RETI Center

TEAM

Tim Gilman-Ševčík - Executive Director Artist, writer and neighborhood activist Tim Gilman-Sevcik has been actively involved in Red Hook’s recovery effort since Superstorm Sandy. A professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, he focuses on social impact and communications, while researching and writing about institutional reform.

Tim Gilman-Ševčík - Executive Director

Artist, writer and neighborhood activist Tim Gilman-Sevcik has been actively involved in Red Hook’s recovery effort since Superstorm Sandy. A professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, he focuses on social impact and communications, while researching and writing about institutional reform.

Gita Nandan - Board Chair Ms. Nandan is an architect, designer, educator, and leader in community resilience planning and design. She is a co-founder and principal of the award-winning design firm thread collective, co-chair of the Resilient Red Hook Committee, and a visiting associate professor at Pratt Institute GCPE and the School for Visual Arts. Ms. Nandan believes in resiliency and sustainable design as an elastic and supple approach, integrating social, cultural, and economic issues with high design principles to create innovative net-positive urban environments. Working in the field for over 20 years, Ms. Nandan has overseen design and construction on a wide range of project-types that span across many disciplines and scales, such as Passive House buildings, to a net-zero field station along the Gowanus Canal. Her work at the nexus of where design meets the ecology of place, and future-proofing the city, driven by finding creative solutions. Sustainable architecture and planning is not just a smart and necessary practice but economically advantageous. In addition to her current work, Ms. Nandan received her M.Arch from UC Berkeley and is a licensed practitioner in NY and NJ.

Gita Nandan - Board Chair

Ms. Nandan is an architect, designer, educator, and leader in community resilience planning and design. She is a co-founder and principal of the award-winning design firm thread collective, co-chair of the Resilient Red Hook Committee, and a visiting associate professor at Pratt Institute GCPE and the School for Visual Arts. Ms. Nandan believes in resiliency and sustainable design as an elastic and supple approach, integrating social, cultural, and economic issues with high design principles to create innovative net-positive urban environments.

Working in the field for over 20 years, Ms. Nandan has overseen design and construction on a wide range of project-types that span across many disciplines and scales, such as Passive House buildings, to a net-zero field station along the Gowanus Canal. Her work at the nexus of where design meets the ecology of place, and future-proofing the city, driven by finding creative solutions. Sustainable architecture and planning is not just a smart and necessary practice but economically advantageous.

In addition to her current work, Ms. Nandan received her M.Arch from UC Berkeley and is a licensed practitioner in NY and NJ.

Ron Shiffman - Board Member Founder of Pratt Institute’s Center for Community and Environmental Development, the oldest continuously operated university-based community design and development center, Ron Shiffman has a leading voice for social justice in New York City’s recovery following Sandy.

Ron Shiffman - Board Member

Founder of Pratt Institute’s Center for Community and Environmental Development, the oldest continuously operated university-based community design and development center, Ron Shiffman has a leading voice for social justice in New York City’s recovery following Sandy.

 
Carter Craft - Board Member Currently Senior Economic Officer at the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, Carter is an urban planner with more than twenty years of experience specializing in water, education, transportation and land use in and around New York City.

Carter Craft - Board Member

Currently Senior Economic Officer at the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, Carter is an urban planner with more than twenty years of experience specializing in water, education, transportation and land use in and around New York City.

Cat Fitzgerald - Board Member Cat Fitzgerald is a freelance researcher and customer experience consultant. She travels around the country talking to people and working hard to make digital experiences better for everybody. She has worked extensively with credit unions, retail, travel, technology, media and other financial services businesses. She got involved in the local sustainability space and green professional development as the volunteer executive director and board member of GreenHomeNYC from 2004-2014. She has an incurable case of wanderlust and loves to hike, surf, take pictures and get out for fresh air as often as possible.

Cat Fitzgerald - Board Member

Cat Fitzgerald is a freelance researcher and customer experience consultant. She travels around the country talking to people and working hard to make digital experiences better for everybody. She has worked extensively with credit unions, retail, travel, technology, media and other financial services businesses.

She got involved in the local sustainability space and green professional development as the volunteer executive director and board member of GreenHomeNYC from 2004-2014.

She has an incurable case of wanderlust and loves to hike, surf, take pictures and get out for fresh air as often as possible.

Laurie Schoeman - Board Member Laurie is the national senior program director for resilience initiatives at Enterprise Community Partners. She oversees Enterprise’s efforts to preserve and protect affordable housing across the nation from the risks and impacts of natural hazards. Her team assists CDCs, cities, and states in a wide range of communities across the nation to develop housing that can sustain impacts of natural hazards and incorporate innovative resiliency ideas, technical assistance, and advocacy support into post-event reconstruction of communities. Laurie is committed to building climate resilient housing across the nation, developing strategic and action-oriented programs that help vulnerable communities mitigate the impacts of natural hazards with public and private sector partners.

Laurie Schoeman - Board Member

Laurie is the national senior program director for resilience initiatives at Enterprise Community Partners. She oversees Enterprise’s efforts to preserve and protect affordable housing across the nation from the risks and impacts of natural hazards. Her team assists CDCs, cities, and states in a wide range of communities across the nation to develop housing that can sustain impacts of natural hazards and incorporate innovative resiliency ideas, technical assistance, and advocacy support into post-event reconstruction of communities.

Laurie is committed to building climate resilient housing across the nation, developing strategic and action-oriented programs that help vulnerable communities mitigate the impacts of natural hazards with public and private sector partners.