Staff

Capital Janet Broughton, Project Manager  Jamie Feinstein, Director of Construction Management Yvi McEvilly, Director of Design John Mickelson, Information Manager Mike Mitchell, Community Initiatives Manager Sophie Plitt, Forestry Coordinator Christopher Vanterpool, Director of Capital Adminstration Kim Zhang, Project Coordinator Community Engagement Amanda Brown, Director of Community Engagement John Douglas, Community Initiatives Coordinator, Brooklyn Charlie Reynoso, Community Initiatives Coordinator, Bronx & Manhattan Development Karen Dumonet, Director of Individual Giving & Special Events Cait LaMorte, MPA, Corporate Partnerships Associate Jonathan Post, Director of Development Services Melody Rodriguez, Manager of Individual Giving and Special Events Alex Ruthrauff, Manager of Foundation and Government Giving  Matt Shapiro, Director of Corporate Partnerships   Education Mya Jenkins, Education Manager          Marketing and Public Relations Sadia Choudhury, Director of Marketing Communications Anne Tan, Public Relations Officer Public Events Jordan Dyniewski, Director of Public Events		Operations Carlos Dale, Campus Grounds Supervisor Donnie Delarose, Bronx Regional Manager Danica Doroski, Volunteer Coordinator Barry Elmore, Manhattan Zone Gardener Ashton Francis, Citywide Projects Coordinator Tony Lewis, Highbridge Natural Area Supervisor Isak Mendes, Brooklyn Zone Gardener Yessenia Santiago, Assistant Director of Operations Edwards Santos, Swindler Cove Park Manager Jason Sheets, Regional Director, Brooklyn Simon Skinner, Director of Operations Jason Smith, Campus Regional Director Andrew Stewart, Brooklyn Zone Gardener Donte Taylor, Manhattan Regional Manager Dustin Thomsen, Chief of Repair Administration Alexis Braxton, Administrative Assistant Koreen Hayes, Accountant  Robert Hirsch, Controller  Adrienne Kenyon, Assistant to the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Abby Morse, Executive Assistant and Board Liaison Casey Peterson, Assistant to the Senior Vice President of Programs  New Leaf Restaurant & Bar Michelle D'Agrosa, General Manager 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 Fairmount 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.

Amy 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.  Amy 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 Fairmount Park, Amy 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 Fairmount 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. 

Amy 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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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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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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