Youth Represent's Advisory Council

Youth Represent is excited to announce the establishment of our Advisory Council, the purpose of which is to support our client impact, advocacy, public outreach and organizational capacity.

“We are thrilled these extraordinary community leaders have agreed to join the council,” said Michael Pope, Executive Director of Youth Represent. “The Youth Represent Advisory Council serves as a critical community champion of the organization, and its members will provide support to our mission by creating a direct link to important professional, technical, and experiential expertise.”

“The Youth Represent board is excited to collaborate with these founding members of our Advisory Council for their passion, character, and commitment they bring to our organization,” said Maggie Lear, Board Chair. “Advisory council members bring with them a wealth of experience and perspectives and we look forward to the vital role they will play in the growth and development of Youth Represent."

Please join us in welcoming this amazing group!

Temi Adeniji is the Vice President, International Strategy & Operations at Warner Music Group. She oversees the day-to-day operations of international subsidiaries and evaluates expansion opportunities. Temi graduated from Princeton University in 2009 and received both a JD from Columbia Law School and an LLM in International Commercial Law from University College London in 2012. She became interested in the failings of the criminal justice system in the U.S., particularly with respect to youthful offenders, while in law school and during her Master’s program.

Judge Michael Corriero was the Executive Director and Founder of the New York Center for Juvenile Justice. He served as the Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City from July 2008 to July 2010. He previously served as a Judge in the New York State courts for 28 years. He sat for 16 years as chief of Manhattan’s Youth Part, a special court he created within the State Supreme Court designed to focus attention on young adults prosecuted as adults under the state’s Juvenile Offender Law. Under Judge Corriero’s leadership, the Youth Part became a model for mobilization and coordination of treatment and social services for children prosecuted in adult courts. He is currently a judge on the CBS Television Distribution’s syndicated court show Hot Bench.

Peter T. Gee is serving as the Interim Executive Director of The Door, an internationally recognized youth development agency, engaging 11,000 young people annually from all over New York City. Peter previously held various program director positions at Asian Americans for Equality and IMPACCT Brooklyn. For almost a decade, he served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Community Healthcare Network, a federally qualified health center in New York City that serves over 80,000 mostly low-income and uninsured New Yorkers. Peter has a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

José Ortiz, Jr. was appointed Executive Director of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) in February 2018. Prior to joining NYCETC, Jose served as the Managing Director of External Affairs, Partnerships, and Business Development at Pursuit (formerly Coalition for Queens), a Long Island City based workforce nonprofit that prepares underserved and underprivileged individuals without college degrees for software development jobs at some of the world’s most innovative companies. Prior to Pursuit, Jose spent more than a decade leading youth & family programs, leadership initiatives, and conferences at the 92nd Street Y, a world-class cultural and community center.

Brooke Richie-Babbage is the Director of Network Initiatives at the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. Brooke has spent the past 20 years working as a nonprofit leader, social entrepreneur, and lawyer at social change organizations throughout the country. She has founded and led multiple successful organizations and initiatives, including the Resilience Advocacy Project (RAP), where she served as Executive Director for 12 years. Prior to founding RAP, Brooke worked as a Skadden Fellow, and then as a staff attorney and policy director in the areas of public benefits law and child care policy at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Brooke received her BA from Yale, and her JD and MPP from Harvard.

S. Monroe Solomon is the Director of Constituent Affairs at the Office of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand. She maintains a portfolio of constituent casework that involves helping constituents, New York nonprofits, municipalities, and small businesses with access to federal government benefits, services, and information. She previously served as Legal Director at Legal Information for Families Today (LIFT), the leading nonprofit organization in New York dedicated to enhancing access to justice in the Family Courts through access to legal information and support services. She was selected in 2018 as one of New York Nonprofit Media’s 40 under 40 for advancing LIFT’s legal impact in Family Court.

James Williamson is an Analyst at HBK Capital, where he manages a series of credit and special situations investments. Prior to HBK, he served in a similar role for Davidson Kempner Capital Management. Previously, James was appointed Policy Director at the Pennsylvania Treasury Department where he developed new strategic investments in cleantech and community-focused initiatives. He graduated from Princeton University in 2007 and earned a joint MBA and JD from Yale in 2013. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and a current Vestry Member for Grace Church Brooklyn Heights.