• Stephanie Apollon – Research Associate
  • Olive Deally – Operations Associate
  • Darrell Diggins – Operations Manager
  • Lisa Donner – Executive Director
  • Carter Dougherty – Communications Director
  • Kimberly Fountain – Consumer Financial Justice Organizer
  • Jessica Garcia – Climate Finance Policy Analyst
  • Mark Hays – Senior Policy Analyst Fintech
  • Elyse Hicks – Consumer Policy Counsel
  • Emily Hirtle – Policy Associate 
  • Isis Kenney – Digital Director
  • Moonyoung Ko – Climate Finance Campaign Manager
  • Renita Marcellin – Advocacy and Legislative Director
  • Alex Martin – Senior Policy Analyst, Climate Finance 
  • Porter McConnell – Campaign Director, Take on Wall Street
  • Alma Musvosvi – Climate Justice Policy Coordinator
  • Caroline Nagy – Sr. Policy Counsel for Housing, Corporate Power and Climate Justice 
  • Tykeisa Nesbitt – Popular Education Associate, Take on Wall Street
  • Annie Norman – Save the Post Office Campaigner for Take on Wall Street 
  • Andrew Park – Senior Policy Analyst, Hedge Funds & Private Equity
  • William Pierre-Louis Jr. – Communications Associate
  • Sarah Pray – Managing Director of Policy
  • Natalia Renta – Senior Policy Counsel for Corporate Governance and Power
  • Gynnie Robnett – Chief Operating Officer
  • Aliya Sabharwal – Private Equity Campaigns Manager
  • Aditi Sen – Research Director
  • Donaldson Smith – Senior Accounting & Administrative Manager
  • Ericka Taylor – Popular Education Manager, Take on Wall Street
  • Ricardo Valadez – Private Equity Campaigns Manager
  • Oscar Valdés Viera – Research Manager

 


Stephanie Apollon – Research Associate

Stephanie Apollon is a Research Associate at AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining the research team, Stephanie worked for the Save the Post Office Coalition within TOWS as the Save the USPS Campaigner. Prior to AFR, Stephanie worked on grant management for national programs that focused on youth with disabilities and young adults transitioning out of the prison system. Before moving to D.C., Stephanie worked on the Massachusetts ballot measure on transgender rights in public accommodations and was part of a unionization campaign where she translated for Haitian dining hall workers.

Olive Deally – Operations Associate

Olive Deally is the Operations Associate at AFR/AFREF. She assists in AFR/AFREF’s operations support, development, scheduling, work environment coordination and other organizational projects. Prior to becoming Operations Associate, Olive joined AFR/AFREF as the Executive Fellow. Olive holds a Master of Arts in Environment, Development & Peace from the UN-mandated University for Peace and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from American University.

Darrell Diggins – Operations Manager

Darrell Diggins is the Operations Manager at AFR/AFREF. Darrell manages office operations, and provides grant and development assistance and HR support. Prior to joining the organization, Darrell was a conventions sales & catering manager for a major hotel franchise. Before that he worked as a personal chef, a baker, and managed operations for a community theater company, as well as an art & history museum. Darrell enjoys cooking, dining, tennis, theatre, reading and traveling to no end.

Lisa Donner – Executive Director

Lisa Donner is the Executive Director of AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining the organization, Lisa was the Executive Director of the Half in Ten Campaign, and the co-director of the Center for Working Families. In these positions she developed and promoted policies on fair taxes, work and family, anti-poverty measures, and green jobs. Lisa began her career in advocacy as a union and community organizer and campaign strategists at ACORN, and as the Director of the Financial Justice Center, where she fought against big banks and predatory lending. Lisa previously served as AFR/AFREF’s Deputy Director before becoming Executive Director..

Carter Dougherty – Communications Director

Carter Dougherty is the Communications Director at AFR/AFREF. Carter coordinates and executes strategic communications to advance the organization’s advocacy, along with the work of coalition partners around the country. Prior to joining the team, Carter was a journalist for 20 years for publications including Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He covered the inception of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2010 and its initial work before beginning to write more broadly about financial sector reform. Beyond the U.S. financial system, Carter also has extensive journalism experience covering economic issues in Europe and Africa.

Kimberly Fountain – Consumer Financial Justice Organizer

Kimberly Fountain is the Consumer Financial Justice Organizer at AFR/AFREF. During a 16 year career in advocacy and organizing for progressive organizations and nonprofits, Kimberly has worked with grasstops and grassroots leaders on healthcare, climate, financial fairness, and other consumer issues. Prior to working as an organizer, Kimberly began her career as a social worker.

Jessica Garcia – Climate Finance Policy Analyst

Jessica Garcia is the new Climate Finance Policy Analyst at AFR/AFREF. Most recently, she was an energy policy consultant for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). With UCS she researched various clean energy technologies and authored a few resources to create UCS’s Energy Storage Hub, which aims to help advocates and decision makers develop policies for the equitable deployment of energy storage to the benefit of climate and communities. Jessica attended Duke University and completed her Master of Public Policy in May 2021, with a focus on energy and environmental policy. Prior to that – she spent three years with The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental conservation nonprofit, on a team that worked at the intersection of science and corporate sustainability.

Mark Hays – Sr. Policy Analyst Fintech

Mark Hays is a Senior Policy Analyst on Fintech with AFR/AFREF and with Demand Progress. He works to ensure effective regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency and other financial technologies. Previously, Mark was the Anti-Money Laundering Campaign Director at Global Witness, where he led advocacy efforts to secure financial transparency measures, including legislation requiring shell companies – often used to facilitate corruption and financial crime – to reveal their true owners. In other roles, Hays has led advocacy work at the intersection of business, human rights, and the environment for a range of organizations, including The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Greenpeace, Mighty Earth, NAACP, Public Citizen, The Sierra Club, Waxman Strategies, and others. In his spare time Mark enjoys cycling, singing choral music, cooking and enjoying the outdoors with family and friends.

Elyse Hicks, J.D., MBA – Consumer Policy Counsel

Elyse Hicks is the Consumer Policy Counsel at AFREF, where she works on consumer protection issues including student debt, predatory lending and credit reporting. Prior to joining AFR, Elyse worked as the Staff Attorney focused on consumer protection issues in the insurance industry for United Policyholders, a national nonprofit based in San Francisco, CA. Before that she worked as a Research Attorney for Bloomberg LP, where she helped other attorneys, CPAs, and lobbyists to examine finance and lending issues.

Emily Hirtle – Policy Associate

Emily Hirtle joined AFR/AFREF as a Policy Associate. In her role, she assists the policy team, and provides general programmatic support. Emily graduated from Amherst College in May of 2020, where she double majored in Sociology and Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies, with a certificate in Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. She wrote an honors thesis on the history of the abortion right in the United States through a lens of intersectional economic and racial justice, and hopes to pursue law school to continue to do work for equitable reform.

Isis Kenney – Digital Director

Isis Kenney is the Digital Director at AFR/AFREF with over 15 years of experience. She is ambitious and passionate about everything creative – especially digital solutions, typography and branding for both new and existing brands. As a Creative Director, she has designed campaigns, supervised creative teams, and assisted various businesses and media outlets such as the New York City Parks Foundation, The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, The Atlanta Bar Association, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library and The American Business Immigration Coalition. During her spare time she works with other artists and uses her social media channels to promote education and positive images related to hip hop history and culture. 

Moonyoung Ko – Climate Finance Campaign Manager

Moonyoung Ko is the Climate Finance Campaign Manager at AFR/AFREF, where she works to build strong relationships with diverse local and state organizations. Prior to joining AFR, Moonyoung worked at a climate organization where she worked on the Stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline and Fossil Free Federal Reserve campaigns. She has also worked on a presidential campaign and at Inclusv, where she focused on breaking down barriers for BIPOC people who worked in or aspired to work in the fields of government, advocacy, or politics. In her spare time, Moonyoung explores her local beaches and parks.

Renita Marcellin – Advocacy and Legislative Director

Renita Marcellin is the Advocacy and Legislative Director at AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining AFR, Renita was a Senior Associate at JP Morgan Chase where she worked to strengthen the bank’s anti-money laundering controls and chaired her team’s Diversity and Inclusion committee to build awareness on the systemic racial inequities affecting the U.S. banking system. She has also worked with state and local advocates at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to help stop the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Prior to this, Renita began her career on the trading desk of a boutique fixed income trading firm and was introduced to the legislative process through several internships on the Hill. In her spare time, Renita enjoys the company of her friends, traveling, afro-beats music, and is a budding sommelier.

Alex Martin, Ph.D. – Sr. Policy Analyst for Climate and Finance

Alex Martin is a Sr. Policy Analyst for Climate and Finance at AFR/AFREF. He manages the organization’s growing engagement and policy portfolio at the intersection of financial regulation, climate change mitigation, and climate-related systemic financial risk. Before joining the organization, Alex served as a legislative fellow on the climate team for Senator Schatz (D-HI) and as informal committee staff for the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, focusing on carbon storage tax incentives, climate-related systemic financial risk, economy-wide decarbonization, and environmental justice. Prior to that, Alex worked at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on projects related to clean energy, low-carbon vehicles, and deep decarbonization pathways. His research experience spans atmospheric chemistry, materials science, and optics..

Porter McConnell – Campaign Director, Take on Wall Street Campaign

Porter McConnell is the Take on Wall Street Campaign Director at AFR/AFREF. She previously ran the Financial Transparency Coalition, a global network of civil society, government representatives, and experts working to stop illicit financial flows out of developing countries. She has advocated on foreign aid policy and domestic resource mobilization issues at Oxfam America and the ONE Campaign. Prior to her international work, she was a legislative aide for a Massachusetts State Senator and a program analyst for a foundation making grants towards education and climate change. Before coming to Washington, Porter was based in Bogotá, Colombia, where she created a network of Latin American NGOs implementing social enterprise activities.

Alma Musvosvi – Climate Justice Policy Coordinator

Alma Musvosvi is a Climate Justice Policy Coordinator for AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining AFR, she was a legislative assistant and Assembly Fellow in the California State Legislature. During her time there, she staffed a progressive Assemblymember on the Natural Resources Committee and worked with various state advocacy groups to pass meaningful legislation in California. Alma holds bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and health communication. In her free time she likes to attempt new pastry recipes and travel.

Caroline Nagy – Sr. Policy Counsel for Housing, Corporate Power and Climate Justice

Caroline Nagy is the Senior Policy Counsel for Housing, Corporate Power and Climate Justice at AFR/AFREF. Her research and advocacy work focuses on fighting housing displacement, climate change, affordable housing, and consumer financial protection. She was previously the Senior Housing Strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, and has also worked for the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, and the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. She has organized several coalitions, including United to End Homelessness, a coalition of more than 100 organizations created to highlight New York City’s homelessness crisis during the 2013 Mayoral election, and the Coalition for Affordable Homes, which works to prevent displacement and support long-time residents of working-class neighborhoods. She received a JD from NYU School of Law in 2010, and graduated from Ohio University with a BA and MA in Political Science. 

Tykeisa Nesbitt – Popular Education Associate, Take on Wall Street

Tykeisa Nesbitt is the Popular Education Associate at AFR/EF. Tykeisa is from Inman, SC and completed her undergraduate studies at Howard University in the spring of 2022. She graduated with a BA in Political Science and a minor in History. Tykeisa has always been heavily involved in non-profit work and advocacy, which led her to apply for an internship with Take On Wall Street in the fall of 2021. After having the opportunity to work in Popular Education, she was not ready to leave and decided to take a summer internship with the AFR Policy Team. After having two great experiences, Tykeisa had the opportunity to apply for a full-time role. Everything aligned perfectly, and now she is here at AFR as the Popular Education Associate.

Annie Norman – Save the Post Office Campaigner for Take on Wall Street

Annie Norman is the Save the Post Office Campaigner for Take On Wall Street. Previously, she served as the Associate Field Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, where she oversaw their statewide field organizing team. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Oklahoma. In between obtaining her degrees, she served in the Peace Corps, where she spent two and a half years working on sustainable community economic development and sexual health education projects in the rural farming community of Tierra Blanca de Cartago, in Costa Rica’s central valley. Since then, she has worked nine electoral campaign cycles, and as a sexual health educator and then as an organizer for Planned Parenthood affiliates in Waco, TX, Tulsa, OK, and Detroit, MI.

Andrew Park Senior Policy Analyst, Hedge Funds & Private Equity

Andrew Park is a Senior Policy Analyst at AFR/AFREF. He specializes in research and advocacy targeting private equity and hedge funds. Andrew has both extensive research experience and a background in financial reporting. Andrew previously worked as a financial journalist for seven years covering a range of issues including leveraged finance, securitized products industries, residential mortgage backed securities, corporate debt, private equity industry, and hedge funds. Prior to working as a journalist, Andrew began his career at a major investment management firm.

William Pierre-Louis Jr. – Communications Associate 

William Pierre-Louis, Jr. is the Communications Associate at AFR/AFREF. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science & International Relations from the University Notre-Dame of Haiti. He also earned verified certificates in American Government and Special Political & Decolonization from Harvard University. He is a former Diplomat intern at the United Nations Organization Headquarters in N.Y. William is an Op-Ed Writer and contributor to Online Media Outlets such as Haitian Times and Loop Caribbean Local News. William is also formerly the Communications and Multimedia Coordinator for Immigrant Family Services Institute, Inc., a large nonprofit organization in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sarah Pray – Managing Director of Policy

Sarah Pray is the Managing Director of Policy for AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining AFR, Sarah was the Director of Advocacy for the Open Society Foundation’s Economic Justice Program and also worked on trade, natural resource governance, and human rights in Africa. Since 2010, Sarah has been a lecturer at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs teaching graduate skills courses on advocacy. Sarah’s other previous positions include leading the Publish What You Pay United States coalition, shepherding the successful effort to pass Dodd-Frank Section 1504 and at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights promoting corporate responsibility and government accountability around the extraction of oil in Chad. In her free time, Sarah is an avid baker, teaches Pilates, and spends a lot of time driving around her three daughters.

Natalia Renta – Senior Policy Counsel for Corporate Governance and Power 

Natalia Renta is the Senior Policy Counsel for Corporate Governance and Power at AFREF, where she works to change the structures of corporate decision-making to build a more equitable and sustainable economy. Prior to joining AFREF, Natalia was a Senior Policy Strategist at the Center for Popular Democracy, where she provided policy and legal counsel to several campaigns, including those related to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Prior to that, Natalia was an attorney at Make the Road New York, an organization that builds the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice. She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.A. from Harvard University.

Gynnie Robnett – Chief Operating Officer

Gynnie Robnett is the Chief Operating Officer at AFR/AFREF. Gynnie previously served as the organization’s Payday Campaign Director, before expanding her role as the manager of administration and system organization. Prior to coming to AFR, Gynnie led the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS), a network of organizations working to strengthen the nation’s system of regulatory protections and encourage sound enforcement. She has extensive issue campaign and coalition management experience and has worked with state and local groups across the country on environmental, consumer and financial reform issues. In addition to her advocacy work, Gynnie loves to be outdoors with her 2 kids.

Aliya Sabharwal COVID Oversight Campaign Project Manager

Aliya Sabharwal is a Campaign Manager looking at the response of the federal government and corporations to the coronavirus crisis at AFR/AFREF. Prior to joining the organization,  Aliya was a Senior Organizer at United for Respect where she helped build the organization’s Wall Street Accountability Corporate Campaigns program, developed strategies to hold Wall Street companies accountable for mass layoffs in the retail sector, and crafted narrative change organizing strategies to build a more equitable economy alongside retail workers. Previously, she managed a state campaign to strengthen protections for nail salon workers at Adhikaar, a women-led worker center based in Queens, New York.   


Aditi Sen – Research Director

Aditi Sen is the Research Director for AFR/AFREF, leading the organization’s research agenda to advance its campaigns. Prior to joining AFR, she worked for several years as a tech regulator for the City of New York, strengthening protections for tenants and workers and ensuring enforcement of platform tech companies at the municipal level. Before joining the public sector, she was a campaign researcher at the Center for Popular Democracy and SEIU Local 32BJ, working on a wide range of state and local policy areas including tenant organizing, fair scheduling, and public school funding; and supporting union organizing in the building services industry. Ms. Sen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies from Harvard College and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University.

Ericka Taylor Take On Wall Street Popular Education Manager

Ericka Taylor is the Popular Education Manager for Take on Wall Street at AFR/AFREF. Immediately prior, she served as a Co-Director of the DC Working Families Party. Ericka has spent the bulk of her career in organizing and advocacy, including positions with Organizing Neighborhood Equity DC (ONE DC), DC ACORN, and Tenants and Workers Support Committee. She has also worked as a program officer with the Public Welfare Foundation and trained youth organizers as the Southeast Regional Program Coordinator for YouthAction. Ericka has served on the boards of Western States Center, National Priorities Project, and La Clínica del Pueblo, and she currently sits on the board of Jews United for Justice. 

Ricardo Valadez Private Equity Campaign Director

Ricardo Valadez is the Private Equity Campaigns Director leading AFR/AFREF’s work to end private equity’s most abusive and harmful practices. Ricardo has over 20 years of organizing and program management experience at the intersection of economic and racial justice. He has worked as an organizer in Latino immigrant communities with SEIU locals in Seattle and Denver, and organized youth cohorts around educational justice and police accountability issues. Ricardo previously served as Program and Communications Director at the national office of Jobs with Justice, where he coordinated the network’s organizing and advocacy on healthcare, immigration, and labor law reform efforts. He also worked as the Economic Justice Program Director for the Leadership Center for Common Good (now the Center for Popular Democracy). Ricardo also worked with the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union on updating and expanding their racial justice programs.

Oscar Valdés Viera – Research Analyst

Oscar Valdés Viera is a Research Analyst at AFR/AFREF. He conducts research on a range of issues related to improving the fairness and resilience of the U.S. financial system and economy. Before joining the organization, Oscar interned at The Century Foundation, where he worked with the labor team on initiatives aimed at strengthening economic and job prospects for low- and middle-income people. He also worked as a Research Assistant at the Bard Prison Initiative, where he provided research support for incarcerated students completing a Bard College degree while serving their sentences.