Chief Executive Officer Jonathan McLean and Chair of the Board Lee Wood are extremely pleased to announce the nomination of five new members to the CASES Board of Trustees.

Jonathan said: “We are ecstatic to have this group of accomplished leaders join CASES. I look forward to working alongside them and thank the Nominating Committee for connecting us with individuals at the center of the systems in which CASES works.”

Read more about these distinguished professionals below:

Katherine V. Charles is a state and federally barred award-winning New York attorney. She commenced her legal career as a prosecutor with the goal of reforming the criminal legal system. Katherine used her position to offer more alternative-to-incarceration programs and reduced pleas to first-time offenders in lieu of incarceration, and mentored at-risk youth in the jurisdiction she where prosecuted. After leaving the public sector, Katherine practiced civil litigation in New York City. She currently works as litigation counsel and is expanding her practice areas to include entertainment and sports law. In addition to practicing law, Katherine continues to mentor at-risk youth, along with law students and young attorneys throughout the country. She is an active member of legal and entertainment-based organizations, proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, pro bono attorney for low-income artists in New York City through Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and board member of the Haitian American Lawyers Association of New York (HALANY), as well as Fondation Rivernordaise de New York en Action, a nonprofit with a mission to assist her family’s hometown in Grande Riviere du Nord, Haiti. She maintains a strong passion for activism, community service, and aiding marginalized communities. Katherine conjoins those passions with her career in law to effectuate widespread change. She previously served as an Associate Board member for CASES and is elated and honored to lead as a member of the Board of Trustees.

 

Hannah Furstenberg-Beckman is a Program Officer at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, where she uses her decade-plus experience in nonprofit management, policy analysis, and fundraising to lead the Democracy Program for the family foundation. Hannah began her career advocating for young people in community-based organizations. At CASES, she worked as a Case Coordinator with youth in an alternative-to-incarceration program. As a Vice President at ideas42, Hannah developed and led the new Public Safety & Criminal Justice program at the organization. She partnered with government leaders, academics, and nonprofits to develop alternatives to cash bail, improve community policing practices, and strengthen the continuum of mental healthcare from jails to community-based services. As a John F. Kennedy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, she studied issues of voting rights and democratic representation while earning her MPA. Hannah’s work on the Biden for President campaign’s voter protection team in 2020 motivated her to pursue new strategies to defend voting rights and promote civic engagement. She launched her own consulting operation, working with nonprofit and philanthropic leaders to expand access to the ballot and increase voter participation. At the Spitzer Charitable Trust, Hannah directs the foundation’s philanthropic giving to foster an inclusive and representative U.S. democracy. Hannah previously served as an Associate Board member for CASES and is honored to continue to serve the organization as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Keith M. Little, throughout his career, has been a hands-on leader with over 35 years of experience at state, city, local government organizations and in the nonprofit human services sector, Mr. Little brings considerable expertise in the provision of services to child, families and adults via his work in mental health, health care, early childhood education, child welfare, substance abuse, intellectual and developmental disability and juvenile justice programming.

In his most recent position, Mr. Little served as the President & CEO of SCO Family of Services, where he was responsible for oversight of the agency’s extensive continuum of residential and community-based child welfare, early childhood, youth development, family support, special needs, and homeless services.

He has held senior organizational and program leadership positions at the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), where he served as Associate Commissioner and Deputy Director responsible for the oversight of state operations for children’s services and as Executive Director for four of the six state-operated psychiatric centers.

His experience includes executive leadership posts at the Jewish Board, Edwin Gould Service for Children and Families, the New York City Department of Health, and the Nassau County Youth Board.

Mr. Little earned an MPA from Baruch College, City University of New York, and a bachelor’s degree from University of Bridgeport. He sits on the Boards of Directors of COFCCA; Good Shepherd Services; the Human Services Council; the Coalition for Behavioral Health; and the Black Agency Executives.

Roger Oliver grew up in Queens; the middle child of three boys, in a very artistic household. His father, Alex Oliver was an artist, RISD graduate, Illustrator and likely one of the first African Americans in the country (if not the world) to hold the title of Art Director; working at Young & Rubicam during the golden days of advertising in the late 60’s and 70’s. His mother Joyce stayed home to support the family, then went back to work where she managed the membership department of the NY Academy of Sciences, which was a wonderful place for Roger to visit as a young man. He grew up surrounded by art, music, history and discovery.

In Roger’s professional life, he has served as the Director of Strategic Accounts for The TemPositions Group of Companies, where he has held various positions for 24 years. In his personal life, he is a singer, guitarist, player of African percussion and a great lover of art, music, film and other forms of expression. Roger currently serves as President of the Partridge Scholarship Foundation and has been a member of the Board of Trustees for Job Path for over 15 years. Roger has a wonderful daughter, a college senior and they share a love of art, travel, food and all of the wonderful things this life has to offer.

Julianna Teeple is a Principal and Partner at Ancient, an investment holding company. Before joining Ancient, Julianna was an investor at Citadel within the firm’s Global Equities division. Prior to Citadel, Julianna was an investor at Senator Investment Group and at Miura Global Management, a Tiger seed fund, where she focused on the consumer, real estate, technology and business services sectors globally. Julianna began her career as a Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructurings banker at Greenhill & Co. Julianna holds a B.S. in Business Administration with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was an Andrew Carnegie Scholar.