• Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder
• Lois K. Backon, Vice President
• James (Terry) T. Bond, Vice President for Research
• Kerstin Aumann, Senior Research Associate
• Alanna Beckman, Program Assistant
• John Boose, Art Director
• Carol J. Bryce-Buchanan, Director of Development
• Mary Beth Harvey, Senior Consultant
• Sharon Huang, Program Manager
• Marline Lambert, Publications, FWI Speaks and Operations Coordinator
• Barbara Norcia-Broms, Development Coordinator
• Richard T. Rolka, CPA, Treasurer and Controller
• Kelly Sakai, Senior Technology Associate and Communication Coordinator
• Tyler Wigton, Senior Program Associate
• Myrna M.H. Woods, Manager, Finance and Administration

Biographies of Part-Time Staff

• Thomas Worger, Program Assistant

Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute, helped establish the field of work and family life at Bank Street College of Education, where she was on the faculty for twenty-five years. Her more than forty books and reports include Ask The Children, the now-classic The Six Stages of Parenthood, and Mind in the Making, to be published by HarperStudio in April 2010. She has published more than 100 articles in academic journals, books and magazines.

At the Institute, Ms. Galinsky co-directs National Study of the Changing Workforce, the most comprehensive nationally-representative study of the U.S. workforce—updated every five years and originally conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor in the 1977. She also co-directs When Work Works, a project on workplace flexibility and effectiveness funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that has produced a series of research papers, and has launched the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility as well as conducted the National Study of Employers, a nationally representative study that has tracked trends in employment benefits, policies and practices since 1998. Information from this research has been reported in the media approximately twice a day over the past five years.

Ms. Galinsky is the Program Director of the annual Work Life Conference co-convened by The Conference Board and Families and Work Institute, and she staffs The Conference Board's Work Life Leadership Council, a group of 45 business leaders who have spearheaded work life issues in the business community since 1983.

A leading authority on work family issues, Ms. Galinsky was a presenter at the 2000 White House Conference on Teenagers and the 1997 White House Conference on Child Care. She served as the elected President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the largest professional group of early childhood educators and as a parenting expert for Lifetime Television.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award from Vassar College. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources in 2005. A popular keynote speaker, she appears regularly at national conferences, on television and in the media, including Today, World News Tonight, and Oprah.

Ms. Galinsky is also a photographer. The latest shows of her photography were at the New York Hall of Science in September 2006, at UMA Gallery in New York City in January 2007, at RiverWinds Gallery in Beacon New York, in September 2008, and at GaGa in Rockland County New Work in October 2009, and at Upstream Gallery in Dobbs Ferry New York in February 2009 and 2010.

She hold a Master of Science degree in Child Development/ Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Study from Vassar College and numerous honorary degrees.

Ellen Galinsky is married to artist Norman Galinsky, and they are the parents of two grown children: Philip, an ethnomusicologist and founder-director of Samba New York—an inspiring new performance group—and Lara, Senior Vice President at Echoing Green—whose mission is to accelerate social change by investing in and supporting outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions.

[For Ms. Galinsky’s more comprehensive biographical material, please click here.]

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Lois Backon is Vice President of Families and Work Institute (FWI). She has an accomplished background in marketing, strategic positioning, project development and management in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. At FWI, Ms. Backon works with program teams directing projects, developing and marketing the results of FWI's research, creating FWI products, managing outreach strategies and leveraging partnership opportunities with diverse groups. She also oversees personnel operations for the organization.

Ms. Backon is currently Co-Project Director for FWI's When Work Works initiative, and is responsible for increasing awareness of the need for effective and flexible workplaces throughout the nation and recognizing employers that have programs, policies and a culture of supporting flexible and effective workplaces. She is the Co-Director of The Supporting Work Project. This project enables business and governmental leadership to establish partnerships within communities to increase the number of employers that help their lower-wage employees access publicly funded work supports. In addition, Ms. Backon directs the School-Based Health Care Project (SBHC), analyzing funding streams and evaluating the potential to replicate centers and sustain them throughout the nation.

Ms. Backon is responsible for FWI's signature annual event, the Work Life Legacy Award, which documents the history of the work life movement and recognizes those whose contributions have been extraordinary. She also appears often as a keynote speaker on behalf of FWI at conferences and corporate meetings.

Other projects Ms. Backon has co-directed include FWI's Lessons from the 100 Best, a joint project with Working Mother Media to assess the array of information gathered through the Working Mother Survey for their 100 Best annual awards, understand companies' need for these data and create new products based on best practice.

In addition, she directed FWI's highly successful 9/11 As History and Salute to Educators initiatives. In this role, she convened a panel of experts to act in an advisory role, formed partnerships with school systems around the country, oversaw production of a Web site and guidebook with lesson plans and best practices and helped develop a grant award process providing educators with funds to further teach lessons learned.

Before joining the staff of Families and Work Institute, Ms. Backon worked for IBM in Washington, DC as the Account Marketing Executive for The White House Territory.

She serves on the Educational Advisory Board of The Children's Aid Society, the Westport/Weston Positive Youth Development Steering Committee, and is a member of the United Way Tocqueville Society of Central Pennsylvania Region. She is also a member of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP).

Ms. Backon holds a B.S. degree in Administrative Management Sciences and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University and attended American University for her MBA. She is married to Marc Backon, Senior Vice President at Capital BlueCross of Pennsylvania, and has two daughters: Mia who attends Tulane University and Julia who attends the University of Michigan.


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Terry Bond is Vice President for Research and Director of Work Life Research. In addition to providing technical advice on research design and data analysis to all major research projects of the Institute, he has day-to-day responsibility for the Institute's work life research program. Included in this area are the National Study of the Changing Workforce and the National Study of Employers . Every five years, the former surveys nationally representative samples of employees and the latter surveys nationally representative samples of employers.

Before joining Families and Work Institute, Mr. Bond was Deputy Director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University where he helped develop the program work of the new center, including public policy analysis and field-based research concerned with maternal and child health, early care and education, service integration, welfare reform, and the demographics of child and family poverty. Prior to joining the Center at Columbia University, he was founding Director of the National Council of Jewish Women's Center for the Child, where he developed and managed research and action projects focused on work-family issues, family child care, child welfare, and parenting education. Before joining the Center for the Child, he was Director of Research at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, where he was involved in longitudinal research on the Perry Preschool Project, Head Start, and other early childhood programs for economically disadvantaged children, as well as applied research related to special-needs children, family support programs, and child and family literacy.

Mr. Bond has shared the authorship of numerous FWI publications including Youth and Employment: What Do Young People Expect From the World of Work? , the 2005 National Study of Employers , the 2002 and the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce , Beyond the Parental Leave Debate: The Impact of Laws in Four States, "The Effects of Childbearing on Women's Employment" in Parental Leave and Productivity, and The Changing Workforce: Highlights of the 1992 National Study. Other recent publications for which he had joint or sole authorship include "Single parents in the wage and salaried labor force" in the American Compensation Association Journal, "Work and family: The experiences of mothers and fathers in the U.S. labor force" in The American Woman 1996-97, "Parents at work: Work-family conflict stress, and coping" in Children, Families, and Stress, and three reports written in November 2006 for The Supporting Work Project.

Terry Bond completed both his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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Kerstin Aumann, Ph.D., is Senior Research Associate at Families and Work Institute. She conducts research on a wide range of workforce and workplace issues, including work-life fit, workplace effectiveness, employee health, and the impact of gender and generation at home and at work. Her responsibilities include identifying and analyzing issues and trends based on the National Study of the Changing Workforce, a large nationally representative survey of U.S. workers conducted by Families and Work Institute every five years.

Dr. Aumann has applied her expertise in organizational psychology, workforce diversity and talent management to her research, teaching and consulting experience in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining FWI, she worked for the Global Talent Research Group at Goldman Sachs, where she developed and implemented research projects related to improving the firm’s human capital management processes. She also worked in the Change Communication Group at Burson-Marsteller, a global communication consultancy.

Dr. Aumann has taught graduate courses in organizational psychology and organizational behavior at Columbia University. She has published her dissertation research on the impact of person-organization fit on expatriate employees, and co-authored several book chapters and research papers on person-organization fit, workplace diversity and cross-cultural management.

She completed her undergraduate work in Learning and Organizational Change and International Studies magna cum laude at Northwestern University, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social-Organizational Psychology at Columbia University.

In her free time, Dr. Aumann is a rabbit rescue volunteer at a New York City animal shelter. She is also a licensed educator for the New York City House Rabbit Society.

Born and raised in Germany, Kerstin Aumann lives in New York City with her husband, Victor, and several pet rabbits.

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As Program Assistant for Families and Work Institute, Ms. Beckman assists in the execution and implementation of project goals. She interfaces with When Work Works' 30 partner sites, helps coordinate Community Awards Events, provides technical assistance, tracks project media, and maintains the When Work Works website. She is also responsible for helping create, write, and produce FWI's annually-published Bold New Ideas guide, which highlights best practices of effective and flexible workplaces.

In addition, Ms. Beckman works directly with FWI's Vice President and FWI Board Event Chair to fully execute the annual Work Life Legacy Award event. She also undertakes various cross-project tasks such as writing press releases, conducting market research, and assisting in the development of funding proposals and sustainability plans. Ms. Beckman has most recently been focusing on developing new initiatives and various prospects for expansion.

Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Beckman worked as both an Educational Therapist for educational consulting firm Freudigman & Billings, and a Consultant for international charity Keep A Child Alive.

Ms. Beckman received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, with a concentration in Law and Society, from Cornell University in 2008. During her time at Cornell, Ms. Beckman served as the first-ever and only intern in UNICEF's International and Corporate Alliances Division.

Ms. Beckman was bitten by a rabid raccoon at the age of five, is allergic to amoxicillin, and hopes to visit the Galapagos Islands before becoming a member of the AARP.

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John Boose is the Art Director at Families and Work Institute. He designs, formats and oversees the printing of all FWI materials, and he also manages the Institute’s Web site. He has been with the Institute for over ten years.

Mr. Boose also does freelance graphic design, is a musician and received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Connecticut College.

John Boose is originally from New York City and currently resides there with his girlfriend, Erin, and their son, Hudson.

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Carol Bryce-Buchanan is the Director of Development at Families and Work Institute, and oversees FWI's Corporate Leadership Circle (CLC), Board of Directors and all grants, contracts and contributions. She designs the CLC Conference Calls and Briefings and maintains ongoing relationships with over 50 Fortune 500 and 1,000 companies. Ms. Bryce-Buchanan has a special interest in women’s leadership in business. She is part of the team that developed the work life curriculum for the inaugural Ms. Foundation "Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day," co-produced FWI publication “Lessons in Leadership: A Book of Quotes” and presents and gives keynote addresses on FWI’s behalf in the U.S. and Canada. Along with Lois Backon, she is responsible for FWI's signature annual event, the Work Life Legacy Award, which documents the history of the work life movement and honors those who have made extraordinary contributions to its development.

Prior to joining FWI in 1999, Ms. Bryce-Buchanan worked in development in arts and educational institutions and held research and administrative positions at HealthMed, Yale University Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, New York Medical College, The Montreal General Hospital and The Montreal Children's Hospital. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Dance Theatre Workshop (DTW) and is Chair of their Nominating Committee. In 2007 she was awarded DTW’s MOVE (Motivating Ongoing Vision and Excellence) Award for her pivotal role in building the organization over 20 years. She also serves on the Board of the Reggie Wilson Fist and Heel Performance Group.

Ms. Bryce-Buchanan is a member of the Alliance for Work Life Progress (AWLP) and the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), is active in community affairs, serves on the Spence School Parents of Alumni Steering Committee and is a former Director of The Allen-Stevenson School.

Carol Bryce-Buchanan and her family live in Manhattan. Her daughter is a graduate of Middlebury College and is working in the Environmental Law practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Her son attends Bucknell University.

As a Senior Consultant, Mary Beth Harvey has returned to Families and Work Institute to work on Mind in the Making, a national initiative which brings the science of early learning to parents, educators and the public through a curriculum for early childhood educators, family videos, TV series, PSAS, parenting tips and published materials. She had served as one of FWI’s founding staff members in 1989, leaving when the first of her four children were born.

A cum laude Master of Arts graduate from Wheaton College and a Master of Science in Education graduate from Bank Street College of Education, Ms. Harvey began her career as an early childhood teacher at the Brearley School in New York City, and was chosen as an Interschool Fellow. She then joined FWI as a Research Associate and later as the Projects Coordinator overseeing FWI’s public/press relations, project tracking and staff. She also worked on such projects as the Family and Medical Leave research, Beyond the Parental Leave Debate: The Impact of Laws in Four States, The Corporate Reference Guide to Work-Family Programs, The State Reference Guide to Work-Family Programs for State Employees, Parental Leave and Productivity, Family-Centered Child Care and Education Before School: Investing in Quality Childcare. At FWI, she also advised a number of corporate clients and state agencies on their child care initiatives.

Following FWI, Ms. Harvey then worked as a consultant with the Director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University’s School of Public Health, developing a case study and an endowment plan. She has also worked for several other nonprofits in the areas of volunteerism and community initiatives, substance abuse prevention, parenting education and homeless teen mothers where she has helped to develop strategic, marketing and endowment plans. Ms. Harvey has designed programming for these populations and worked directly with those these organizations serve. She is on the Boards of NYC-Parents in Action, Harlem Day Charter School and Hearts of Gold.

Mary Beth Harvey is originally from Ohio, and currently lives in New York City with her husband and four children.

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Sharon Huang is the Program Manager at Families and Work Institute. She develops and implements programs and partnerships for Mind in the Making, a national initiative designed to share the science of early learning with educators, families and the general public. This groundbreaking initiative will include a television show, magazine articles, parenting videos and print materials for families, community mobilization efforts, and a major new book. In addition, FWI has developed Mind in the Making Learning Modules for Early Childhood Teachers that are being implemented across the country. Ms. Huang also works on work life initiatives at FWI including the annual Work Life Conference and the Work Life Leadership Council with The Conference Board.

Before joining the Institute, Ms. Huang oversaw public engagement initiatives as Director of Partnerships and Programs for Parents' Action for Children (formerly the I Am Your Child Foundation), and was previously a corporate lawyer in New York City.

Sharon Huang received her JD from New York University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University. She is a member of the board of directors of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, and is a volunteer at the Bank Street Family Center, an inclusive early childhood and special education program at Bank Street College of Education.

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Marline Lambert is a multi-functional Coordinator at Families and Work Institute. She manages the Publications Department, coordinates speaking events, and provides operations, administrative and reception support.

A native of Oxfordshire, England, Ms. Lambert has been with the Institute for eight years. Prior to joining FWI, she held a mail processing position with the United States Postal Service.

Barbara Norcia-Broms has been Development Coordinator at Families and Work Institute since 1998 and has been at FWI since 1992, joining the Institute in its early years as Executive Assistant to President Ellen Galinsky.

Ms. Norcia-Broms provides support to FWI’s Board of Directors and assists the Director of Development in interfacing with the foundations and corporations which support FWI with unrestricted funding through the Corporate Leadership Circle (CLC) (CLC conference calls and annual Circle Briefing) and the annual Work Life Legacy Award event. She also monitors deadlines for restricted project funding, works closely with FWI’s Finance Department and often serves as proof-reader and copy-editor for the Institute’s reports and publications.

Prior to joining FWI, Ms. Norcia-Broms was Assistant to the Director of Public Events for Grand Central Partnership (GCP), a business improvement district encompassing 50-blocks around Grand Central Terminal. GCP produced Manhattan’s first First Night in 1991, a New Year’s Eve day celebration of the arts. In the 80s, she worked at Bank Street College of Education—where she met Ellen Galinsky—in Development and as Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

Barbara Norcia-Broms holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Queens College (The Aaron Copeland School of Music) of CUNY, Cum Laude and is a native of Rome, Italy. She is an operatic contralto and is President and Artistic Director of Manhattan Opera Association—in its 30 th year—a small opera company which she manages with her husband, tenor Martin Broms.

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Richard Rolka is responsible for the entire financial and accounting oversight for the Institute. His background includes extensive work in both the public accounting sector and the private sector: auditing, consulting, tax planning and reporting for a broad spectrum of entities including not-for-profits, health care systems, multi-regional and international corporations.

As an auditor for Loeb & Troper, for example, he performed innumerable audit and consulting engagements. He has helped various organizations strengthen procedures in their monthly and year-end closings and assisted in the streamlining of multi-corporate consolidations.

Before joining FWI, Mr. Rolka headed the finance department of a multi-regional corporation, part of an international group. He is well-versed in the reporting, compliance and tax issues facing international enterprises.

His professional affiliations include the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Richard Rolka and his wife, Anna, are the proud parents of two baby girls, Kayla and Ellie.

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Kelly Sakai is Senior Technology Associate and Communications Coordinator at Families and Work Institute. She is responsible for any related software and other technical aspects for projects, including the construction and maintenance of the primary FWI Web site and all individual project sites.

Ms. Sakai currently staffs the When Work Works project, managing the data collection, scoring, analysis and reporting for the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, and is the interim communications contact for members of the media. Previous project work has included 9/11 As History and Salute to Educators.

Ms. Sakai studied political science and women’s studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Prior to coming to the Institute, she worked in marketing for SmallWorld.com.

Kelly Sakai is a native of Paso Robles, California and currently lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her partner, Mark.

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Tyler Wigton is a Senior Program Associate at Families and Work Institute with a focus on workforce and workplace issues. She plays a key role in FWI’s When Work Works project, an ongoing national initiative on workplace effectiveness and flexibility funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her responsibilities include overseeing the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, a component of the project that recognizes employers for successfully using flexibility to meet both business and employee goals.

She also works on The Supporting Work Project, funded by The Ford Foundation, which identifies, provides support to and evaluates innovative demonstration projects across the country that are helping employers of all sizes play an important role in educating their lower-wage workers about publicly-funded work supports and in making it easier for them to apply for and receive these benefits.

In addition, Ms. Wigton coordinates Families and Work Institute’s annual Work Life Conference, one of the thought leader events for the work life movement, which is co-convened with The Conference Board.

A native of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Tyler Wigton graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and currently resides in New York City.

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Myrna Woods is the Manager of Finance and Administration at Families and Work Institute. She performs the day-to-day general accounting at FWI, working closely with the Controller assisting with quarterly and year-end closings and yearly audit preparation. She also assists in the implementation of goals, policies and procedures relating to accounting at FWI.

As HR administrator, she works with the FWI Vice President Lois Backon on personnel operations, and is responsible for the daily management of HR policies and procedures, administering FWI’s benefit programs including group health, unemployment and retirement plans while providing daily support to staff.

Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Woods was a Staff Accountant at Century 21 Stores, a group of successful New York-based department stores. In 1998, she graduated from Bernard Baruch College where she received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Accounting.

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Thomas Worger is a Consultant at Families and Work Institute. He currently provides support for the day-to-day operations and communications needs of The Supporting Work Project, a Ford Foundation project that seeks to promote access of publicly funded work supports to the lower-wage workforce through their employers.

In addition to working with FWI, Mr. Worger is also pursuing an M.A. at Columbia University in East Asian Languages and Cultures with a focus on the People’s Republic of China. Past research of his has included scholarship of the Great Leap Forward, the life of Mao Zedong, and China’s contemporary space industry. Currently his work focuses on Chinese property rights and real estate law in relation to forced migration and population displacement.

Thomas Worger hails from San Luis Obispo, California and currently lives in New York.

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