Our Staff
Joseph S. Biehl, Founder and Executive Director
Dr. Biehl earned a B.A. in philosophy from St. John’s University (Queens) and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School and University Center, CUNY. Â He has taught philosophy in New York and in Cork, Ireland. He is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s University. He is the co-editor (with Sharon M. Meagher and Samantha Noll) of The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the City.
Lisa Warenski, Senior GPS Fellow
Dr. Warenski teaches at City College and at the Graduate School and University Center, CUNY. Â Visit her site at lisawarenski.com.
Michael Menser, Senior GPS Fellow
Dr. Menser teaches in the Department of Philosophy at Brooklyn College and is a member of the doctoral faculty in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Psychology at the Graduate School and University Center, CUNY. He is Director of the Economic Democracy Project, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Participatory Budgeting Project and works with the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. He is the author of We Decide! Theories and Cases in Participatory Democracy.Â
David Shein, Program Advisor
Dr. Shein is Associate Vice President and Dean of Studies at Bard College.
Our Board of Directors
Dennis Johnson
Executive Vice President for Government Affairs at the Children’s Health Fund, a non-profit organization that initiates and supports innovative pediatric programs designed to meet the complex health care needs of medically underserved, homeless and economically-disadvantaged children. Johnson is also the Policy Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he acts as a liaison between the Center and policymakers and elected officials at the state and federal levels.
Prior to his tenure at The Children’s Health Fund, Mr. Johnson was a senior program officer at the Fund for New York City Public Education and a research analyst at the Public Policy Institute of the Business Council of New York State.
Lorraine Marsh
Lorraine is the Market Data Advisor for Sales & Trading and Operations at a top-tier financial firm in New York City. Lorraine graduated from Ithaca College with a BA in Political Science, and has a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Long Island University, the Palmer School. Lorraine currently volunteers with Read Ahead as a mentor.
Scott Meserve
Scott Meserve is a veteran development officer with 15 years’ experience in New York City’s philanthropic world, and the father of two inquisitive sons. He has helped manage successful fundraising campaigns for Columbia University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Central Park SummerStage, a 9/11 charity, and helped found and run several documentary and feature film festivals. He is a board member of Uptown Soccer, in his home neighborhood of Washington Heights, and cornerstone Studios, an affordable studio space for emerging and career visual artists. He holds a BA in Political Science from Columbia University and is philosophical about the odds of his beloved Mets winning another World Series in his lifetime.
In Memoriam