Board of Advisors

GSSWSR Board of Advisors

• Kary A. James, Chair
• Ann Abbott
• Cynthia Chalker
• Judi Goldstein
• Jacqueline Griffith
• M. Katherine Kraft
• Romana Lee-Akiyama
• Shawn Maxam
• Patrick T. McCarthy
• Nicholas Scull
• Robia Smith-Herman
• Lorelei Atalie Vargas

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Kary A. James, M.S.W., Chair of the Board of Advisors

President, The Moriah Group 

Kary also has led as the Executive Director of the largest federal child welfare contract that serves as the nation’s hub for national best practices and policy in child protection and foster care. Kary’s leadership journey also includes serving as the Executive Director of the Social Services Administration for the State of Maryland and Director of the Technical Assistance Unit at Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest operating foundation solely dedicated to foster care. In these leadership roles, Kary not only honed her executive leadership footprint but also her expertise in executive and team coaching, strategy design and implementation, and project management to government, human services, public sector, and non-profit organizations

Embodying the full meaning of servant leadership, Kary infuses Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accountability (IDEA) in coaching executive and emerging leaders in cultivating executive presence, balancing assertiveness, and diplomacy, impacting, and influencing others, establishing powerful networks of diverse stakeholders and leading organizational change. Kary’s leadership imperative is “supporting leaders to show up with everything they are that contributes to the excellence of their organizations and people's experience”. Her commitment to holding brave space for leaders to ignite inclusion, justice, equity, creativity, and passion in their leadership journey is how Kary lives a purpose driven life.

With an expertise in racial justice and equity, organizational leadership, system re-designs and strategic thinking, Kary holds an M.S.W from Norfolk State University and a B.S in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Old Dominion University.

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Ann Abbott, MSS, PhD '74

GSSWSR Research Associate 

Ann Abbott has spent her career as social work educator and program administrator for a number of academic institutions (Rutgers, West Chester University, Widener University). Currently, she advises Ph.D. students at Yeshiva University and serves on four editorial boards. Throughout her career, she has been active in the National Association of Social Workers, including as national president. Dr. Abbott has an extensive publication and presentation history. In 2015, she was identified as one of 100 Distinguished Alumnae/i of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research; in 2017, she received the NASW Lifetime Achievement award. She has served on the GSSWSR Board of Advisors since 2012. Ann served as Chair of the Board from March 2016 to May 2020, took a small hiatus, and has now returned to the BoA in Fall 2023. 

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Cynthia Chalker, MSS/MLSP ’98, Board of Trustee Liaison

Clinical Social Worker and Psychoanalyst, New York City

Cynthia Chalker, MSS, LCSW, is a Black, Queer-identified Clinical Social Worker and Psychoanalyst who lives and works in New York City.  Her private practice, research and writing interests include the intersection of race, culture and identity in psychoanalysis. She is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, an instructor at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NYC), and until recently, on the board of Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. She is published in several psychoanalytic journals and presents at conferences in the United States and internationally. She is a Board Trustee of Bryn Mawr College.

Prior to establishing her private practice, Cynthia worked in executive positions for BIPOC advocacy and inclusion in various education organizations, including Bryn Mawr College, as Acting Director for the former Office of Institutional Diversity; Trinity School and Friends Seminary, both K-12 Independent Schools in New York City. Cynthia holds a BA from James Madison University and a Masters of Social Service and a Masters of Law and Social Policy from Bryn Mawr College Graduate School for Social Work and Social Research.

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Judi Goldstein, MSS, LSW

Vice President, The Renfrew Center Foundation

Judi Goldstein, MSS, LSW, is Vice President of The Renfrew Center Foundation. She has been with The Renfrew Center since it opened in 1985, serving first as Director of Admissions and later as Director of Marketing and Vice President of Professional Relations and Education. Ms. Goldstein participated in the strategic growth and expansion of the organization, including the start-up of The Renfrew Center of Florida and several outpatient sites. Since 1994, Ms. Goldstein has been responsible for the development of The Renfrew Center Foundation Conference serving as Conference Chair. She received her Master’s degree in Social Service from Bryn Mawr School of Social Work in 1984. Ms. Goldstein is a Founder of the National Eating Disorders Association and was the recipient of NEDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.  

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Jacqueline Griffith, MSS '81

Chairperson of the board, Foundation Academy, Trenton, N.J., and Fisherman’s Mark, Lambertville, N.J.

Jacqui Griffith received a MSS with a clinical focus from the School of Social Work in 1981. Her undergraduate degree is from Barnard College. After graduation, Jacqui worked in child welfare and following a move to Pittsburgh, was the chief social worker on the inpatient child unit at
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Subsequent inpatient work included a position as a social worker on the adolescent unit at the Allentown Hospital, now part of the Lehigh Valley Health Network. For several years she was an undergraduate admissions reader at Princeton University. Jacqui also subsequently received an additional master’s degree from Drew University.

Jacqui has been deeply involved in nonprofit work in the New Hope/Philadelphia communities and have held multiple board positions in a variety of organizations. These have included arts organizations, libraries and conservation groups. She is currently chairperson of the board of Foundation Academy, a K-12 charter school in Trenton serving 1,000 students, as well as Fisherman’s Mark in Lambertville, N.J., which provides basic services (food pantry, resource referrals) to a largely undocumented community. Other current affiliations include the Free Library of Philadelphia, the advisory board of the Betsy Ross House and “informal advisor” to Episcopal Community Services.

Jacqui has served on the Alumnae Council at Bryn Mawr College representing the School of Social Work as well as several committee positions at Barnard.

Jacqui is married with 2 adult children, one grandchild and one very active Westie.

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M. Katherine Kraft, PhD

Immediate past Executive Director of America Walks

M. Katherine Kraft (Kate) is a nationally recognized expert on the impact of the built environment on health outcomes.  She is immediate past Executive Director of America Walks and was the founding Director of the EveryBody Walk! Collaborative at America Walks. America Walks is the only national organization focused on cultivating local and state walking and walkable community champions to push for safe, accessible, equitable places to walk and move. 

Prior to leading America Walks, Kate worked as a planning and program consultant with local foundations, national organizations and research groups developing and evaluating local community change efforts and designing comprehensive prevention initiatives. The hallmark of her work is implementing policy and environmental changes at the local level, including the development of cross-sector coalitions. 

Before that, she spent a decade as a senior program and evaluation staff member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).  While at RWJF, Dr. Kraft was involved in developing several of the foundations major initiatives designed to promote healthy behavior.  Specifically, she was the chief architect of the Active Living research, community change and leadership portfolio.  These programs worked to link public health, urban planning and community development to improve health outcomes and have been models for the nation’s efforts to address obesity and prevent chronic disease. 

Kate speaks and writes about the impact of the built environment on health and why place matters. Dr. Kraft received her Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research from Bryn Mawr College and was a Lenard Davis Fellow in health economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining RWJF, Dr. Kraft was on the social work faculty at Rutgers University.

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Romana Lee-Akiyama, MSS/MLSP '09

Senior Director of Institutional Advancement, Building Movement Project

Romana Lee-Akiyama is the Senior Director of Institutional Advancement at the Building Movement Project, an organization that supports and pushes the nonprofit sector to tackle the most significant social issues of our times by developing research, creating tools and training materials, providing guidance, and facilitating networks for social change. She is the former executive director of the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement for the City of Philadelphia. Lee-Akiyama joined the City in March 2020, initially serving as Director of Multicultural Affairs at the Office of Immigrant Affairs before being promoted to Deputy Director in December 2020.  Lee-Akiyama’s work at the City has focused on building systems and communities of belonging and inclusion, empowering residents to better engage with each other and with their government. Throughout her career, she has led critical engagement with diverse constituent groups, engaging a wide audience and facilitating bridge-building across different ethnic and racial groups. In the wake of anti-Asian hate and violence, she spearheaded a City-wide and cross-departmental strategy group to curb racialized violence in Philadelphia. Lee-Akiyama is a mission-driven leader who brings more than 20 years of experience in the government, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.  Before joining the City of Philadelphia, she worked at Eisenhower Fellowships from 2016 to 2020, where she led key strategic initiatives to drive global engagement across the network of 1,600 Eisenhower Fellows in more than 110 countries. Lee-Akiyama holds a BA in International Relations from Tufts University and both a Master of Social Services and a Master of Law and Social Policy from the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College.

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Shawn Maxam, MSS/MLSP '14

Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Princeton University 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shawn Maxam, MSS MLSP '14, is Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Princeton University. In this role, he leads strategic partnerships and projects associated with campus climate, academic departments, data analysis, and history and sense of place, among others. Shawn is deeply committed to board service and educational non-profits. He serves as a trustee for the Princeton-Blairstown Center and the University Now Day Nursery. Maxam earned his BFA from Long Island University and two Masters degrees from Bryn Mawr College in Social Service and Law & Social Policy. 

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Patrick T. McCarthy, PhD

Former President and Chief Executive Officer, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

A respected clinician and public sector leader, Patrick McCarthy joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 1994 to manage its Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children, a five-year, $20 million effort to provide high-quality community-based mental health services for children in four high-poverty communities. With a career serving in multiple capacities in the mental health and human services fields, McCarthy brought to Casey a broad perspective on what children, families and systems need to prosper. Throughout his tenure, he has led efforts to improve human services practices and policies to boost positive results for the nation’s most vulnerable kids and families. He held positions of increasing responsibility before being appointed the president of the Foundation, replacing Doug Nelson in 2010. Before joining the Foundation, McCarthy held positions ranging from psychiatric social worker and head of a school for youth with emotional and behavioral challenges to university professor and division director at the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families. He holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

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Nicholas Scull, PhD, MSS ‘02

General Manager, FAWSEC Medical Company

Nick Scull has dedicated his career to international social service. At present, he is the General Manager of the only nonprofit healthcare organization in Kuwait called Fawzia Sultan Medical where he provides the overall strategic leadership for a network of nonprofit health clinics and developing new healthcare ventures in Kuwait and the GCC. Nick’s work in Kuwait began in 2010 when he moved there to start a nonprofit mental health clinic. Over the years, this clinic has grown to become the largest private provider of mental healthcare in Kuwait and the only one that operates within a nonprofit model. 

Nick has also held academic appointments. He was an Adjunct Professor at Lehigh University where he taught graduate courses in their International School Counseling program. Prior to that, he worked at the American University of Kuwait where he served as the Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and taught undergraduate courses. Nick’s research utilizes qualitative and participatory action research methodologies to better understand the lived experiences of both survivors and perpetrators of political violence. Nick has conducted research in Bolivia, Guatemala, Rwanda, and Kuwait.

While Nick is passionate about increasing access and quality of healthcare in international settings, Nick’s most enjoyable work endeavor is his clinical work. Nick completed predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at UCLA, specializing in college student mental health. He has worked and trained at counseling centers at Swarthmore College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UCLA, and was previously the Director of Counseling, Health, and Wellness at Suffolk University. Nick presently maintains a small practice of clients in Kuwait and provides identity-affirming and relationally-oriented psychotherapy. 

Nick earned a Master’s degree in Social Services from Bryn Mawr College, a Master’s degree in Clinical Service Operations from Harvard University (Harvard Medical School), and a doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a minor in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also humbled to have been given two awards from Bryn Mawr College including the 2010 Emerging Leader Award and the 100 Most Distinguished Alumni. 

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Robia Smith-Herman, LCSW

Staff Therapist and Embedded BIPOC Specialist, Drexel University; Therapist, Center for Hope and Health LLC, Ardmore

Robia Smith-Herman, LCSW, currently works at Drexel University as a Staff Therapist and the Embedded BIPOC Specialist and with the Center for Hope and Health, LLC in Ardmore as a therapist. She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Africana Studies from Gettysburg College, and her Master’s in Social Service from the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College. Prior to working at Drexel University, she worked at the Renfrew Center of Radnor as the Team Leader and Student Internship Supervisor, including supporting GSSWSR students. Originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, Robia has lived and worked in the Philadelphia area for the last 10 years.

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Lorelei Atalie Vargas '94, M.A., M.P.P., Board of Trustee Liaison

Chief Community Impact Officer, Trinity Church Wall Street 

Lorelei Atalie Vargas is Chief Community Impact Officer at Trinity Church Wall Street. Before joining Trinity Church, she served as the Deputy Commissioner for Child and Family Well-Being at the City of New York's Administration for Children's Services (ACS). In this role, she was responsible for administering ACS' first division dedicated to using a two-generation approach to strengthen programs, leverage existing resources and build on the assets that are inherent in communities across New York City. She also oversaw the subsidized early care and education system, where she has successfully led significant reform. She earned her AB from Bryn Mawr College in 1994 and holds two master's degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

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