Staff
Hello! Community Foundation staff members are able to assist you whether you are a donor, a grant applicant, a grantee, a professional advisor, or a community member interested in learning more about achieving your philanthropic goals. Contact us to begin your conversation.
Community Foundation remains open with staff working remotely, except you will find us in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The best way to reach us is through email listed below. Want to meet face to face? Let us know, and we will meet in the office or share Zoom details to meet virtually.
George P. Ferrari, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Email George at gferrari@cftompkins.org.
George has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Community Foundation of Tompkins County since August 2005.
George has been a committed and active participant in the Tompkins County community since 1980 with a special focus on mission driven organizations that combine alleviating individual suffering and injustice with working for societal change. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Tompkins and Tioga Counties and as Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service’s Crisis Line Manager. George was the founding Executive Director of AIDS WORK of Tompkins County. He has also served in positions with Head Start as well as in residence life at Cornell University.
George is a past board president of the Grantmakers Forum of NYS, now called the NY Funders Alliance, an association of foundations from across upstate New York. George currently facilitates the Tompkins County Human Service Coalition’s Forum meetings. He is a member of the Ithaca Rotary club and the Estate Planning Council of Tompkins County. George serves on the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Kendal at Ithaca Board of Trustees and the board of directors of NYCON, a statewide membership organization which enriches communities by building the capacity of nonprofits through services and advocacy.
George has a degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology .
George enjoys camping, working out, opera and many varieties of chocolate. He lives in the City of Ithaca with his spouse Daniel Hirtler, an architect and founder of the firm Flatfield Designs. They enjoy weekly Sunday family dinners with their daughter and grand daughter.
Gloria Coicou
Chief Inclusion & Community Engagement Officer
Email Gloria at gcoicou@cftompkins.org
As a Black American with Haitian roots, Gloria values culture and diversity and welcomes the opportunity to be a tremendous catalyst in the DEI space. She is the newest member of the Community Foundation as the first Chief Inclusion & Community Engagement Officer. Gloria is a service-oriented leader who is passionate about fostering an environment where inclusion, diversity, equity, and racial justice are explicitly recognized as fundamental parts of the Community Foundation. She pledges to begin this work by applying an iterative and intentional process to all that the Community Foundation does such as in grantmaking, hiring practices, daily operations, etc. One of her goals is to create spaces for the Tompkins community to feel empowered and valued regardless of what they seem to be on the outside.
She has dedicated her life to serving, healing, and catering to the needs of marginalized communities while advocating for equity. When she joined the Ithaca community in 2015, she dove into community organizing and advocacy. She graduated from Cornell University with her masters in public administration in 2019. While at Cornell, she chartered and served as President of Healthcare Students Association, a graduate student organization that focuses on the intersection of healthcare, humanitarianism, and community. She is best known for her work in mitigating food security challenges among underserved students at Cornell University. Her efforts to feed hungry students from the trunk of her car began the food insecurity conversations around Cornell’s campus. After 2 months, it grew into a movement with 200+ volunteers, 7 community partners, a partnership with the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, an executive board, Cornell sponsorship and a location. As a direct result of handling the needs of 1,500 food-insecure students and rescuing over 1,000 lbs. of food, Cornell University has opened a university-instituted food pantry. In addition to taking on such a big task, she organized a first of its kind Cornell’s student professional development symposium, touching the lives of over 500 students. Healthcare leaders nationwide participated in the two-day event. These efforts earned her team the Inaugural Professional Student Organization of the Year Award.
Prior to this role, Gloria served as the Community Engagement Director for the Ithaca Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program housed at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC). Gloria is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has served on many boards including the Ithaca Health Alliance and Mutual Aid Tompkins. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering at the Enfield Food Pantry, TC Action, and the Friendship Donations Network.
Gloria lives locally with her partner Rakim Jones and her son, Joshua, and enjoys spending time outdoors, reading, cycling, and attending live events.
Amy LeViere
Chief Philanthropic Services & Systems Officer
Email Amy at aleviere@cftompkins.org.
Amy joined Community Foundation in 2009, coming with experience as an entrepreneur, self-employed, and having managed a wholesale business. Prior to that, as a financial consultant at M&T Bank Investment Group, Amy developed many connections throughout Tompkins County. Amy graduated from Cornell University’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Business Management.
Amy has served on various boards, including AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) Finger Lakes Chapter and Cornell Club of Ithaca. She has served in various roles in her community including volunteering as an Ombudsman through Office for the Aging, and as a supporter and as a founding officer of Dryden Sports Boosters (DSB). Amy has stayed active by seeking to improve financial systems in the non-profit sector and serving as an officer for FINZ Finance Officers Association of Tompkins County. She stays involved in her church and faith community. Amy has raised five sons and continues to enjoy sporting and outdoor activities. Amy is excited to be a part of Community Foundation and looks forward to continuing to promote the intersection of philanthropy with all aspects of community life.
Nancy Massicci
Chief Development Officer
Email Nancy at nmassicci@cftompkins.org.
Nancy joined Community Foundation as its first Chief Development Officer in 2015, following over 12 years in officer positions at both Tompkins Financial Advisors and Cornell University Alumni Affairs and Development. She established Tompkins Trust Company’s Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund, a donor-advised and pooled income fund, to help facilitate clients’ charitable giving plans and grantmaking.
She received her bachelor’s degree in economics, business, and management from Empire State College. She earned credentials as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy mastering financial details involved in different forms of charitable giving. In addition, she is a graduate of Trust and Estate Administration schools offered by the New York Bankers Association.
Nancy served as president and board member of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Currently she is on the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Tompkins County and Planned Giving Advisory council for Unity House. She is a past member of Rotary International, United Way Pacesetter Campaign and Ithaca High School Sports Booster. She volunteered on the Endowment Committee for the City Federation of Women’s Organizations, Tompkins Learning Partners Capital Campaign, and Tompkins Cortland Community College Foundation Alumni Committee.
Nancy resides in Ithaca with her husband, Peter. She is a Certified Group Fitness Instructor and as often as possible gets away from her laptop to go cycling, hiking, playing Pickball and participating in Women Swimmin’ on Cayuga Lake to support Hospicare.
Madeline Rosas
Administrative Manager
Email Madeline at mrosas@cftompkins.org.
Madeline joined the Community Foundation at the end of 2021. She graduated from the Art Institute in Phoenix, AZ with an Associates Degree in Business Management and Certification of Medical and Dental Office Assisting from Professional Career Development Institute from Atlanta, Georgia. She has 20 plus years in the medical field holding various positions. Madeline ran a family music business creating a vision to constitute a universal sound called “Ragin’ Mambo, Mambo Escalante”. She has diverse experience using a collaborative approach in creating music, dancing and coordinating events.
Madeline, who moved to Ithaca in 2020, is a proud mother of two children, with a daughter at Cornell University studying animal science and a son who graduated high school seeking continued education within his area of interest of sports medicine/physical therapy while currently working a full-time job. She volunteers in many direct care capacities, has raised funds for those in need and has also co-created a children’s book with her daughter.
Madeline enjoys dancing, music, reading, food, nature and communion/engaging with others.
Suzanne Smith Jablonski
Library Grant Cycle Consultant
Email Suzanne at SSmithJablonski@cftompkins.org
Suzanne is the former Executive Director of the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation. She oversees our 2023 Library Grant Cycle inspired by the Bernard Carl and Shirley Rosen Library Fund. The Rosen Fund seeks to promote genuine intellectual curiosity and a lifelong love of reading and learning, by promoting greater and easier access by youth to local libraries. Additional Community Foundation funds also support this cycle. Eligible applicants are the 33 public libraries in Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, Tioga and Tompkins counties, the 5 counties of the Finger Lakes Library System.
WELCOME
Cornell Work Study
We welcome the Community Foundation Cornell Work Study Associates during 2023 spring semester.
Community Engagement Associates
Amara Chiedu achiedu@cftompkins.org
Melinda Serifoski mserifoski@cftompkins.org
Community Data Analysts
Tolowa Olaleye tolaleye@cftompkins.org
Emma Prantl eprantl@cftompkins.org
Ying Lin Zhao yzhao@cftompkins.org
