Leadership

Long Island Region

• Joseph Sackman, Assistant Treasurer (Long Island Activists)

• Kathryn Levy (Progressive East End Reformers)

New York City Region

• Arthur Schwartz, Treasurer and Political Director (Progressive Action of Lower Manhattan)

• George Albro, Co-Chair (Brooklyn Progressive Action Network)

• Maria Ordonez (Grassroots Action New York)

• Nancy de Delva, Co-Chair

• Ting Barrow, Communications Director (Manhattan Progressive Action Network)

Hudson Valley Region

• Jake Jacobs (Rockland Citizens Action Network)

Upstate Region

• Cari Gardner, Vice-Chair (NYPAN Greene)

• Emily Adams, Secretary (Tompkins County Progressives)

• Jay V. Bellanca, Co-Chair (Washington County Progressives)

• Mary Thorpe (NYPAN of the Southern Finger Lakes)

• Susan Domina (ROCitizen)

At-Large Members

• Anthony Beckford (Central Brooklyn Progressive Action Assoc.)

• Gene Binder (Bronx NYPAN)

• Nestor Medina (Bronx Progressives)

• Nick Wilt (Justice In Action Coalition)

• Penny Mintz (Progressive Action of Lower Manhattan)

• Robert Buonaspina (Long Island Activists)

Affiliate Representative

• John O’Malley (CWA Local 1180)

George resides in Brooklyn, is a member of Brooklyn Progressive Action Network and represents New York City

George was born and raised in Brooklyn, attended Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Law School, and currently lives in Park Slope Brooklyn. He worked as a lawyer for Legal Services representing tenants facing eviction in Housing Court. He then transferred to Legal Aid where for 15 years he represented criminal defendants, first in trial court and later in the Appeals Bureau.

In 1995, George was elected an officer and joined the staff of the United Auto Workers Local which at that time represented the 1000 attorneys who worked for the NYC Legal Aid Society. He became politically very active in the UAW and eventually was elected chair of the UAW’s Community & Political Action Committees. In 1998, George was one of the founders of the Working Families Party. Within the WFP, George helped form the Brooklyn Chapter, was on the State Committee, and later elected as one of the NYC Co-Chairs of the WFP. He currently represents NYPAN on the NYC Regional Advisory Council of the WFP. In 2012 George retired from Legal Aid and as a UAW Local Officer.

In both 2016 and 2020, George helped organize Bernie Sanders’ NYS delegate slates, and was an at-large convention delegate to the 2016 Convention. After the 2016 Convention, George, along with Eddie Kay, traveled around NYS to meet with the various Bernie Sanders grassroots groups to discuss the idea of forming a statewide organization committed to fighting for a progressive future. The founding of NYPAN resulted from those efforts. George is currently a co-chair of the Brooklyn NYPAN chapter and of the statewide organization.

Jay resides in Salem, is a member of Washington County Progressives, and represents upstate New York.

I’ve been involved in politics since the 60s and the days of Abbie Hoffman. Growing up, my family moved many times. As a teen, our move from northern California to Florida opened my eyes to the institutional racism that continues to this day for which I commend Bernie for addressing.

For over 25 years, I’ve lived within minutes of the Vermont border in rural, Republican-dominated, upstate New York. My wife is from Vermont and works there so we have followed Bernie Sanders’ rise from Mayor of Burlington to the U.S. Senate and have been supporters for decades.

I served on the town board when we lived in central Pennsylvania. In Salem, NY, where I live now, I was unable to land a position on the town board among the “good ol boys”, though I ran for office twice. Democrats have a challenge making headway in this part of NY State.

As the Vice Chair of our County Democratic Committee, and Chair of the Salem Town Democrats, I actively support Democrats running for local and state offices.

I am retired from the graphic arts industry and am currently finishing up our next-stage-of-life house–energy efficient, low maintenance with living area on one floor. I keep horses and chickens and so have daily “farm” chores to attend to.

In my experience in the corporate world, I witnessed the cronyism, the supremacy of the profit motive and the inequity which Bernie targets as the cause of many of the social ills in our country today. In my work-related travels to Europe and mostly Germany, I saw and heard about the benefits of living in a social democracy.

As the upstate Co-Chair of NYPAN, a director of Washington County Progressives, and a Democratic State Committee member from the 113 Assembly district, I continue to work for the goals that Bernie Sanders outlined and will continue to support “Our Revolution.”

Nancy resides in Queens and represents New York City.

When I came to the US as a child, my first experience in school politics was for the election of class president. This was new and exciting to me since I had come from a country with a dictatorship, where children were not allowed to participate in any political discussions. I loved it.

This love affair continues till this day.

I have volunteered in numerous political campaigns.

I joined the Bernie Sanders campaign and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2016

where the New York delegation decided to create NYPAN. I have been an active member since.

Vice-Chair

NYPAN Greene

carig@nypan.org

Cari lives in Greene County and is a founding member of NYPAN Greene

By the age of 12 I was already delving into issues of racism, injustice and inequality.  All my life I wanted to see people be treated fairly, have good health and a safe and sustainable world to live in. While raising two daughters and living life as a suburban woman, my best career experiences were as a teacher, ultimately teaching yoga to special needs people. And along the way I taught many lessons about sustainability, became a District Leader and I marched, rallied, lobbied and even got arrested fighting for a clean environment. When the Occupy movement was occupying Zuccotti Park, I was too old to camp out with them, but I brought food, made donations and joined marches.

Then Bernie announced he would run for president. My life hasn’t been the same since. I ultimately had to stop teaching to become a full-time community organizer forming The Westchester Bern, becoming a Bernie delegate and then a founding member of NYPAN. The Bernie group morphed into a huge and active chapter of NYPAN. I have since founded a second chapter when I moved to Greene County. I remain politically active as a District Leader and an environmental and justice activist. Now that I have easy access to Albany, I often participate in rallies, lobbying efforts, press conferences and forums for healthcare, environment, election reform, peace and justice. Being in action has been my best remedy for despair.

Emily resides outside of Ithaca, NY, is a member of Tompkins County Progressives, and represents upstate New York.

I was born and raised in the Ithaca area, attended Carleton College in Minnesota and graduated with a BA in Geology. After 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, I returned to New York briefly, and then moved on to Portland, Oregon, then Austin, Texas, then Belgium and Holland and Belgium again.

When my mother passed away in 2014, I returned to the Ithaca area, together with my Dutch husband Paulus, to be near my father. At the same time, Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy, and I dove in, helping to organize the first Ithaca Bernie meet-ups via Skype, from Europe. I was a delegate for Bernie and helped start our local progressive group after the elections ended.

When progressive groups around the state began to form and set up a statewide structure, I volunteered to help with that effort. As well as serving as secretary and handling administrative duties for NYPAN, I also co-organized various conferences, participated in lobbying efforts for Single Payer and election reform, and joined the lawsuit to keep Bernie on the NY primary ballot in 2020. I currently devote more time to the statewide organization than to my local group and very much look forward to the time when NYPAN can hire a professional staff person, so I can spend a little time in my garden.

Arthur resides in Manhattan, is a member of Progressive Action of Lower Manhattan, and represents New York City.

Arthur Schwartz is a 39-year labor union, plaintiff’s employment and civil rights lawyer. His long-time focus has been on union democracy and union election-related litigation, and he has represented thousands of workers in cases involving employment discrimination, wage theft, and unfair termination.

He has been a movement activist since the late 1960s and has represented major anti-nuke groups, anti-Central America intervention groups, ACORN, NY Communities for Change, Make the Road NY, and Occupy Wall Street. Current clients include Transport Workers Union of Greater NY, NYC School Employees Union, The Black Institute, and Black Lives Matter of Greater NY. Arthur was elected Democratic District Leader in Greenwich Village (1995-2005, 2013-present). He is currently running for City Council.

He was a delegate for Obama in 2008, served as Zephyr Teachout’s Treasurer in her run for Governor in 2014, and was Legal Counsel (and a delegate) for the 2016 Bernie Sanders NY campaign. Arthur also served as NYS Democratic Committee Member 2006-2013, and as a member of Community Board 2, Manhattan, where he focused on parks and playgrounds, 1991-2015. He is a father of 4, ages 14-32.

Ting lives in Washington Heights, is a member of Manhattan Progressive Action Network, and coordinates action (along with Steve Cecchini of LIA) among NYPAN chapters to pass the NY Health Act.

Ting is a founding member of Washington Heights for Bernie, now named Uptown Progressive Action, a group dedicated to putting Bernie’s platform into practice in Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill. The group was one of the 25 founding chapters of NYPAN. Ting ran for Democratic State Committee from the 72nd AD in 2016 and came in second of three. He’s also a member of 350NYC and non-physician member of PNHP, Physicians for a National Health Program.

Ting is a retired webmaster and sailor. In a former life, he was a film director. And in a former former life, he was a theater designer and technical director. He hails from from the Berkshires of Massachusetts, but has been in NYC for 45 years, married and living in Washington Heights since 2002.