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MEET THE SPEAKERS
Get inspired by the brilliant minds shaping the future.
Courtland W. Hankins III
Community Board 3 Coordinator
Courtland W. Hankins III is the Community Coordinator for Bronx Community Board 3, where he supports the board’s public-facing operations and helps connect residents, community stakeholders, and city agencies.
He was introduced as the board’s new Community Coordinator in January 2024, and official board records document his ongoing role in coordinating meetings and administrative functions.
A Bronx-based public-service professional and community organizer, Hankins has worked on constituent services involving housing, sanitation, neighborhood safety, and other quality-of-life issues.
Before joining Community Board 3, he served as a Community Associate in the Office of Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, helping residents navigate city systems and resolve local concerns.
Hankins’s advocacy is strongly rooted in housing stability and tenant empowerment. He founded Prioritizing Our Homeless Humanity, an organization focused on helping people transition from homelessness to permanent housing, and has also been involved in tenant-organizing efforts centered on affordability and resident ownership in the South Bronx.
His background additionally includes experience in banking and financial services, education, and cultural work.
Zorhan Mamdani
Mayor – City of New York
Mayor Mamdani is not scheduled for an in-person visit; however, we anticipate a message from his office regarding this event.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani is the 112th Mayor of the City of New York, sworn in on January 1, 2026. He previously represented New York State Assembly District 36, serving the Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and Astoria Heights.[nyc]
Born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991, Mamdani moved to New York City as a child and grew up in Queens. A Bowdoin College graduate, he worked as a foreclosure-prevention housing counselor before entering elected office, bringing an early focus on housing stability and the economic pressures facing low-income New Yorkers.
Mamdani was first elected to the State Assembly in 2020 and reelected in 2022 and 2024 before winning New York City’s 2025 mayoral election. A Democrat who identifies as a democratic socialist, he built his mayoral campaign around affordability, including housing, child care, transportation, and economic equity; his election made him the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor, as well as its youngest mayor in more than a century.[bowdoin]
Vannessa L. Gibson
Bronx Borough President
Vanessa L. Gibson is the 14th Borough President of the Bronx, serving the borough’s more than 1.4 million residents. First elected in 2021 and reelected in 2025, she made history as the first woman and first African American to hold the office.
A native New Yorker, Gibson began her public-service career in 2001 as an intern in the New York State Assembly while studying sociology at the University at Albany.
She later became a legislative aide and district manager for Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene, developing extensive experience in legislative affairs, constituent services, staff leadership, and community engagement.
Gibson won a 2009 special election to represent the Bronx’s 77th Assembly District and subsequently served on the New York City Council from 2014 through 2021, representing the 16th District.
Her public record includes advocacy for affordable housing, tenant protections, food equity, public safety, education, criminal-justice reform, and health and wellness; as Borough President, she continues to advance an equity- and access-centered agenda for the Bronx.
Dr. Ashutosh Das
Bronx Care Hospital
Dr. Ashutosh Das is a pediatrician and Medical Director of Pediatrics at BronxCare Health System in the Bronx, New York. In this leadership role, he helps guide outpatient pediatric care and supports programs serving children and adolescents across the BronxCare network.
Dr. Das earned his medical degree from Manipal College of Medical Sciences in Nepal and completed pediatric residency training at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, now BronxCare. His professional career at the institution began in 2007, and he became a medical director in 2020.
Based at BronxCare’s 1650 Grand Concourse location, Dr. Das provides general pediatric care to Bronx families. His clinical work includes preventive care and management of common child and adolescent health concerns, with BronxCare identifying asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sickle cell disease among the conditions addressed by its pediatric outpatient services.
Ed Andriessen
Utopia Resource Center
Ed Andriessen is a New Jersey–based speaker, trainer, author, consultant, and digital communications professional whose work blends leadership development with practical technology use.
As owner and director of Business Training Resource, he develops communication, management, and leadership programs for organizations throughout the tri-state area, while using activity-based learning and online resources to extend training beyond the classroom.
Andriessen’s technology background includes business internet marketing, lead capture, automated follow-up, and campaign management.
His current work includes AI-enabled learning, no-code application development, digital content creation, and modern training delivery.
He offers training for tools such as NotebookLM, FlutterFlow, and AI coding and app-building platforms, applying these technologies to adult learning, communication workflows, gamification, and personalized learning paths.
Through his websites, webinars, training resources, and consulting services, Andriessen helps professionals use technology as a practical means of communicating more clearly, developing skills, and improving performance.
Ed was born and raised in the Bronx.
Chantel Jackson, LMSW
Assembly Member, New York State Assembly
Chantel Jackson, LMSW, is a New York State Assembly Member representing the 79th Assembly District in the Bronx, which includes Concourse Village, Melrose, Morrisania, Claremont, Belmont, and East Tremont.
Elected in 2020 and now serving her third term, she brings a public-service perspective rooted in her upbringing in Harlem and her longstanding connection to Bronx communities.[assembly.state.ny]
Assembly Member Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the City College of New York and a Master of Social Work from Adelphi University. Before entering the Assembly, she spent nine years helping low-income, first-generation students access college and financial aid, then served for four years as a New York City public high school social worker supporting students’ mental and physical well-being; she has also worked as a college professor and author.
Her legislative priorities include maternal health, mental health, youth development, economic development, and holistic wellness. Jackson has championed youth-centered justice reforms through legislation such as A7713, led the New York State Black Legislative Task Force in securing a $30 million investment for underserved communities, and has served as chair of the bipartisan, bicameral New York State Legislative Women’s Caucus since June 2025.
Dr. Tosen Oruwairya (Dr.T)
Montefiore Medical Center
Dr. Tosan Oruwariye is a physician leader, pediatrician, educator, researcher, and entrepreneur with more than two decades of national and international experience. Based in the Bronx, she has devoted much of her clinical work to serving underserved children and families, combining direct patient care with a commitment to prevention, health education, and community wellness.
Dr. Oruwariye earned her medical degree from the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan. She completed pediatric residency training at Montefiore Medical Center and preventive-medicine residency training at Mount Sinai in New York, then earned a Master of Public Health from Yale University and a Master of Science in Clinical Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is board-certified in pediatrics and holds credentials as a Certified Physician Executive.
Her leadership experience includes clinical research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, senior management roles, and service as interim chief executive officer and chief medical officer of Morris Heights Health Center. She is Medical Director of Tiga Pediatrics in the Bronx, where she promotes health and wellness through community engagement, and she has also served as a physician at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on drug development.
Beyond clinical practice, she co-founded MaTontine, an organization that supports underserved women in Africa through technology and entrepreneurship.
Shurla McLean
Gilberto Cruz
NYC Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene
Shurla McLean is a public-health professional with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene whose work has included community engagement and outreach for the City’s Early Intervention Program. In this capacity, she has focused on increasing referrals to Early Intervention and improving community awareness of services available to infants and toddlers with developmental needs and their families.
Her role supports a central public-health objective: helping families connect early with assessment, therapeutic, and developmental-support resources. By advancing outreach and referral efforts, McLean strengthens the program’s ability to reach eligible children and to ensure that families can access support during a critical period of early development.
Gilbert Cruz is a Senior Health Care Program Planner Analyst with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Early Intervention Program. He has worked with DOHMH since 1995 and has held his current senior planning role since 2008, bringing extensive experience in family-centered service coordination, provider relations, and program operations.
Cruz conducts Individualized Family Service Plan meetings in accordance with Early Intervention regulations and City policy, helps protect families’ rights during the planning process, and reviews evaluations and periodic service-plan updates for completeness and accuracy. He also works with providers to resolve operational issues, provide technical assistance, and, when necessary, improve performance through corrective action planning.
His background combines public-program administration with education and technology. Cruz holds a Master of Science in Educational Studies/Administration from Mercy College and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Technology from Monroe College; he has also served in roles involving data management, youth programming, and inclusion-focused education.
Miriam Jochnowitz
Utopia Resource Center
Miriam Jochnowitz is the Educational Director of The Chelsea Gan, a preschool in New York City. An educator for more than 30 years, she brings experience across the full range of preschool roles and leads the school’s educational approach with a strong focus on children’s social-emotional growth, independence, and problem-solving.
Jochnowitz is trained in Montessori education and developmental psychology, with graduate study in education and psychology. Her credentials include a master’s degree and Primary American Montessori Society credential from New York University and Westside Montessori School, along with Elementary AMS credentials.
Jochnowitz emphasizes learning through conversation, inquiry, and open-ended questions. She helps young children investigate their world, develop solutions to challenges, and express their ideas in constructive and creative ways; her professional background also includes teaching, parent coaching, family mediation, and conflict resolution.