Leadership

Andrea Crawford is a Healthcare Attorney and Hospital Risk Manager in the public health care system. As a dedicated public servant, Andrea has been involved with Community Board 9 for over 20 years. When Andrea was chairperson, she founded the Rockaway Beach Branch Greenway which was the precursor to the QueensWay. Andrea, as a Board Member of the Friends of the QueensWay, continues to advocate for the QueensWay so that there can be safe areas for Queens residents to find beautiful open space, easy access to Forest Park and have a world class elevated park that connects them to the rest of the borough in their own backyards.

Doug McPherson With more than 15 years of experience in the fields of urban planning, parks equity, and community health, Doug serves as Manager of the ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust (CLT). In this role, Doug leads the CLT’s open space activation and resilient housing efforts—both key elements of the Resilient Edgemere Community Plan, which was released by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) in 2017. Over the past six years, he has worked to secure subsidies and entitlements for more than 5,000 units of senior, supportive, and family housing in his various roles at HPD and Empire State Development (ESD). Doug has also served on the Friends of the QueensWay steering committee and on Queens Community Board 10. He received a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Allison Sesso is the President / CEO of Undue Medical Debt, a National nonprofit that relieves medical debt across the U.S., providing financial, physical, and emotional relief to people saddled with medical debt. Undue has relieved over $15 billion in debt for 10 million people in all 50 states.

Under Allison’s leadership, Undue Medical Debt has expanded its reach by working with a wide range of health care providers to purchase medical debt, working in partnership with states, counties, and cities on local medical debt relief initiatives, developing its capacity to highlight the impact of medical debt on families, and contributing effectively to the larger conversation around the root causes of medical debt. She has become a prominent voice on the topic of medical debt and is frequently interviewed by media outlets, including CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, the New York Times, and others. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for 2024 by Modern Healthcare Magazine.

Prior to joining Undue Medical Debt, Allison served as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC), an association of 170 nonprofits delivering 90% of human services in New York City. She led negotiations with New York City and State government on behalf of the sector and successfully pushed for over $500 million in investments to address the nonprofit fiscal crisis.

During her tenure at HSC, Allison was appointed to the OneNYC Commission by Mayor Bill DeBlasio, responsible for developing a comprehensive plan for a sustainable and resilient city that addresses the profound social, economic, and environmental challenges ahead. She was also appointed to Chair to Hurricane Sandy Charitable Organizations and Houses of Worship Recovery Task Force, charged with developing recommendations to ensure key community institutions are better prepared to participate in disaster recovery efforts, 2017.

Allison’s work on behalf of the human services sector led City & State to recognize her as a top nonprofit leader in 2018 and 2019, one of the 25 most influential leaders in Manhattan in 2017, and one of New York City’s 100 “Most Responsible” in 2016. She again received the 100 “Most Responsible” award for the second time for her efforts at Undue Medical Debt.

For ten years, Allison served as Chair of Right to Be, a nonprofit working to end harassment in all forms.

Karen Imas Karen Imas is a seasoned government relations, public affairs, and stakeholder engagement professional with more than 20 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

As the Senior External Affairs Manager at Attentive Energy, a clean energy developer, Karen supports the company’s public positioning across a diverse set of policy issues and regulatory entities at the local, state, and federal level. Prior to joining Attentive Energy, Karen served as the program and policy lead at the Waterfront Alliance, where she focused on advocacy for coastal resilience policy, maritime infrastructure, and revitalization of waterfront communities. She has also represented land use, infrastructure and non-profit clients for government relations firm, CMW Strategies. Karen is a Queens, NY native and lives in Forest Hills, Queens with her family.

Sharon Levy is the Vice President for Public Affairs and assists in the oversight of all aspects of public affairs and public policy, including government relations and government funding. Sharon began her career at the YMCA as the Associate Director of Government Relations in January of 2000 and was promoted to Director within one year. She left the YMCA in 2003 to become chief of staff for Parks, Public Works and Partnerships for the Nassau County Executive and returned to the YMCA as a public affairs consultant in 2005. Prior to joining the YMCA, Sharon held staff positions within all three levels of government: U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the New York State Governor and the New York City Council. 

Sharon has a BA in political science and communications from the City University of New York at Queens College and a Masters in Public Administration from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. 

Ruben Ramales  Assoc. AIA, NOMA, is a native New Yorker, raised in Woodhaven, Queens, whose work in fostering partnerships, collaboration, and engagement he attributes to his local experience and expertise. Ruben is a Senior Manager of Component Engagement with the American Institute of Architects, working across states to advance the impact and awareness of local AIA components. As the former Executive Director of the Queens Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Queens), Ruben holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology. Ruben has led QueensWay Community Outreach and Engagement formerly as an Outreach Coordinator with the Trust for Public Land, a project partner of Friends of the QueensWay. Currently, Ruben also serves on the boards of Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society, and Latimer House Museum. Ruben enjoys heading into Forest Park trails with his pit bull Lily when not partaking in professional or civic opportunities.

Travis Terry Travis is the driving force behind Immortal Strategies, a boutique strategy consulting firm he founded in 2024 and currently leads as the CEO. The firm specializes in public-private partnerships and scaling organizations in New York, a testament to Travis’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to the success of cities.

For over 25 years, Travis has been at the forefront of change in New York City, creating billions of dollars of value for his clients by providing expert advice on public affairs, government relations, branding, and business strategy. He has been a vital strategic advisor to some of New York City’s most recognized corporate and non-profit brands, such as Macy’s, UPS, Times Square Alliance, Rudin Management, Industry City, Friends of the High Line, and the Museum of the Moving Image. His efforts have changed the landscape of NYC—creating public parks, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in public-sector financing, creating impactful laws, and securing project approvals for significant land use projects. Travis has also worked closely with hundreds of businesses to help them successfully expand or enter the New York City market.

Travis sits on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the QueensWay which recently received $154 million in City and Federal funds to build a new, 3.5 mile linear park in Central Queens, Coro New York, Association for a Better New York (ABNY) Foundation, Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park and is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Regional Plan Association. He also is the Chair of the NYC Board of Advisors of Power My Learning and has contributed to a variety of committees, including the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Queens Chamber of Commerce Tech Council, and the Executive Leadership Forum of British American Business. He has won numerous awards and is quoted frequently in the media.

He has a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University and is a graduate of Coro Leadership New York. Travis lives in Forest Hills, Queens with his wife and three kids and is a passionate sports fan.