BOARD PRESIDENT

Robert F. Johnston founded Johnston Associates, a venture capital firm, in 1968 to provide seed capital for start-ups emerging in the biotechnology and healthcare fields. During his career, he founded numerous public companies including Sepracor (acquired by Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co), Cytogen (acquired by EUSA Pharma), and I-STAT (acquired by Abbott). Johnston is founder and president of Educational Ventures, a private foundation. He received his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from New York University. Johnston was a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University for 20 years.

BOARD SECRETARY

Jane Manners is a legal historian and an assistant professor of law at Temple Law School. She has a BA and a JD from Harvard and a PhD from Princeton, and she served as a clerk for Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Professor Manners has also worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a grantmaker for the Open Society Institute, where she focused on democracy reform efforts in the United States. Her writing has appeared in the Fordham Law Review, the Columbia Law Review,  The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation, among other publications. 

BOARD TREASURER

Keena is a professor of political science at Queens College and The Graduate Center. She conducts research on elections and polarization in the US. Her research has been published in numerous journals including PNAS, Political Behavior, and Journal of Political Philosophy, and she has authored or co-authored several books, including Competitive Elections and the American Voter and Campaigns and Elections.

BOARD MEMBER

Josh Goldfein is a staff attorney with the Homeless Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society of New York City, where he has spent decades advocating for the rights of homeless individuals, migrants, and other vulnerable populations. Josh has served as lead counsel in landmark right-to-shelter litigation, class actions challenging discriminatory housing practices, and cases securing essential services for his clients. His work includes representing individuals and families in federal and state courts and engaging in public policy discussions to shape legal protections for people lacking stable housing. He is also recognized as an expert on the city’s management of shelters and related services, frequently providing commentary and analysis to the media.