Staff & Board
Staff
Jonathan Lucas
Interim Executive Director
A native of Chicago, Illinois, moved to New Jersey in 2001 to find exciting new adventures in the pharmaceutical industry as a technology professional. In 2005, he joined Pfizer World Headquarters in New York City as the Director of Information Science & Technology Management. In this role he was responsible for managing all aspects of information and technology used in global and domestic market research. In 2010, Jonathan left his more recent position at Pfizer as Director of Specialty Analytics to pursue his passion and interest in Arts Administration. In addition to his cultural & business interests, Jonathan has been an out member and strong supporter of LGBT community. He has participated in programs advocating for LGBT issues, especially those affecting youth. He joined the Hudson Pride Connections Center board of directors in November 2010, where he is also serving as Treasurer.
Jonathan attended DePaul University in Chicago, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in Accounting, while also studying computer science and music. He is currently pursuing a certificate in Arts Administration at New York University. Regardless of his professional career, he has always made time to fulfill his need to be creative by designing fashions for individuals or costumes for theater and dance companies. In his spare time, he continues his design work but travels extensively to pursue his interests in opera, theater, cooking, and volunteer work.
David Rosen
Clinical Director
David Rosen’s, MSW, LCSW, C-ASWCM primary responsibilities over the past eight years include clinical oversight of the mental health program at HPCC, therapeutic group facilitation, staff/intern clinical supervision, clinical program development, grant writing, community training and crisis counseling. Mr. Rosen also serves as the part-time Clinical Director of the Institute for Family and Adolescent Services (IFAS), an intensive outpatient program (IOP) for adolescent substance abusers in Raritan, NJ, where he provides direct addictions counseling in group, family and individual session formats. He also clinically supervises the IOP staff and interns and oversees all clinical quality management activities for the agency. Mr. Rosen has also worked for the Division of AIDS Education at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he was responsible for developing and implementing needs-based continuing education trainings in HIV for healthcare providers on behalf of the NY/NJ AIDS Education and Training Center. For the past five years, he has chaired the Education Committee for the Hudson Ryan White (RW) Planning Council, where he works collaboratively with other local agencies to plan, develop and implement trainings targeting all of the RW-funded mental health providers and HIV medical case managers in the county. Mr. Rosen is a NJ-Licensed Clinical Social Worker and maintains certification in advanced social work case management through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). He received his Masters degree in Social Work from Rutgers University in 1996 and is currently enrolled in a distance-learning doctoral program in Behavioral Health through Arizona State University and is expected to complete his studies by December of 2011.
Tyree Oredein
Training and Education Specialist
Tyree Oredein has been the Health Education and Training Specialist (among many other roles) at Hudson Pride Connections Center since 2005. As a long-time ally, she admites to feeling like the John Howard Griffin of the LGBT community. She delivers LGBT sensitivity trainings to youth-serving personnel and facilitates workshops about sexuality and sexual health, self-esteem, education and vocation, media literacy, HIV/AIDS and other important topics with LGBT youth. Prior to her work as a health educator, she worked for Select Media/The HEAR ME Project whose major programming includes CDC-approved HIV prevention curricula, and a national HIV story-writing competition targeting at-risk youth to raise HIV/AIDS awareness.
She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Wellesley College, and her Masters of Public Health (MPH) from Hunter College. She is now an “ABD” Public Health doctoral student working on her dissertation at UMDNJ with research interests in urban adolescent health, health literacy, media studies, sexuality and sexual health. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors for Say Ah!, a non-profit agency dedicated to increasing health literacy and is an adjunct professor at Montclair State University. She hails from Jamaica, Queens, loves the Yankees (hates the Red Sox), has a poodle named “Jolie” after Angelina Jolie and loves working for Hudson Pride.
Jerrilee (Geraldyn) Harrison
Program Coordinator
Jerrilee Harrison is a dual native of Brooklyn, New York (born and raised) and Newark, New Jersey (a resident for over 20 years). Her first profession was teaching and did so for 10years before going into the medical field, where she began as a paramedic-EMT and moved into dialysis treatment. Forever the teacher Jerrilee began her next career as a health educator during the early years of the AIDS epidemic when IDU substance abusers were showing up at an alarming rate with kidney failure and positive for HIV/AIDS. Her passion is outreach work. She has worked in this field for over 15 years educating and training others to do the same. Serve with passion. She is a certified in HIV Counseling and testing and Phlebotomy by the State of New Jersey as well as a mental health counselor. Jerrilee has attended Sterling College, Rutgers School of Grantwriting, Howard School of Divinity, Newark School of Theology and is a certified Police Chaplin as well as a certified HIV/AIDS Case Manager. Jerrilee has been a part of Hudson Pride Connection Center since September 2010.
Gene Aguirre
Volunteer Coordinator
Board Members
Liz Edman
Board President
Liz Edman is a political strategist and an Episcopal priest. From 1991 to 1995, she served as chaplain to AIDS Health Services (10C) at Jersey City Medical Center. While at JCMC, she worked closely with what was then Jersey City Connections encouraging faith communities to develop responses to the AIDS crisis in Hudson County. Her political career includes a 5-year stint directing government affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2000 she moved to Vermont to run the statewide media campaign preserving the nation’s first civil union law.
From 2006-2009, Liz served as the Episcopal Chaplain to Northwestern University. She co-designed an innovative workshop on Christian sexual ethics that lifted up the experiences of LGBT people as authoritative. Designed to generate and inform conversations about sexuality both in the church and among young adults, the workshop traveled to local, regional, and national gatherings.
She now directs community outreach for NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. She has two awesome sons, Jasper and Leo. Liz thinks that serving on the board of an LGBT center is about the coolest thing ever, and she is very happy to be at Hudson Pride.
Jonathan Murray
Treasurer
Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Jonathan Murray has been a resident of Hudson County for over 24 years. He currently works at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City, where he holds the position as Director of Patient Food and Nutrition Services. Jonathan has a Bachelors of Science from Hunter College, New York, NY, and holds a Graduate Certificate in Nutrition from the University of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark, NJ. He successfully completed his boards as a Registered Dietitian and has worked within the community public health arena for over 10 years.
Jonathan has previously served on the board of Greater New Jersey Society of Healthcare Food Service Administrators, having been President for two terms; 2005, 2008. He was recognized nationally in 2006 with the Chapter Leadership Award of the Year in 2006 from his peers at the annual conference of the American Society for Healthcare Food Service Administrators. In 2009 he was the recipient of the Distinguished Healthcare Food Service Administrator (DHFCA).
His leadership skills have placed him in a strong position to affect change and he is passionate to give back to the LGBT community as a mentor. His vision for our community is to empower and educate while helping others to recognize barriers and how to remove them as we move forward to true integration for our community. Jonathan looks forward to Hudson Pride Connections Center continuing to grow as the center of excellence it is, and becoming the premier resource within our community while being recognized nationally as the model of a center of choice.
Steve Morales
Secretary
A New Yorker born and raised, Steve lends his time to the community through volunteer work with various LGBT organizations throughout the metro area. Steve prides himself in sharing his time and commitment to the LGBT community – especially growing up in a city where it was once a challenge to be out of the closet. His experiences encouraged him to contribute to a prospering organization committed to helping others, while also nurturing each other and empowering individuals.
For the past few years, he has worked with Dance On The Pier doing Guest Services, overseeing the safety of patrons on the Pier, and Folsom Street East in fundraising and donation collecting efforts at the entrance to their event. Last year, Steve decided to cross the Hudson to participate in Jersey City’s Annual Pride Parade and Festivities, to get a feel for his wonderful neighbors and learn more about the area’s LGBT community. His enthusiastic participation did not go unnoticed, particularly his excellent work in accommodating the Event’s entertainers.
By day, Steve works for the State of New York’s Empire State Development Corporation as an Administrative Coordinator, a jack-of-all-trades and staff supporter. Previously Steve has also worked in the financial printing industry, where he honed his sharp eye and attention to detail. He is excited and honored to be a part of the Board and is committed to the wonderful work of the organization.
David Bimbi
Originally from Essex County, David settled in Hudson County in the late 80′s. He graduated summa cum laude from New Jersey City University in 1996, where he majored in psychology and community health and was part of the “Peer Educating Peers” HIV program. He also helped found and lead the university’s first LGBT student organization and served as editor for 3 volumes of the organization’s LGBT literature magazine. He completed his Ph.D. in 2007 (finally!) in Social-Personality Psychology and Health Behavior at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. David worked in HIV related research for 13 years leading projects on male sex workers and transgender women, in addition to working on research with gay men and persons living with HIV. David continues his HIV peer education efforts with the DIVAS (Drag Initiative to Vanquish AIDS) by promoting safer sex at LGBT events in NYC and has emcee’d the NYC Pride March at 42nd St. five times as his alter ego, Daisy Durex. (By the way, Daisy was also crowned Miss West Village in 2000). He joined the board of Hudson Pride in January of 2000 and has served as president since 2005. In 2006 David received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with Hudson Pride to develop new HIV programming for transgender women. David was recognized by New Jersey City University in 2008 as a distinguished alumni for his service to the LGBT and HIV communities. He is presently on the editorial board of several sexual health and HIV/AIDS academic journals and is Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York where he also serves as mentor to the student LGBT organization.
Renata G. Moreira
Renata G. Moreira is a Brazilian-American educator and community activist who has worked on issues of social justice in the U.S. and Latin America for over a decade. She is passionately committed to building coalitions that effectively address inequities based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation.
Prior to her appointment to the Board of Hudson Pride, Renata served as Vice President of Community Outreach for Hudson Diversity Action Council, a political action committee working to advance the issues of underrepresented populations through political action, voter mobilization, and educational programming. She is dedicated to the creation of public policy and advocacy programs that promote the well-being of LGBT community members and allies both locally and statewide.
Renata’s deep rooted passion for empowering women and families led her to serve on the Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center Board of Advisers for six years, four of them as Co-Chair of the Board. She continues to serve the County in leadership positions on a wide-range of committees, including the Hudson County Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and the LGBTQ and Ally Task Force. Currently, Renata works as director for special projects at NJ City University where she oversees the overall design, implementation and evaluation of comprehensive co-curricular and service learning programs, as well as fundraising efforts that promote student retention and success. She is the advisor to the LGBT student alliance, whose mission is to ensure safe and welcoming schools for all students, and teaches Human Intercultural Relations and First Year Experience courses as adjunct professor.
Renata is a highly sought after presenter on topics related to multicultural competence, effective coalition building, and organizational development. She has received numerous awards for her service to the underserved communities of the tri-state area, including a Hudson County Executive Citation, Outstanding Contributions to Women’s and Gender Activism, and a Vital Voices Award from Jersey City Gay and Lesbian Outreach. She holds a cum laude Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and a Masters of Arts in Gender Studies from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Renata has been a proud Jersey City resident for 13 years. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to provide leadership in developing the vision for Hudson Pride and to serve the diverse LGBTQ communities of Hudson County. For more information, please contact renata@hudsonpride.org
Rick Thurman
A native of Texas Rick Thurman moved to New York City in 2010. Rick brings his wealth of 25 years of experience in the field of HIV/AIDS, non profits, outreach, STI Disease Intervention, Case Management, and Capacity Building. Rick is currently employed with GMAD(Gay Men of African Descent) as the Prevention Director. Rick attended Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches Texas. His professional career has been vas
His professional career has been a journey of volunteering to being a business owner. His leadership skills has placed him in a position to give of his mental and physical talents. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc(Kappa XI Lambda Chapter-The Wall Street Alphas) in New York City.
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