Board of Directors
Ria G. Hawks, President & CEO, COFOUNDER
Prior to full-time devotion to SAORI Arts NYC, Ria was a pediatric nurse practitioner at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NY Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Her focus was providing palliative and curative care for children with cancer and life-threatening hematological diseases.Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for integrative therapies, including interventions that promote healing.
Ria recognized that SAORI weaving could decrease stress and anxiety as well as enhance self-expression and coping skills. She established a SAORI weaving program, which was adaptable to different developmental, physical, and emotional needs, in the pediatric hematology/oncology clinic at CUMC. As an adjunct professor at Bank Street Graduate School of Education, Ria shares her expertise with child life students. She also volunteers in the Arts in Medicine Studio, in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic at CUMC.
Maurine Packard, M.D., Treasurer
Maurine is a retired pediatric neurologist whose private practice was affiliated with New York- Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell Medical School. Reflecting her previous careers as a general pediatrician then child development specialist, Maurine’s focus was on assisting families with children who had severe developmental disabilities and brain injuries access therapies that enabled each child to reach his or her full potential.
She discovered the uniqueness of SAORI when she began weaving and was immediately drawn to this joyful, contemplative art form. She was impressed with the ease with which young children learned to weave on the SAORI loom, how involved and focused they became in the weaving process, and how proud they were of their creations. She recognized how accessible this technique would be for individuals with a variety of disabilities. In particular, the SAORI loom can be modified to accommodate those with motor challenges, her primary interest.
Marcia Kublanow, Secretary
Marcia retired after a long career in both for-profit and nonprofit marketing communications. Her avocation has always been fiber arts. She worked as a manager in advertising/public relations agencies and as a vice president and manager of communications in Citicorp’s Corporate Finance Division. In the nonprofit sector, Marcia worked at Beth Israel Medical Center as a public relations manager and at the UJA-Federation of New York as a senior project manager in its Management Assistance Program, a department that recruits and matches skills-based volunteer consultants with UJA-Federation’s network of 100 agencies to solve their most pressing business, management, marketing, and technical issues.
A SAORI weaver herself, Marcia is pleased to be working with SAORI Arts NYC to bring this unique art form to nonprofit organizations that support accessibility.
Lyndsie Levine
Lyndsie is currently the Director of Advancement & Strategic Projects at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a prominent Reform synagogue on the Upper West Side. In her tenure at CRS she has managed all aspects of annual fundraising and a $21m capital campaign, the largest in the synagogue’s history. Lyndsie is currently managing the synagogue’s first Strategic Planning process and she helps to incubate new projects. Prior to her work at CRS, Lyndsie was a consultant at CCS Fundraising where she advised organizations on multi-million-dollar capital campaigns, and she began her career in the Planned Giving and Endowments department of UJA-Federation of NY. Lyndsie graduated from NYU with a degree in Judaic Studies and Non-Profit Management.
Lyndsie is a lifelong creative and became hooked on SAORI weaving after sitting down at a loom for the first time. Feeling the joy and emotional benefits of weaving herself, Lyndsie feels strongly that all people regardless of background or ability have the power to create and the right to experience the joy of making art.
Victoria Manganiello
Victoria Manganiello is an artist, designer, educator, and organizer. She has received multiple recognized grants, commissions, and residency appointments and shared her work in exhibition and project spaces internationally. She is also a part-time assistant professor of textiles at NYU and Parson’s.