to get to know the city and the major academic medical centers. Over the course of the next 10 years, Francie spent 6.5 years in Manhattan, split almost evenly between the east and west side. In her time in the city, she has preferred the parks over treadmills and as a health enthusiast and runner, become very familiar with the east river parks and west side parks. Now a mother, she plans to bring her son to the East River Esplanade throughout the year to watch the seasons change.

Francie completed her MBA from New York University Stern School of Business in 2018 and has been with NewYork-Presbyterian in her administrative role since mid-2016; she worked as a staff nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center from 2009-2011. In her current role, Francie manages the hospital's suite of outpatient oncology services; she partners with various members of the care team and the community to ensure that NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides cutting edge and compassionate cancer care. From a technical perspective, she creates business plans to support investments in oncology, manages key performance indicators, and leads the implementation of the hospital's cancer strategic plan. One of the things she enjoys most about her job is thinking about how to make cancer care as person-centered as possible.

Julianne Bertagna

Julianne Bertagna is the President of Treadwell Farm Historic District Association, the first Upper East Side landmarked district. For the past 15 years she has been a community activist helping to protect, preserve and beautify landmarked districts. She is also passionate about enhancing the quality of life in NYC, including improving public recreational spaces. She is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys playing tennis, running, hiking and biking. She was previously a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. She is a graduate of Colgate University.

Diane Collier

As a lifelong resident of East Harlem, Diane Collier has been a tireless advocate in improving the quality of life for her community since being appointed to Manhattan Community board 11 Eleven - East Harlem in 2007. From 2009-2015, Diane was voted in as Board Vice Chair, and served as Chair of Economic Development. Diane took an active and assertive role in neighborhood economic empowerment – in particular holding East Harlem developers accountable to their local hiring, MWBE and training commitments. In 2015, Diane was elected to Board Chair of CB11 leading the board through high profile projects including removal of the monument to Dr. J. Marion Sims, whose fame as the father of modern gynecology came at the expense of enslaved black women on whom he operated without anesthesia or informed consent. Since 2017, Diane continues her quality of life advocacy as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Uptown Grand Central whose primary mission is to revitalize the East 125th corridor through grassroots advocacy and collaboration with other neighboring organizations. Diane is pleased to bring her knowledge and resources to help EsplanadeFriends achieve their East Side and East Harlem waterfront goals.

Diane was a successful AT&T Enterprise Sales Executive and currently operates a family owned small business in East Harlem. Diane continues to serve on Addie Mae Collins Head Start board, Community Board 11 and as Legislature Chair for Harlem Hospital Community Advisory Board. Diane is a graduate of NYC public schools and CUNY education.

Stacy Papas

Executive Director

Stacy is Executive Director of Friends of the East River Esplanade. As a long-time resident of East Harlem, she is dedicated to the restoration and reinvention of the esplanade. She has 500+ volunteer hours with the Central Park Conservancy in landscaping, seasonal maintenance, and community events; and is currently in pursuit of a certificate in Urban Park Management at CUNY.

She was previously Director, Corporate Giving, Community Involvement & Events at CIT. Prior to that Stacy worked at The Museum of Modern Art in External Affairs. She holds a masters degree in Nonprofit Management and a bachelors degree in Accounting, both from Seton Hall University.