Michael Capiraso has contributed significantly to NYRR on many levels since he began working with the organization. As EVP of Operations, Administration & Strategy, Capiraso’s focus is on increasing operational efficiencies at NYRR and helping teams to better focus on strategy process, procedure, and systems across the organization. He oversees Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Strategy departments, playing a key role in the hiring of strong leaders in each (in addition to serving as interim head of BMC).  Capiraso helped create the strategy function at NYRR, was instrumental in NYRR’s brand initiative, and led a team in securing and orchestrating the move to NYRR’s new office space.

Capiraso’s credentials include marketing and strategic and operational roles growing top U.S. and international businesses including the NFL, Cole Haan, Major League Baseball, and Calvin Klein.  Prior to initiating his own consulting business in 2009, he was CMO of Nike-owned Cole Haan. He also served as CEO of PRISM North America, a WPP Sports & Entertainment agency, and Vice President of Marketing & Executive Creative Director at the National Football League. While with the NFL, he created the Super Bowl XL “Road to Forty” platform, which led to, at the time, the highest activation and media exposure revenues in NFL history. Before joining the NFL, Capiraso consulted on content development and team advertising as a Creative Director for Major League Baseball Productions. Previous to roles within the sports industry, he served in a Vice President position at Calvin Klein, where he was part of a leadership team that drove Calvin Klein’s business at the time to new levels in sales, distribution, and product development.

Capiraso has an MBA, and he studied film at New York University. He has completed the last 21 New York City Marathons. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters. 

Peter Ciaccia is NYRR’s executive vice president of Event Development & Broadcast Production and the technical director of the ING New York City Marathon. He is responsible for the planning, design, management, and execution of more than 60 running events annually, as well as the technical direction and production of the ING New York City Marathon. Ciaccia also leads TV, video, and live entertainment production, overseeing more than 50 special hospitality events of various sizes, along with the development of new events for the company. He and his team have been instrumental in the marathon's growth; in 2011, they produced several new events surrounding the race, including Marathon Opening Day, the Opening Ceremony and Parade of Nations, and the NYRR Dash to the Finish Line 5K.

Prior to joining NYRR, Ciaccia held executive positions within the music industry for CBS Records, Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment. For 10 years, Ciaccia was the owner and president of PC Management, Inc., a firm that specialized in artist development and international touring. In his current role, he leads a team of 46 full-time employees and manages a production budget of more than $10 million. Ciaccia maintains close working relationships with city, state, and federal officials on all matters pertaining to event planning. He holds a certification in FEMA & ICS planning and is a certified USAT Race Director.

Ciaccia has a lifetime passion for fitness; he has completed more than 30 half-marathons, marathons, and ultramarathons. He holds the unofficial title of best-dressed NYRR staffer.

Linda Franken, who joined NYRR in July 2011 as vice president of finance, brings extensive and broad-based experience in all aspects of accounting, internal controls, business management, and profit improvement initiatives. Both an MBA and a CPA, she has had  great success with start-up and re-engineering financial functions, establishing sound financial and business policy,  and partnering with senior management to achieve business goals.

Prior to working at NYRR, Franken was vice president of finance and advertising at Macy's, Inc., where she directed accounting and administrative functions in the company's retail division. She hired and mentored staff, created and implemented sound business process and procedures, and ensured SOX and audit compliance. She also partnered with senior business managers; created, managed, and controlled budgets, forecasts, long-range plans, and performance analysis; and was responsible for financial reporting and operating reviews.

From 1998 to 2003, Franken was the vice-president of finance for the global advertising and retail divisions of Calvin Klein, Inc., where she performed financial and administrative management of global advertising and retail divisions with billings of $120 million. Among many other responsibilities, she partnered with more than 30 licensees/in-house divisions to manage contractual and operational issues to reduce write-offs and improve receivable collections, supervised the division's year-end audit, and instituted and monitored an effective system of internal controls resulting in better adherence to sound business practices. She has also worked as a freelance financial consultant, performing a broad range of financial consulting work for public-relations and real estate firms.

Franken received a Bachelor of Arts from Montclair State College in Montclair, NJ, and her MBA from the Rutgers School of Business. She received her CPA from the State of New Jersey. 

Kerin Hempel is the Vice President of Strategy and Planning at NYRR. In her role, Hempel serves multiple functions, including strategy formulation, business opportunity assessment, growth plan execution, and project implementation. Hempel joined NYRR in 2010 and helped build the Strategy and Planning function within the organization. She and her team have helped drive process improvements and critical analyses around some of NYRR’s core functions. Additionally, the team has worked to formalize long-term planning and cohesive strategic plan development to enable the organization to unify around delivering to its core mission.

Prior to joining NYRR, Hempel was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients on matters of corporate strategy, crisis management, business efficiencies, and organizational structure. At McKinsey, Hempel’s work focused on the sports, media, and financial service industries. Prior to McKinsey, Hempel worked at JP Morgan, on the institutional fixed income derivatives trading desk.

Hempel graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a running enthusiast and has completed numerous marathons and races of all distances. 

Bob Laufer is Vice President – Legal of NYRR and Coordinator of the Wheelchair Division of the ING New York City Marathon. He is also Coordinator for Athletes with Disabilities (AWD) in the Marathon and all other NYRR events.  

Laufer joined the New York Road Runners staff in 1999 as General Counsel and was subsequently named Vice President – Legal. Prior to his arrival at NYRR, he was a partner in the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he practiced litigation and bankruptcy law for 35 years. Beginning in the late 1970s, at the request of NYRR’s then president, Fred Lebow, the Paul, Weiss firm became NYRR’s principal outside law firm. As lead counsel for NYRR on behalf of the firm, Laufer represented NYRR in connection with many of its early projects, including the negotiation of the New York City Marathon’s first major television contract with WABC. 

Laufer is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a law degree from Columbia University. He took up running in the late 1970s and thereafter competed on the track and roads for the Central Park Track Club, of which he is still a member. He has run 17 marathons, including five New York City Marathons, and has a personal best of 2:48:06, which he ran at the age of 45. His competitive drive has sparked inspired rallies by the NYRR softball team.

Maria Note joined New York Road Runners in May 2012 as Vice President of Human Resources.  She brings 20 years of experience in human resource management of dynamic, emerging companies. Among her goals is to ensure that NYRR is an inspiring place to work, and her own enthusiasm for the position will make that attitude an infectious one. She plays an important role in helping the company achieve its strategic imperatives and live its core values.

Before arriving at NYRR, Maria spent 10 years at Sakonnet Technology, an energy-trading software firm with offices in New York City, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing.  As the head of global Human Resources, Maria was instrumental in the firm’s growth as it became a thriving organization, using her hands-on, collaborative approach to implement processes and programs aligned with the company’s goals and its employees’ needs.

Prior to Sakonnet, Maria managed a division of Concorde, a New York employment services firm focused on the placement of banking, finance, and accounting professionals.

She has in-depth knowledge of New York state, local, and federal employment laws, immigration processes, and human resource practices and is an active member of the Society of Human Resource Management and the Human Resources Association of New York.

Born and raised in Brooklyn (and soon to be a big fan of the Brooklyn Half-Marathon), Maria earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Pace University and completed her Masters in Human Resource Management at New York University. 

Cliff Sperber is the Vice President of New York Road Runners' Youth and Community Services division and the leader of the organization’s quest to make running a part of every child’s school day. Beginning as executive director of NYRR Foundation in 2001, he has spearheaded significant growth in the division’s capacity: When the program began, it served about 100 children in New York City; today, it reaches more than 100,000 children throughout the five boroughs, in all 50 states, and in Africa, and the number is steadily growing. In 2011 alone, Sperber and his team served more than 700 schools and took part in over 250 community health events.
 
A tireless community organizer, Sperber previously worked with Pathways for Youth in the South Bronx for over 30 years. He firmly believes that running significantly improves children’s physical health and emotional well-being, and that it serves as a vital change agent for personal development and societal betterment. Sperber was recently named a “Hero” by Runner's World magazine. He holds a BA in Education from Queens College, City University of New York.

Veronica “Ronnie” Tucker joined NYRR in June 2012 and leads the Brand Marketing & Communications department. As the department’s functions continue to evolve, Tucker is poised to provide leadership that will guide the BMC team and play a key role in overall organizational growth. The team’s efforts will build upon NYRR’s recent brand initiative and Run for Life platform as the organization seeks to tell the bigger NYRR story of huge positive impact; our ongoing focus on broadening our engagement with runners of all types; our efforts to strengthen our alignment with, and support of, our corporate partners; and our opportunity to unlock the power of our community in supporting our youth- and cause-related efforts.

Tucker is a senior marketing executive with a 20-year track record of integrating marketing strategy and brand positioning in areas of advertising, consumer promotion, digital and social media, sponsorship and events, and public relations. Prior to joining NYRR, she was a senior vice president at Marketing Drive, a national marketing and consumer promotion agency, where she managed client account teams and delivered strategic planning and development of integrated programming for client businesses. Before that, she was the senior director of partnership marketing at the USTA, managing annual sponsorship and partnership marketing activity for all professional tennis events in the United States, including the U.S. Open and the U.S. Open Series.

Additionally, Tucker was the director of brand marketing at InBev USA, where she was responsible for the development of national marketing strategies for such brands as Rolling Rock, Labatt Blue, and Beck’s. During her seven-year tenure at InBev USA, she also led national field marketing and sponsorship, and she established the customer marketing capability within the organization. 

As president and CEO of NYRR and race director of the ING New York City Marathon, Mary Wittenberg is responsible for setting strategy and overseeing the business and operations of NYRR. Pursuing a consistent growth strategy, Wittenberg and her team have elevated NYRR’s prominence and impact as they seek to lead a global running movement by making running more accessible to a broader audience.

Wittenberg, the first woman to lead NYRR, and her team have expanded the organization’s commitment to the five boroughs of New York City through youth running events and community health programs—creating an unrivaled urban running model. Under her leadership, NYRR has broadened its horizons, fueled by a year-round calendar of classes, clinics, and events. Off the race course, the organization's media reach includes digital, broadcast, and print vehicles. The ING New York City Marathon and its impact have grown dramatically—in 2011, the largest marathon ever boasted more than 47,000 finishers, $340 million in revenue for our city, and over $34 million raised for charities. They've also created new events like the NYC Half.

Partnerships are crucial to furthering NYRR's mission, and have grown substantially. This year, Wittenberg and her team secured a five-year deal to return the New York City Marathon to live national television for the first time in almost 20 years. And to build the sport's fan base and inspire the next generation of runners, NYRR has offered unprecedented support to world-class competitors. Leaders of the pack in New York and across the United States have gained strength through NYRR’s post-collegiate running groups, and athletes from around the world come together in the World Marathon Majors—a two-year, five-race series created in 2006 in partnership with the directors of the Boston, London, Berlin, and Chicago Marathons. Wittenberg and her team have also hosted several national championships, including the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships and the 2008 US Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon.

Wittenberg joined NYRR in late 1998 and became its first Chief Operating Officer in 2000. In 2005 she became President and CEO as well as Race Director of the New York City Marathon. Prior to joining NYRR, she was a partner in the law firm Hunton & Williams in Richmond, VA, and New York City. Wittenberg is a graduate of Canisius College in Buffalo and holds a law degree from Notre Dame University. She won the 1987 Marine Corps Marathon and competed in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. She and her husband live a short run from Central Park with their two basketball-playing sons.