Staff
Deborah A. Ellwood, Executive
Director
800-292-6149 ext. 605
Deborah joined CFLeads as Executive Director in December of 2009. She has
a broad background as an advocate, policy analyst, grantmaker, fundraiser
and community builder. She served as both a board and staff leader during
10 years with Rochester Area Community Foundation (Rochester, NY), moving
its grantmaking from responsive to highly focused and tapping into the many
other non-grantmaking resources to move a community agenda. While at the
foundation, she founded a children’s advocacy organization, launched
a successful community-wide after-school alliance and led many other community
initiatives. Deborah was also co-chair of the public policy subcommittee
of the Council on Foundations' ProNet affinity group.
An award-winning graduate
of Bowdoin College and Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government, Deborah has advocated for children, low-income families
and clean indoor air at Children Now in California, the Fiscal Policy Institute
in New York and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, respectively. She
previously served as director of development at the Children’s Museum
of Pittsburgh, which is leading community development efforts in Pittsburgh's
Northside neighborhood.
Caroline Jonah Merenda, Program Director
800-292-6149 ext. 610
Caroline was named Program Director at CFLeads in
February 2011.
Caroline has a reputation as a trusted and persistent community builder and collaborator, creating long-lasting partnerships leading to systemic change in a number of areas affecting children and families. In her 10 years at Rochester Area Community Foundation (Rochester, NY), she assembled a taskforce headed by the mayor and school superintendent to create a comprehensive after-school strategy for the City of Rochester; leveraged Community Foundation funding by working with City, County, and State agencies on child care subsidies, youth programming, and school violence; and conducted research and advocacy on the issues of early childhood education, out-of-school time, and childhood obesity.
As part of this work she helped create and
staff the Greater Rochester After-School Alliance (GRASA), served on the
New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) Statewide Steering Committee,
and was named an “Afterschool
Ambassador” by the Afterschool Alliance, an alliance of public, private,
and nonprofit groups committed to raising awareness and expanding resources
for after-school programs.
Ellen S. Stoolmacher, Office Administrator
800-292-6149 ext. 615
Ellen joined CFLeads as Office Administrator in February 2013, with extensive experience in non-profit management. She manages operations and oversees event planning, board relations, grants management and financial record keeping. Previously, she worked for 15 years at the Massachusetts Municipal Association (Boston, MA), most recently as Member Services Coordinator, where she directly served and engaged over 2,200 elected and appointed municipal officials. She cultivated new members, developed educational programs, created an annual statewide 6th grade essay contest on community leadership and helped launch the first municipal Supervisory Leadership Development Program in Massachusetts.
Ellen has also worked as a Researcher at the Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and as a Marketing Assistant at the Center for Professional Education at Harvard University's School of Public Health. Ellen earned her undergraduate degree from Douglass College, Rutgers University and her graduate degree from Emerson College. She was awarded the Ruth A. Adams Fellowship from Douglass College.