Ben is a Managing Director of The Invus Group, a leading global investment firm, where he actively manages growth equity investments across industries and sits on the boards of several private companies in which Invus has invested. Previously, Ben was a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, where he worked with clients in the consumer products, industrial goods, and financial services industries, in addition to pro bono projects in the education non-profit sector. Ben graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.

A New Yorker for over 30 years, Hollis Forbes has extensive experience in both retail and community organizations. Hailing from St. Louis, she spent over 25 years as an executive at various retailers, most notably the Gap and Federated Department Stores. In addition to her career, Hollis has served on several boards, including the Children’s Museum of the East End and The Donaldson Adoption Institute where she served as Treasurer and Vice President. Further, Forbes served as President of both the East Hampton Historical Society and the Garden Club of East Hampton. Currently, Hollis is raising funds (Er lingo) and working with The East End Fund for Children.

Mónica de la Torre is an attorney who joined the Board in 2004 after having served as Director of Legal Services at The Door for over four years.

Since 2018 Monica has been the president of Fundacion Colibrí, a grant making foundation that invests in the people of Puerto Rico to spark transformation through informed engagement and local action.

Formerly the Director of the Public Interest Law Center at New York University, Ms. de la Torre received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Sarah Marie recently joined Uber to lead M&A, investor relations and capital markets. Prior to joining Uber, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Yumi, a digitally native, organic children’s food company. She became Yumi’s inaugural CFO in 2021 after a 25-year career in investment banking.

For the five years prior to joining Yumi, Sarah Marie was a Partner at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division. She was responsible for managing the global, cross-divisional relationships with some of the Firm’s most important alternative asset management and private equity clients.

Sarah-Marie previously worked at Credit Suisse for 20 years, where she served as the co-head of the Americas Financial Sponsors Group. In the earlier days of her career, she worked in the High Yield and Equity Capital Markets Groups, as well as Latin American corporate finance.

Sarah Marie earned her B.A. in Quantitative Economics with Distinction from Stanford University, and received her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where she was valedictorian of her class.

Sarah Marie, her husband Nick Brophy, and their five children live at the Jersey Shore. Two of their children, Eyerusalem and Martin Ashenafi (“Ash”) were adopted from Ethiopia. Jamie and Quinn are biological sons, and Skylar was adopted domestically. They have two large bernedoodles named Washington and Frida Kahlo. You might find her moonlighting at her husband’s bakeries, Nick + Sons in Brooklyn and Spring Lake, NJ.

Sarah Marie serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of The Door, an organization that empowers disconnected youth in New York City. She is passionate about recruiting and mentoring women and diverse business professionals and helping support and fund diverse entrepreneurs.

As founder of The Ready Foundation (“Ready”), Bethany is a hands-on philanthropist in support of at-risk and underserved members of the community across New York City.  Ready’s mission and resources are devoted to non-profits within the five boroughs doing remarkable work with youth development, workforce and economic development and social justice.  Through Ready, Bethany provides direct funding, strategic advisory and board service.  Her experience is drawn from over two decades in the private sector and more than a decade with non-profits.  She and her husband and Ready co-founder have become advocates for the role of strong mentors and coaches in helping to build successful careers; hard work, formal education, and even luck often prove to be insufficient without leadership and role models.  This perspective guides much of the work of Ready.  Bethany is currently serving in board governance and strategic advisory roles with non-profits including The Door, Gibney and StreetWise Partners. Prior to Ready, she served in executive sales, marketing, and business development leadership roles with global consulting firms including Gartner and Deloitte, “Fortune 500” corporations including The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters), and two venture backed start-ups.   Bethany earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University, and an Executive Development Program Sponsored Certificate from Columbia Business School.  Bethany joined the board of The Door in 2014, and lives in downtown Manhattan with her husband and three dogs.

Ms. Notkin is Executive Vice President at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and oversees the organization’s programmatic directions. In this capacity she advances CSSP’s role in promoting progressive systems and policies that support children, youth and families receiving the help they need within their own communities, and ensuring that public systems support safety, healing, well-being and permanent connections for those families who are experiencing state interventions. Ms. Notkin is leading CSSP’s Youth Thrive, a multi-year national initiative, working to promote the healthy well-being and development for all youth, with a particular focus on youth in child welfare, juvenile justice and homeless systems.

Prior to joining CSSP, Ms. Notkin was the Director for the Children’s Program at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation where she created and implemented a 10-year $50 million grant making program entitled Community Partnerships for Protecting Children. Earlier, Ms. Notkin directed the Foundation’s Program for Homeless Families.

Before joining the Foundation, Ms. Notkin designed the New York City Child Protective Services Training Academy for the City’s child welfare agency. During the 1980s, she held positions in the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services, representing the rights of clients residing in mental health institutions and directing the state’s agenda in child abuse prevention, child protection, early care and education and domestic violence.

Ms. Notkin is a member of the board of directors of The Door and Foster America.

Clayton Pope is the founder and principal of Austin Pearce, a privately-owned investment entity focused on global debt and equity securities, real estate investment, and early-stage venture financing. Prior to establishing Austin Pearce in 2018, Mr. Pope worked for 16 years in investment banking, most recently as Managing Director for the Emerging Markets Debt Syndicate Group at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, based in New York. At Credit Suisse he was responsible for overseeing the primary structuring, distribution, and pricing of all international bond issuance out of Latin America into the global markets. Clayton joined Credit Suisse from HSBC Securities (USA) Inc, where he served in a variety of roles across the Emerging and US corporate investment grade debt markets. He received his BA in Economics from McGill University in Montreal and is a CFA Charterholder. Mr. Pope resides in TriBeCa with his wife and two sons. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.

Joe Blum is currently the Managing Partner of NewVest Partners and resides in New York. From 2007 to 2020, Joe was a Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and a member of the Investment Committee. Joe is also currently a Senior Advisor at GIP. GIP is an independent infrastructure manager with over US$74 billion under management that invests in infrastructure assets (both equity and debt) in OECD countries as well as select emerging markets, focusing on established energy, transportation and water/waste businesses.

Prior to joining GIP, Joe worked for 21 years at Latham & Watkins, one of the largest international law firms. He served as Managing Partner of Latham’s London office for over five years and as head of the office’s Project Development and Finance Group. He previously served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C.

Maya Browne is an award-winning journalist, feature film producer and author. She served as the President of Bratt Entertainment, an independent film finance, development and production company for ten years.  She executive produced and produced independent films in a variety of genres prior to retiring from the business, including “Ray,” starring Jamie Foxx, “Skeleton Key,” starring Peter Sarsgaard, Kate Hudson and John Hurt, and “American Fork”, starring Billy Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Kathleen Quinlan and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

Browne won the Wyeth Ayherst Excellence in Media Merit Award (EMMA) in 1993 for her article “Dying to be Thin” which was a cover story in Essence Magazine. Additionally, she has been published in Details, Interview, Fitness, New Woman, Self and Heart &Soul. A contributing writer in Kate Taylor’s Anthology Going Hungry: Writers on Desire, Self-Denial and Overcoming Anorexia (AnchorBooks 2008), an honor she shared with Jennifer Egan and Francine du Plessix Gray.  

In 2014, Browne was the recipient of a grant from the Institute of International Education (Ford Foundation) for her work producing a documentary that tells the stories of A Better Chance Graduates.

A native New Yorker raised in both Manhattan and San Francisco, Browne graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Social Studies (cum laude) and NYU Stern with an Executive MBA in finance. She currently serves as a Board Member at The Door – A Center of Alternatives, hosts a Podcast called “Stories from the Brink” and splits her time between Austin, Texas and Quogue, New York with her partner, Laurence Pels, and their Labradoodle, Messier.

Marc DeBevoise has served on The Door’s Board for over a dozen years.

DeBevoise is an accomplished leader with wide-ranging experience in the direct-to-consumer, media, streaming, and technology industries. He is currently the CEO and Board Director of Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV), the most trusted streaming technology company in the world. Additionally, DeBevoise serves on the Advisory Board of Antenna Group, a privately-owned international technology, media and entertainment company with a leading presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

DeBevoise spent nearly a decade with CBS and ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), leading the company through the mobile, social and streaming revolutions to become a major player in direct-to-consumer streaming and a top 10 U.S. Internet company. Through 2020, DeBevoise served as CEO of ViacomCBS Digital and Chief Digital Officer of ViacomCBS, leading the rapidly growing, multi-billion-dollar-revenue digital and streaming businesses of the company and prior to that served as President & COO, CBS Interactive, overseeing the digital strategy and operations for all 25+ of the company’s industry-leading brands including the digital businesses of the CBS Television Network and CNET Media Group.

Earlier in his career he held executive leadership roles at premium subscription service Starz and NBC Universal, and was in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Investment Banking Group at JPMorgan (originally Hambrecht & Quist).

DeBevoise received his M.B.A. with distinction in Entertainment, Media & Technology and Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business (where he is an Adjunct Professor) and his B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from Tufts University.

Blake Devillier is the Senior Vice President of Field Operations for Taco Bell where he leads 7,500+ company owned and franchise restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.  Before joining Taco Bell, he held several leadership roles for Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic over his 28-year career with Gap Inc.

Blake is committed to inclusivity and in his past supported the Pride at Gap Inc. Equality and Belonging group as an Executive Sponsor. In his last role, he mentored the group’s Field Ambassador Chairs and partnered with them to create community and connectivity for all Gap Inc. employees. In 2021, he was a trustee for the Gap Inc. Foundation and also joined the board of The Door.

Originally from Louisiana, Blake graduated from University of Louisiana at Lafayette and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. After 17 years away from home, he recently returned to Louisiana to be with his husband, Jerad, where they own JF Gardemal Designs, an interior design business.

Court is global head of Financial Crime Compliance, responsible for administering the firm’s anti-money laundering, antibribery and government sanctions compliance programs. Previously, he oversaw Compliance for the global Prime Brokerage and Clearing businesses from 2005 to 2007. Prior to that, Court served as co-head of Compliance for Operations, Technology, Finance, Human Capital Management and Services from 2010 to 2012. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 as a managing director and was named partner in 2016. Prior to joining the firm, Court was a senior managing director and global anti-money laundering compliance officer for Bear Stearns & Co. He previously served as an assistant US attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted securities fraud, money laundering and other white-collar crimes. Prior to serving as a federal prosecutor, Court was senior advisor to the undersecretary for enforcement at the US Treasury Department, where he specialized in financial crime policy. Earlier in his career, he was an associate at Richardson, Berlin & Morvillo, specializing in securities fraud litigation and SEC investigations, and a litigation associate with Jones Day. Court is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where he lectures on white collar crime. Court earned a BA, magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University, and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and Virginia Journal of International Law.

Dr. Leslie Gruss is a founding partner of Downtown Women OB/GYN and has been practicing gynecology since 1990. Leslie received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Leslie administers a family foundation and has had a lifelong commitment to education and helping people out of poverty. Leslie volunteered in the medical center of The Door while in college. She sent two young men who spent their early years in public housing before moving in with Leslie to The Door for GED and SAT prep. Two of Leslie’s sons worked at the Door more recently and Leslie currently tutors math at The Door. Leslie has lived in the East Village for many years and her children attended public school there. She lives with her husband, Michael Kramer, a long-term community board member active in downtown issues.

Ilaria Fusina is a freelance editor, writer and translator whose clients include the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and Rizzoli International Publications where she specializes in books on art, design and photography.

The arc of Ilaria’s twenty-year career as a book editor has run parallel to a life-long commitment to philanthropy that is gradually taking hold as her primary focus. Over the years she has worked with victims of domestic abuse, mentored families facing pediatric surgery, and taught in various after-school arts and ESL programs. Ilaria was on the founding board of the New York City Kids Project and is currently a director at The Duchossois Family Foundation and a trustee of the Blue School.

Ilaria has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Art History from Georgetown University and a Masters degree in Italian Literature from New York University. As a result of living in Europe and South America she speaks Spanish, Italian and some French. 

David Zurndorfer is a partner at the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP. He is the President of the Board of Broome Street Academy and has served in that position since BSA was first chartered in 2011. He is also a member of the Board of the New York City Board of Collective Bargaining.