Who We Are
About The New Agenda Foundation
Board and Officers
The New Agenda Foundation 501(c)(3)
Board Members
- Amy Siskind
- Karen Gerringer
- Deb Kemper
- Heather Capell Bramble
- Marla Isackson
- Lauren D. Myers
- Nydia Shahjahan
Officers
President
Amy Siskind
Vice President
Karen Gerringer
Treasurer
Marla Isackson
Secretary
Deb Kemper
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Amy Siskind
Amy Siskind
Amy Siskind is a national spokesperson, writer and expert on helping women and girls advance and succeed. A highly successful Wall Street executive, she’s Co-founder and President of The New Agenda, a national organization working on issues including economic independence and advancement, gender representation and bias, sexual assault and domestic violence. Some of her television and radio appearances include: CNN, Fox News, CNBC, PBS, TheStreet.com, NPRand Marketplace Radio. A frequent source for national press, Siskind has been quoted in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, POLITICO, U.S. News & World Report, RealClearPolitics, the Boston Globe and The Hill.
She’s a regular featured contributor at The Huffington Post. Amy speaks on college campuses and to young women about economic empowerment, and delivers inspiration keynotes and speeches to professional women on how to succeed. She serves on Cornell University’s highly prestigious President’s Council of Cornell Women and Cornell University Council, and was recently honored by the Westchester County Legislators for her LGBTQ advocacy.
A pioneer in the distressed debt trading market, she has a lifetime of experience with failure and remarkable success and knows what it takes to win. She became the first female Managing Director at Wasserstein Perella at the age of 31, and later ran trading departments at Morgan Stanley and Imperial Capital, where she was also a partner. She received a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MBA in Finance from The NYU Stern School of Business.
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Karen Gerringer
Karen Gerringer
Karen Gerringer is a founding member of The New Agenda, with a particular interest in the “safety” and “leadership” aspects of the organization. She is an Executive Director in Risk Management at Morgan Stanley, where she has worked for 16 years variously in technology, investment banking, firm management, and fixed income. Karen has a BS in Marketing and Management from Wharton/UPenn and an MBA in Finance and Technology from Stern/NYU.
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Deb Kemper
Deb Kemper
Deb Kemper is an experienced consultant and non-profit board member with cross-cultural leadership experience; she has lived and worked on three continents. Deb has provided leadership support to non-profit organizations in China and the United States. Deb recently directed the launch of Stone Soup Global Leadership, a YGL task force being incubated within JUCCCE. Stone Soup is focused on inspiring and enabling leaders who catalyze change. Prior to her non-profit focused work, Deb was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Deb earned her MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College where she was named an Edward Tuck Scholar. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Cornell University where she graduated With Distinction and was a member of the Varsity Women’s Crew. She recently moved to Boston with her husband and two children.
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Heather Capell Bramble
Heather Capell Bramble
Heather Capell Bramble has over a decade of senior legal and executive management experience. She is currently Chief Counsel to Commissioner Marietta Robinson of the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. The CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency formed in 1972, charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from more than 15,000 consumer products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard, or that can injure children.
Heather recently joined the CPSC after spending four years at home with her young children. Prior to that, Heather was a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP where her law practice focused on complex class actions, securities litigation and white- collar matters. Before becoming a partner at Dewey, Heather worked as an associate with the same group at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene, and MacRae, LLP (Dewey’s predecessor firm) and Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP. Her clients included large corporations such as Global Crossing, Ltd., Shell Oil Company and Zurich Insurance Company, as well as individuals. Heather began her legal career in Washington, DC as a staff attorney in the Division of Enforcement at The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission where she prosecuted commodities fraud and manipulation cases. After college but before law school, Heather spent three years working in New York City in the Office of Academic Affairs at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rothberg School for International Students.
Throughout her life and her career, Heather has been very involved in political, social and diversity issues. Her political work culminated in 2008, during Democratic primary elections, when Heather took a leave of absence from her law firm to work full time in various senior positions on the Hillary Clinton campaign.
While working in the government and private practice, Heather has spent much time mentoring many women and diverse lawyers. She was very involved in the women’s groups at all of her law firms and has initiated many networking activities for younger lawyers and law students over the years. She is extremely excited about her new position as a board member for The New Agenda to work to fulfill its mission to “improve the lives of women and girls by bringing about systemic change in the media, at the workplace, at school and at home.”
Heather received her J.D. from The University of Texas Law School and her B.A. with Highest Honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She also studied overseas in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the One-Year Program.
She lives with her spouse, Jocelyn, and their two children, Jonah and Vera, in Washington, D.C.
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Marla Isackson
Marla Isackson
Marla Isackson is a seasoned marketing executive with over 25 years’ experience creating innovative marketing campaigns for world-famous brands including Citibank, American Express, Barnes & Noble, and WebMD.
A longtime passionate supporter of girls’ initiatives, Marla is the founder of Like a Boss Girls, a website providing young women the tools, information and inspiration they need to define, explore and connect with their goals — including finding (or creating) their dream job, becoming entrepreneurs, social activists, leaders, basically pursuing success however they may define it. A mother of two and an entrepreneur herself, Marla created Like a Boss Girls, formerly known as Heart of Gold, because she believes that young women have the strength, determination and talents to play a bigger game, make a big difference in the world, and “make it big” by achieving real greatness in their lives.
Prior to founding Like A Boss Girls, Marla was the Chief Marketing Officer for Barnes & Noble during the successful expansion of “Readers’ Advantage,” the industry’s largest consumer loyalty program. While at Barnes & Noble, Marla also oversaw the development and execution of key multi-channel retail promotions and sponsorships.
As Senior Vice President for WebMD — the leading consumer Website in the healthcare industry — Marla oversaw all marketing activities, including advertising, media, promotions, user acquisition and retention and partner marketing.
During her 12-year tenure at American Express, Marla worked on numerous high-profile programs to expand and evolve the company’s consumer credit card portfolio. She oversaw the development and execution of all consumer loyalty, usage and retention initiatives, including the management of “Membership Rewards,” the largest and most diverse travel and retail rewards program in the marketplace. Marla also led several new product introductions, including the 1999 launch of “Blue from American Express,” the company’s most significant and successful effort to attain leadership in the credit card category.
Marla holds a B.A. from Union College and an M.B.A. from Fordham University. She lives with her husband in New Jersey. Marla is a newly elected member to the board of The New Agenda Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls by bringing about systemic change in the media, at the workplace, at school and at home.
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Lauren D. Myers
Lauren D. Myers
Lauren D. Myers is the Owner of The Myers Group, Inc. where she focuses in both Human Resources Consulting and Sports and Entertainment Marketing Partnerships and Development. During Lauren’s tenure with The Myers Group, Inc., she has increased her responsibilities from solely developing both active and retired NFL players through their brand management/image consulting endeavors (PR, media tours and training, foundation creation and development, career counseling including internships, events, marketing and sponsorship opportunities and fundraising endeavors) to now include musicians and a celebrity/award winning chef.
Prior to developing The Myers Group, Inc. Lauren served as an Executive Search and Human Resources Consultant for various Fortune 500 companies, as well as the Director of Marketing and Player Development for Sports West Football in Oakland, CA. At The Myers Group, she continues to consult with various clients nationwide addressing Human Resources and Talent Acquisition gaps. Through volunteer and philanthropic activities locally in Philadelphia and nationwide, it affords her the opportunity to expand her reach in creating career plans for her clients.
A native of Philadelphia, PA, Lauren is a graduate of Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is also a member of the Cornell University Council, and the Cornell Association of Class Officers where she chairs Diversity and Inclusion. She is a frequent speaker on campus discussing Sports and Entertainment Marketing /Development and the challenges with leading, influencing and navigating with athletes for life during and after their professional athletic careers. She resides in Philadelphia raising her four young children.
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Nydia Shahjahan
Nydia Shahjahan
Nydia Shahjahan is the Principal of Nydia Shahjahan, Esq. P.C., a business law practice focused
on providing strategic and cost-effective counsel and civil litigation services for the business-
minded client.Ms. Shahjahan began her career litigating for the New York State Attorney General Office’s
Civil Rights Bureau as a volunteer Assistant Attorney General. Thereafter, she associated with
the firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in the New York office. Ms. Shahjahan represented
corporate clients in connection with complex commercial litigation within the financial industry,
along with pro bono matters. Building on her experience as a commercial litigator, Ms.
Shahjahan formed her business law practice, efficiently providing legal risk management and
outside general counsel services to a varied client base ranging from New York-based businesses
to international corporations. Nydia Shahjahan, Esq. P.C. is certified as Minority Business
Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE) with the State of New York and the City
of New York.Ms. Shahjahan actively supports initiatives and engages in dialogue to address systemic racism
and diversity, equity and inclusion issues in the legal field. Ms. Shahjahan is a trained mediator
and her memberships and associations include: New York City Bar Association (Small Law
Firm Committee – Diversity subcommittee Chair); Muslim Bar Association of New York
(MuBANY); and the South Asian Bar of New York (SABANY) (2014 Board: Vice President of
Sponsorship & Gala Chair).Ms. Shahjahan graduated from City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law in 2009,
and Georgetown University in 2004 with an undergraduate degree in foreign service.