Staff

Construction & Capital Projects Ashton Francis, Construction Crew Assistant Yvi McEvilly, Lead Designer Andrew Stewart, Construction Crew Alban Thomas, Chief of Construction Jared Vazales, Director of Design and Construction Community Development Amanda Brown, Director of Community Development John Douglas, Community Initiatives Coordinator, Brooklyn Charlie Reynoso, Community Initiatives Coordinator, Bronx & Manhattan Development Kristin Blumm, Chief Development Officer Nik Charov, Deputy Development Officer Becca Freeman, Development Manager, Individual Giving Jimmy Owens, Corporate Development Manager Melody Rodriguez, Development Associate Education Nahomi Cobar, Educator, MillionTreesNYC Mya Jenkins, Educator, MillionTreesNYC Ifeoma Nwoke, Teen Education Program Coordinator Dennis Rosario, Environmental Educator Omari Washington, Education Manager                Marketing and Public Relations Sadia Choudhury, Marketing Communications Manager Alexandra Felsenstein, Graphic Designer MillionTreesNYC Francine Lieberman, Partnership Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Max Litt, Forestry Manager, MillionTreesNYC John Mickelson, GIS Analyst Mike Mitchell, Community Initiatives Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Keith Myers, Program Assistant, MillionTreesNYC Sophie Plitt, Forestry Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Christopher Vanterpool, Director, MillionTreesNYC Michael Yoken, Project Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Kim Zhang, Project Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Britt Zimmerman, Project Coordinator, MillionTreesNYC Public Events Jordan Dyniewski, Public Events Manager  Public Policy Sarah Pfeifer, Public Affairs Manager		Operations Carlos Dale, Sherman Creek Zone Gardener Donnie Delarose, Bronx Zone Gardener Kara Kolodziej, Brooklyn Zone Gardener   Tony Lewis, Highbridge Zone Gardener Yacqueline Martinez, Bronx Regional Manager Gregory Quinn, Project Crew Chief Yessenia Santiago, Assistant Director of Operations Edwards Santos, Swindler Cove Park Manager Samuel Seo, Highbridge Zone Gardener Jason Sheets, Regional Director, Brooklyn Simon Skinner, Director of Operations Jason Smith, Campus Regional Director Donte Taylor, Manhattan Regional Manager Dustin Thomsen, Chief of Repair Chris Yandoli, Manhattan Zone Gardener Sarah Yannaccone, Sherman Creek Zone Gardener Administration Alexis Braxton, Administrative Assistant Nick Kusner, Chief of Staff Cait LaMorte, Assistant to the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Sims, Accounting Manager New Leaf Restaurant & Bar John Burbank, General Manager Scott Campbell, Executive Chef Tiffany Hogan, Events Manager

Amy Freitag, Executive Director

Amy Freitag comes to New York Restoration Project (NYRP) with a professional background that includes serving in the Bloomberg Administration as Deputy Commissioner for Capital Projects in the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation for six years and Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.  While at the NYC Parks Department, she administered a $3 billion capital program – during what is considered the largest period of investment in the City’s parks and open spaces since the 1930s, including the Parks Department’s first LEED certified projects and award winning historic preservation, architecture and landscape design projects. 

Notable capital projects include the Highline, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Freshkills Park, Union Square, Washington Square and a $200 million environmental mitigation in Bronx parks.  During her Parks tenure, Amy managed a staff of 350 architects, landscape architects, engineers and construction managers.

Freitag most recently served as U.S. Program Director for the World Monuments Fund, where she developed a demonstration conservation project for Taos Pueblo, a World Heritage Site; conservation plans for Frank Lloyd Wright textile block structures at Florida Southern College and the New School Studio School, NYC; site protection and digital laser documentation of Tutuveni, a Hopi petroglyph site on Navajo Land near Tuba City, AZ; preservation and strategic planning for Shaker Villages in New York and Massachusetts; and program support for preservation education in high schools in Brooklyn and Newburgh, NY.  She currently serves on the boards of the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation and the New York Preservation Archive Project.  Freitag lectures nationally on the history of women in conservation and is researching a book on the founding of the Garden Club of America.

At Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park, Freitag coordinated and directed fundraising for cultural and natural resources activities, raising more than $5 million from federal, state, and private sources and supervised various historic preservation projects, including the restoration of the Fairmont Waterworks, the Sedgeley Porter’s House, Ridgeland and Belmont Mansions.  She managed daily operations at park administered house museums and supervised park staff.  At the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust, she established an earned income revenue stream by providing affordable conservation services to non-profit partners, significantly improving the quality of care given to historic structures in public parks. 

Freitag holds an A.B. from Smith College and master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, where she received the Elizabeth Wiley Green Award for Outstanding Promise.  She currently lives in Montclair, NJ where she passionately tends to her garden and three children with partner Cindy Smith.

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Deborah Marton, Senior Vice President of Programs

Deborah has dedicated her career to the development of public space in New York City, with a specific focus on the integration of natural systems and the built environment. Deborah joined NYRP in 2011, bringing her extensive experience moving complex municipal projects from conception to actionable conclusions. Prior to joining NYRP, Deborah served as executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space. Under her leadership the organization gained national visibility and quadrupled in size. High-profile projects completed during her tenure there have made New York City’s parks and public right-of-ways more sustainable, catalyzed the redesign of Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, strengthened Long Island City’s art community, and improved the New York City taxi vehicle and system, paving the way for the city’s new taxi, among many other projects and public programs.

Previously, Deborah was Program Manager of New York City Parks Natural Resources Group and later associated with the landscape architecture firm Field Operations, where she collaborated on creation of the winning submission for the Fresh Kills Master Plan, and later served as the first Project Manager for that project. She received a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Design School and also holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

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Jo Anne Barry, Chief Financial Officer

Jo Anne Barry is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 20 years of experience in the financial field. In 2004, she joined NYRP as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) overseeing all aspects of the Finance Department and playing a key role in the operational and strategic decision-making processes of both the not-for-profit organization and its for-profit subsidiary.

Prior to NYRP, Jo Anne was Controller/CFO of a fast-growing, celebrity-owned manufacturing/wholesale corporation, where she was responsible for improving the company’s cash management and financial reporting capabilities. Prior to that position, Joanne spent five years as Assistant Controller of a high-end international women’s retail fashion corporation, an assignment that followed 12 years as an auditor in public accounting with such firms as Price Waterhouse Coopers and Hays & Company, LLC in New York City, where she worked with diverse industries from retail, insurance, manufacturing and securities to minor league baseball, not-for-profit charities and the dairy sector.

Jo Anne received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1985 and was certified in 1988. She is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA).

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Colleen Russell Criste, Senior Vice President of External Affairs

Colleen Russell Criste has dedicated her career to non-profit management with a focus on strategic planning, board development, fundraising, brand management, audience development and marketing.

Colleen joined NYRP in 2011, as leader of the Development and Marketing Communications functions, to expand her personal commitment to environmental concerns in New York City. Prior to joining NYRP, Colleen served as Deputy Director for External Affairs at the International Center of Photography; Deputy Director for The Andy Warhol Museum; interim Director for the Three Rivers Arts Festival; and Media Relations Manager for the Carnegie Museum of Art.  She has applied her experience and interest in cross-sector collaboration through multiple speaking engagements, on behalf of the U.S. State Department, to non-profit and corporate entities abroad.  She participated in the Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Management program in 2007 and has served as Chairman of the Board for WYEP, an independent public radio station.  Earlier in her career, as an advertising executive, Colleen focused on strategy and market research for a range of clients including Panasonic. 

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Amy Gavaris, Senior Advisor

Amy Gavaris has been on staff at NYRP since its founding by Bette Midler in 1995 and has since helped lead the organization from its grassroots origins to becoming one of New York City’s respected environmental non-profit entities.

Amy manages NYRP’s programmatic initiatives, open space redevelopment and major capital projects. Among her key accomplishments are: overseeing the cleanup of a five-acre dump site on the Harlem River and creating Swindler Cove Park and Riley-Levin Children’s Garden, assisting in the acquisition of 55 community gardens and creation of the subsidiary New York Garden Trust, overseeing the construction of the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse on the Harlem River, supervising the design and installation of a Cherry Tree Esplanade along the Harlem River Drive and restoring a historic stone building in Fort Tryon Park, home to the New Leaf Restaurant & Bar – an NYRP enterprise whose profits support the organization’s ongoing park maintenance and beautification.

In addition, Amy has managed several special restoration projects in post-Katrina New Orleans, chief among them guiding the design and construction of a new community park in Gentilly, one of the city’s most flood-ravaged neighborhoods.

Amy spent her early years at a Rudolf Steiner school, learning the value of environmentalism through organic gardening, composting and reading Rachel Carson. Her love of nature and passion for New York City led her to earn degrees in Landscape Architecture and a Master’s in Urban Planning from the City College of New York, where she was the recipient of many awards for design, writing, academic and athletic achievement.

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Catherine Hall, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Catherine Hall is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for NYRP, responsible for internal policies, inter-departmental coordination and oversight of the day-to-day operations of a workforce of approximately 100 staff and AmeriCorps members. This includes NYRP’s work in public parks and gardens, facility management, community relationships, public events and Corporate and Community volunteer days; and manages NYRP’s AmeriCorps contract.

Prior to joining NYRP in 1998, Catherine worked with director Alan J. Pakula, where she was engaged in research, development, budgeting, production and release of four major feature films and management of his production office for eight years. Previous professional experience includes office management at Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb and management of a stock photography agency.

A native of the United Kingdom where she studied Economics and History, Catherine received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts and has a certificate in Non-Profit Fiscal Management from New York University.

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