Board of Directors

Nnenna Lynch, Chair

On July 1, 2023, Nnenna Lynch became the Chair of NYRR's Board of Directors. She has served on the NYRR Board of Directors since 2014 and for many years served as Chair of the Community Impact Committee.

Nnenna is the Founder & CEO of Xylem Projects, a NYC-based mission-driven real estate investment and development firm. Xylem focuses on high-impact urban residential and mixed-use projects and is guided by four pillars: community enrichment, design, sustainability, and innovation. Nnenna has worked at the intersection of real estate, public policy, and finance her entire career and has a demonstrated track-record leading complicated, high-profile public-private partnerships. Before founding Xylem, Nnenna was Managing Principal and Head of Development at The Georgetown Company, a Senior Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg on economic development, a partner at Urban Green Builders, and an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Prior to launching her career in real estate, economic and community development, Nnenna was a professional middle-distance runner.

Nnenna is an Independent Director for AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT) as well as fintech startup Stake. In addition to Chair of the Board of Directors, Nnenna is Co-President of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, a Trustee of Villanova University, and the Van Alen Institute. Previously she was a board member of the New York City Housing Authority.

In 2021, Nnenna was named the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Fellow at Yale School of Architecture and was the recipient of City & State New York’s Responsible 100 Award in 2019. Nnenna graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from Villanova University where she earned 5 NCAA titles (4 team and 1 individual) and received an M. Litt in Anthropology from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Nnenna is a born-and-raised New Yorker and resides in Harlem with her husband and two children.

Priscilla Almodovar

Priscilla Almodovar is Fannie Mae’s Chief Executive Officer and serves on Fannie Mae’s Board of Directors.

With deep expertise in America’s housing finance system, Ms. Almodovar is responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategy, managing risk, driving innovation and efficiency, and promoting and fostering diversity and inclusion throughout the business.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Ms. Almodovar was President and Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Community Partners, a national organization focused on increasing the supply of affordable housing, advancing racial equity, and aggregating and investing capital to create meaningful change for systems, people, and communities.

Previously, Ms. Almodovar worked at JPMorgan Chase and led two of the firm’s national real estate businesses.

Earlier in her career, she was President and Chief Executive Officer at New York State Housing Finance Agency, State of New York Mortgage Agency, and Affordable Housing Corporation.

Dean Bell

Dean Bell is a member of KPMG’s Board of Directors and is currently the Market Activation Leader for KPMG's Deal Advisory and Strategy practice.

As a Director of the Board, Dean shares the responsibility of oversight of governance and compliance for KPMG’s board. He helps ensure that growth, a clear strategy, integrity, and client centricity are the foundational elements of how KPMG achieves its aspirations as a firm.

As Market Activation Leader, Dean executes the go-to-market strategy with the firm’s industry, channel, and sales team leaders and drives collaboration with KPMG's broader advisory practice to bring KPMG’s services to market. In this role, Dean is well-versed with marketplace trends and demands and is engaged across functions and industries to align the advisory’s service strategy and investment approach to meet these needs.

He is actively involved in KPMG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion priorities, and as a national leader in KPMG’s African Ancestry Business Resource Group is invested in recruiting, mentoring, and developing professionals from underrepresented groups. In support of his commitment to our communities, Dean is a graduate of the Partnership for New York City as a 2022 David Rockefeller Fellow. This one-year program convenes private sector executives to learn about the city and state and build civic leadership skills. Dean was recognized by Crain's in 2022 as a Notable Leader in Accounting and Consulting. In addition to New York Road Runners, Dean also serves on the board of the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club. He was the 8th person in the world to run all 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors in the same year – in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City – and has completed 28 marathons, and counting!

Mark Bilsky

Dr. Mark Bilsky is an Attending Neurosurgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Professor of Neurological Surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He holds the William E. Snee Chair in Neurosurgical Oncology and serves as the Chief of the MSKCC Multi-disciplinary Spine Tumor Service (MSTS). He received the Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical Excellence at MSKCC in 2014 and has been recognized on the annual list of New York Magazine’s Best Doctors and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer since 2005 and Super Doctors since 2008.

Dr. Bilsky’s efforts to advance the treatment of both benign and malignant spine tumors of the MSTS have led to the development of international treatment paradigms that integrate tumor-specific surgical approaches with advanced radiation techniques and percutaneous interventional procedures. This combined modality treatment has significantly improved treatment outcomes and substantially reduced morbidity for patients with spine tumors. Based on this work, Dr. Bilsky has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and delivered over 350 lectures worldwide.

Dr. Bilsky has been an NYRR member since 1988 and has completed 10 marathons. He resides in Manhattan with his wife and daughter, both runners as well.

Stacy Creamer

Stacy Creamer is a Vice President at Audible. She came to audio after a long career in print book publishing where, over the years, she worked as an acquiring editor at Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette. Her New York Times bestsellers range from The Devil Wears Prada to Douglas Blackmon’s 2009 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Slavery By Another Name. She has edited works by John McEnroe, Lance Armstrong, Dara Torres, Ed Viesturs, Marla Runyan, and Lucille Ball.

Creamer is an avid runner and triathlete. She has been an NYRR member since the early eighties. She has competed for Central Park Track Club since 1987 and for Full Throttle Endurance, a local triathlon team, since 2010. Her PR for the 5K is 18:18, which she ran at age 40. She remains the record holder for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon for the F50-54 age group. And she has run the Empire State Building Run-Up eleven times. Creamer is a graduate of Yale University (’81). She lives on the Upper West Side with her son Kieran.

Raul Damas

Board Position: Chair, Public Affairs Committee

Raul is a partner at Brunswick Group where he advises clients on corporate communications, financial situations, and crisis management.

Raul has provided strategic counsel at the highest levels of the public and private sectors, employing his rare combination of policy development, communications, and government relations experience. Prior to joining Brunswick, he held senior leadership positions in the White House of President George W. Bush and at Pfizer. He began his career as a public opinion researcher, founding Latino Opinions, a bilingual polling and strategic communications firm.

Raul is a graduate of Villanova University, and holds an MBA from Columbia University, as well as a Masters of Political Management from George Washington University.

Christopher Foster

Since 2001, Christopher Foster has served as an assistant district attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s office, prosecuting some of the most serious crimes in Manhattan. In addition to those prosecutions, Foster has supervised teams of handpicked prosecutors who build complex cases against violent street gangs.

Growing up in New York City, Foster participated in many different sports, but he primarily used running as a tool to obtain fitness. During his junior year in college, he was talked into joining the cross country team, which meant spending a summer running more than he ever thought possible. That foray into track workouts, long runs, and hill repeats forged an appreciation of the sport. Foster continues to participate in and enjoy the dedication, camaraderie, and sacrifice required to run NYRR events.

Being a board member has enabled Foster to combine his dedication to New York City and its communities with a sport that he has grown to love. He understands that the benefits of structure through sport are particularly helpful to young people, who can easily stray from productive habits.

Foster received his B.A. in history from Vassar College and his J.D. from Albany Law School.

Michael Frankfurt, Secretary

Michael Frankfurt is the senior partner and a founding partner of Frankfurt Kurnit, one of the pre-eminent media and entertainment law firms in the United States. His experience is in all aspects of the business practice of law, focusing on entertainment and media law, representing advertising agencies, commercial film, television, publishing, graphic and fine arts, and new media companies, and representing and counseling executives and talent in those and other businesses.

Frankfurt is an active member of the New York State Bar Association. He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of The Creative Coalition and The Armory Foundation and as a trustee of the Hunter College Foundation. He is a member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame Committee, Friars Club, Hunter College Alumni and Athletic Hall of Fame, and Millrose Athletic Association.

The Hollywood Reporter named Mr. Frankfurt one of the “Top 100 Power Lawyers,” and he was cited as one of New York’s best entertainment lawyers by New York magazine. He has been named a New York-area “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers magazine eight times, and has been listed in Best Lawyers' annual report since 1989.

Frankfurt is a graduate of Hunter College (B.A., 1957), University of Virginia (J.D., 1960), and New York University (L.L.M., 1962).

Jason Gorevic

Jason Gorevic became the CEO of Teladoc in 2009, and has led the company through tremendous growth, increasing revenue nearly twentyfold and driving Teladoc to become the nation's largest and fastest growing telemedicine firm. He has steered Teladoc through innovative program enhancements, the redesign of its core technology, multiple successful acquisitions, and its 2015 IPO.

Previously, Gorevic was senior vice president and chief marketing and product officer for WellPoint Inc., a Fortune 50 managed-care company and the second-largest U.S. insurer. He twice won WellPoint’s Pinnacle Award for outstanding leadership. Gorevic became part of the WellPoint management team when it acquired Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, where he was the president of the $7 billion New York market, having joined the company in 2002. He began his career at Oxford Health Plans.

In 2015, Gorevic was named 2015 Digital Healthcare Innovator of the Year by Healthegy, in recognition of his efforts to bring telehealth into the mainstream. Additionally, he was recognized by Ernst & Young in 2014 as a regional winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award and in 2003 was named one of Crain’s New York Business “40 Under 40″ executives. He received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Gross

Micheal Gross is a co-founder of SLR Capital Partners, a leading independent private credit manager with $12.5 billion of investable capital. Founded in 2006, SLR primarily invests in U.S. middle market companies in the form of cash flow, asset-based, and specialty finance senior secured loans. SLR manages private credit funds, separately managed accounts, private business development companies (BDCs), and the publicly traded BDC, SLR Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: SLRC).

From 1990 to February 2006, Mr. Gross was a senior partner at Apollo Global Management, a leading private equity firm that he co-founded in 1990. Prior to his time at Apollo Management, L.P., Mr. Gross was employed by Drexel Burnham Lambert Incorporated.

Mr. Gross also serves as a Chairman of the Board of Mt. Sinai Children’s Center Foundation; Director of First Descents; Member of the Kellogg Global Advisory Board; and Member of the Ross School Advisory Board at the University of Michigan. Mr. Gross holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Michigan and an M.M. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Gross is an avid runner having completed 20 consecutive New York City Marathons, including winning his age group in 2021.

George Hirsch

George Hirsch served as chair of the NYRR Board of Directors from 2004 to June 2023 and is now the Board Chair Emeritus. He was the worldwide publisher of Runner’s World magazine, the founding publisher and president of New York magazine, and the publishing director of Men’s Health magazine. He was also the publisher of the English-language edition of Italy’s oldest food/cooking magazine, La Cucina Italiana.

George ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. He served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness from 1986 to 1988 and was vice chairman of the New York City Sports Commission. He has provided television commentary for three Olympic Games (Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona), the U.S. Olympic Trials, and major marathons including Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Born in New York City in 1934, George is a founder of the five-borough marathon and ran in that inaugural event in 1976. He remained an active participant in NYRR races well into his 80s, routinely placing in his age group.

In 2019 George was knighted by the Republic of Italy.

In 2022 he was honored at NYRR Night of Champions during TCS New York City Marathon weekend for his lifetime of contributions to running.

Jed Laskowitz

Jed Laskowitz is Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of Asset Management Solutions, where he oversees $340B in assets across the Multi-Asset Solutions investment teams. Jed is also responsible for J.P. Morgan's global ETF business, which includes over 80 funds and $100B in assets. Additionally, Jed is responsible for 55ip, a technology platform that provides multi-asset portfolio model management along with active tax management and transition to financial advisors and wealth managers.

An employee since 1996, Jed previously served as CEO of Intelligent Digital Solutions, where he managed the firm's global Digital Wealth Management team and Asset & Wealth Management's Data Science team. Prior to this role, Jed served as co-Head of Asset Management Solutions from 2015 to 2017. Prior to 2015, Jed was CEO of Asset Management's Asia Pacific business for three years, and held a number of leadership roles in the Asset Management business — including Head of U.S. Funds. Jed is a member of the AWM Operating Committee, the AM Operating Committee and the firm-wide Strategic Investment Committee.

Jed holds a B.A. from Ithaca College, a J.D. with honors from Brooklyn Law School, and is a member of the New York State Bar. He is a member of the Northwell Cohen Children's Medical Center Advisory Board, an Advisory Board Member for the financial technology companies InvestCloud and the TIFIN Group, and is a member of the New York Road Runners Board of Directors.

Cathy Lasry

Cathy Lasry currently sits on NYRR’s Advisory Council. She previously served on the boards of The Roundabout Theater Company, Only Make Believe, and Clark University, where she attended college and met her husband, Marc.

In addition, Cathy is very active in Democratic politics and was the President of Eleanor’s Legacy, where she also trained Democratic women to run for office. She previously worked as a young adult book editor and was the author of several young adult novels. Cathy and her husband, Marc, live on the Upper West Side, overlooking the Marathon finish line. They have five children and four grandchildren.

Adrienne Lotson

Adrienne R. Lotson, PhD, an Administrative Law Judge for New York State's Empire State Development agency, where she presides over the appeals of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises. She spent the first 15 years of her legal career as a sports attorney working with notable organizations such as the Women’s Sports Foundation, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

A dedicated alumna, Dr. Lotson is a former President of the Dartmouth College Alumni Council, providing leadership to over 82,000 global alumni during the College’s 250th Anniversary season. As the first Black woman to serve in this capacity, under her leadership, the College expanded the diversity of its Board of Trustees, developed diversity pipelines, and increased the engagement of underrepresented alumni groups. Dr. Lotson took up distance running to fulfill a bucket list desire to run a marathon for her 50th birthday. Three marathons and countless half-marathons, 10ks and 5ks later, she continues to race her way around the world. She is a proud member of Black Girls Run (BGR), Galloway NYC, and Latinas in Motion.

Dr. Lotson earned her A.B. at Dartmouth College, J.D. at UC Berkeley School of Law, M.Div. at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), and M.Phil./Ph.D. with a focus on Black women and media at the Graduate Center (CUNY). Cultural anthropologist, DEIB consultant, author, performance artist and engaging speaker, Dr. Lotson is an avid traveler – having traveled to 46 states and 40 countries (and counting) – who uses her gifts for the written and spoken word to provide voice to the silenced, visibility to those often overlooked, and resources to those seeking empowerment and transformation. She resides in Harlem.