Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors and Advisory Council work tirelessly to provide programming to the communities and people that need it most.
Rise Advisory Council
Co-Chair—Member since 2020 | Campbell & Company, Former President & CEO
Terri Becks joined the Board of Rise in 2021, after being involved with the organization (through service work and participation on the Leadership Council) since 2008 and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board. She worked for 20 years with Campbell & Company before retiring in 2011. Campbell & Company is an alternative asset management firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, where Terri served as Chief Financial Officer for 15 years and as the President and CEO for her final five years. Terri graduated from the University of Delaware with an Accounting degree and was a CPA. She worked for Ernst & Whinney and Bank Maryland Corp before finalizing her financial career at Campbell.
She currently also serves on the Board of Loyola Blakefield School and chairs its Finance and Investment Committees. She serves on the Board of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, formerly as President of the Board and chaired its Investment Committee. Terri has served on the boards of the Managed Funds Association and Family & Children's Services of Central Maryland, was a Court-appointed Special Advocate (“CASA”) in the Baltimore County foster care system and a former substitute teacher.
As part of her involvement with Rise, Terri and daughter Erin traveled to Bulgaria in 2008 as part of a Service Ranger project. Terri and her three boys created a week of “camp” at Des’ Village in Ethiopia in July 2012, and then took that same crew and theme to Rise in Haiti in 2014 and Vietnam in 2016. Terri and her children reside in Towson, Maryland.
Co-Chair, Chair of Nominating Committee–Member since 2014 | Big Bite, Inc., Founder and CEO
Susan Neisloss’s expertise spans the media, corporate, and public relations arenas including reporter, producer, anchor, and bureau chief at major market TV stations, e.g., CBS in Orlando, WPIX in New York; senior executive at Golin/Harris and Fleishman-Hillard, two respected global public relations firms; and, international spokesperson, media/crisis manager, and video producer at pharmaceutical giant, Syntex, now Roche.
Susan also was communications director for the CBS flagship TV station in Los Angeles where she served as media spokesperson and head of public relations. Her Los Angeles communications firm, Big Bite Films, produces corporate and non-profit marketing videos for website and social media platforms. In addition, Susan specializes in customized media/presentation trainings, crisis communications programs, and Moving Memoirs© - customized videos that capture a person’s life and legacy.
Clients include:
• Novavax - produced a legacy documentary about the biotech firm’s journey to produce its unique COVID vaccine and first ever product
• Kaiser Permanente - produced website and marketing video for Santa Monica community medical center involving interviews with patients and physicians
• Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce - produced videos honoring local COVID heroes, e.g., medical staffs, teachers, firefighters
• Stanford University - produced more than a dozen legacy and tribute videos, e.g., former president Donald Kennedy, respected alumni, professors
• Montage Laguna Beach - media trained 20 senior executives to prepare for resort opening; crafted messaging and served as spokesperson following guest shooting
• Families of September 11th - media trained founders for 10th anniversary event and moderated international press conference at Ground Zero
• Dreamworks Animation - media trained director for international press tour of major film • Pfizer - media trained senior ophthalmic researchers for introduction of new eye product
Susan earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and graduated from Columbia Journalism School’s Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program.
Secretary–Member since 2014 | The Career Leap, CEO
Misha Rubin is CEO of The Career Leap. His mission is to facilitate meaningful intentional changes in people's lives.
He was a Partner at Ernst & Young, where he spent 15 fruitful years of his career. He sold and managed hundreds millions worth of projects and guided careers of hundreds professionals. His 20-year corporate experience, personal quest for meaning and work with hundreds, birthed the The Career Leap method, a guided actionable inquiry that is structured for you to discover and pursue your next career move. Misha has worked with hundreds to reinvent their careers, start new businesses and reenergize their lives.
Chair of Development Committee–Member since 2022 | Talking Hedge Events Inc., Founder & President
Meg Bode D’Ariano creates and produces conferences for the hedge fund industry through Talking Hedge Inc., a company she founded in 2016. For 20 years, Meg was a consultant to Managed Funds Association providing media relations, member communications, and conference production. As President of the PR agency Bode & Associates, she worked with numerous firms to plan and execute their marketing campaigns, media relations, communications materials, website development, and advertising. Meg is a member and former “Angel” of 100 Women in Finance and serves as a Director on the Board of Worldwide Orphans Foundation. Most importantly, she built her family through adoption and is proud mom of two daughters who were born in China and are now young ladies in their 20s.
Member since 2026 | Search and Care, President
Orla Coleman is a nonprofit leader with more than 15 years of board, philanthropy, and partnership-building experience. As President of Search and Care, a New York non-profit supporting older adults aging in their homes, she has piloted and expanded programs including the Silver Circles Tech Initiative to bring technology to the door of isolated older adults in NYC. Orla also serves on the Global Board of Education for Employment (EFE) and Founder’s Circle member of Every Mother Counts (EMC). She is passionate about trust-based philanthropy and cross-sector collaboration, and has helped to foster collaboration between EMC and EFE to support maternal health training initiatives in Gaza.
Moving from the for-profit to non-profit worlds has allowed Orla to see opportunities and create solutions where none seem apparent. “Getting to Yes”! She serves as an advisor to an inner city state school in her native city Dublin which seeks to support children of socioeconomic backgrounds to give them stability, trust and opportunity. In her prior career, Orla worked at Sotheby's as a Director of Fine Art in New York and London.
She holds an MA from Trinity College Dublin and keeps a close alliance with her alma mater to create sanctuary scholarships for refugees as well as other programs. She speaks 3 languages including basic conversational Arabic, and has supported non-profits with programs in Gaza, Syria, Ukraine, Kenya and other countries.
Member since 2017 | Swing Search, Co-Founder / COO
Mandy Edmund is known among the VCs in the Bay Area as having an uncanny ability to define the go-to-market leadership needs of an early stage company. She loves working with early hiring teams, providing clarity on what is needed in a role, and helping Founders with their pitch to top talent.
At SwingSearch, Mandy serves as exec stakeholder in a wide range of high-profile searches. She is focused on continually raising the bar, for Swing and for our clients.
Mandy is a Board Member of Worldwide Orphans Foundation, an active mentor at Techstars, and a Mom to three amazing daughters.
Member since January 2024 | Worldwide Orphans Foundation, Former Executive Director
Claudia Fleming, Rise board member, and former Executive Director of Rise, began her career in nonprofit over 25 years ago as the Executive Director of of New Yorkers for Children, an organization that works alongside child welfare agencies and community partners to improve the well-being of youth and families in the child welfare system with an emphasis on older youth aging out of the system. In 2001, Claudia, accepted the position as the first Executive Director of Good+ Foundation (formerly known as Baby Buggy) a non-profit that works to dismantle multi-generational poverty by pairing tangible goods with innovative services for under-resourced fathers, mothers, and caregivers. She held this position for six years and rolled onto their Board of Directors for an additional six years. She joined the Rise team in 2019 months before the pandemic.
Claudia lives in NYC with her husband George Bitar and has four children and a granddaughter.
Chair of Program Committee–Member since 2021 | International Rescue Committee, Senior Director, Talent Management
Member since 2026 | Lending Specialist, JP Morgan Private Bank
Nealy Griffith is a Lending Specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank and has worked there since 2013. She focuses on structuring customized lines of credit for high-net-worth individuals that support their broader financial strategies and doing so in a tax efficient way.
Nealy graduated cum laude from Dickinson College, where she double majored in Spanish and Russian. She is deeply connected to the mission of Rise Alliance for Children through her own personal story—she was adopted from Bulgaria as a baby and grew up in Baltimore.
Today, Nealy lives in New York City with her husband, their twin toddlers, and golden retriever.
Member since 2024 | WisdomCircle, Senior Advisor-Africa
Lyapa Nakazwe-Masiya is Founder and CEO of LNM Leadership Advisory, an organisation that works with global executives and organizations to address talent and leadership needs.Her most recent corporate career was spent in the US providing advisory services to multinational clients across various industries. This included coaching, recruitment, assessment, talent management and development. Her clientele ranged from start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, NGOs and PE firms. She spent her earlier career in executive search placing C-suite executives and Board Members, partnering with African and European clients across a number of industry sectors.
Lyapa is a published author on Imposter Phenomenon and lectures on the Importance of Personal Branding and the Art of StoryTelling to African MBA and Doctorate candidates.
Passionate about equality and empowerment, particularly when it comes to children & women, she also sits on the Board of the National Women's History Alliance.
A global citizen and mother to two girls, Lyapa knows first hand the benefits and importance of education and community.
Member since 2025 | The World Bank Group, Partnerships–Private Sector and Foundations
Member since 2025 | Executive Coach & Startup Advisor
Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University-Camden
M.A., CCC-SLP Speech & Language Pathologist and WWO Program Consultant
Ph.D., Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education at the University of Delaware
M.P.H., M.S., Director, Medical Student Global Health Programs, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Ph.D., Professor of Applied Psychology New York University
Director, Montefiore School Health Program
Research Associate Professor, Albert Einstein Department of Pediatrics (Academic General Pediatrics)
Research Associate Professor, Albert Einstein Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Rosy Chhabra, Psy.D. oversees 33 school-based health centers that serve close to a hundred NY public schools, comprised of about 45,000 students, spanning from PreK to 12th grade. Dr. Chhabra has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. Dr. Chhabra has more than 20 years of experience as a public health researcher and program development specialist focusing on addressing health inequities affecting Bronx children in school and community settings. She has managed many successful academic, organizational, and community partnerships nationally and internationally.