Board of Directors
THAIS CARTER
Thais Carter is the Director for Strategic Initiatives at Princeton Theological Seminary, guiding work that deepens engagement with a broader public, including online learning, live events, and more. In addition to her strategic work, she directs Iron Sharpening Iron, the Seminary’s executive leadership program for women. Before coming to higher education, Thais developed expertise across a variety of fields, including publishing, marketing, and nonprofits. In all her vocational pursuits, storytelling and lifelong learning have been the connective threads. Thais received her MPA at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She lives in Princeton, NJ with her family.
LIZZ YEH DIMAIOLO
Lizz Yeh Dimaiolo is LItWorld’s Board Vice Chair. She was most recently a Senior Vice President at Citibank where she focused on digital strategy, innovation, and product management. She launched the award-winning “True Name” feature to allow trans and non-binary customers to bank with their preferred name and also represented the firm as a One Young World Summit Delegate. Lizz began her career at Edelman PR, where she brought social impact campaigns to life for Unilever’s Dove, Dove Men+Care, and AXE brands. Lizz holds a bachelor’s degree in literature from Duke University, as well as an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lizz is an avid traveler, foodie, houseplant mom, and enjoyer of cocktails. Lizz currently lives in Long Island with her husband, Bobby, and rescue mutt, Cora.
BRENDA JOY GILMORE
Brenda Joy Gilmore is an Independent Consultant, Certified Professional Coach, and proud owner of BJGsolutions. She also holds the position of Director of People & Culture with Gin & Luck, Inc.
The majority of Brenda’s volunteerism has been led by her passion to nurture and champion children. For years, she has utilized her gift of writing and creativity to inspire people from all walks of life, most especially children from marginalized communities. Thus, her appointment to the LitWorld Board of Directors allows her opportunity to achieve one of her long-awaited goals of being a blessing to children around the world by promoting an atmosphere that cultivates educational equity through literacy.
PAMELA SCHIESS
Pamela Schiess is LItWorld’s Board Treasurer. She is the Executive director at Morgan Stanley, and in this role, she works on New Product Development and Partnerships supporting Morgan Stanley U.S. Banks’ Residential Loan business. Formerly, Pamela has held roles in Project Management, Operations, Risk Management, Digital Marketing & Strategy, and Digital Product Development. At Morgan Stanley, she also serves as co-chair of the Women of the U.S. Banks employee networking group. She is a founding member of Level, a multiracial community of women tackling the racial wealth gap by investing in Black women. Pamela earned her BS in Broadcast Journalism and Judaic Studies from the University of Miami, and her MA in International Economic Development from the University of Denver.
KATIE SOMERVILLE
Katie Somerville is a Senior Strategist at Adobe Inc.’s Digital Strategy Group. She advises top Fortune 500 retail corporations helping them to optimize their online presence and assisting them successfully effect their digital transformation. Katie holds a BA degree from University of Michigan where she was a James B. Angell Scholar and admitted to Phi Kappa Phi. While at Michigan, Katie was on the board and the Executive Director of PALMA (Proyecto Avance: Latino Mentoring Association), which provided tutoring to Hispanic students and parents in the Ann Arbor area. Katie received her MBA from Columbia Business School where she received the Student Service Award. Katie is passionate about early education and reading and has interned at Fundación Educacional Oportunidad in Chile and at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard University. Katie lives in Manhattan.
GEORGIY ZHIKHAREV
Georgiy Zhikharev is Litworld’s Interim Treasurer, and a Director of Investments at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, based in New York. His team is responsible for enhancing investment process and coordinating investment research and technology efforts across Wealth Management Investment Solutions platform, as well as fostering and overseeing a robust investment governance framework for internal and external investment solutions. Georgiy’s career spans roles in Risk Management, Portfolio Management and Alternative Investments. He is passionate about diversity and has been a sponsor of the Women’s Network within his business, focused of female empowerment, retention and engagement. Georgiy was born and raised in Kazan, Russia and came to US for his master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago. He also holds a Ph.D.-equivalent degree in Economics and teaches at Fordham University Graduate Business School. Georgiy resides in Englewood Cliffs, NJ with his wife and two daughters. He is passionate about children education, creative writing, bread baking, and chess.
Emeritus Board
Susan Atkins
Sue Atkins is a Managing Director at JPMorgan, specializing in Corporate Restructuring. She has a degree in Education from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota. Sue's board experience spans several non-profit organizations. She currently serves on the board of Her Justice, which provides legal help to women living in poverty in NYC; Journeys2Change, which develops and leads interactive civil rights learning trips and events and as a Mentor for Refugee Employment Project, finding employment opportunities for refugees that are legally able to work in the US. She was a founding board member and long-time Chair of the Board of LitWorld, where she established a strategic plan, developed governance protocols and systems for tracking financial and community impact. She also negotiated corporate partnerships for some of LW’s programs, which now contribute to the stability and sustainability of the organization. She continues to serve on the LitWorld Emeritus board.
Lauren Blum
Lauren Blum has been a practicing Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for almost 30 years, in private practice in Bronx and Queens, NY and a clinical instructor at NYU Rory Myers College of Nursing.
Lauren has been a longtime volunteer with The Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY, where she serves on the Community Advisory Committee and was awarded their Legacy of Service Award in 2016.
Lauren also serves on the Advisory Council of Hands Up for Haiti, joining their volunteer teams of healthcare professionals on medical missions in Northern Haiti. In both of her current positions and in her volunteer work, Lauren emphasizes the important relationship between literacy and health and is a passionate literacy advocate. Lauren holds a B.Sc. in Nursing from Emory University, Atlanta and a M.Sc. in Nursing from Columbia University, New York.
Christine J. Chao
Christine J. Chao is currently General Counsel of the Foremost Group, an international shipping company. Christine has extensive corporate and commercial law experience having worked in senior legal positions for three Fortune 100 companies: GE, Federal Express and Ultramar Corporation. Christine began her legal career upon graduation from Columbia Law School with the Wall Street law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf focusing on M&A, US securities, leasing and project finance. Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and currently serves as a Trustee for her alma mater as well as the Foremost Foundation, which strives to help young people access higher education and greater opportunities generally, and The One Love Foundation, which promotes healthy relationships, especially among our young people.
Sabrina Conyers
Sabrina Conyers is a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young, LLP, specializing in partnership tax planning. Sabrina has an LLM in Taxation from NYU Law School (2010). She received her JD from Columbia Law School (2004) and her BA from Morgan State University (1999). Prior to joining EY, Sabrina practiced corporate, real estate and tax law at the law firms of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York City. In the nonprofit sector, Sabrina assists clients with the formation of nonprofit corporations and securing exemption from federal income taxation. She also provides general corporate counseling advice to nonprofit organizations advising them on a broad range of operating issues including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, structuring subsidiaries, grants management, program related investments and other tax issues. Sabrina has been a frequent lecturer on the legal issues facing nonprofit organizations for various nonprofit organizations throughout New York City.
Ellen Fredericks
Ellen Fredericks is an executive coach and founder of Partners in Possibility, a consulting company focusing on executive and leadership development. Prior to starting her own business, Ellen held executive positions in marketing and product management in the telecommunications industry. She is one of several hundred coaches worldwide awarded the designation of Master Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation (ICF). Ellen holds a certificate in coaching, a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Management. She attended Executive Management Training Programs at Duke University and Arizona State University. Ellen is a contributing author to the ASTD published book, “Coaching for Extraordinary Results” and the co-author of three books on executive development. Ellen is also on the faculty for the Certified Professional Coach Program at the University of Miami.
Dr. Ernest Morrell
Dr. Ernest Morrell is Associate Dean of Humanities in the College of Arts and Letters, Coyle Professor of Literacy Education, Professor of English and Africana Studies, and the Director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and a past-president of the National Council of Teachers of English. Ernest is the recipient of the NCTE Distinguished Service Award, the Kent Williamson Leadership Award from the Conference for English Leadership, and the Divergent Award for 21st Century Literacies.
He is also the Director of Teachers College’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME). Prior to this, Dr. Morrell was an award-winning high school English teacher in Northern California, and he continues to work with teachers, schools and adolescents across the country to infuse multicultural literature, youth popular culture and media production into standards-based literacy curricula and after school programs. Dr. Morrell received his Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture from the University of California at Berkeley where he received the Outstanding Dissertation Award. He is an award-winning published author of ten books, and his books include Critical Media Pedagogy: Teaching for Achievement in City Schools and New Directions in Teaching English. He has also co-authored books with Pam Allyn, including Every Child a Super Reader: 7 Strengths for a Lifetime of Independence.
Nicole Nakashian
Nicole Nakashian, recognized as one of The Top 25 Financial Technology COOs by The Financial Technology Report, brings over 25 years of operational leadership to Communify Fincentric. Most recently, she served as COO of InvestCloud, where she helped scale the platform to over $6 trillion in assets, She has been leading technology teams within the finance industry for over 10 years. Nicole earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from SUNY Albany, a MBA from Long Island University, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.