Our Team

Sierra Coathup is the Executive Assistant for the Park Foundation. She coordinates scheduling, communications, and assists with organizational needs as they arise. Sierra grew up in both Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and San Francisco, CA. She moved to Ithaca in 2021 to work as a location manager for the employee-owned cooperative, Gimme! Coffee. Following that, she managed the volunteer program for the Sciencenter, a nationally recognized hands-on children’s science museum. With volunteerism at the cornerstone of Sciencenter’s history, Sierra takes pride in having doubled the program’s size. She also mentored and worked alongside community STEM experts to expand their science communication skills with public audiences. Her work in this role involved extensive scheduling, logistical management, and event coordination. She finds her work most fulfilling when she can work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), with concentrations in watershed management and informal education. When she’s not at work, she can be found paddling with the Ithaca Dragon Boat Club or sitting on her porch knitting while drinking a cup of coffee. 

Suzanne del Rosario is the Program Officer for Civic Participation & Democracy at the Park Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Suzanne spent six years at Grassroots Solutions, an engagement strategy and evaluation firm, most recently as Senior Project Manager. There, she worked across both practices, managing strategy and campaign design as well as program and strategy evaluation for multi-stakeholder initiatives in democracy, voting rights, and gender equity. Her work included managing a voter contact evaluation that informed roughly $250 million in funder investment and a pro-voter coalition. Before that, she was an Outreach Paralegal with the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Atlanta, where she investigated conditions at immigration detention centers and built relationships with grassroots organizations across the Southeast. Beyond her professional work, Suzanne co-founded Third Spxces, an event series that designs intentional, culturally grounded gatherings that build pathways from belonging to collective action. She holds B.A.s in Public Policy & Law and Human Rights from Trinity College and is fluent in American Sign Language and Spanish. 

Raymond Paultre is the Executive Director of the Florida Alliance, co-founder of Project 68 (P68), and is currently working with a group of funders and organizers to expand his work around: 1) state communications and research capacities and 2) organizing cultural power – including his work with athletes as a part of Project 68 (P68) team and restructuring ACRONYM.

For over a decade, Raymond has worked on or helped to fund significant and impactful initiatives in Florida, beginning during the 2012 cycle on Obama’s reelection campaign and for three years led Enroll America’s efforts in FL, helping to power Florida to the nation’s largest increase in health insurance sign-ups three years in a row.

Since Raymond took the helm in 2019, the Florida Alliance has seen a 700% increase in membership, raised over $50 million towards organizations and infrastructure in Florida, and has quickly become the most diverse collaborative in the country.

Lisa Graves is one of the nation’s foremost experts in exposing how special interests distort public policy and try to thwart the public’s interest in a thriving democracy and healthy planet.

She is the Executive Director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group that works with other journalists and researchers to shine a light on the dark money fueling regressive agendas targeting vital institutions in our republic, such as the courts and schools.

She served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Policy Development/Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and as an adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School. She also served as the Senior Legislative Strategist for the ACLU on national security and civil liberties, and held other posts. She has been asked to testify as an expert before several committees in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

Her investigations have been featured in Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated documentary the “13th,” in Showtime’s “Years of Living Dangerously,” in a PBS documentary narrated by Bill Moyers and entitled “The United States of ALEC,” and other films. Her research has been cited in critically acclaimed books including Dark Money by Jane Mayer, Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean, Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman, Corporate Citizen by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, The Fall of Wisconsin by Dan Kaufman, and several others. Her work is featured in several podcasts, including U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s “Making the Case,” Crooked Media and Rebecca Nagle’s “This Land,” Dahlia Lithwick’s “Amicus,” Vicky Ward’s new series on the Federalist Society called “Pipeline to Power,” Pod Save America, and Amy Westervelt’s “Drilled.”

Her op-eds have been published by the New York Times, the Guardian, TIME, Slate, and The Hill, and she has written for True North Research, PRWatch, Common Dreams, TruthOut, Ms., Washington Spectator, DeSmog, the Nation, In These Times, the Progressive, HuffPo, and Yes!. Her analysis has been cited in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Politico, ProPublica, Salon, the Trace, Grist, Bloomberg, Reuters, the Associated Press, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Intercept, Vice, ESPN, Business Week, Roll Call, CQ, Newsday, the National Journal, Legal Times, Wired, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, USA Today, Rewire News, the Toronto Star, Agence France-Presse, and more.

She has been a frequent guest on MSNBC and has also appeared on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNBC, the BBC, the CBC, Sky News, the Laura Flanders Show, Democracy NOW!, and C-Span. She has also been a featured guest on major radio programs, including NPR’s Fresh Air, Morning Edition, and Marketplace Report, and on Deutschlandfunk, FAIR, Background Briefing with Ian Masters, the Nicole Sanders Show, Duncan Campbell’s Connections, the Thom Hartmann Show, BradBlog, the Rick Smith Show, the Zero Hour with R.J. Eskow, and more.

Frida is a grants management professional with more than 20 years of experience
in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. Throughout her career, she has helped
foundations strengthen their grantmaking by streamlining processes, building
practical grants management systems, and developing tools that support
thoughtful decision-making and effective stewardship. Before joining Park
Foundation, Frida served as Senior Grants Manager at the Roy and Patricia Disney
Family Foundation, where she oversaw the full lifecycle of grantmaking and supported a range of
funding strategies. Earlier in her career, she held grantmaking and program roles at the Annenberg
Foundation and The California Endowment, and worked in community-based human services with
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. Frida believes philanthropy is more than making grants; it is
about building lasting relationships, listening to communities, and creating processes that enable
foundations and grantee partners to do their best work.

Michael Connor is a Senior Program Officer for the Foundation, working chiefly with the Media program. He came to Park in 2015 after a long career in journalism. After graduating from Cornell University in 1975, he began newspaper work as a reporter for The Post-Standard in Syracuse, NY, and eventually became managing editor and executive editor of the paper. In 1988-89, he spent a year at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow before returning to the newsroom in Syracuse. During his tenure, The Post-Standard was one of three finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a months-long investigation of shoddy health care in New York State’s prison system, a series that led to reforms in Albany. He left the newspaper in 2013 to spend a year in southern France. Upon returning to the US, he assisted with the launch of a nonprofit digital news operation in Ithaca. In addition to previous service on foundation boards in Syracuse, he has volunteered as a literacy tutor and hospice residence caregiver. He also recently received his MFA in creative nonfiction from Bennington College.

Donna F. Edwards served five terms (2008-2017) in the United States House of Representatives, becoming the first African American woman to represent Maryland. Congresswoman Edwards was born in North Carolina, grew up in a military family, and lived in every region of the country and internationally. She earned her J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law (licensed in DC) and her B.A. from Wake Forest University. She is the mother of one adult son.

As a nonprofit executive, Congresswoman Edwards co-founded and led the National Network to End Domestic Violence, spearheading the effort to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. She was the executive director of the Arca Foundation and Center for a New Democracy, and was a tireless democracy advocate for Public Citizen. Edwards was a systems engineer on NASA’s Spacelab project. She currently serves as vice-chair of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress, co-chair of the National Council on Election Integrity, the League of Conservation Voters, and is a trustee of Wake Forest University.

In Congress, Edwards served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Committee on Standards and Official Conduct, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, as the lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Space.  Congresswoman Edwards was a member of the Democratic leadership team as co-chair of the House Democrat’s Steering and Policy Committee. She was co-chair of the bi-partisan Women’s Caucus.

Edwards enjoys camping, hiking and fishing throughout the United States in her Rv Lucille, having recently completed a two-month adventure to Alaska. Congresswoman Edwards provides political commentary in print, electronic, and cable media. Edwards is a political analyst for NBC/MSNBC Universal. She is senior advisor to the Bauman Foundation and trustee of the Park Foundation.

Nick Goldsmith works with the Park Foundation, where he supports local sustainability efforts as a Program Officer for the Sustainable Ithaca program. Previously, Nick was the Sustainability Planner for the Town of Ithaca and City of Ithaca, NY for over 10 years. Nick helped both municipalities develop and implement the Ithaca Green New Deal, which aims for an equitable transition to carbon neutrality community-wide by 2030. Nick led the development of the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement, requirements for net-zero new construction that emphasize electrification and affordability. Nick holds an M.S. in Energy Management from New York Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Mathematics from Brown University. Before joining the sustainability field, Nick worked worldwide for more than a decade as a juggler and acrobat.

Sue Kittel has been with the Foundation since 2013 and is a Senior Program Officer for the Community Needs and Animal Welfare Programs. Sue spent twelve years managing federal grants for the City of Ithaca including serving as Deputy Director for the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency. Sue holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Cornell and worked in Ithaca’s Engineering and Building departments. She currently serves on Ithaca’s Continuum of Care and Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee. When not at work, Sue is an avid gardener and spends much of her time involved in activities with her two teenage sons.

Rachel has held leadership positions for more than 25 years, most recently as the Executive Director for more than a decade at the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA), a network of hundreds of foundations within environmental philanthropy. During her tenure at EGA, she helped create a nationally recognized Environmental Fellows Program with Dr. Dorceta Taylor, now in its sixth year at Yale University, seeding a new generation of diverse environmental leaders. Prior to EGA, Rachel was the Senior Program Manager for Participatory Elections at the JEHT Foundation. Previously, she was the Executive Director of New York Common Cause. During her 10-year stint there, she strengthened the New York Chapter, co-led a statewide voter coalition, and led successful legislative efforts to hold all levels of government accountable. Before Common Cause, Rachel spent six years at Hunger Action Network, as a lobbyist, advocate and Associate Director. Rachel is a National Urban Fellow Alumni (class of 2018) and has a BA from SUNY New Paltz and an MPA from Baruch College, graduating from both with Honors. She is a lifelong New Yorker and was born and raised in Schenectady, NY.

Roberta Norman is Chief Financial Officer for the Foundation and has been with the organization since January 2015. Prior to joining the Foundation, Roberta spent 14 years working in public accounting with the firm Sciarabba Walker & Co, LLP. She worked in the consulting and tax departments with an emphasis on business accounting and taxes. Roberta has a BA in Business and Economics (cum laude) from SUNY Oneonta and is a certified CPA. In her spare time she serves as Treasurer for The TCSD Foundation and has a passion for nature photography.

Amy manages the Foundation’s Environment program, which is focused on drinking water and energy issues at the state and national levels. She currently serves as Secretary on the board of the Biodiversity Funders Group and is completing her final term on the New York Funders Alliance board. In recent years, Amy participated in the Just Economy Institute Fellowship program (2023-2024) and also served on the Steering Committee for the Health & Environment Funders Network (HEFN) and co-chaired its working group concerned about shale gas, oil, and petrochemical issues.

Amy joined Park Foundation in 2009 and previously worked at the Kendall Foundation in Boston on addressing climate change and promoting energy efficiency in New England. She also worked for various Massachusetts state government agencies covering such issues as renewable energy, smart growth, and public health emergency preparedness. She has a BA from St. Lawrence University and an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University.

Charlene was born and raised in the Ithaca area. She began her career focused on human services with a goal of enhancing the lives of disadvantaged populations and young people in the community. She joined the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) as a youth program assistant in 2011. GIAC plays a crucial role in the Ithaca community by providing extensive services for people of all ages. In her role, Charlene enhanced the lives of GIAC’s student population. During her stint at the center, she worked in a dual capacity, also serving the Hospitality Employment Training Program (HETP), providing wrap-around services to Tompkins County residents.

In 2019, Charlene embarked on another rewarding chapter at another City of Ithaca Department as a Youth Program Leader at the Ithaca Youth Bureau (IYB). Under the umbrella of the IYB’s Youth Employment Services (YES) program, she helped the youth of Tompkins County obtain employment. While at the IYB, Charlene mentored the Youth Council Ambassadors, a cohort of high school students dedicated to fostering adolescent civic engagement within their community, and helped implement the IYB Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative. Charlene’s professional development led her back to GIAC, this time as the HETP’s Program Coordinator. She revitalized HETP with a focus on empowering underrepresented and vulnerable participants, recognizing them as a crucial and valuable segment of Tompkins County’s population. In July 2023, she enthusiastically seized the opportunity to join Park Foundation, driven by a strong desire to extend her impactful contributions on a broader and more significant level.

Charlene supports several causes that align with her career goals during her leisure time. She has volunteered as a Board member for The Learning Web, a non-profit organization that aims to address youth homelessness, among other vital issues. Additionally, she is also pursuing further education by completing her associate’s degree and intends to transfer to a bachelor’s program by Fall 2023. Alongside her professional pursuits, she takes pride in managing her family, pets and nurturing a thriving collection of plants.

Heidi Sherwood is the Operations Manager for the Foundation. She has been with the organization since 2014. Heidi holds an AA from Tompkins Cortland Community College along with a BA in Early Childhood Education from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Prior to joining the Park Foundation, she owned and operated local RV park and campground for 18 years. She also enjoyed spending her winter months working in various preschool classrooms substitute teaching, and attending campground owner seminars, meetings, and shows. She has served on the Board for the Trumansburg Chamber of Commerce, the parent advisory Board for Tompkins Community Action’s Head Start program, and the Trumansburg Head Start Parent Board. She also served on the Advisory Board for Leadership Tompkins and is an alumnus of Leadership Tompkins. She has volunteered with the local Habitat for Humanity in community builds and with Hospicare’s Women Swimmin events.

Alicia Park Wittink is the Vice President of the Park Foundation. Alicia has been involved with the Foundation since 1998 in varying capacities and was instrumental in nurturing the Foundation’s program interests in both water and plastic reduction. Alicia has also helped in the formation of the Amazon Conservation Association; she has worked at The International Ecotourism Association, The Center for a New American Dream (aka: New Dream), and the Sierra Club of Virginia. Alicia has also served on the boards of: Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, Center for a New American Dream, and the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones Magazine. Together with Leda Huta, Alicia co-founded EcoWomen, a nonprofit with five chapters that empower environmental leaders. Alicia graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Environmental Studies. She lives in Ithaca, NY, and is an incredibly proud mother of two.