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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

Earl Monroe

 

Dan Klores

 

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.

David Stern

 

Board of Trustees

Jack Irushalmi

 

Jack Irushalmi
Vice-Chair

President and Managing Director, Tri Star Construction Corp

Aaron Saperstein

 

Aaron Saperstein
Treasurer

Executive Director, Morgan Stanley, Global Sports and Entertainment

Anita Reyes

 

Anita Reyes
Secretary

Executive Director, The Bronx Neighborhood Health Action Center

 

Rudy Acree
Deputy Director, Public Defender Service

Len Elmore

 

Len Elmore
Retired attorney, business leader, television sports personality and educator

Alan Fishman

 

Alan Fishman
Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance Corporation

Ernesto Freire

 

Ernesto Freire
Chief of Staff and Communications Director, Bloomberg Associates

Derrick Green

 

Derrick Green
Field Technician, Verizon; former NY Rens Head Coach

Jackie Harris

 

Jackie Harris
Sports Marketing Executive, Philanthropist, Lawyer

Laurie Lindenbaum

 

Laurie Lindenbaum
English teacher, Riverdale Country School; Fmr. consumer marketing at Best Foods

Estefany Lopez

 

Estefany Lopez
Chief Operating Officer, Comp Sci High

 

 

 

 

John Mogulescu

Founding Dean of the CUNY School of Professional Studies

Derrick Green

 

Michael Salzer
President; MacGuffin Films, Assembly Films, and the Rec. Room

Milton Sipp

 

Milton Sipp
Assistant Head of School, Riverdale Country School

 

David Strasser

 

David Strasser
Managing Director at SWaN

William Wesley

 

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

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