ADVISORY TEAM

New York City Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer
Ms. Brewer brings over twenty years of management experience in government, private sector, and non-profit program development, service delivery, and budgeting to the BenefitEvents.com advisory team. From 1978-1989, Ms Brewer worked as the Chief Of Staff in the office of as the Acting Executive Director for the NYC Commission on the Status of Women. Ms. Brewer spent the next four years in the dynamic role of Director of the Federal Office in New York in the Office of the Mayor. The office coordinated federal lobbying activities for the City of New York. She implemented an improved federal grant application and tracking process for city agencies, and initiated a privately funded ($1 million) federal grantsmanship network to provide technical assistance to community-based organizations applying for federal money. During the first year of operation, the network secured $9 million of federal funding for nonprofits. Ms. Brewer also coordinated the 1990 Urban Summit, a two-year project initiated by the City of New York to involve mayors of large cities in pro-active lobbying with the federal government; 1992 March on Washington for Cities and Children; and the biannual NYC Congressional Tour. Ms. Brewer also worked as the Deputy Advocate in the Office of the NYC Public Advocate from 1994-1997. She then spent a year working as a Project Coordinator for Telesis Corporation, a private company specializing in providing affordable housing and developing an improved quality of life in communities.

Prior to her election to the NYC City Council, Ms. Brewer was Project Manager for The New York City Nonprofits Project a 2-year study of the economic impact of the 20,000 nonprofits in New York City, including a census survey, analysis and a listing in directories and on the web. She received her Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and her Bachelor's degree from Columbia University.

Sandra Lang
Sandra Lang is the Director of the Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program in the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University's School of Education. The program has a non-profit and a for-profit track and offers a combination of courses from prominent professionals in the field and the Stern School of Business in order to give students the extensive skills needed to go into arts administration. In addition to NYU, Ms. Lang advises both corporations and non-profit organizations through her business, Lang Art Services. Ms. Lang was formerly the Executive Director of Independent Curators Inc. (1995-1997) and the Administrative Director of the Art Advisory Service at The Museum of Modern Art (1984-1995). She was President of ArtTable, Inc., the national association of women in the arts, from July 1992 ˆú June 1994. She holds a Masters degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Middlebury College, Vermont.

Russell P. Langsam
Russell P. Langsam has over seven years of experience in organizational management, with specific work in non-profit programs. Mr. Langsam is the Manager of People Strategy for Amisto.com, Inc., an Internet adventure travel company, in charge of employee relations, staff retention and performance management. Prior to his current position, Mr. Langsam served as the National Manager of Volunteer Service for AFS Intercultural Programs, where he helped to develop AFS Online's corporate portal.

Mr. Langsam spent the earlier part of his career as the Program Director for Youth Works in the Americorps Program for the Minnesota Department of Economic Security in St. Paul. While there, he directed a statewide community service and job training program. Mr. Langsam earned his Master of Arts in Public Policy from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota; he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Cynthia Massarsky
Cynthia W. Massarsky is president of CWM Marketing Group, a management consulting firm specializing in marketing and new business development for the nonprofit sector. Selected current and former clients include Save the Children; Covenant House; Bank Street College of Education; Association of Junior Leagues International; AmeriCorp; Child Care Action Campaign; The Feminist press; The Ford Foundation; Dewitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund; National Endowment for the Art.

Prior to founding her own firm in 1990, Ms. Massarsky was product and marketing director for Scholastic Inc. From 1987-1988 she was director of marketing and licensing for Marlo Thomas' Free To Be Foundation. From 1983-1987, Ms. Massarsky was VP of New Ventures, a business development consulting firm that guided nonprofits in the area of earned income ventures. From 1981-83, she was director of development for the national office of The Foundatiion Center. Ms. Massarsky earned a Bachelor's degree in child psychology from Simmons College and an MBA from Cornell University.

Howard Schwartz
Howard Schwartz is a business development Executive at IBM with 35 years of experience in the IT Industry. He currently specializes in acquisitions and alliances within the software industry. He has held executive positions in business development, sales, marketing and software development, and was responsible for North American marketing for IBM's OEM operation.

Deirdre Scott
Ms. Scott has more than fifteen years experience at institutions as diverse as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Cooper-Hewitt - The Smithsonian Institution's National Design Museum, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Ms. Scott has directed and produced numerous educational programs, exhibitions, and innovative audience development projects. Presently, she heads her own culture and art/technology enterprise, Design Police - established in 1995 and specializing in arts and technology development, such as with Longwood Cyber Studios - an artist's residency program, and The Studio Museum in Harlem where she consults on technology and digital media. In addition, she has guest curated three major art exhibitions at The Studio Museum during the 1999-2000 seasons.

Deirdre Scott is also Curator and Exhibition/Multimedia designer for the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center, New York, a Federal commission for design and construction of the learning center through 2001. In 1999 Ms. Scott taught curatorship at New School University, New York. She is active on numerous cultural groups such as the Municipal Art Society, NY. Cultural and civic boards of directors include the Bronx Council on the Arts, and Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. Other positions have included Executive Trustee for ArtTrust International, Berlin; and Curator and Director of Aquamarine Sculpture Park, New York.

Geri Thomas
Ms. Geri Thomas is President of Thomas & Associates, Inc. an innovative firm that offers staffing, consulting and training programs for museums and art businesses nationwide (www.artstaffing.com). Their exhibition division develops, designs, and travels major exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Before starting her own company, Ms. Thomas was Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Jewish Museum in the New York, where she was responsible for the re-housing of the collections and new galleries after a major renovation, as well as the development of the museum's extensive traveling exhibition program. Previous to that, she lived in New Zealand where she was on the initial planning team for a new national institution that opened in 1998. She developed the first public relations course for museums in the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pubic art project to include New Zealand architects, artists and landscape designer with extensive community involvement.

Ms. Thomas has been involved in strategic planning, organizational development, training programs, and human resource initiatives for such organizations as the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, the Baltimore Museum of Art and Christie's. She is also Vice-Chair of the traveling Exhibition Committee of the American Association of Museums, and a member of ArtTable, the prestigious group of professional women in the arts.