Advisory Council
2011 Advisory Council
Betty Cotton
Betty Cotton serves on the boards of The Westchester Community College Foundation, Project Interchange, Jewish Council of Public Affairs, and American Jewish Committee-New York Region. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Westchester Not-For-Profit Leadership Summit and is chairperson of the Greyston Foundation Wisdom Council.
Betty is a former President of the Westchester American Jewish Committee and formerly served on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s National Finance Committee. She was honored by the Women’s Campaign Board in 2005.
Professionally, Betty has worked as a consultant to not for profit organizations for many years. She received a BA from George Washington University and an MS in Urban Affairs from Hunter College.
Jill Iscol
Educator, social and political activist, Jill Iscol, Ed.D, is President of the IF Hummingbird Foundation, a family foundation established in 1989 to support domestic and international efforts to strengthen democracy and reduce the social, economic, and educational inequalities that threaten it. For the past two decades Jill has supported and participated in numerous organizations and has developed an expertise in identifying visionary leaders and programs at early stages of their development. She fosters their advancement by providing seed capital and guidance enabling them to become stable, sustainable and successful organizations, impacting lives around the globe.
As a Democratic Party activist, Jill served as Co-Chair for Hillary Rodham Clinton for Senate’s New York Finance Committee and as National Vice-Chair of Hillary Rodham Clinton for President’s 2008 Finance Committee.
Jill currently serves as a Trustee of Horizons National, on the Advisory Board of the Center for New American Security in Washington, as a member of the New York State Commission on National and Community Service and was most recently appointed to the US-Afghan Women’s Council.
Jill is writing a book about leadership and social change.
Cathy O’Brien Yaffa
Cathy O’Brien Yaffa, the Chief Executive Officer of AAM Brand Management Group, is a strategic marketing and communications professional with over 20 years of global brand-building experience. She honed her considerable skills in the ultra-competitive and continually-changing entertainment and beauty industries. She has spent her entire professional career as an integral part of top companies’ executive teams – responsible for building businesses as well as identifying and launching emerging talent to worldwide success.
Cathy has held senior positions at prominent companies such as Estee Lauder, where she held global marketing and communications roles; BMG where she ran the International Division of Arista Records under Clive Davis; and Sony Music and Capitol Records in global marketing and creative roles.
Seeing the potential of turning personalities into global Brands…Read the rest here »
Becky Fleischauer
Becky Fleischauer is the founder of Navigator Communications, an issues advocacy and communications firm serving clients whose work enlightens, promotes health and creates opportunity. She has more than 20 years of media and communications experience and loves a challenge. Prior to starting her own business, she was a vice president at GMMB, a nationally recognized public affairs and issue advocacy firm. At GMMB, Becky helped manage the communications planning and media outreach for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s education division, as well as the American Beverage Association’s campaign to reduce childhood obesity, the Pew Center on the States Government Performance Project, the National Governors’ Association, Civic Enterprises’ National Summit on America’s Silent Dropout Epidemic, and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholars Program.
Before joining GMMB, she was a U.S. Senate press secretary and led media efforts for the National Governors Association, the National Education Association (NEA) and NeighborWorks America. Her work in producing the NEA’s Crisis Communications guide received an International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Silver Inkwell award.
Claire Silberman
Claire Silberman is a retired lawyer who supports many progressive candidates and causes. Claire practiced corporate litigation and banking law until 1997. She occasionally consulted in the financial compliance area of Promontory Financial Group, a consulting firm for global financial services companies, from 2002-2006.
Claire is a board member for several organizations: She serves on the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors, and the Boards of Women’s Voices Women Vote/the Voter Participation Center; the She Should Run Foundation of the Women’s Campaign Fund, StreetWise Partners, a nonprofit that builds mentoring relationships between low-income individuals and business professionals; the New Leaders Council; the Eagle Academy Foundation (public boys schools in NYC); Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies in NYC; the Citizens Union Foundation; and the Tank, which curates and provides a venue for emerging performing artists of all genres.
Involved in local politics, Claire volunteered in the NY Office of the Obama Campaign in 2008, overseeing phone operations and reviewing all incoming email. Additionally, she serves on the State Affairs Committee of the Citizens’ Union of the City of New York.
Claire holds a BA and JD from Stanford University, and has lived in Brooklyn Heights with her husband and kids since 1988. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.
