Margaret Sánchez
Chair

Margaret is Principal of Sanchez & Associates and has experience as an organization development consultant, program evaluator, group process facilitator, senior manager and educator since 1973. Her expertise includes change management, strategic planning, diversity initiatives, team building, and broad based skill building for a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

In the area of diversity, Margaret has developed and implemented diversity initiatives; designed and conducted diversity training and train-the-trainer training;
and developed and implemented cultural audits and employee surveys. She has been a communication skills educator at both the university and community levels. She is currently coordinating the Corporate Mentoring Program at Eastman Kodak Company, Hewlett Packard, SC Johnson, Dell Computer, and Aventis Pharmaceuticals.

Margaret served as an officer of the United Way of Greater Rochester and Chairperson of the American Red Cross-Greater Rochester Chapter Board of
Directors. Currently, she is the Chairperson of the National Diversity Advisory Council for the American Red Cross, Chairperson-Elect of the Rochester Area
Community Foundation, Secretary of the Al Sigl Partners Foundation Board of Trustees, and member of the Lifespan Board of Directors.

Margaret holds a B.A. in Spanish and an M.A. in Guidance & Counseling from Michigan State University.

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Charlotte Clarke
Secretary

Charlotte Clarke is Director of Community Affairs at WOKR 13, Rochester's ABC affiliate. She is also the creator and producer/host of "Many Voices, Many Visions" a weekly public affairs program celebrating Rochester's cultural diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, creed, age, gender, gender orientation and ability.

A graduate of Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, Charlotte majored in German and spent her junior year abroad kindling a lifelong fascination with other cultures. She married a college classmate, a foreign student from East Africa, whose subsequent work with the United Nations took the family to Jordan, Thailand, Brazil and Kenya.

After 13 years living abroad, where she raised two daughters and taught English as a Second Language, Ms. Clarke returned to the U.S. to complete graduate work in English and Education to earn permanent teaching certification in German and English. She moved from education to broadcasting in 1984.

During her tenure at WOKR, she has received numerous awards including two New York State Emmy nominations and the National JC Penny-Missouri School of Journalism National Award for Best Public Service Announcement. She also received the New York State Broadcasters Association award for "Best Regularly Scheduled Public Service Program" several years in a row, and in 2000 and 2002 won national recognition when awarded "Best Regularly Scheduled Public Service Program Markets 31+" by the National Broadcast Association of Community Affairs. In addition to producing award-winning television programs, in 1996 Charlotte co-produced a CD of her original Many Voices theme song featuring Rochester musicians from many different cultural backgrounds and musical traditions. To date, the theme has been performed in 11 languages and over 40 musical styles illustrating that there are many ways to sing one song, all uniquely beautiful.

Ms. Clarke serves on the Board of the Urban League of Rochester, the Mayor's Commission on Race and Ethnicity and Young Audiences of Rochester. Her interests are reading and music. Her hobbies are gardening and photography. Her dream is a world which harmoniously celebrates all of its parts.

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Malik Evans
Member

Malik Evans is an Assistant Vice President with M&T Bank. He manages two branches and has been with M&T since 2002. The University of Rochester graduate believes that financial literacy and economic empowerment, in concert with a quality education, are key to improving the lives of citizens in the community. Mr. Evans regularly presents financial literacy seminars that focus on money management, business development and basic banking. Business development is a regular part of Mr. Evans’ job, and he enjoys assisting current and new businesses in securing financing for their operations. The Rochester resident believes bankers are a vital part of the community. “Bankers provide the catalyst for making dreams come true -- from investing in the future to buying a home to starting a business.”

A passionate believer in the power of education, Mr. Evans ran for and became the youngest member ever elected to the Rochester Board of Education in 2003. He currently serves as Vice President. Mr. Evans holds a political science degree from the University of Rochester. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Monroe County Fair and Recreation Association, the University of Rochester Trustee Alumni Council, the Catholic Family Center Homeless and Housing Panel, and the Rochester Area Community Foundation Board of Directors where he serves on the Distributions Committee. Mr. Evans was a Legislative Aide to then-City Council Member Wade S. Norwood, and he was a member of former Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson’s Commission on Race and Ethnicity.

Mr. Evans’ dedication to community service began while he was a student at Wilson Magnet High School. He served on the New York State Youth Advisory Council and was a founder of the City/County Youth Council, which he chaired for five years. The Council developed more than 20 workshops around leadership development and team building for youth, including the annual “Steppin’ Up To Solutions” youth conference, which has spread to communities across the country.

“The importance of community service cannot be over-emphasized. It was a lesson I learned at a young age and it is a personal ethic I continue to embrace,” Mr. Evans said.

               
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Sandra Frankel
Member

In 1998, Sandra Frankel won the Primary Election to become the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York. As the first Democrat from upstate, western New York to win a statewide primary, she opened the door for Democrats from our region. Sandy championed many issues, including the need for fiscal responsibility, access to quality health care for all New Yorkers, support for education, public safety, and a clean environment. Although she and her running mate did not win the General Election, she represented our community with dignity and honor in a positive campaign, and put Monroe County on the map.

Committed to continuing a tradition of excellence in education for all children, Sandy served as a school board member for 10 years. She was elected vice president of the Brighton School Board and BOCES #1 Board of Education, and president of the Monroe County School Boards Association. She is proud that the Brighton schools have earned recognition as one of the best in the nation.

Sandy has contributed many years of volunteer service to organizations such as the League of Women Voters, United Way, Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester, Greater Rochester Fights Back, Continuing Developmental Services Foundation, Rochester Chamber Orchestra, Brighton Chamber of Commerce, Genesee Land Trust, Temple Sinai, Brighton Kiwanis, Rochester Rotary Club, Children Awaiting Parents, and the Freedom Celebration Committee of the Rochester/Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission.

She has worked to strengthen ties between suburbs and the city through her work as a member of the City of Rochester Stewardship Council for the comprehensive plan update, "Rochester 2010: An Urban Renaissance". She also initiated a cooperative planning process for Monroe Avenue, a major commercial/retail corridor shared by the City of Rochester and the Towns of Brighton and Pittsford.

She also serves as a member of the Board of Governors and is Past President of the not-for-profit New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR). NYMIR is an insurance company licensed by New York State and owned by its subscriber municipalities, including counties, towns, small cities and villages. NYMIR provides cost-effective risk management and cooperative property and liability insurance services to more than 600 local governments throughout the state.

In 1999, the Huntington's Disease Society of America honored Sandra Frankel with their national Distinguished Leadership Award. Frankel has also received numerous other awards and recognition for her public, community, and professional leadership and service.

Sandy acknowledges that her idealism and desire to help people had its roots in our country's civil rights movement and the Democratic leadership of President John F. Kennedy. Frankel grew up in Miami, Florida. As a native of the South, Frankel knows the destructive nature of hatred and prejudice based on race, religion, or gender. Frankel's early experiences were a crucible for her interest to include and inform all citizens in the process of government, and to fight for civil rights and equal and fair treatment for all.

Frankel received her Bachelor of Science with distinction from Newcomb College of Tulane University, including a year at the University of Bristol, Bristol, England. She graduated with a Master of Arts from Northwestern University and completed additional graduate studies at Stanford University and San Jose State College

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Jennifer Leonard
Member

Jennifer Leonard is president and executive director of Rochester Area Community Foundation, a $160 million community foundation administering more than 850 philanthropic funds given by, and for the benefit of, residents of the six-county Genesee Valley region of upstate New York. The Community Foundation has quintupled in size since Jennifer assumed her present position in 1993, and last year distributed $16 million in grants for community purposes.

Recently named chair-elect of the Council on Foundations’ Community Foundations Leadership Team, Jennifer helped develop the first national standards for community foundations and currently chairs the national standards implementation process. She serves on the faculty of the Council’s Center for Community Foundation Excellence and President’s Advisory Committee on Accountability. Jennifer also co-chairs the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth and serves on the board of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

In Rochester, Jennifer chairs the WILLpowerSM collaborative to promote philanthropy and planned giving. She serves as vice chair of Rochester Downtown Development Corporation and as a member of the mayor’s stewardship council for the city comprehensive plan. Jennifer is board secretary of Rochester Grantmakers Forum, program chair of the Funders Alliance of Upstate New York, and a director of the YMCA of Greater Rochester. In 2003, the Rochester Business Journal named Jennifer one of the community’s 20 most influential women.

Jennifer has also served as a vice president of the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles; national consultant on marketing and development for community foundations; graduate professor of fundraising; grantsmanship trainer; and frequent lecturer on philanthropy. Her articles about philanthropy and the nonprofit sector have appeared in many publications, including An Agile Servant: Community Leadership by Community Foundations (The Foundation Center, 1989).
Earlier in her career, Jennifer designed health education programs and worked on national public policy initiatives for the American Heart Association.

Jennifer is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College and a 1974 Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, with an urban studies master’s degree from Occidental College. She lives in Rochester with her husband, New York Times business reporter and author David Cay Johnston, and three daughters.

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Marie Y. Philippe, Ph.D., SPHR
Member

Coming Soon . . .

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Rev. Gordon Webster
Member

The Rev. Gordon Webster arrived as Co-pastor of Downtown Church in March 2001. Gordon has a passion for ecumenical / interfaith involvement and urban ministry, and preaches out of a deep concern for community, Christian spirituality and justice.

Born in Huntington, Long Island, Rev. Webster graduated with honors from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, with a major in Philosophy and a minor in psychology and religion. He earned his Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Contributing to that degree were his studies middler year at the Divinity School of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and his development of a senior level curriculum course on war and peace in his intern year with the Long Island United Ministries in Higher Education. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Long Island in Old First Church, Huntington, his home church, in 1973.

Rev. Webster in 1983 was called by the Mission Board of the Presbyterian denomination to serve in an international church peace effort to global “hot spots”. He responded to become with his wife Gloria, “Peace Associates in the Middle East”. In 1983-1984 he served with the Middle East Council of Churches, Beirut, Lebanon, with assignments in Cairo, Cyprus, Damascus, Amman and Jerusalem. In 1985-1986 he continued as a missionary-in-residence at the Stony Point Mission Conference Center, Stony Point, New York, designing and conducting workshops on Middle East Christianity and the conflicts, with a focus on “terrorism”, the Israeli-Palestinian, and Israeli-Arab tensions. He authored the lead article for the 1986 Mission Year Book of Prayer and Study, “The Middle East: The Birthplace of Christianity”, and designed the Montreat Peace Conference in the fall of 1985, with the Rev. Ben Weir, Dr. Edward Said and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg as keynote speakers.

Since 1996, Rev. Webster has served on the Stewardship Council for the City of Rochester. He worked with Mayor William Johnson to create the Mayor’s Commission on Race and Ethnicity, and actively participated in its primary program, Biracial Partnerships. From 1998 to 2001 he was
Executive Director of the Common Good Planning Center, working on smart growth and urban renaissance. He continues in leadership with the Greater Rochester Community of Churches, having served as President from 1994 to 1997. City Newspaper named him a 1995 Peacemaker of the Year. Since 2004, Gordon has served on the board of the American Friends of Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salaam, which supports the Oasis of Peace village in Israel. He plans 2006 study leave at the village in April-May.

Currently, Rev. Webster is a Presbyterian denominational delegate to the National Council of Churches of Christ General Assembly (1999-2007). He served as the Presbytery of Genesee Valley clergy commissioner to the 2004 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Richmond, Virginia, where he was an Advocate for the Baltimore Overture to eliminate the exclusivity in ordination standards, which forbids ordination or installation of otherwise prepared Presbyterians,
who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Rev. Webster shares his life with his wife, Gloria Webster, and their children. He is an avid reader and loves music. Occasionally, his tenor voice is heard from within the Downtown Church choir and dramatic musical presentations.