Nicholas BellTreasurer
Nicholas Bell’s professional background is in financial communications. He has worked with one of the leading share-holder communications firms where he started and ran the international division which he had grown to $3 million in billings. His duties included managing sales and marketing, client management, staffing, profit & loss, and tracking partnership relationships. In this line of work, he has traveled regularly to Europe and Asia. Nick has also worked in venture capital where his firm specialized in financings for early to middle stage companies. He has expertise in analyzing business plans, financial statements and other documentation to determine the viability of investment opportunities.

As a volunteer, he has served on the boards of small charities, such as The O’Gorman Garden and an after school program in an impoverished section of Nagarote, Nicaragua. As an O’Gorman Garden Trustee, he looks forward to helping the organization raise funds and strengthen its operations and programming.

Rachel Christmas Derrick

In 2014, Rachel joined the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), an affordable housing nonprofit, as its Director of Communication & Fundraising. She designs and implements UHAB’s outreach, cultivation, and stewardship strategies for ongoing and prospective individual donors, foundations, corporations, and government programs. Along with crafting grant proposals, she writes, edits, and oversees the design, production, and distribution of the organization’s varied online and hard copy communication materials. A Wesleyan University graduate, she previously served as Senior Writer at the Rockefeller Foundation and Columbia University’s Deputy Director of Development Communications for alumni relations

Sarah Hooker
Sarah Hooker grew up in New York City, went to Ethical Culture Fieldston School and then off to college in Colorado. Following college, she worked for in various sales and marketing roles at Google and LinkedIn. She moved into healthcare technology at Athenahealth and is currently leading the marketing team at Justworks, an HR tech startup in New York City. Sarah currently lives in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. She loves to travel and share her skills and expertise with worthy nonprofit organizations. She is an experienced nonprofit fundraiser and volunteer, working as a peer mentor for the Christopher Reeves Foundation, and now as a Trustee for The O’Gorman Garden! Sarah is eager to contribute in significant ways to the fundraising, marketing, and organizational operations of our wonderful program.
Karim Kamal
Karim Kamal, nephew to The O’Gorman Garden Founder Ned O’Gorman, was born in Cairo, Egypt and raised in New York City. During his youth he often visited Ned’s first school in Harlem, The Children’s Storefront, with his brother Youssif and mother Annette, Ned’s sister and Garden Board Trustee Emeritus. Karim worked with Ned and his staff at the Storefront as a teacher’s aid during high school. Karim is a graduate of the University of Chicago, BA Economics, and received his law degree from Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of law. He served as Ned and The O’Gorman Garden’s informal legal adviser for many years before joining The O’Gorman Garden’s Board as Treasurer soon after Ned’s death in March 2014. Karim is passionate about ensuring that Ned’s ideals and legacy endure well into the future.

Susan ManuelSecretary

Susan Manuel, Board Secretary, spent 20 years in communications on international peacekeeping for the United Nations, serving in 10 countries around the world, as well as in UN headquarters in New York. A former journalist, she works as a consultant now on international communications and joined The O’Gorman Garden Board shortly after the death of Ned O’Gorman, a distant cousin and friend, whose devotion to the children of Harlem she greatly admired.

Sally MorrisonChair
Sally Morrison is a long time friend and supporter of The O’Gorman Garden. Sally, who is based in New York, is the Director of Marketing and Sales for Gemfields, a London-based gemstone mining company. Prior to her current position, Sally worked as the Managing Director of Marketing for the Diamond Producers Association and held senior marketing positions at A Diamond is Forever, Forevermark, the World Gold Council, and Miramax Films. She provides The O’Gorman Garden with critical guidance in governance and strategic development.
Sarah O'Neill
Sarah O’Neill was the head chef at the Straight Wharf Restaurant in Nantucket, Massachusetts, from 1988-1995, before stepping down to raise her two children. At City and Country School (C&C), which her children attended K-8th grade, her volunteer positions included chair of the Annual Fund; co-head of the Parents Association; co-chair of the Benefit Auction; head of the art section for the Benefit Auction; secretary to the Parents Association, and secretary for the Diversity Committee. Sarah is currently co-chair of the C&C Parent Diversity Group and a member of the C&C Diversity Advisory Committee to the Board. She runs the annual C&C Diversity Book Fair and the C&C recycled book event, both of which she initiated over ten years ago, and continues to work for the art section of the benefit auction. At Saint Ann’s School, where her younger child is a junior, Sarah was on an advisory committee for the school’s recent capital campaign, and has worked on their annual auction event for several years. She has a BA from Smith College (1980) and a certificate from the New York Restaurant School (1982). Sarah is thrilled to join the Board of Trustees for The O’Gorman Garden, an education program she is committed to advancing and strengthening through her volunteer leadership.
Ruth Vincent-Schechtman
Ruth Vincent-Schechtman has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2008, and served as Chair in 2015 and 2016. Her admiration for the late founder, Ned O’Gorman, who was a dear friend and mentor, blossomed into a love for the uniquely rich education the school provides, and a long-term commitment to its future. Ruth is also a writer – her fantasy novel, plus a sequel, will be published by Harper Collins Voyager Impulse in 2016.
Alice BuchananHead of School

Alice Buchanan, our Head of School and Head Teacher, is originally from London. There, she trained at St. Nicholas Montessori College. After moving to New York in 1988, she studied Art History at New York University.

In her professional career, she has worked in education departments and preschools for over 30 years in the United Kingdom and United States, including the education department of the Museum of Modern Art. Alice has been teaching at The O’Gorman Garden since 2009, and became Head of School in the spring of 2014.

Emeritus

Annette O’Gorman Kamal

Richard Murrieta

Patricia O’Gorman Schonfeld