Our Board

Estelle B. Richman

Chair

Estelle B. Richman is the former Senior Advisor to the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). She was responsible for oversight and management of the intersection between housing and social services. Prior to this position, Ms. Richman served as HUD’s Acting Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer. With more than 30 years of public service, Ms. Richman joined HUD from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare where she served as Secretary of Public Welfare for 7 years. She has held numerous leadership positions for the City of Philadelphia including Managing Director, Director of Social Services, Commissioner of Public Health and Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, Ms. Richman was Assistant Director for the Positive Education Program in Cleveland, Ohio, a day treatment program for children with behavior problems. Ms. Richman holds a bachelor’s in psychology degree from Western Reserve University and a master’s in clinical and community psychology degree from Cleveland State University. She is the winner of the 1999 Innovations in American Government from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. To read an interview with Ms. Richman about her role at the foundation, click here.

Loree D. Jones

Vice Chair

Ms. Jones serves as Chief Executive Officer for Philabundance, a nonprofit hunger relief organization. Prior to that role, Loree served as chief of staff at Rutgers University-Camden. Previously, she was Chief of External Affairs for the School District of Philadelphia and Chief of Staff and Executive Director of the Office of the School Reform Commission. Ms. Jones also served in two cabinet level positions for the City of Philadelphia: Managing Director and Secretary of External Affairs. Her nonprofit experience includes serving as co-executive director of City Year Greater Philadelphia, an educational nonprofit that deploys young leaders for a year of service as tutors and mentors to public school students, and as executive director of the African Studies Association, the largest scholarly association for the study of Africa in the world. Ms. Jones currently serves on multiple Boards of Directors, including Health Partnership Plans, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and the Independence Foundation. She is a member of the UNCF Philadelphia Leadership Council and the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice advisory board.  As an Eisenhower Fellow, she studied how South African municipalities provide social services. Ms. Jones was the recipient of the Urban League of Philadelphia’s inaugural Whitney M. Young Jr. Young Leader Award, was identified as one of the “10 People Under 40 to Watch” by the Philadelphia Tribune Magazine, and was twice recognized as a “Connector” by Leadership Philadelphia. She holds a bachelor’s in art history degree from Spelman College and a master’s in history degree with concentrations in 20th Century African History, African American Studies, and 20th Century American History from Princeton University.

Peter A. Thompson

Secretary

Mr. Thompson founded Coho Partners, Ltd, a Berwyn-based investment management company in 1999 and serves as its Chief Investment Officer. The firm currently oversees approximately $7 billion in assets for a number of foundations, endowments, and other charitable organizations, as well as high net worth clients. Previously, Mr. Thompson worked for investment management firm Cooke & Bieler. He is a member of the Investment Committee for the Gesu School and has served on a number of other local boards. Mr. Thompson holds a bachelor’s in economics degree from Princeton University and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Peter J. Zuleba, III

Treasurer

Peter J. Zuleba, III, CFA, is President of Glenmede Investment Management LP (GIM), an affiliate of the Glenmede Trust Company, N.A. (Glenmede). Mr. Zuleba is a member of Glenmede’s Management Committee and Chair of the Investment Review Committee. As President of GIM, Mr. Zuleba is responsible for the research, trading, and portfolio management of equity, fixed income, alternative, and risk-management strategies. Additionally, he is responsible for the division’s sales, servicing, and fund administration operations. During his tenure with Glenmede, Mr. Zuleba has held a number of senior leadership roles, including Director of Investment Management and Head of Equity. Mr. Zuleba joined Glenmede in 2004 following a more than 15-year career of senior investment positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co, where he also managed the company’s Large Cap Growth Equity strategy. Mr. Zuleba holds a bachelor’s in business administration degree from the University of Delaware and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Miami. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Lorena E. Ahumada

Ms. Ahumada is Of Counsel to Kleinbard LLC and member of the Litigation Department. She practices in the areas of complex commercial litigation, employment litigation and counseling, and insurance coverage. She also regularly counsels private and public employers on a broad range of issues, including compliance with civil rights and equal employment laws, hiring and firing practices, wage/hour and FMLA requirements, and racial and sexual harassment investigation practices. Prior to joining Kleinbard, Ms. Ahumada was an associate at Ballard Spahr LLP and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Petrese B. Tucker in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before law school, she served as a congressional liaison in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and worked in the Environment Division of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Ms. Ahumada holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and law degree from the George Washington University Law School.

José A. Bauermeister

Dr. Bauermeister is a Penn Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the School of Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health and in the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. His career focuses on developing community-engaged health promotion programs for racial/ethnic and sexual and gender minority youth, including interventions related to HIV/STI prevention and care. His scholarship includes over 200 scientific publications, supported by over $25 million as principal investigator and over $115 million as co-investigator in federally funded research grants. Dr. Bauermeister holds a bachelor’s in psychology degree from the University of Puerto Rico and a joint master’s and doctorate degree in public health from the University of Michigan. Dr. Bauermeister is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s 2019 class of Health Innovators Fellows and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He is also a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Ronnie L. Bloom

Ms. Bloom is Executive Director of the Stoneleigh Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the life outcomes of Greater Philadelphia’s most vulnerable youth. The Foundation meets this mission by awarding Fellowships to leading practitioners, researchers, and policymakers working to advance reforms in the systems that serve these young people – such as juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and health. Ms. Bloom has extensive experience in philanthropy and public policy, including over a decade as Program Director of Children, Youth and Families grantmaking at the William Penn Foundation, where she oversaw the Foundation’s efforts in public education, youth development, and early care and education. In collaboration with other Pennsylvania funders and the state, she developed and implemented Pre-K Counts, a public-private partnership which became a national model and led to substantial state investment in quality pre-kindergarten programs in Pennsylvania. Ms. Bloom served as past President of the Philanthropy Network and is the former chair of the national Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative. She currently serves on the Board of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and the Selection Advisory Committee for the GreenLight Fund. Ms. Bloom began her career as an attorney and received both her bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kamilah C. Jackson

Dr. Jackson is the Medical Director for PerformCare New Jersey, the contracted system administrator for the New Jersey Children’s System of Care. In that role, she is responsible for medical policy pertaining to the quality of behavioral health care for children with behavioral health, substance use, and intellectual disability challenges up to age 21. Previously, Dr. Jackson was Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Children’s Services at Community Behavioral Health (CBH) and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) in Philadelphia. Dr. Jackson holds a bachelor’s of science degree from Yale University, a medical doctorate from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a master’s of public health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed her Adult Psychiatry residency at the Emory University School of Medicine. At the Yale Child Study Center, Dr. Jackson completed a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, served as Chief Resident, and was an Edward Zigler Social Policy Fellow. She subsequently completed the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jackson is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. She is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and serves as a volunteer faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry.

Pamela A. Strisofsky

Pamela A. Strisofsky has more than 25 years of business management experience, currently serving as an Investment Adviser and Trustee to a few significant families, including a large multi-generational family trust. For more than 15 years, she was a Managing Director and CFO of TL Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with $1.5 billion under management, as well as CFO and Adviser to EnerTech Capital Partners, an energy-focused venture fund affiliated with TL with $500M under management. During her TL tenure, Ms. Strisofsky assisted in raising more than $1.2 billion of capital and administered the investment of more than $1.3 billion, which returned more than $1.5 billion to its investors, while concurrently providing advisory and back-office support for several unaffiliated private equity funds, including buyout, mezzanine and Korean funds. She continues to serve as a trusted resource for several early-stage companies, periodically serving as the interim CFO/COO or representing investors on the board of directors. Presently, she serves as the Chairwoman for Ardica Technologies and a board member of Privakey, Inc. She is an emeritus board member of the Private Equity CFO Association’s Philadelphia chapter, an organization she assisted in founding. Ms. Strisofsky holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and international business from Ohio State University. A CPA and registered investment adviser, she is an adviser to Guardian Capital Partners, Madison Bay Partners and Idlewood Capital Partners.

Leslie M. Walker

Ms. Walker serves as Chief of Staff for the Free Library of Philadelphia, providing leadership to the Executive Office by helping to drive the Director’s agenda through oversight of the Board of Trustees, Free Library Foundation’s Board of Directors, and Library Leadership team. She oversees internal staff communications and played a key role in implementing the Library’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees for both staff and Board members. Previously, Ms. Walker held multiple high-level positions with the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia, with responsibility for shaping vision and strategy for the museum’s visitor experience, community partnerships, and education philosophy. She grew the museum’s Department of Community Learning to include 14 unique programs, reaching over 7,000 children and families through play-based programming each year. Ms. Walker holds a bachelor’s in urban studies degree from Rutgers University-Camden and a master’s of science in training and organizational development degree from Saint Joseph’s University.

David J. Williams

Dr. Williams is President and Chief Executive Officer of QualDent, an oral health program management company specializing in the development of oral health risk reduction programs for payers. Previously, Dr. Williams managed dental insurance plans in several states, as regional Vice President of United Dental Care Insurance Company and Chief Executive Officer of OraCare Dental Health Plan. In addition to managing dental insurance companies, he also worked for Independence Blue Cross, Pennsylvania Blue Shield and several national consulting firms. While at Blue Cross, Dr. Williams strategized and developed the AmeriHealth Insurance Companies. Dr. Williams has been a long-time consultant to several government healthcare authorities, including the White House, U.S. Congress, Social Security Administration, Health Resource and Service Administration, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and several state Medicaid authorities. Dr. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University, a master’s in international administration degree from the School for International Training, and a doctorate in healthcare product development degree from LaSalle University.

Shelly D. Yanoff

Ms. Yanoff is the former Executive Director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, where she played a major role in expanding the scope and quality of services to children and their families. A lawyer by training, Ms. Yanoff has been fighting for children and families for more than four decades. In the mid-1960s, she crafted the strategy to save the “Get Set” day care program for youngsters in Philadelphia and led 2,000 Philadelphians to Harrisburg to insist on more support for neglected children. In the mid-1990s, she helped organize more than 10,000 people from the Philadelphia region to travel to Washington to urge the investment in children. Ms. Yanoff served as Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Children and Families under then Governor Ed Rendell and was a member of the Philadelphia Commission on Children and the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board. Ms. Yanoff is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gimbel Philadelphia Award, the Edward S. Espen Humanitarian Award, The John B. Patterson Award for Excellence in Public Education, The Take the Lead Award, The Fleurette Angel National Child Advocate Award, and the Red Cross’ Clara Barton Humanitarian Award. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Villanova University School of Law.