Board of Directors

Ellen P. Simon, DSW, LCSW

Ellen Simon is a leadership consultant who works primarily in the areas of public health and organizational change.  In her practice, Ellen consults to leaders and community-based organizations on strategy development and implementation, organizational design, roles and transitions, cultural change, team development, and grant writing.

Most recently, Ellen served as the Chief  Executive  Officer of  Union Settlement Association, a 114 year old human service organization with 800 employees and a budget of 30 million dollars, that served 13,000 individuals annually.  She grew the agency budget from 21 to 30 million dollars and restored financial stability, repaid 1 million in Medicaid debt, and turned the home care agency into a profit center. Dr. Simon also spent 20 years in health care management in a variety of teaching hospitals and nursing homes in the New York City area.

Melissa Naple

Melissa Naple joined the board of Concrete Safaris in 2006 driven by her interest in outdoor activities, wellness and helping others achieve healthy lifestyles.  Melissa Naple is a Partner with Deloitte &Touch LLP and has more than 16 years professional experience auditing and advising large multi-national companies in the manufacturing and consumer business industries.  She spent 3 years serving international clients while on assignment in Cambridge, England and also worked in Melbourne, Australia on a short term exchange.   Melissa is a CPA and holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University. Melissa is an alumnus of the Rutgers Senior Leadership Program and Columbia MBA Executive Program as an Ellen Gabriel Fellow.

Michael J. Hagan

Michael J. Hagan is a partner in the Corporate group in the New York office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. His practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, corporate transactions, securities offerings and project finance. Michael advises U.S., European, Latin American and Asian companies on their investment activities in the U.S., including stock and asset acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate reorganizations. Michael represents domestic and foreign issuers and advises on public and private capital formation involving offerings of debt and equity securities. He also represents major private and multilateral financial institutions in project financing transactions in emerging markets. His clients come from a wide variety of industries, including commercial and investment banking, manufacturing, construction, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, information technology and telecommunications.

Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Michael practiced at the law firm of Coudert Brothers, where he worked in their New York, London and Hong Kong offices. He established Coudert’s Vietnam office in 1994, one of the first U.S. law firm outposts there.

Michael is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the United States Council for International Business, the British-American Business Council, the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, and the Asia Society.

Michael received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982 and his B.A., with honors, from Providence College in 1972. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

Prior to attending law school, Michael worked for four and a half years as a psychiatric social worker in an acute care psychiatric hospital and its out-patient clinics, providing psychotherapy, group counseling and arranging social services for hospital and clinic patients.  Before that, Michael played basketball in the Swiss Professional League for two years for the town of Nyon, after having played basketball in college.

Aimee O’Toole

Amie Thuener O’Toole joined the board of Concrete Safaris in 2009, excited by the organization’s urban garden and mission to improve the health of the community and teach environmentalism.  Amie is a Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Transaction Services Practice with over 13 years of experience advising clients through the maze of complex technical accounting matters, primarily in the field of financial instruments.   Amie spent two years as a Practice Fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board and two years at PwC’s National Office.  Amie is a licensed CPA in New York and California and holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Philosophy and Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Amie has been active in her coop Board and participated in community activities such as Junior Achievement and Team in Training.  Amie lives in New York City with her husband and two children and loves to spend time outdoors, travel and relax with her family.

Mac Levine

Concrete Safaris’ founder and executive director is a member of the board of directors.