A first-generation, Panamanian American born and raised in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Richard R. Buery, Jr. has spent his career fighting to advance equal opportunities for families and communities often left behind. In September 2021, Richard became the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the nation’s leading anti-poverty organizations.

At just 16 years old, Richard graduated from Stuyvesant High School and attended Harvard. He later earned a law degree from Yale and brought his talent and skills home to put them to work immediately. Most recently, Richard served as the CEO of Robin Hood’s community partner Achievement First, a network of 41 charter schools across New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Richard has extensive experience as a leader, manager, and social innovator within local government, as well as New York’s vast social service nonprofit sector.

As Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives for the City of New York, Richard was the key architect of the City’s Pre-K for All initiative, enabling 50,000 additional 4-years to get an early start on their education through a free, full-day program. He also launched Schools Out NYC, offering free after school programs to all NYC middle school students, stood up 200 new community school partnerships, and led the City’s effort to recruit 1,000 men of color to become public school teachers.

Additionally, Richard launched the mental health reform initiative, ThriveNYC, and managed the City’s relationship with the 250,000 student City University of New York System (CUNY), stewarding significant investments that improved college persistence for NYC students. Richard also managed a range of city agencies, including the Departments of Probation, Aging, Youth and Community Development, People with Disabilities, and Immigrant Affairs, and created the New York City Children’s Cabinet, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprises.

As a leader in the nonprofit sector, Richard has worked for or led four major nonprofits that are among Robin Hood’s grantees: the Brennan Center at NYU’s School of Law, KIPP, Children’s Aid, and Achievement First. Additionally, Richard founded Groundwork to support the educational aspirations of public housing residents in Brooklyn, and was cofounder of the national nonprofit iMentor, which pairs high school students with mentors to help them navigate to and through college. He co-founded South Bronx Rising Together and the Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School.

Richard founded his first nonprofit at a Roxbury housing development while still in college. He was a teacher in Zimbabwe, a campaign manager to former Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves, and clerked at the Federal Court of Appeals in New York.

Today, Richard also serves as a Public Service Fellow at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where he was the Distinguished Visiting Urbanist during the Spring of 2019. He is also a Senior Fellow at the GovLab at NYU, and a partner at the Perception Institute. He serves on the boards of the Kresge Foundation, iMentor, United to Protect Democracy, Atria Health Collaborative, and on the Alumni Advisory Council of the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School. A recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and a fellow of Pahara and the British American Project, Richard has previously taught courses in social entrepreneurship, leadership, New York City affairs, and the financial management of nonprofit organizations at Yale Law School, the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, New York Law School, and the Baruch School of Public Affairs.

A husband and father, Richard lives in Manhattan with his wife Deborah and their two sons.

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Emary oversees Robin Hood’s special initiatives, including Blue Ridge Labs, the Capital Grants Initiative, Mobility LABs, and the Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund. As the daughter of refugees, the work that Robin Hood does is deeply personal to her. Having arrived in 1999, when Robin Hood was still a young organization,  Emary has had the privilege of developing Robin Hood’s K-12 education grantmaking portfolio, and leading each activation of Robin Hood’s Relief Fund (after 9/11; after Superstorm Sandy; and during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Lindsay leads the strategy, planning, production, and execution of Robin Hood events, including Robin Hood’s signature fundraising event, the Robin Hood Benefit. Lindsay also oversees Robin Hood’s event sponsorship and marketing initiatives. Since joining Robin Hood in 2008, Lindsay has produced innovative and purpose-driven events that raise both funds and awareness about poverty-related issues in New York City. She has a passion for servant leadership as part of a larger community and finds deep meaning in bringing people together to serve the people of the city of New York.

Jason founded and leads Robin Hood’s Public Policy team, and is an experienced non-profit executive who has devoted his entire 20+ year career to confronting governments, private companies, and non-governmental entities for policies and practices that have persecuted or neglected communities in dozens of countries around the world. After 15 years working for Doctors Without Borders USA, where his final position was as executive director, Jason joined Robin Hood to fight to change public policies in New York City, a place he spent much of his teenage years exploring and understanding the pernicious relationship between racism and poverty.

Matt leads the alignment of Robin Hood’s programmatic and public policy teams, overseeing organization-wide goals, metrics, and impact. Matt brings extensive experience in nonprofit, philanthropic, government, and civic leadership to Robin Hood.

Previously, Matt led the New York City Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity and served as the Executive Director of Blue Ridge Foundation New York, a philanthropic fund that later merged with Robin Hood as Blue Ridge Labs. Matt has served on numerous civic and nonprofit boards, including those of Robin Hood’s grantees, and has been the recipient of several fellowships, including from Echoing Green, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Results for America. Matt has a B.A. in History and a J.D. from Yale University and Yale Law School, respectively.

As Chief of Grant Strategy, Sarah manages the strategic vision behind Robin Hood’s grantmaking to help New Yorkers find pathways out of poverty. She also leads Robin Hood’s efforts on the Poverty Tracker, a first-of-its kind longitudinal data and research tool developed in partnership with Columbia University to provide a more accurate and dynamic picture of families experiencing poverty and hardship in New York City.

Prior to her current role, Sarah managed Robin Hood’s investments in health disparities and housing solutions and helped pilot and develop programs scaled by local and state government agencies. She also worked as a program officer overseeing Robin Hood’s investments in employment and survival, including signature programming for the treatment of H.I.V., diabetes and mental health.

Before joining Robin Hood in 2007, Sarah worked at the Institute of International Education, where she was responsible for managing grants awarded to European Fulbright students for graduate study in the U.S. She earned a B.A. in history from Seattle Pacific University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington. As part of her master’s program, Sarah spent two years in rural South Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer providing capacity-building assistance for an H.I.V./AIDS organization and a rape and domestic violence clinic.

Joanna leads the team that advises Robin Hood’s staff and board on a wide range of legal matters relating to Robin Hood’s programs, fundraising, and operations. Joanna has been with Robin Hood since 2008, when she joined as the organization’s first in-house lawyer. Her work encompasses grantmaking, corporate governance, business contracts, employment, executive compensation, insurance, intellectual property, and other areas, all with a focus on managing Robin Hood’s risk while supporting the organization’s pursuit of its poverty-fighting mission.

Gaby works across the Robin Hood leadership team to develop and implement its strategic vision. Gaby has spent the majority of her career in public education, starting out as a middle school special education teacher to most recently having served as Chief of Staff to the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. A native New Yorker who also grew up in Vermont, Gaby’s passion for education and anti-poverty work is personal, having experienced firsthand the inequities that exist across zip codes.

Stephanie leads Robin Hood’s Human Capital team, overseeing organizational design and culture; human resource management; professional development, training and recruitment; hiring and retention; and diversity, equity, and inclusion practice and protocols.

Prior to joining Robin Hood, Stephanie served as Executive Director of Workforce Partnerships at CUNY/LaGuardia Community College. She graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia, earned an M.A. in educational leadership from Mercer University, and holds a doctorate in executive leadership from St. John Fisher College. Stephanie is a proud life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and has won numerous awards for her civic leadership and activism.

Greg oversees the Finance, IT, and Operations teams at Robin Hood, and has spent the last two decades fighting poverty and advancing human rights and justice through finance and operations leadership roles in large international non-government and multilateral organizations.

Previously, Greg spent nine years at the Open Society Foundations, first as Budget Director, then as Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and finally as its first Global Director of Operations, where he led key operations functions including Finance, Information Technology, Real Estate & Facilities, Security and, at times, Human Resources. Prior to Open Society, Greg was a Programme Budget Officer at the United Nations in New York City, responsible for the budgetary administration of the UN’s global property portfolio, including the $2 billion refurbishment of its New York headquarters. Greg also spent more than six years with ActionAid, a global federation fighting poverty and injustice. This included time as the CFO of ActionAid Australia and the International Head of Financial Performance at ActionAid International in Johannesburg. In addition, Greg volunteered for two years through Australian Volunteers International as a teacher at Guangxi University for Nationalities in Nanning, China. A qualified CPA, Greg has a BA in Finance, Economics and Accounting from the University of Technology, Sydney, and an MA in International Studies from the University of Sydney. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Greg has lived and worked in Australia, China, Czechia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For the last twelve years, he has enjoyed living and working in his adopted home of New York City.

Kevin conceptualizes and directs all strategic communications, messaging, and branding at Robin Hood. Kevin manages the communications team, which shares the impact of Robin Hood’s grantmaking investments, articulates its vision, stewards the brand, and substantiates the organization’s value proposition as a catalyst for greater opportunity, equity, and inclusion in New York City.

Growing up in an inner city neighborhood plagued by disinvestment and raised by two paternal grandparents who never graduated high school and worked as domestics,  Kevin has always been drawn to public service work that improves urban life while seeking to stamp out the conditions that enables poverty to persist.

Carolyn oversees all fundraising activities at Robin Hood and leads the Development, Marketing, and Events team in their work raising funds to support the organization in its critical poverty-fighting work. A native New Yorker, Carolyn is passionate about making this city a more equitable engine of opportunity for all, and she has fought to do so in her fundraising roles at Robin Hood for over ten years.