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Neal Baer, M.D.
Executive Producer
Wolf Films/Universal Television
Los Angeles, CA
Neal Baer, M.D., multiple Emmy Award nominee, is Executive Producer of the series "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." Until October 2000, he was Executive Producer of "ER." Baer's primary medical interests are in adolescent health. He has written extensively for teens on health issues for Scholastic Magazine, covering such topics as teen pregnancy, AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse and nutrition. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from Colorado College, holds Master's degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in Sociology and spent a year at the American Film Institute as a directing fellow. Baer graduated from Harvard Medical School in June of 1996.
Jay Berkelhamer, M.D.
Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Jay Berkelhamer, M.D., is Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Clinical Professor at Emory, Adjunct Professor at Morehouse and a general pediatrician. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the Chicago Pediatric Society. Berkelhamer is the former Chair of Pediatrics at the Henry Ford Health System and the creator of The Child Health Network. He attended the University of Michigan, and trained in Pediatrics at the University of Chicago.
Steve Cohen — Treasurer
Executive Producer
Next Stop Hollywood
New York, NY
Steve Cohen is the CEO of MultiMedicus LLC, the publisher – in cooperation with Harvard Medical School – of the Child Health Guide. He is also the co-founder and Executive Producer of Next Stop Hollywood, a recently launched film and television venture based on new short stories. Previously he was a successful entrepreneur and “intra-preneur” for Scholastic, Time Inc. and private investors. Cohen also co-chaired the White House task force Prescription for Reading Partnership, and he serves on the Board of the United States Naval Institute. He attended the United States Naval Academy, graduated from Brown University, and did his graduate work in public policy at the University of California Berkeley.
Carol Emig
President
Child Trends
Washington, DC
Carol Emig is the President of Child Trends, an independent research center focused on children. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, where she planned and directed all aspects of the work of this blue-ribbon panel. Emig previously worked at Child Trends for seven years, first as Director of Communications then as Vice President for External Relations. She also held senior positions at the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the National Commission on Children, and was a research assistant to former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Emig received a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Bob Franks
President
HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ)
Warren, NJ
Bob Franks is President of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), an association of 26 research-based pharmaceutical and medical technology companies in New Jersey. Under his leadership, HINJ has helped to support and expand ROR programming throughout the state of New Jersey. Prior to joining HINJ, Franks served four consecutive terms as Congressman for New Jersey’s 7th district. Before serving in Congress, Franks was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly for 13 years, representing the 22nd district. He also served as New Jersey Republican State Chairman from 1987 to 1989 and again from 1990 to 1992. Franks has a B.A. from DePauw University and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University.
Martha Gershun
Principal
POUNCE Marketing
Fairway, KS
Martha Gershun is the Principal of POUNCE Marketing, which provides strategic and tactical counsel and project implementation to nonprofit organizations, corporations, and small business start-ups. Previously, she served as Director of National Expansion and then Executive Director for Reach Out and Read. During her tenure, the organization doubled in size to include nearly 4,000 program sites in all 50 states and was honored with Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award as one of the nation’s most innovative, entrepreneurial, and effective nonprofits. Gershun graduated with a B.A. cum laude from Harvard University holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. She also earned a graduate diploma in Economics from the University of Stirling, Scotland, where she was a Rotary International Fellow.
Betsy Wagner Hoffman
Senior Counsel
Goodman Media International, Inc.
Encino, CA
Betsy Wagner Hoffman is Senior Counsel, based in Los Angeles, for Goodman Media International, Inc. Hoffman is a public relations professional with more than 20 years of public relations experience, having worked in senior positions at Fox, CBS and People magazine. Hoffman also provides publicity expertise to public service campaigns for The White House Literacy Task Force. Hoffman graduated from Tufts University and has an M.A. from Northwestern University.
Joanne Y. Jaxtimer — Clerk
Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Affairs
Mellon Financial Corporation
Milton, MA
Joanne Jaxtimer is the Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Affairs for Mellon Financial Corporation. Formerly, she was the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Boston University Medical Center (BUMC). Prior to that, Jaxtimer held the position of Senior Vice President of External Affairs at University Bank and Community Relations Manager at Bank of Boston. She is a former Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and also serves on the boards of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), The Partnership, National Braille Press, Boston Center for Community and Justice and the Boston College Club Board of Governors. Jaxtimer graduated from Newton College of the Sacred Heart with a B.A. in Psychology.
David Johnson
Partner
Johnson-Roessler Company
Santa Monica, CA
David Johnson is a partner of the Johnson-Roessler Company, a film and television production company. Formerly, he was Senior Executive Vice President of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and a partner of the law firm White & Case. Johnson serves on the boards of Children Now, the Dream Foundation, KCET, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). He is Chairman of the Public Counsel Law Center, the nation’s largest public interest law firm, and is a member of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Council of Economic Advisors and the California Council for the Humanities. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School.
Susan Cooley King, Ph.D., R.N., C.P.N.P.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Retired
The University of Texas-Houston Medical School
Houston, TX
Susan Cooley King, Ph.D., has been a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner since 1974. She retired from the Department of Pediatrics at UT Medical School Houston in 2007 after more than 30 years as a faculty member. In 1995, King received the first grant that brought Reach Out and Read to Texas. Under her direction, ROR-Texas grew to include over 175 program sites, reaching over 250,000 children annually. King’s academic degrees include both B.S.N. and M.P.H. degrees from the University of Texas. She received her P.N.P. from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her Ph.D. in Nursing at Texas Woman’s University.
Perri Klass, M.D. – President and Medical Director
Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics, New York University
Department of Pediatrics, Bellevue Medical Center
New York, NY
Perri Klass, M.D., who led the ROR National Center from 1993 to 2006, is a practicing pediatrician at Bellevue Medical Center and a professor at New York University. She is a nationally recognized expert in pediatric literacy and pediatric infectious disease and a prolific author of fiction, non-fiction, and academic articles. Klass participated in the Early Childhood Cognitive Summits and the Global Literacy Summit at the invitation of First Lady Laura Bush and currently sits on the “Health Literacy Project Advisory Committee” of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In February 2008, President Bush nominated Klass to serve on the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board. Klass completed her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe College, Harvard University and completed her M.D. from Harvard University. She also completed graduate coursework in Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley and has studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and the Organization for Tropical Studies.
Douglas R. Korn
Senior Managing Director and Executive Vice President
Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB)
Greenwich, CT
Douglas R. Korn is a Senior Managing Director and Executive Vice President of BSMB, a New York-based private equity firm. Prior to joining BSMB, Korn served as a Managing Director of Eos Partners, L.P., and as a Vice President and Associate with Blackstone Group. He started his career on Wall Street as a financial analyst in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Korn was appointed by President Bush in April 2008 to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. He is a co-founder and director of Youth Renewal Fund (YRF), which has provided supplemental education to over 60,000 poor children in Israel since its founding in 1989. Korn also serves on the board of directors of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York City. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Patrice M. Kozlowski
Senior Vice President
Corporate Communications
The Dreyfus Corporation
New York, NY
Patrice M. Kozlowski serves as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications of The Dreyfus Corporation, where she has worked since 1991. She has served on board of The Dreyfus Family Needs Charitable Trust and currently serves as an advisor to the Dreyfus Diversity Council. Prior to joining Dreyfus, Kozlowski was a senior account supervisor with Manning, Selvage & Lee. Previously, she was assistant vice president with Georgeson & Company, Inc. and a communications specialist with Philadelphia Life Insurance Company. Kozlowski a member of the Investment Company Institute Public Information Committee. She received her B.A. in journalism from Temple University.
Lisa Lebovitz
Weston, MA
Lisa Lebovitz has been an active volunteer with ROR since 1999, providing strategic and marketing counsel to the organization, co-chairing fundraising events, and running the Boston Marathon as ROR’s first entry in 2002. She helped to create the annual Read Romp + Rock Event in 2006. Previously, Lebovitz worked at Bronner Slosberg Humphrey (Digitas) implementing direct marketing progra Prior to that she worked at Loyalty Management Group (AirMiles) and Bain & Company. Her other volunteer activities have included founding the Jewish Women’s Mentoring Program for young professionals for the Jewish Vocational Network, heading the Choices Dinner Gala for Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and creating Safe at Home. Lebovitz is a graduate of Tufts University and the Harvard Business School.
Ann Mercer Logan
Founder and Board Chair
Reach Out and Read Colorado
Denver, CO
Ann Logan is the Founder and current Board Chair of ROR Colorado. She has worked as a school librarian in Denver and Tuckahoe, NY, as well as a pre-school teacher, an ESL teacher, and a staff member at a spouse abuse program. She was the ROR Program Director at Denver Health for ten years and founded the statewide coalition in Colorado in 2003. Logan was also the co-founder and co-chairman of the Early Childhood Literacy Coalition of Metro Denver. She currently serves on the boards of Denver Public School’s Summer Scholars Program, Friends of Denver School of the Arts and the T&R Foundation. Logan received her B.S. from the University of Tennessee and her M.L.S. from St. John’s University.
Lois Lowry
Author
Cambridge, MA
Lois Lowry is the author of 35 books for young people. She has received the National Jewish Book Award, the Regina Medal, the Margaret Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has twice received the Newbery Medal, given each year by the American Library Association to the author who has made the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Translated into 26 languages, many of her books have also been adapted to stage and film. Lowry attended Brown University and The University of Southern Maine.
Judith Newman
Senior Vice President, Book Group
Scholastic Inc.
New York, NY
Judith Newman, Senior Vice President, Book Group, for Scholastic, oversees a $500 million business consisting of Scholastic Book Clubs, the Company’s unique school-based distribution channel. Newman joined Scholastic in 1994 as Vice President of Marketing for the Book Group. She was previously at Bantam Doubleday Dell as Vice President and Director of the Trumpet Book Club. She also served as Publicity Director at Dell/Delacorte Publishing Company. Newman received her undergraduate degree from Connecticut College and an M.B.A. from New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. She attended the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Course.
Jenny Seeman
Weston, MA
Jenny Seeman has been a strong supporter of ROR since 2003. She helped to organize the first Read and Romp event in Boston in 2004 and is a co-creator of the highly successful Read Romp + Rock event. Until 1996, she worked in St. Petersburg, Russia, as the coordinator of Russian operations for McKinsey & Company, the management consultants. In 1992, she went to St. Petersburg as a Thomas J. Watson fellow to teach environmental awareness and outdoor leadership skills to Russian high school students. Seeman is a graduate of Colby College.
Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Literacy, and Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL
Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., professor of urban education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and director of the UIC Center for Literacy, is a former president of the International Reading Association (IRA). Shanahan served on the White House Assembly on Reading and the National Reading Panel and he chairs the National Literacy Panel on Language and Minority Children and Youth and the National Early Literacy Panel. He has written or edited six books, including Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Literacy, and more than 100 articles and research studies. Shanahan received his B.A. and M.A.T. from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.
Catherine Snow, Ph.D.
Professor
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, MA
Catherine Snow, Ph.D., is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education in the Human Development and Psychology Department at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Snow has co-authored books and published many articles in refereed journals on language development and on literacy development. She chaired the National Research Council Committee on Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, the RAND Reading Study Group, and the National Academy of Education committee that produced the 2005 volume Knowledge to support the teaching of reading. She was also a member of the National Research Council Committee that developed the plans for the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) and currently is heading the research effort of the first SERP field site, in the Boston Public Schools. Snow is a former president of the American Educational Research Association. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from McGill.
Dorothy Strickland, Ph.D.
Professor
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ
Dorothy S. Strickland, Ph.D., is the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey. A former classroom teacher, reading consultant and learning disabilities specialist, she is a past president of both the International Reading Association and the Reading Hall of Fame. She was recently appointed to National Academy of Sciences Committee on Teacher Education authorized by Congress. She was a member of the panel that produced Becoming a Nation of Readers, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, The Rand Report, Reading for Understanding, and the National Early Literacy Panel. Strickland received her B.S. from Newark State College (now Kean University), and her M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University.
Christie Vilsack
President
The Vilsack Foundation
Des Moines, IA
Christie Vilsack, wife of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, is actively involved in strengthening communities in Iowa and nationally by advocating for family literacy, public libraries, school libraries, and computer literacy. Vilsack has 30 years of experience as a teacher. As First Lady of Iowa, she created the Iowa Stories 2000 Foundation, a statewide literacy initiative designed to help communities better understand the importance of local libraries, early childhood reading and family storytelling. In 2006, Iowa Stories 2000 changed its name to the Vilsack Foundation and has since focused on issues of computer literacy. Vilsack serves as a board member of Iowa Wesleyan College. She attended Kirkland College and earned an M.A.from the University of Iowa School of Journalism.
Barry S. Zuckerman, M.D. — CEO & Chair
Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics
Boston Medical Center / Boston University School of Medicine
Boston, MA
Barry Zuckerman, M.D., is a nationally-recognized expert on the subject of child development and the author of more than 180 scientific publications. Zuckerman directs one of the nation’s foremost fellowship programs in early childhood development for pediatricians and regularly trains child development faculty members at various medical training programs around the U.S. He was a member of the National Commission on Children, Carnegie Commission on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, Health and Human Services Advisory Board for Early Head Start, NIH Consensus Conference on Newborn Screening for Hearing Impairment and other prestigious local and national committees. Zuckerman participated in First Lady Laura Bush’s Summit on Early Cognitive Development in Washington, DC in 2001. Zuckerman received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and completed his M.D. at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
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