Friends of New York City Nurse Family Partnership announced in July the appointment of two new members to its board of directors. “This is a large step in the growth of the organization,” said Karin Romans, who was appointed Executive Director in January.
The board is helmed by Susan Orkin, Co-Founder and Board President. “In founding Friends, Susan sought to level the playing field for first-time, low-income mothers. I’m glad to see our organization evolve under her leadership,” said Romans. “Our board is composed of a group of talented professionals who have dedicated their time to ensuring moms and babies get the support they need when they need it most: the early years. I am excited to see Rebekah and Christina channel their incredible skills, expertise, and energy into furthering our mission.”
“The mission of Friends is to support moms in the evidence-based Nurse Family Partnership program, which pairs a nurse with a first-time mother from pregnancy until the child is age 2. Susan says “I created Friends because I learned that there were no individual contributions coming into NFP–the best anti-poverty program I had seen in a 30-year social work career and I thought that money was being left on the table. In the past five years, we have supported clients and nurses in NFP with close to half a million dollars.” In the past year, we’ve added some modest staff and must build sustainability and capacity to continue to support NFP moms in creating financial stability for their families. I am excited to welcome our new board members who will help us accomplish this goal!” said Susan Orkin, Board President.
Below is a brief introduction of the two members:
Christina White, CPA is a director at PwC with more than 12 year of experience providing accounting audit and business advisory services to both emerging growth companies and multinational companies within the technology, media & entertainment industries.
Rebekah Wahba is the Global Head of Client Data at BlackRock. She has spent two decades working at the intersection of financial services and technology.
This brings the number of board members to twelve. Friends’ Board of Directors also includes: Susan Orkin, Christine Wasserstein, Susan Chinitz, Henry Mascia, Ellen Cohen, Faiza Issa, Mia Lipsit, Brittany Richards, Linda Rothenberg Stein, and Ariane Tschumi.