Board
Board of Trustees Leadership
Earl Monroe
Legacy Trustee
A transcendent superstar, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe dazzled fans and teammates alike with his on-court prowess. The innovative playmaker drew crowds at each stage of his career, whether fans witnessed him in Philadelphia high school gyms, at Winston Salem State, or with the Baltimore Bullets and New York Knicks. “Slick and always exciting,” the legendary Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford said of Monroe. “The Pearl” led the Knicks to their last championship season in 1973 and is a member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the Top 60 Players in NBA history.
Monroe’s legacy extends beyond the hardwood. He continues to preach the importance of education and has been involved in various community affairs programs, including the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Health, the Crown Heights Youth Collective and the Literary Assistance Fund. Additionally, for his extensive humanitarian work, he has received many honors, including the Harlem Professionals Inspiration Award, Most Outstanding Model for American Youth, and the Big Apple Sportsman of the Year. In 2008, Earl Monroe was awarded a Peabody for producing the four-hour documentary, Black Magic.
Dan Klores
School Founder and Board President
Dan Klores is the very definition of a modern-day Renaissance Man.
The Brooklyn-born, award-winning filmmaker and playwright founded the public
relations/integrated marketing and crisis communications firm, Dan Klores
Communications (DKC). DKC evolved into the fastest growing independent firm in the
nation.
Klores’ celebrated documentaries and films—four of which debuted at Sundance Film
Festival—include The Boys of Second Street Park, Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story,
Viva Baseball, and Basketball: A Love Story. He received the 2008 Independent Spirit
Award for Best Documentary for Crazy Love and a Peabody Award for his film Black
Magic. In addition to his cinematic work, Klores authored Basketball: A Love Story with
Jackie MacMullan and Roundball Culture: South Carolina Basketball. His numerous
columns, articles, and essays have been featured in the New York Times, Esquire, New
York Magazine, The Tablet, The Village Voice, Huffington Post, The Undefeated, The
Ringer, New York Post, New York Daily News, Southern Exposure, and Grantland.
He had been a decades long Board member of the Children’s Health Fund and the
Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In 2012, he founded the New RENS Basketball Association, a not-for-profit organization
for inner city youth, grades 2 through 11, which in a very short time evolved into one of
the, if not the lead, AAU entities in the country. Ninety eight percent of the 17-year-old
graduates received full scholarships or financial support to colleges ranging from
Harvard, Princeton, Brown, and Columbia, to Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke, Indiana,
North Carolina, and Kentucky.
The New RENS was the impetus to the creation of Mr. Klores’ dream, an inner-city high
school for basketball -- BUT NOT for the playing of the game.
Mr. Klores resides in New York City and Sag Harbor with his wife Abbe, and three sons,
Jake, Sam and Luke.
David Stern
Legacy Trustee (In Memoriam)
David Stern served as commissioner of the National Basketball Association from 1984 to 2014. Prior to his tenure as the longest-serving Commissioner in the history of North American sports, Stern first joined the NBA as a general counsel in 1978. In his 30 years of leadership, Stern brought the league and the game itself to unprecedented levels of financial success and global exposure. Choosing to market the sport around the star power of the league’s talented players, Stern oversaw the NBA’s rise to the forefront of American popular culture during the 80’s and 90’s, while also expanding its popularity internationally. Today, the league holds offices in 12 cities outside the U.S. and broadcasts to over 200 territories in 40 languages. Alongside the growth of the NBA, Stern also helped found the WNBA and NBA G League.
Stern was born in New York City, where he also attended Columbia University Law School after graduating from Rutgers University. He is a member of both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as well as the FIBA Hall of Fame. He has been recognized across America’s most esteemed institutions, such as Harvard and Yale Universities as well as the NAACP, for his contributions to African-American culture as well as his superb executive leadership. Following his retirement as Commissioner, Stern served as an advisor to various investment banks, venture capital firms and consultancies, in addition to directly investing in technology and sports startups. Stern died in January 2020, he is survived by his wife of 47 years, Dianne, and his two sons Eric and Andrew.
Board of Trustees
Jack Irushalmi
Vice-Chair
President and Managing Director, Tri Star Construction Corp
Aaron Saperstein
Treasurer
Executive Director, Morgan Stanley, Global Sports and Entertainment
Anita Reyes
Secretary
Executive Director, The Bronx Neighborhood Health Action Center
Rudy Acree
Deputy Director, Public Defender Service
Len Elmore
Retired attorney, business leader, television sports personality and educator
Alan Fishman
Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance Corporation
Ernesto Freire
Chief of Staff and Communications Director, Bloomberg Associates
Derrick Green
Field Technician, Verizon; former NY Rens Head Coach
Jackie Harris
Sports Marketing Executive, Philanthropist, Lawyer
Laurie Lindenbaum
English teacher, Riverdale Country School; Fmr. consumer marketing at Best Foods
Estefany Lopez
Chief Operating Officer, Comp Sci High
John Mogulescu
Founding Dean of the CUNY School of Professional Studies
Michael Salzer
President; MacGuffin Films, Assembly Films, and the Rec. Room
Milton Sipp
Assistant Head of School, Riverdale Country School
David Strasser
Managing Director at SWaN
William Wesley
Executive Vice President, New York Knicks
Board of Advisors
Abbe Klores
Retired media executive
Adam Goldman
Senior Managing Director, Mesirow Wealth Management
Barry Watkins
CEO, Clairvoyant Media Strategies; Fmr. Chief Communications Officer, Madison Square Garden
Barry Weisfeld
Managing Member/Chairman, Strategic Vision Group; Founder, Optical Distribution Group
Bill Bradley
Fmr. U.S. Senator from New Jersey; Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee; Author; Investment Banker
Bill Mulrow
Senior Advisor, Blackstone Group
Bill Pidto
Emmy Award-winning Sportscaster for Madison Square Garden and the Knicks
Bill Rudin
CEO/Co-Chairman, Rudin Management Company, Inc.; Chairman, Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
Bobbito Garcia
Author, DJ, Filmmaker
Brian Budnick
Practice Area Attorney, Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP
Bridget Siegal
Political Consultant, Author, Actor
Cory Berger
Worldwide CMO, Grey Group
Craig Kallman
Chairman and CEO, Atlantic Records Group
Curtis Schenker
Co-Founder, Scoggin Capital Management
Dave Hollander
Professor and Cultural Historian, New York University
David Bar Katz
Writer, Playwright, Director
David Blitzer
Global Head of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group; Co-Chairman, Harris Blitzer (Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, the Prudential Center)
David Light
Founding Partner, Cross Rate Technologies LLC
David M. Goldman
General Counsel, Associated Capital Group
David Rockwell
Founder and President, Rockwell Group; Tony Award-winning designer
Dennis Page
Founder/Publisher, SLAM Magazine
Eddie Burke, Jr.
Fmr. Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Prosecutor; leading defense attorney on Long Island
Elina Rogakos Papinicolaou
Philanthropist
Ellen Biben
Administrative Judge of the New York County Supreme Court - Criminal Division
Eric Aroesty
CEO, Affinity Marketing Partners
Ernie Browne
Retired teacher
Garry Howard
Director of Corporate Initiatives, American City Business Journal
Gary Zarr
Founder and Principal, Gary Zarr & Associates
Gerry Lefcourt
Nationally-recognized criminal defense attorney and First Amendment advocate
Hakiem Yahmadi
Hakiem Yahmadi President, Community Education Council 7; Organizer and Activist
Harriet Burnett
Director of Admissions, Friends Seminary
Howard Wolfson
Senior Advisor for Education, Bloomberg Philanthropies; Fmr. Deputy Mayor for Michael Bloomberg; Fmr. CCO, Hillary Clinton (2008)
Jeff Zucker
Sports journalist, New York Times; Author
Jesse Shapiro
RENS UNITED Director, Development Officer
Jim Gronfein
Senior Media Executive focusing on Advertiser Sales
Josh Sapan
President and CEO, AMC Networks
Judd Burstein
Top-rated General Litigation Attorney
Keith Rubenstein
Founder, Somerset Partners LLC
Keith Wright
Director of Strategic Planning, Davidoff, Hutcher and Citron, LLP; Veteran New York State Assemblyman
Ken Sunshine
Founder, Sunshine Sachs Public Relations
Larry Shire
Managing Partner, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, P.C.
Lisa Belzberg
Professor, Columbia University; Founder, PENCIL
Liz Robbins
Sports journalist, New York Times; Author
Lloyd Goldman
President, BLDG Management Company
Marc Mukasey
Partner, Mukasey Frenchman & Skarloff LLP
Mark Alter
Professor, Educational Psychology
Mark Thomashow
former Global Senior Director Business Affairs, Nike
Marty Geller
Founder and CEO, Geller and Company; Co-Owner of Philadelphia 76ers
Marv Albert
Hall of Fame Broadcaster
Michael Greenberg
Noted ESPN Broadcaster, Host, and Author
Michele Roberts
Attorney, Former Executive Director of NBA Players Association
Monica Major
Senior Director, New York City Department of Education
Nate Archibald
Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee; Youth Counselor
Neal Sroka
Head, Sroka Worldwide Consultants; Real Estate Advisor
Paul Hirschheimer
SVP, Multimedia Production, NBA Entertainment
Peter Cohen
Retired Managing Director and Global Head of Media and Entertainment, Barclays
Peter Leibman
Professor of Education, St. Francis College, Brooklyn
Reggie Love
Senior Advisor, Apollo Global Management; Fmr. Special Assistant to President Barack Obama; Member of the 2001 Duke University NCAA Championship team
Rob Sharp
Co-CEO, Ramy Brook; Founding Partner, MidOcean Investment Group
Ronnie Aroesty
Seasoned Educator, Bronx
Russ Granik
Vice Chairman, Galatioto Sports Partners; Deputy Commissioner and COO, National Basketball Association; Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee
Sarah Kleinhandler
Principal Consultant, Civic Solutions Group
Scott Mager
Chairman and CEO, PBM, LLC
Shawn Bryant
Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting
Sid Davidoff
Chair, DHC Administrative Law and Government Relations Groups; Davidoff, Hutcher & Citron, LLP
Sonny Hill
Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee; Co-Founder, Baker League - Philadelphia
Stephen Guirgis
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
Tonio Burgos
Founder and President, Tonio Burgos Associates; Founding member, DNC LGBTQ Caucus
Val Ackerman
Commissioner, Big East Conference
Vasu Kulkarni
Managing Partner, Courtside Ventures; Founder/CEO of Krossover
Will Gilchrist
Partner, The Gilchrist Group of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc
Yul Vazquez
Actor, Artist, Photographer