A leading Nonprofit in the urban youth development space, CityLax, the largest urban lacrosse organization in the county, has led the way and blazed the trail in New York, growing the sport of lacrosse and making it more diversified for the past 15 years.
CityLax proudly announces a major Board expansion to broaden its Mission of using lacrosse as a means to educate and empower student-athletes by taking charge of their education, living healthier, and developing college pathways for greater chances of success in life.
In a move that reflects the necessary diversity and inclusion consistent with its Mission, CityLax has named 9 new members to its existing 9- member Board, for a total of 18. The Board’s expansion is designed to oversee and lead the organization to meet the challenges of the changing environment in terms of race and economic inequity over the past few months and to scale its programming to help a greater number of inner-city students inside the New York City Public School system and in underserved communities throughout the 5 boroughs and Albany, NY. Established as a public-private partnership with the Department of Education back in 2005, CityLax works with and supports over 70 schools and 2500 students annually with its after school lacrosse programming and with a growing list of “off the field” services in the areas of college advising, test prep, nutrition, technology resources needed in the current virtual learning environment, and a recent series of forums dealing with issues of race and racial tensions. With over 300 high schools and 600 middle schools in an urban education system of over 1.2 million children, 84% who are children of color or ethnicity and 74% described as economically disadvantaged, CityLax is aiming to leverage its current footprint to significantly expand on its Mission that has produced graduation rates of over 95% (5 year average) and college acceptance rates of over 96% (5 year average) among its lacrosse participants at the New York City public high school level.
The difficult and life changing environment of the past few months have shined a light on the continued inequity of their lives and the need to act now. The challenges inner city students face is nothing new to CityLax. CityLax has been working to level the playing field for children for the past 15 years. As CEO John Moser stated “CityLax sees this time as a chance to make significant change in the lives of inner-city students. The inequities they face are here for all to see. The stakes are too high not to answer the call.”
To achieve these goals for inner city students, CEO John Moser announced today a significant expansion of the CityLax Board. These key appointees have all been affiliated with CityLax/Docs for many years. The expansion of Board adds key leadership skills and experience to assist CityLax in executing its mission of changing the variables and outcome of CityLax student athletes.
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dana Reed, Ron Brown, Brittany Brown, Nigel Andrews, Howie Borkan, Brian Reilly, Eamon McAnaney, Pat Coleman and Max Levine as new Board members for CityLax, Inc., the nonprofit co-founded 15 years ago by Gavril Pasternak and myself,” founder Mat Levine said. “Their passion, individual skillsets in their core professional areas, and intimate knowledge of our history as a non-profit will play a pivotal role in helping CityLax move into the next phase of its mission as an urban youth development organization.”
These new members join a strong and dedicated CityLax Board previously composed of Founder Mat Levine, Jennifer Andrews, Max Seibald, Jarett Wait, Rob Coughlin, Tom Marino, Mike Martell, and CEO John Moser. Visit our website for more information on all board members.
NEW CITYLAX BOARD MEMBERS
DANA REED
Dana Reed brings a broad range of corporate, non-profit, and community involvement experience to CityLax through her work in impact investing in Africa, structured credit asset management, investment banking, and holding a number of positions serving New York City and the Harlem community where she works and lives with her 13-year old twin boys. She currently is the Founder and CEO of Nyansapo Impact Capital, an investment advisory firm specializing in Africa. Previously, she held the CEO positions in the impact investing space with The Africa Center and Pan African Investment Company, overseeing two $30,000,000 campaigns, plus serving on numerous boards. Prior this Dana has held banking positions with Semper Capital, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan. In her community, she has held positions of Trustee with the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, Oxford University Africa Advisory Counsel, Harlem Tech Fund, Brightpoint Health and the Randall’s Island Park Alliance, serves as a director of the Harlem Community Development Corporation, and has been an active member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. Additionally, she is a LIfetime member of The Council on Foreign Relations. Her boys have grown up playing lacrosse in New York City with the CityLax’s sister youth program Doc’s NYC program. Long involved with CityLax, Dana has co-Chaired CityLax’s annual benefit that drives the funding needed to support the growth of lacrosse in New York City’s public schools and underserved communities. She holds a BBA and MBA degrees from Howard University.
RONALD D. BROWN
A past Benefit Co-Chair and long-time supporter, CityLax welcomes Ronald Brown to its Board. Ron is a seasoned transaction attorney whose work and career have spanned the globe (United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa) through his transaction experience in joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions, equity and debt capital funding, and an array of business/legal issues in the real estate, energy, manufacturing, and transportation sectors. Having lived and worked in more than ten different African countries during his career, he has gained a reputation as a go-to expert when it comes to financing power projects, aircraft, shipping assets and equipment in the U.S. and Africa. Ron began his career at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts and gained additional experience with Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae.
A graduate of Harvard College (BA) where he also played lacrosse, Ron also received JD and MBA degrees from New York University. In addition to being a past CityLax Benefit Co-Chair, Ron has generously given back to the game of lacrosse in the City through coaching for many years in the Doc’s NYC Lacrosse program.
BRITTANY (BRITT) BROWN
We welcome Brittany Brown to our Board to provide energy and perspective from her current position working as the only person of color on the Wells Fargo’s structured products trading desk in Charlotte, NC and from a highly decorated collegiate Division I lacrosse playing career begun at the University of Virginia and concluded at the University of Pennsylvania. Britt started in goal for the Quakers from 2016-17 where she helped lead them to NCAA appearances both years including the Quarterfinals in 2016. In 2017, she was the only player of color on the roster leading Penn to another NCAA appearance, earning All-Region and All-ivy honors supported by her highly ranked statistical profile in GAA and save percentage (third in the country). As well as being a student-athlete, Brittany took part in the financial aid work-study program. Raised in the Bronx, NY, her lacrosse career began as a youth player in the Doc’s NYC Lacrosse program where she was introduced to the position of goalie which continued through her high school years at the Riverdale School in the Bronx and then the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. She is arguably the most celebrated female lacrosse player that has come out of New York City.
NIGEL ANDREWS
Nigel Andrews comes to the CityLax Board with the fresh perspective as a member of the Harvard Class of 2020 where he majored in Government and was a 4-year member of the Men’s Lacrosse team. He is regarded as one of the best midfielders ever to come out of New York City. As a 2nd grader, Nigel was introduced to lacrosse by observing a CityLax Clinic for a public high school in Harlem. Inspired by seeing students of color learning the sport, Nigel joined the Doc’s NYC Lacrosse Youth program, playing through 8th grade and then earned an opportunity to attend Deerfield Academy for high school where he became a highly recruited student-athlete (ranking 9th for his position by Inside Lacrosse), before landing at Harvard. On the Harvard team he made immediate contributions starting in his Freshman year and was poised to lead his team under new coach Gerry Bryne in the competitive Ivy League until the 2020 season was cancelled in March. Undaunted, Nigel contacted CityLax and asked if he could help the organization create a unique opportunity: an event for College 2020 seniors to play one last game with their teammates that will be staged in early September in New York City called the CityLax Senior Classic. Through Nigel’s leadership, it is expected to attract 100 college players in a one day event involving Men’s and Women’s games coached by former Tewaaraton Award winners and professional players, a youth/high school clinic, a Doc’s NYC 25th anniversary celebration, and a critical fundraising effort on the part of the 2020 Seniors to support the CityLax mission. Nigel plans to begin his post-college career in real estate this Fall.
Eamon McAnaney
A widely known talent in sports television, Eamon is currently a studio host on the SNY sport network. Previously he was ESPN’s play-by-play broadcaster for NCAA Division I College Lacrosse, playoffs, and National Championships. A New York City native who attended the St. David’s School, Eamon learned to play lacrosse at the Hill School and then played at Notre Dame where he was a captain. He brings to CityLax a wealth of knowledge on the growth of lacrosse across media platforms. A familiar voice and face to the New York City lacrosse community, Eamon has also served as emcee to 5 CityLax Benefit events.
Brian Reilly
CityLax welcomes Brian Reilly to its Board and looks forward to benefiting from his distinguished career in investment banking, corporate law, his governance experience serving on other for profit and nonprofit boards, and his involvement in the Yale Men’s Lacrosse program. He is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at Barclays where he is Global Head of Sustainable & Impact Banking. At Barclays, he is also a member of the Americas Banking Operating Committee, Chairman of the Social Innovation Facility, and Head of the Early Careers Recruiting Committee. Brian has worked in Investment Banking at Barclays and Lehman Brothers since 1998, and most recently was Global Head of Equity Capital Markets. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Brian was a corporate lawyer for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York and he served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Thomas C. Platt, in the Eastern District of New York. Brian serves as Co-President of the Yale Lacrosse Association, he is a member of the Board of Consultors of Villanova University College of Nursing, and he is a board member of Project Nyame Nsa, a non-profit that constructs and operates foster homes for orphans in Africa. Brian is a graduate of Yale University, where he was captain of the lacrosse team his senior year, and he earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Max Levine
Throughout his business career he has worked in a series of positions involving corporate finance, large scale consumer company logistics, and investments in rising companies in the consumer packaged goods and educational sectors. He is currently a Principal at the private equity firm Verlinvest, where he focuses on venture and growth equity investments in the global consumer space. Prior to joining Verlinvest, Max worked for H.J. Heinz, where he was placed into a range of finance and operating roles by 3G Capital, following 3G and Berkshire Hathaway’s $28bn acquisition of the company. Prior to Heinz, he worked for Barclays Capital in the Global Consumer Retail Group focusing primarily on M&A transactions in the food and beverage sectors.
Max holds an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. A native of New York City, Max grew up playing lacrosse in the Doc’s NYC program, at Trinity School, and then went on to play his college lacrosse at Johns Hopkins, where he was a defenseman on the 2007 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
Patrick Coleman
CityLax welcomes Patrick Coleman to its board. Pat has a broad-based background in finance, technology, and youth lacrosse development. He was a former Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan, and Bank of America where he managed several different global businesses across their debt and equity platforms. He is now the CEO of GlobalBased Technologies, a developer of trading execution technologies, and Chairman of the Board of REIN Technologies. Over a 20-year period, Pat has served as the President of Greenwich Youth Lacrosse, one of the largest youth programs in the New York Metro area and has been on the executive board of CONNY, a leading youth lacrosse organization and Chapter of US Lacrosse. Pat grew up playing lacrosse in Manhasset, LI and went on to play at Boston College.
Howard (Howie) Borkan
Howard (Howie) Borkan has long been a supporter and advisor to CityLax, serving in many capacities around its annual fundraising campaigns. We welcome him as a Board member who has institutional knowledge of our organization and deep roots throughout the youth, high school, college, club, and international lacrosse communities as a coach, organizer, and legal counsel. As a member of the bar in New York and New Jersey, for over 30 years, Howie has been a partner in several general practice law firms in both states, with an emphasis on commercial and residential real estate. He holds the post of Chairman of the Board of the New York State Honorary Fire Chiefs and is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police. In athletics and education, Howie has generously served on numerous other boards including the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation, the Ivy Football Association, Cornell Lacrosse Association, Cornell Football Association and has recently been named to the Cornell University Council. Through his devotion to the State of Israel, Howie was one of the founding fathers of lacrosse in Israel, introducing the sport to Israelis in 2011, where participation in the sport has grown exponentially. In 2018, he led the Israel Lacrosse Association as host to the largest international lacrosse championship ever held as 46 countries descended upon Israel to compete in the quadrennial World Games. Since graduating from Cornell University, Howie has been an organizer and coached lacrosse at every level, from youth to Team USA and has been inducted into the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In 2019 he was recognized by the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame with the Bruno Lambert “Good Guy” Award. He also serves as a color analyst on Cornell University men’s lacrosse radio and internet broadcasts.
