OUR BOARD
JAYNE BENTZEN
Jayne Bentzen believes that acquiring the ability to read is the essential starting point for a child’s success in school and later life. Jayne and her husband Benedict SIlverman supported Reading Rescue, a research-based reading intervention program developed by Dr. Nora Hoover at the University of Florida Gainesville FL, for many years before cofounding the Benedict Silverman Foundation in 2012. Jayne became the director of the Foundation and focused its efforts on expanding the use of the Reading Rescue program in New York City elementary schools. Jayne initiated a partnership that paired Reading Rescue with the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University.
Through this collaboration, Reading Rescue was successfully adopted by over 100 NYC elementary schools. Jayne also served as Board Chair to the nonprofit Literacy Trust. Under Jayne’s leadership, alongside the work and guidance of an excellent staff and Board of Directors, Literacy Trust has brought Reading Rescue to over 150 NYC schools. Literacy Trust now operates independently of the BSF and continues to administer Reading Rescue in New York City schools through an agreement with the BSF.
Currently Jayne continues as Board Chair of the BSF and is thrilled to watch as developments initiated by the Reading Rescue Academic Advisor Dr. Katie Pace Miles at CUNY School of Education unfold and expand the reach of excellent, research based reading instruction in New York City and beyond.
DIANE ARCHER
Diane Archer is founder and president of Just Care USA, an independent digital media hub that covers health and financial issues facing boomers and their families. Ms. Archer serves on the Brown University School of Public Health Advisory Board. She is the past chair of the Board of Consumer Reports.
Ms. Archer began her career in health advocacy in 1989 as founder and president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer service organization dedicated to ensuring that older and disabled Americans get the health care they need. Ms. Archer received her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.
STEPHEN PRESSER
Stephen is a Founding Partner at Monomoy Capital Partners - a family of operationally focused and deep-value investment funds based in New York City. He has worked on the principal side of middle-market investing and business improvement for the past 25 years, buying sound businesses in the lower middle market that face a change in ownership, operational issues, or financial challenges.
He is far better known, however, as the husband of Diane Archer and the father of Lizzie Presser and Michael Presser.
ALLISON JAFFIN
Allison Jaffin manages the operations of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable activities, including his foundation, corporate and personal giving. Jaffin oversees and provides strategic direction for each of the foundation’s initiatives and is responsible for all grants as well as monitoring and evaluating the success of each program. In 2020, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $1.6 billion.
Jaffin left her job at City Hall as Special Assistant to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris in 2010 to develop Mayor Bloomberg’s foundation, including building out its operations and focuses.
Jaffin’s career began in the Corporate Communications department at Bloomberg L.P. She also served on Bloomberg’s first campaign for Mayor in 2001 and reelection efforts in 2005.
Jaffin is a graduate of Columbia College.
SCOTT HARRISON
Scott is the founder and CEO of charity: water, a global nonprofit bringing clean water to people in developing nations. Scott was recognized in Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 list, the Forbes Magazine Impact 30 list and was recently #10 in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business issue. He is currently a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Scott and his wife Viktoria have two children, Jackson and Emma. Read Scott’s story in his new book Thirst.
RHAHIME BELL
Rhahime Bell is a 1991 graduate from Georgetown University with a dual degree in Finance and International Management. After graduation, Mr. Bell joined JP Morgan and worked as a Vice President in the Corporate Finance Services Division. He joined UBS in 1999 as Head of the Municipal Risk Management and Investment Division. Mr. Bell grew the Divisions annual revenues from $5 million in 1999 to over $100 million in 2004. From 2008-2011, Mr. Bell served as a lead angel investor in select early stage companies. In 2012, Mr. Bell became a Managing Director and Principal with GenTrust, an asset management firm which focuses on high net worth and institutional clients. In December 2015, Mr. Bell invested in Holistix Treatment Centers which focuses on substance use and mental health disorders and currently serves as a Managing Partner.
OUR STAFF
TIFFANY ZAPICO
Chief Executive Officer
Tiffany oversees the foundation's programs, fiscal decisions and strategic planning. She works closely with the board to ensure Benedict Silverman is mission focused, efficient and impactful. She supports all grantees and licensees during the application and partnership process.
Tiffany has spent the last fifteen years working in in various leadership roles at education focused nonprofits, primarily focused on development of early literacy skills. She is very passionate about providing future and current educators high quality professional development and empowering all students to become lifelong readers.
Academic Advisor
Katie completed her doctorate in Educational Psychology: Learning, Development, and Instruction with a sub-specialization in Research on the Acquisition of Literacy with Dr. Linnea C. Ehri. In her tenure-track faculty line at Brooklyn College she oversaw the graduate and undergraduate development and teaching of literacy courses in the Early Childhood department. As a former early childhood/childhood teacher and learning specialist, she conducted reading and writing assessments of and interventions with students with literacy delays and disabilities. She worked closely with teachers, families, and school psychologists to support student progress.
Elizabeth Keane
Director of Operations
Elizabeth is passionate about building passionate teams. Her goal is to ensure day-to-day work is efficient, effective, and enjoyable for everyone. As part of the leadership team she builds the infrastructure to support Benedict Silervman’s programmatic and partnership work, allowing Reading Rescue and Reading Ready to reach as many students as possible.
Elizabeth has spent her career building operations for evolving programs and nonprofits. An avid reader herself, she is excited to help students strengthen their relationship with reading.
Emily Van Houten
Program Officer
Emily is the Program Officer at the Benedict Silverman Foundation. In this role, Emily leads the foundation’s development and implementation of the Reading Ready and Reading Go! programs with regional partners. She ensures all curricular and professional resources reflect partner needs and are aligned to the foundation’s strategic goals and mission.
In her career, Emily has served as an elementary teacher, instructional coach, school leader, and a program designer and partnership director at an education foundation focused on effective family engagement strategies for schools and districts. Emily believes in the power of collaboration and partnership, and centers the foundation’s mission to provide pathways for all students through literacy in her work every day.
Madeline Glickman
Manager, Program & Partnerships
Madeline is the Program Manager at the Benedict Silverman Foundation. In this role, Madeline works with partners at higher education institutions and in public schools to implement Reading Ready and Reading Go! programs.
Madeline has spent most of her career as a literacy teacher and reading interventionist in Title 1 schools. She believes in the power of strong reading instructions for all students. In addition, she has worked as an education consultant to organizations that support and advocate for school leaders across the country.
Anne Salter
Data Manager
As the Data Manager at the Benedict Silverman foundation, Anne is very excited to build and own data and the database. She has a long career in non-profits, she's worked for an Emergency/Transitional Housing in Boise Idaho, the United Way of King County, and a food bank/food distribution non-profit both in Seattle. Anne's love of databases started when she built her first database in Access and has been involved with database work in every job since. She is excited to be a part of the team.
Lenna Assaf
Manager, Programs & Partnerships
Lenna collaborates with partners to seamlessly implement Reading Ready and Reading Go! programs. She makes sure that stakeholders are set up for success so that students receive the literacy support they deserve.
As a former teacher and school administrator for enrichment programs in K-8 schools, Lenna discovered her knack for high-quality program delivery and consequently served as a Program Manager for education nonprofits for several years. Prior to joining the BSF team, Lenna supported nonprofits-at-large through coaching on best practices in nonprofit program management and evaluation.