SALLY GOTTESMAN is known for her passion, strategic thinking, warmth, and most of all, her commitment to creating a better world. In typical fashion, when Sally became interested in neurofibromatosis, NF1, she committed herself to increasing funding and catalyzing research in this disease. Thus, she became involved with the Children’s Tumor Foundation and then the force behind the establishment of the Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program (NTAP) at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The skills she used to launch NTAP were initially honed when she co-founded and served as Chair of Moving Traditions (2007-17), which emboldens over 5,000 Jewish teens a year by fostering self-discovery, challenging sexism, and inspiring a commitment to Jewish life and learning. Recently, Sally brought her creative and effective leadership skills to Encounter. At Encounter, she was the force behind its new signature program, Encounter Intensives; this program brings current American Jewish leaders from across the religious, political and organizational spectrums to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and immerses them in educational programs so that these influencers can more constructively engage with the most critical issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sally’s decades long experience as a consultant to not-for-profit organizations and at KPMG Peat Marwick, her degrees from Yale’s School of Management and Wellesley College, and her leadership on many not-for-profit Boards, including American Jewish World Service, The Jewish Funders Network, The Jewish Women’s Archive, and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, as well as her involvement with her family business, Edison Properties, LLC, have made Sally a valuable force as she helps to build NTAP.
Sally is grateful beyond measure to everyone who has contributed money, time and talent to NTAP. Her greatest love, however, is for her three children, Ezra, Alice and Charlotte who inspire her commitments every day.
MARJORIE BLOOMBERG TIVEN has devoted her professional and philanthropic work to cultural diplomacy, education, and public service. She is the founder and president of Global Cities, Inc., a program of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Through her signature program, Global Scholars, Tiven works with a worldwide network of cities committed to developing global competency among the next generation of students through international digital exchange. Tiven’s program focuses students on issues of public health, environmental stewardship, and a sustainable future—and grounds them in the scientific mindset they will be able to draw on as adults in tackling the world’s problems. Technology allows students in distant cities to easily connect and discover what they have in common. Tiven believes that broadly-inclusive global learning is especially important now, as world problems become increasingly interconnected, and nations are challenged by the rise of intolerance and isolationism. This global education program has grown over the last five years from 2,000 students to over 13,000 students in 64 cities in 29 countries.
Tiven’s skill and expertise in cultural diplomacy developed while she served as New York City Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs from 2002 to 2013. She represented the City on issues with foreign governments and the United States government, often tasked with reconciling what others might have considered intractable national and local differences.
While serving as Commissioner, Tiven created and led New York City Global Partners, Inc. and engaged cities around the world to share best practices to solve common problems. She understood the importance of educating children to appreciate and value other cultures. In 2003, she created online programming to connect students in digital classrooms for precisely this purpose. She continued this work after leaving City government by creating Global Cities / Global Scholars.
Tiven currently serves on the boards of the Citizens Union and the National Archives Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Formerly, she represented the Mayor on the The New York Public Library’s Board of Trustees and was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund. She also served on the board of The United Nations Development Corporation. She received a Public Service Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council (2006) and a Leadership Award from Girl Scouts of Greater New York (2009). Tiven holds a BA from Antioch College and an MS from Columbia University School of Social Work.
Tiven’s global scholars inspire her to collaborate in every way possible to solve the world’s problems. It is in that spirit that she is thrilled to support the work of her daughter Rachel Tiven and Sally Gottesman in their efforts to hasten a cure for neurofibromatosis, introducing them to Jaishri Blakeley, MD at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Because a grandmother will do whatever she can to help a grandchild.
Dr. JAISHRI BLAKELEY is a clinician scientist and an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of tumors of the nervous system. She is an Associate Professor of Neurology, Oncology and Neurosurgery, director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center (JHCNC) and director of the Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program (NTAP).