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The FPHNYC team is made up of experienced and compassionate public health professionals, advocates, project managers, and administrators. Our Executive Leadership Team guides the organization in our work to make New York City healthier and safer for all. You can also get to know additional members of our team and our Board of Directors.

SARA GARDNER, MPH

Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Gardner has more than 30 years of progressive experience as a leader, manager, technical advisor, and evaluator of public health and development programs. Under Ms. Gardner’s leadership as Chief Executive Officer, the Fund develops public-private partnerships that launch and expand programs promoting public health in New York City. Before joining the Fund in 2008, Ms. Gardner worked for 19 years at EngenderHealth, a global nonprofit health organization. In her last position, she served as the Vice President of Programs, leading and overseeing programs in New York and 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras and for Environmental Quality International in Egypt.

With extensive community leadership experience, Ms. Gardner serves on the NYC Health and Mental Hygiene Advisory Council, the Executive Board of the Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness, and the Board of Trustees of the Richmond University Medical Center. She is a founding member of the Steering Committee of the Tackling Youth Substance Abuse Initiative on Staten Island.

Ms. Gardner holds an MPH from New York University and a BA from Hartwick College.

Rebecca Adeskavitz

Rebecca Adeskavitz, MPH, MPA

Chief Operating Officer

Rebecca Adeskavitz is a skilled and passionate leader with a strong commitment to health equity and social justice. She has more than 20 years of experience in program design and development, partnership management, and grants administration. Since joining FPHNYC in 2016, Rebecca has supported several impactful programs, including the Get the Good Stuff nutrition incentive program, the Behavioral Health IT project, and several COVID-19 vaccine initiatives. Prior to joining FPHNYC she worked at the Brady Center for Gun Violence Prevention, where she used a multifaceted public health approach to develop and implement strategies and policies to reduce gun violence. She also worked for several years in multiple roles at The Salvation Army Greater New York Division, including as Director of Foundation Relations.

Rebecca has a Masters in Public Health from New York University with a concentration in health policy and administration and a Masters in Public Administration from Rutgers University.

Maritza Arroyo

Maritza Arroyo

Chief Development Officer

Maritza joins FPHNYC from the New York City Department for the Aging – NYC Aging – where she was appointed in October 2019 as Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Direct Services and was responsible for a $25 million health, intergenerational, and workforce development portfolio. Maritza served at NYC Aging in three roles; as Assistant Commissioner, Office of Public-Private Partnerships; as Liaison for the Age Friendly NYC Commission, comprised of 20 cross sector leaders; and as in-kind Executive Director for the Aging in New York Fund. Within these three synergistic roles, Maritza led fundraising/resource development efforts for the agency, designing and launching initiatives and securing significant funding and strategic partnerships. She was also a member of the launch team of the Cabinet for Older New Yorkers, a Mayoral initiative created to support services, projects, and policies benefitting older New Yorkers of today and in the future, ensuring that New York City is an inclusive city for all ages. 

Prior to joining NYC Aging, Ms. Arroyo held several leadership roles throughout NYC where she successfully led strategy, program design, implementation and impact, and fundraising; Vice President of Education at United Way of New York City where she led the educational practice and policy on student success in high poverty schools; Executive Director of the Promise neighborhood grantee Zone 126 where she designed and led a Cradle to Career strategy, providing a holistic programmatic framework for children, youth, families, and older adults in Astoria and Long Island City, and; Executive Director of the national organization BellXcel– previously Building Educated Leaders for Life – where she led high-quality after-school and evidence-based summer programs, tripling its revenue and increasing student math and literacy skills. 

Ms. Arroyo is a graduate of Hofstra University and received an Executive Leadership certificate from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2014, she was selected to the inaugural cohort of the Presidio Institute/White House Cross Sector Fellowship, she was selected in 2015 as a Ricardo Salinas Scholar at the Aspen Institute and in 2016 appointed to the NYC Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. She is a former Board Member of the Community Educational Council District #30. Maritza loves NYC, lives in Astoria with her son Dylan and their two sweet cats, Plato and Charlie.

Angela Grigoryan

Angela Grigoryan, MBA, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Angela Grigoryan is a strategic thinker and leader with an outstanding record of developing and implementing operational efficiency initiatives and accounting/finance functions. She has over 15 years of experience in the not-for-profit (NFP) industry.

Prior to joining the Fund, Angela worked in social services, social justice, and educational organizations. Earlier in her career, she provided consulting services and technical assistance to NFP organizations as an NFP consultant at KPMG. During her tenure in social services organizations, she maintained close positive working relationships with city, state, federal, and private donors. Angela developed and integrated systems and teams post-M&A and partnered with the executive team and senior leadership in achieving business growth and profitability.

Angela holds an MBA from the American University of Armenia and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has further honed her skills with certifications in NFP Accounting and Government Reporting from NYU and Forensic Accounting from Baruch College.

Hye Won Lee

Hye Won Lee, MPH

Chief Program Officer

Hye Won Lee has dedicated her career to fighting for social justice and equity, particularly as it relates to public health. She joined the Fund for Public Health in New York in 2013 and has held several positions with increasing levels of responsibility, including managing grants and contracts from private foundations and local, state, and federal governments. Most recently, as part of the Fund’s Executive Leadership Team, she leads the Special Projects team to collaborate with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to implement priority and emergency initiatives.

Prior to joining the Fund, Hye Won spent many years serving communities in and around Boston. She worked at independent nonprofits, local health departments, universities, and a major public hospital. Her contributions led to improved intake assessment tools to more accurately serve refugees and torture survivors as well as increased access to quality food for public school students. She also managed a statewide tobacco prevention program where she worked with youth and youth-serving organizations to fight Big Tobacco’s marketing to marginalized populations.

Hye Won received her Master of Public Health degree with a dual concentration in epidemiology and social & behavioral sciences from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Science in Biobehavioral Health from Pennsylvania State University.

Patricia Price 2023

Patricia Price, MA

Chief People Officer

Patricia Price is a strategic, innovative HR Executive Leader with more than ten years of experience translating business visions into outcomes of improved profitability, growth, retention, and employee engagement. As part of the Fund’s Executive Leadership Team, Patricia directs strategic and tactical HR operations, including attracting, hiring, and onboarding new employees for a diverse array of programs and projects. She leads the development of policies and opportunities focused on enhancing workplace culture through proactive HR initiatives that support the growth of both employee satisfaction and the enhancement of organizational capacity building. 

Patricia has a Master of Arts with a concentration in Human Resource Management from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Music and Music Business Management degree from Berklee College of Music. She also earned a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.