B O A R D   O F   D I R E C T O R S

lori Osterback-boettner

Lori is an insatiably curious Senior Director of Supply Chain Operations at Cisco. A Silicon Valley veteran, Lori started her career in electronic distribution sales and then worked her way through almost every supply chain discipline. Lori’s years in the business anchors her current passion of workforce enablement where she is deeply invested in empowerment and education the people who make supply chains run in the digital era. Lori seeks inspiration for her work from the people she meets, the books she reads, and the quotes she collects.

andrew genn

Andrew Genn is Sr. Vice President of the Ports & Transportation Department at the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

In his role, Andrew supervises planning and policy initiatives related to waterborne freight and passenger transportation, air cargo facility planning, rail passenger and freight transportation.

Andrew has worked at NYCEDC since 1997 and was responsible for leading the Strategic Plan for the Redevelopment of the Port of New York, the Comprehensive Port Improvement Plan, and the Maritime Support Services Location Study. These projects provided key guidance to the recently adopted Citywide Waterfront Plan and the Mayor’s Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy.

As a founding partner and chair of the UASGC CTE Advisory Board, Andrew has been a tireless advocate for our school and our students. He helped to write the CTE curriculum and our pathways, has facilitated work-based learning trips to sites such as the Hunt’s Point Produce Market, and will be the first participant in our speaker series, Logistics Lunches.

Andrew attended Cornell University (B.S. Urban Studies) and the City University Graduate Center (M.S. Political Science). He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

Diegane Dione (DiDi)

Diegane Dione (DiDi) has 19 years of management consulting and technology implementation across various industries. As part of the Digital practice at Accenture, he serves as the North America Connected Logistics Offering Lead; his role includes innovation, commercialization and identification of ecosystem partners around Multimodal Track & Trace, Predictive Maintenance, Analytics, AI, Blockchain, and Industry Specific Solutions.

During his first 4 and half years at Accenture he was responsible for driving Digital Transformation initiatives across Payments, Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance.

Prior to Accenture, he founded Dione Systems, an IoT hardware & software startup focused on real-time tracking for building emergency evacuation management. Those R&D efforts resulted in being awarded 3 United States patents.

He previously worked at Ernst & Young High Growth Practice, where he was focused on eCommerce strategy, operating model and technology architecture for eCommerce ventures.

howie mann

Dana Stiffler

Dana Stiffler is a Vice President in Gartner Research.  She cover supply chain talent strategies, as well as the chief supply chain officer role and individual influence and effectiveness in supply chain leadership.  She launched and led the Supply Chain Strategy & Enablers team within Gartner Supply Chain Leaders for three years.  Ms. Stiffler's work at AMR and then Gartner has led to direct, long-term involvement with the supply chain and sourcing leadership of global manufacturers and life sciences and CPG companies, as well as large retailers.  She has been quoted in leading business publications, including the New York Times, the Financial Times and Businessweek, and numerous other business and technology publications.

bethann rooney

Bethann Rooney is an Assistant Director in the Port Department of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Focused on strategy and innovation, Ms. Rooney provides oversight for all policy, planning, legislative and regulatory affairs, environmental sustainability, performance and efficiency matters in the Nation’s third largest seaport. She is the architect and coordinator of the Port’s Council on Port Performance; the first forum of its kind in the nation that was established as a framework for port constituents to identify challenges to port efficiency and service reliability and develop recommended solutions. Prior to assuming this new role, Ms. Rooney was the General Manager, Port Security for the Port Authority. Assuming this post in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, she is a recognized world leader in maritime security and emergency management issues. A 26-year veteran in the maritime industry, Ms. Rooney has also worked in Port Operations,Property Management, Intermodal and Technology Planning. She is a graduate of the State University of New York Maritime College with a Masters in International Transportation and a Bachelors in Marine Transportation with qualifications as a Third Mate. Ms. Rooney is also an Accredited Marine Port Executive from the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives.

sandra rothbard

Sandra Rothbard earned a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University, Wagner. Since graduating, she has worked for the New York City

Office of the Public Advocate on transportation and land use issues, the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability on solid waste management and the NYC Department of Transportation in the Office of Freight Mobility. Most recently, she served as the Director of Supply Chain Logistics for NYC Emergency Management overseeing various programs that support the movement of critical supplies and equipment before during and after an emergency. She is a member of the American Planning Association, serves as the secretary of the Land Use Committee for Brooklyn Community Board 2 and is a founding board member of the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce.

st. claire l. gerald

St. Claire L. Gerald is the founder and CEO of Harambee Logistics Solutions, a management consulting firm specializing in operations and supply chain management for the Specialty Retail, Home Furnishings and Consumer Goods industries.

Prior to founding Harambee Logistics Solutions, Mr. Gerald served as Director, Supply Chain Management for Foot Locker Inc. In this capacity, he held a leadership role in developing strategies, processes and systems for improving the flow of merchandise across all areas of the global and domestic supply chains.

Mr. Gerald graduated from the College of Wooster with a degree in Business and Economics. He is an adjunct professor for The Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. Johns University and is also recognized as a Certified Supply Chain Professional and Master Instructor with APICS.

erin e. gehant

Erin E. Gehant was the founding principal of the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce, the first high school in the United States to focus entirely on preparing students for college and career pathways within the fields of freight logistics and supply chain management. Throughout her tenure at UASGC, she worked tirelessly to create strong systems and structures within the school, as well as build a student-centered culture of college and career readiness, while advocating for resources for the school to support STEM initiatives.

Erin began her career in education as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, where she graduated, magna cum laude, with a degree in Political Science. After completing a thesis on the tension between equity and access into higher education while studying abroad at Oxford University’s New College, Erin became very interested in the role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) as a means to open up pathways for low income students into the middle class.

After graduating, she moved to New York City and began her career in education, through the New York City Teaching Fellows Program at Brooklyn’s Automotive High School, a CTE public high school. While teaching a variety of mathematics, government and economics courses at Automotive and then later at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in the Bronx, she received both a Masters of Science in Teaching Adolescent Mathematics from Pace University and a Masters of Arts in Educational Leadership from the progressive Bank Street College.

In 2011, Erin left the classroom to pursue leadership positions within the NYC Department of Education where she served first as a Senior School Improvement Liaison, working with the NY State Education Department to evaluate failing schools under the “No Child Left Behind” policies and then as a Talent Coach, support ing schools in implementing NYCDOE’s teacher evaluation system, Advance, in its pilot year.

In 2013, Erin began the process of building a new CTE high school, The Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce, from the ground up. Working closely with the Urban Assembly and industry partners, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the Port Authority of NY and NJ, Maritime College, CSX Freight, the Metropolitan Transportation Council, the New York City Department of Transportation and other leaders in New York City’s transportation industry, she developed and realized a vision for a high school that would appropriately prepare all students for pathways into this career field.

Erin served as the Principal of UASGC from its founding in 2013 through June 2017. Erin led the growth of the school from 80 students and one grade in 2013 to 250 students and four grade levels in 2017. In her time as principal, she led the development of the instructional philosophy, school culture-building and resource acquisition, including the building of a comprehensive robotics lab in an old home economics classroom. The proudest moment of her time at UASGC, however, was in conferring the diplomas of the founding class of students in June 2017. She was proud to celebrate students’ successes with their teachers and families; nearly all of UASGC’s graduates received college acceptances, within the SUNY and CUNY systems and private schools throughout the Northeast. A select few even went onto pursue degrees in supply chain management!

Erin currently serves as the Senior Policy Director within the Division of Teaching and Learning at the NYC Department of Education. Her work now primarily centers on organizing resources across the vast reaches of the NYCDOE to improve approaches to preparing teachers to serve all students in NYC. She greatly misses her students and the team that she built at UASGC, but enjoys the added time she now has to spend with her husband and her baby daughter and pursue her hobby of three day eventing.

edward j. kelly

Edward J. Kelly is the Executive Director of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York/New Jersey.

Founded in 1873, the Maritime Association has a proud history of serving as a Maritime Exchange, industry association, and general advocate of the Maritime-related activities of the tri-state Port. In his current position, Ed is responsible for managing the diverse activities of the Association and helping to develop the enhanced safety, security, ecological sustainability, and economic viability of the many maritime-related industries in our Port.

Prior to joining the Maritime Association, Ed had held a series of senior executive level positions in the Liner business. His prior positions include: President and CEO of Cho Yang (America), Inc.; Senior Vice President of Inchcape Shipping Services; President and CEO of Nippon Liner Systems (USA); and Executive Vice President of Y.S. Line (USA). He has also provided executive level consulting services to such notable firms as Maher Terminals, Inc.; The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Deutche Afrika Line; Paul F. Richardson Associates; the Maritime Association of the Port of New York; and Strachan Shipping Agency. Ed has also served as an expert witness in several legal proceedings. Immediately prior to accepting his current position, Ed had managed the Transportation, Logistics, and Management Division of the Global Maritime and Transportation School of the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York.

Ed has devoted many years as a Director of the New York Shipping Association, the Carriers Container Council, the USMX, and the Steamship Operators Intermodal Committee. He has served on many joint labor /management committees and trust funds.

He is currently serving as a Director (and past President) of the National Association of Maritime Organizations (NAMO), as the Vice Chairman of the Mid Atlantic Ocean Observing Regional Association (MACOORA), as a Director of the United Seaman’s Service, as a Director (and current President) of the Maritime Information Service of North America (MISNA). He has been named as a member ofthe New York City Mayor’s Maritime Advisory Board. He is also currently serving as a member of NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Review Panel. Ed also serves as an Industry Advisor to the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce.

A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (B.S, Nautical Science), he sailed as a deck officer on several U.S. Flag ships.

Ed completed his MBA studies at Pace University in New York City, and holds a certificate in Intermodal Transportation from the FDR Institute. He is proud to have received an award for Outstanding Professional Achievement from the Kings Point Alumni Association. In March, 2009, the Journal of Commerce named Ed to their Leadership Roll in the Global Logistics Industry.

Ed lives in New Jersey with his wife Barbara.

In his spare time, Ed can usually be found on a Civil War battlefield, where he is a living history reenactor, and battlefield preservationist.

chris M. lutick

Chris is responsible for consulting and supporting UPS' largest customers in their logistics and global supply chain. For over 20 years, he has been instrumental in developing solutions to help streamline global supply chain solutions for some of the world's largest financial firms.

As the Congressional Awareness Coordinator Chris' team oversees New York and New Jersey's twenty-eight members of congress and the four senators from both states that align with the UPS North Atlantic District map.

Chris began his UPS career in 1992 as a package car driver.  He has held various positions of increasing responsibility in retail services, freight forwarding, supply chain, global sales and congressional affairs.

Chris holds a degree in political sciences from Monmouth College.

robert stromsted