President & Treasurer

Since 2010, Coral has been actively working in the community to improve parks and playgrounds, starting with Vesuvio Playground. She has raised funds for Vesuvio through private donations as well as grants from multiple organizations.

Since May 2011, when Coral was first appointed as a public member of the Parks Committee of Manhattan Community Board 2 (“CB2”), she has continued to serve the community. In 2012, Coral was appointed as a board member to CB2 by former Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and in 2014 she was re-appointed by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Currently, she serves on the Parks & Waterfront Committee as well as the Landmarks & Public Aesthetics Committee. Coral is committed to improving public open space both where it exists and where it could exist.

Prior to her community work, Coral worked for 13 years in finance, primarily at the investment bank and corporate groups at Citigroup Inc. and its predecessor companies, including Salomon Smith Barney. After graduating from Princeton University with a BA in Politics and Certificate Degrees in Economics and Latin American Studies, she moved to New York and has now been a resident of downtown Manhattan for almost 20 years.

Vice President

In 2010, Kristi Avram began leading an effort on behalf of a local parents group, Bowery Babes, to convince NYC to fund a complete renovation at DeSalvio Playground in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan. To support the effort, she founded Friends of DeSalvio Playground in 2011. Kristi has spearheaded a widely attended community visioning event, neighborhood park days, and wrote and submitted reports to relevant city agencies and officials demonstrating the need and desires of the community. As a result of that community outreach, the renovation plan has been expanded to a more comprehensive and state-of-the-art standard.

Under Kristi’s leadership, Friends of DeSalvio Playground won Capacity Fund grants from both Partnerships for Parks and Citizens Committee for Better Neighborhoods in NYC to expand outreach and grow the organization. She has successfully forged relationships and received support for the project from the Parks Department, CB2, City Council Members, the Borough President’s office and NY State representatives. Earlier this year, the NYC FY 2014 Capital Budget was finalized and the playground renovation reached its funding goal of $1.9 million in capital funds, and design of the new park is currently in progress.

Prior to her community work, Kristi focused her career in public relations, special events and marketing, primarily in the film industry. Kristi currently holds board positions at NAMLE: National Associations for Media Literacy Education and Southampton Arts Center, in Eastern Long Island. Kristi has been a resident of downtown Manhattan for more than 20 years. Kristi was born in Arizona and raised in Southern California. She graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film and Television.

Secretary

As a resident of the West Village and frequent park visitor with young children, Courtney Goldsmith formed Friends of J.J. Walker Playground in September 2012. She has been an active participant in Partnership for Parks events, as well as hosting ‘It’s My Park Day’ on behalf of Friends of J.J. Walker Playground. Courtney has raised funds to improve regular maintenance and cleaning of J.J. Walker Playground and surrounding walkways. In April 2013, Friends of J.J. Walker Playground received a Partnership for Parks Capacity Fund grant to expand outreach and grow the organization.

In addition to her community work, Courtney is an interior designer, specializing in both corporate and residential design. Courtney has been a resident of downtown Manhattan for 16 years. Courtney was born and raised in Colombia, South America. She graduated from Tufts University with a BA in Anthropology and an Associates Degree in Interior Design from Parson’s School of Design.

Catherine is an active park user as well as playground devotee. She is currently the President of the Playground Committee for Hudson River Parks. She has a background in marketing, sponsorship and sales. Previous to having children, Catherine worked in sponsorship marketing at Major League Baseball.

Catherine is originally from the south and earned her BA at Clemson University. She currently resides in Chelsea with her husband David and her three children.

In 2012, Jeannine was appointed to the full board of Manhattan, Community Board 2 and currently serves on the Parks & Waterfront Committee and as Chair of the Schools & Education Committee. Jeannine also has been actively involved in expanding and improving access to public open space in her community. Jeannine serves as President of Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden, dedicated to preserving the Elizabeth Street Garden as a unique, public green, open space and New York City Park. As a member of the Superblocks City-Owned Land Stakeholder Task Force, she solicited community input and developed recommendations for renovations to Mercer Playground on the NYU Superblocks. She also has been an active member of Friends of Vesuvio Playground and Friends of DeSalvio Playground. Jeannine is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee at St. Luke’s School. Prior to her community work, Jeannine was a Director in the Health Care Group at Citigroup. Jeannine has been a resident of downtown Manhattan for 19 years. Jeannine was born and raised in California. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics and Columbia Business School with an MBA in Finance.