BOARD OF DIRECTORS
julie ratner, Ed.D
Co-Founder and Chair
Julie Ratner is the co-founder and chairwoman of The Ellen Hermanson Foundation which she founded in 1996 with her her sister Emily Levin. Named in honor of their younger sister, Ellen, who died in 1995 of breast cancer at the age of 42, the foundation has distributed more than $4 million in grants.
Julie worked as a school librarian at the Brearley School and at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City before enrolling in the Department of Higher and Adult Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1990. She earned her Doctorate in Education in 1996.
Currently, Julie is a member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the New York State Breast Cancer Network. She has also served on the boards of the League Education and Treatment Center in Brooklyn (as President), Congressman Tim Bishop’s Breast Cancer Advisory Board, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Chamber Symphony, the Hadassah Foundation, and The American Friends of the Soroka Medical Center of the Negev in Israel.
Julie received her B.A. from Simmons College with honors (1968), M.L.S. from Columbia University School of Library Science (1970), and M.A. and Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University (1996). She is a graduate of Project Lead, Science Training Course, sponsored by the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
She has two daughters, Rebecca and Elizabeth.
Ann Ciardullo, Vice-chair
Ann began her real estate career in 1979 in the Northern Westchester areas of Armonk, Bedford and Chappaqua, and relocated to the Hamptons in 1995. Ann's passion for and deep knowledge of the real estate business, along with her outgoing personality and excellent people skills, have made her extremely successful. Ann is a fully licensed real estate broker, is very accomplished and committed, and loves to match buyers with the perfect property.
The social whirl of the Hamptons is nothing new to Ann, who concurrently with her real estate career over the years has been very involved with fundraising for the New York Junior Tennis League and Cartier's Grand Slam Event for the American Cancer Society. Ann is a Board member of the Ellen Hermanson Foundation and was a Co-Chair for HEAT, a celebration at the home of Steven Klein for the new Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Southampton Hospital. Ann joined Sotheby's International Realty in 2006.
Melissa Cohn, treasurer
Melissa Cohn is a pioneer in the mortgage industry as we know it today, with nearly 40 years in the business. Cohn remains one of the industry’s top-ranked mortgage brokers and continues to hit past her billion-dollar mark. She began her career with CitiMortgage before launching her own successful mortgage company, The Manhattan Mortgage Company, in 1985. As one of the very first independent mortgage brokers, Melissa was able to exponentially grow her business into the #1 residential mortgage broker on the East Coast with more than $5 billion in annual volume. In 2020, she joined William Raveis Mortgage as Regional Vice President and has been the top originator in the company ever since.
Year after year, Melissa is consistently recognized in the industry for top production. She was named in Crain's 40 Under 40 Class of 1996, Ernst & Young Metropolitan New York 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year for Financial Services, and The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, 2009, In 2023 she was recognized by Scotsman Guide for total volume: #50 Top Originator nationwide, #10 Top Women Originator nationwide, and #1 Top Originator in Connecticut.
She has been on any number of boards including the Child Development Center Of The Hamptons Charter School, Volunteers of America, The Lighthouse for the Blind, and Real Estate Board of New York. She currently sits on two boards, at the The Ellen Hermanson Foundation which supports The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, and at Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.
As if all her accomplishments weren’t enough, she has also been recognized as a female trailblazer, driving change and personally helping to promote more women into the still male-dominated mortgage field. One of her biggest moments of pride was getting her daughter to join her. Melissa's business comes from word-of-mouth referrals from REALTORS®, attorneys, financial planners, and past clients with whom she has built a relationship over the past four decades. She also seeks new relationships that can offer her clients more options. Her expertise and insights are regularly featured in the press including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC/Acorns and Mansion Global.
Achievements
#10 Nationwide Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2023 Top Originator
#1 Connecticut Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2023 Top Originator
#50 Nationwide Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2022 Top Originator
#2 Connecticut Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2022 Top Originator
#1 Companywide in both Volume and Units in 2022 | William Raveis Mortgage
#10 Nationwide Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2022 Top Women Originators
#1 Connecticut Total Volume | Scotsman Guide 2022 Top Women Originators
Top 100 | 2021 National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America
The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, 2009
Ernst & Young Metropolitan New York 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year for Financial Services
Crain's 40 Under 40 Class of 1996
Cathy Tweedy, Secretary
Cathy welcomes you into her office, offers you a comfortable chair, and listens to what you have to say. She asks you questions and pays attention to your answers. She works with you to find the perfect property to buy, or the best way to sell your home or land. She makes it easy for you because she takes the time to guide you through the process of obtaining the information necessary for you to be confident in making one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.
A native New Yorker who was raised in Manhattan, she earned a degree in Public Communications from Boston University's School of Communications. For over twenty years she worked in the high-profile worlds of advertising and direct marketing. Working for Ogilvy & Mather, Cathy quickly rose up the ladder to become Director of Client Services for Ogilvy Direct. She went on to open and operate her own successful agency, which she later sold, continuing to work as a consultant before venturing into residential real estate.
Weekending and summering in the Hamptons since the mid 90's Cathy bought a home in 2001. While her first intention was to vacation there, the East End's beauty and the desire to redirect her professional interests resulted in a permanent move.
Recently she was elected to the board of directors of HANFRA, the Hamptons and North Fork Real Estate organization. Cathy enjoys taking part in charitable work in her community. In addition to her work on the Board of The Ellen Hermanson Foundation, benefiting breast cancer patients and their families, she was formerly on the Associates Committee for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of New York.
She loves to visit the beaches on a daily basis, where she walks and basks in the unprecedented beauty with Dixie, her frisky, adorable Goldendoodle. She is also a cook, and enjoys entertaining and travel.
Constance M. Chen, MD
Dr. Constance M. Chen is a board-certified plastic surgeon with special expertise in the use of innovative natural techniques to optimize medical and cosmetic outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction. Dr. Chen received her BA from Harvard College, MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, and MPH from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. After surgical residencies at the University of Washington Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital Cornell-Columbia, she completed fellowships at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York University Langone Medical Center Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. She is currently Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery (Plastic Surgery) at Weill Cornell Medical College and Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery (Plastic Surgery) at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is also the Chief of Microsurgery at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
Dr. Chen pioneered perforator flap breast reconstruction at Lenox Hill Hospital, and operates at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai as part of the New York Center for the Advancement of Breast Reconstruction. She was previously principal investigator of a multi-institutional clinical trial investigating autologous lymph node transfer to treat breast cancer patients who have developed chronic upper extremity lymphedema after mastectomy.
Dr. Chen is frequently invited to lecture nationally and internationally on new advancements in breast reconstruction and the surgical treatment of lymphedema. She is the author of three books, five book chapters, and fifty journal articles. She has also won numerous awards for her work in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the local, regional, and national levels. Dr. Chen has developed a reputation in the community for the personalized attention that she devotes to her patients. She is committed to aesthetic restoration of the breast and body, and enjoys helping her patients achieve overall well-being. At the end of the day, there is nothing more important to her than the joy she hopes to bring to her patients' lives.
hugo moreno
Hugo S. Moreno, who was married to Ellen Hermanson, has served as a board member since the Foundation’s beginning. Since 2011, he has served as Editorial Director of Forbes Insights, the thought leadership and strategic research practice of Forbes Media. In 2010, he helped launch the international edition Forbes Middle East in Dubai. Previously, Hugo spent a decade on the editorial side at Forbes, then another decade as Deputy Managing Editor at SmartMoney: The Wall Street Journal Magazine. He is also a co-founder of the thought leadership firm McParlin Partners.
Amanda Star Frazer, JD
Amanda is a partner at the law firm of Esseks, Hefter, Angel, Di Talia & Pasca, LLP, with offices in Southampton and Riverhead, New York. Amanda focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, real estate and title litigation, contract and business torts disputes, and civil appellate litigation. Before joining the firm in 2016, Amanda practiced commercial litigation for nine years in Miami, Florida, last serving as senior counsel at a state-wide firm.
Amanda was raised in Montauk, graduated with honors from Choate Rosemary Hall (1994), and received her B.A. from Bucknell University (1998). Between college and law school, Amanda served as a senior writer and reporter for The East Hampton Star. Amanda then graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law (2007), where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar, Dean’s Fellow in the Academic Achievement Program, an editorial board member of the University of Miami Law Review, and an intern for New York State Supreme Court Justice Edward D. Burke, Sr. Amanda speaks conversational Spanish and is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association. From 2013 through 2017, she was named as a “Rising Star” in business litigation by Thompson-West’s “Super Lawyers”.
Amanda lives in East Hampton with her husband, Brian, and their daughter, Eden.
Hope Klein Langer
Hope is the consummate urban/suburban professional. She spent the first five years of her career working in New York City's Upper West Side and counts as clients some of the area's most recognizable celebrities. She's been living and working in Fairfield County for the past 16 years and has become a fixture in the local scene. Her business philosophy mirrors that of her compatriots at The Riverside Realty Group. She's honest, hard working, tech savvy and possesses tremendous knowledge of the local marketplace. Hope takes pride in assisting buyers and sellers way beyond the closing table and now counts many as lifelong friends. She has been involved in some of the area's most prestigious sales.
Hope has been named to a worldwide firm's President's Club through her successful role as client negotiator. She's available 7 days a week and after finding her clients the perfect home considers them and their referrals as among her greatest assets. Living in Westport with her husband, a global real estate investor/developer, she has put their two daughters through the local school system. Hope's passion is real estate but she is highly involved in the mentoring program through Human Services in the town of Westport. She enjoys spending time with her family, skiing, engaging in fitness activities, traveling and doing all things outdoors.
James Levin
Eileen Rappaport
Eileen Rappaport is a lifelong New Yorker and homeowner on the Upper West Side for 20 years. Her extensive knowledge of NYC's many neighborhoods combined with her interest in lifestyle + design and her vast NYC network led Eileen to the world of real estate. By nature, Eileen is energetic and passionate. After 25 years as a sales leader and "rainmaker" in the fashion business, she is an organic relationship builder, savvy negotiator, and trusted friend. Having truly enjoyed the journey of buying and selling her own NYC apartments and serving on her co-op board for over 10 years, Eileen understands the uniqueness of each deal and looks forward to helping you find the perfect home within your budget, or marketing and selling your home at the highest price possible. "My clients and their distinctive visions are my #1 priority and I will leave no stone unturned in each step of the buying or selling process." Eileen attended Cornell University where she studied business, marketing, art history, and psychology. She enjoys travel, tennis, theatre, philanthropy, throwing pottery, and most importantly, being a mom to her daughter, Lily Kate.
DEE RIVERA
Dee Rivera started her career in editorial magazines as a Fashion + Beauty Editor at Modern Bride Magazine, Latina Magazine, Brio, Vibe, and Chaos Magazine. She then rolled up her sleeves in public relations as a publicist at one of New York City's top PR firms, Sandy Blye Media Relations, when she developed a "Nose for News" by pitching editorial stories, segments and tracking breaking news stories. In 2007, Dee started DCG Public Relations, a boutique firm in NYC specializing in beauty and fashion brands. In the last 10 years, her company has successfully grown, working with viable brands, such as IMAN Cosmetics, Vera Moore Cosmetics, Shimmer Med Spa, Rommy Beauty, Glamazon Beauty, Ogilvy & Mather-Latin read, Salud, Luscious Vines, Vanity Drink & many more.
Her scope of work covers the fields of food, sports, dance, music, health, fitness, charity, and fashion, with media placement seen on The Today Show, The Early Show, FOX News, Fox and Friends, Essence, CBS Sunday Morning, Access Hollywood, Extra, The New York Times, Associated Press, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, Latina Magazine and more.
DCG Public Relations specializes in Digital Marketing and Advertising for Brands seeking to reach the next level of growth.
In memoriam
Emily H. Levin
July 11, 1944 – September 18, 2021
Co-Founder
Emily Levin co-founded The Ellen Hermanson Foundation with her sister Julie Ratner. During the early years of the foundation, Emily worked behind the scene to develop the foundation's database, financial records keeping, printed materials including the Ellen's Run race application, party invitations, race poster, newspaper advertisements, race t-shirt, and website as well as reading contracts and providing legal advice.
Emily was an attorney, having practiced complex civil litigation in a large law firm for several years, including writing the winning brief for an important matter of first impression in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. After Ellen’s death, Emily became a founding member of an organization within her synagogue that provides outreach and support to members in times of grief and need.
Emily served as a trustee of her synagogue, is past president of her Hadassah group, and for several years served on Hadassah’s regional board. A passionate balletomane, Emily was a member of the Golden Circle Council at American Ballet Theater. Committed to the eradication of breast cancer, Emily was a member of the executive committee for Babes Against Cancer events benefiting the American Cancer Society.
Emily received her B.A. from Clark University (1967), M.S. from Columbia University (1969), and J.D. with honors from Hofstra University (1988).
Staff
Jessica Licciardello, Creative Director
Jessica Licciardello is the Creative Director of the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, where she works to create the visual branding of the Foundation’s print media, advertising, and social media. She is an award winning artist, designer, composer, and filmmaker and has worked with brands such as National Geographic, Vogue, French Connection, BELLA Magazine, and Bloomingdales over the span of her career. Her artwork has been collected in 15 countries and her award winning art film “8 Minutes to Freedom” was featured in Forbes, and has screened in Tokyo, Rome, Paris, Hollywood California, Munich, and Berlin.
robert markee, IT director
Robert Markee is the IT Director of the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, working with the Board and other Staff to enhance the Foundation’s effectiveness and digital presence. He has worked with the Foundation for over 15 years in a variety of roles after first volunteering at the Ellen’s Run 5k and becoming overwhelmed at the level of community involvement and enthusiasm. He has worked as an IT professional for over 25 years in both corporate and non-profit environments.
MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD
Louis Avvento, M.D., Medical Oncologist, Eastern Long Island Hematology and Oncology
Deborah Axelrod, M.D., Director of Clinical Breast Surgery and Community Outreach at NYU Langone Medical Center
William Brancaccio, M.D., Radiologist at Southampton Hospital
Kathleen Foley, M.D., Chair, Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Juan Gargiulo, M.D., Medical Director, East End Pain Management Center, Southampton, NY
Edna Kapenhas, M.D., Medical Director of The Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Southampton Hospital
Larry Norton, M.D., Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center & Medical Director, Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center
Karrie Zampini, M.S.W., Director of Clinical Programs and Senior Oncology Social Worker at Fighting Chance, Sag Harbor