Policy Committee Representatives

Simona Ionescu is the Director of the Metropolitan Area Regional Office (MARO) Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) of the New York State Department of Health (DOH).

She oversees the operations of HPNAP which funds emergency food programs and the Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables Obesity Prevention Program. She brings her experience within the Department of Health from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) where she worked with daycare centers in improving the nutritional status of children and adults. 

Prior to joining the Department of Health, Simona worked as a public health nutritionist in the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn assessing the health and nutrition needs of low income women and their children.

Ms. Ionescu is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a New York State Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist (CDN). She received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics and a master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from Hunter College, City University of New York, where she specialized in Public Health Nutrition.

Lewis H. Clark serves as Director Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program of the New York State Department of Health. Lewis has more than 30 years of experience with public health programs in the Department of Health. Lewis is currently the Director of the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as HPNAP, and has had that assignment for over 25 years. He is a graduate of Princeton University and completed the master’s level curriculum in Public Health with the State University of New York and the Department of Health’s School of Public Health.

James Middleton serves as Executive Director, Office of Community Sanitation Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation. Mr. Middleton graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Oswego in 1988. He started his employment with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 1988 as a Public Health Sanitarian and is currently an Administrative Public Health Sanitarian serving as the Executive Director of the Office of Community Sanitation since 2006. Mr. Middleton is directly responsible for managing a number of regulatory inspection programs to ensure the safe service of food, including mobile food vending and temporary food service establishments operating at street events, food service operations for special populations, including public and private schools, correctional facilities, soup kitchens, shelters, group homes, senior centers, day treatment centers and summer feeding sites.

Zanita Tisdale’s is the Sr. Director of Member Engagement at Food Bank For New York City. In her current role she designs and leads the organization’s data driven strategy that funds, partners and creates high impact initiatives for 900+ nonprofits operating in over 90% of New York City’s zip codes. Her role collaborates with a diverse group of stakeholders so that public and private investments address hunger and poverty in a tangible way. She recently was named to the 40 under 40 Rising Stars in NYC Food Policy, Class of 2020 and completed a fellowship with the New York Community Trust Leadership Fellows, Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs and Bernard Baruch College/City University of New York. She currently is an Executive MPA candidate at Cornell University. Zanita is passionate about gender and racial equity, sustainable food systems, and ensuring upward economic mobility isn’t a pipe dream. These passions drive her commitment to ensure we level the playing field for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged among us.

Cheryl Huber is Vice President of Food & Benefits Access at United Way of NYC. UWNYC helps to mobilize communities to break down barriers and build opportunities that improve the lives of low-income New Yorkers. Cheryl’s unit ensures that hundreds of emergency food programs across the five boroughs have access to high quality, culturally appropriate foods, nutrition education, and technical assistance. The team also ensures that low-income New Yorkers, particularly from hard-to-reach populations, who are food insecure, on the verge of eviction, or at risk of losing essential utility services, receive critical support.

Prior to UWNYC, Cheryl served as Assistant Director for Food Access & Agriculture at GrowNYC for 11 years, where she led innovative programs that connected New Yorkers to their local food system, benefiting public health, the regional economy, and small farms. Cheryl has a master’s degree in urban planning from NYU Wagner and a bachelor’s in sociology from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Andrew Gibbs is the Director of Member Engagement at Food Bank For New York City. In this role, Andrew oversees the compliance, capacity building, and training work across Food Bank’s network of 800 food pantries, soup kitchens, mobile food programs, senior centers, and shelters. Prior to his work in hunger relief, Andrew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a Concentration in Public Policy and has extensive experience of collaborating with a wide range of social service and nonprofit organizations, managing volunteer-led Emergency Food Programs, and troubleshooting distribution challenges associated with emergency food operations in an urban setting. Andrew is passionate about ensuring access to healthy, safe and sustainable food sources so that families do not have to worry about where their next meal will come from.

LaMaunda Maharaj serves as the Executive Director of the Community Food Connection Program at the City of New York’s Human Resources Administration. As a leader of NYC’s hunger relief effort, she oversees the entire EFNAP operation and a $20m budget. She is responsible for the development of strategic initiatives and policies that affect the emergency food network. Prior to the Community Food Connection Program, LaMaunda held several management positions in the HRA’s Homelessness Region, providing assistance with eviction prevention and securing permanent housing.

Diane Glick-Morris serves as Public Health Nutritionist/ Contract Manager Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program Metropolitan Area Regional Office

Tara Walker serves as the Associate Director of the Emergency Food and Nutrition Assistance Program at the City of New York’s Human Resources Administration. In this capacity, she is responsible for the coordination of all functions of EFAP, which include assessing applications for funding, monitoring each member program’s operation to insure compliance, and coordinating available resources in order to insure effective distribution. Tara also oversees the Food Insecurity Assistance Team which coordinates and monitors community SNAP outreach throughout NYC. Prior to her current role, Tara served as the Senior Manager of SNAP Support Services which provided SNAP outreach services and monitored the activity of contracted vendors that provided additional services.

Vivian Nieves is City Harvest’s Director of Program Operations, and she oversees the organization’s food distribution programs. Her team ensures tens of millions of pounds are delivered to hundreds of soup kitchens, food pantries, and community food programs across New York City’s five boroughs annually. Vivian joined City Harvest in 2012 as a Project Coordinator and eventually moved her way up into overseeing programs in the Bronx and helping those emergency food partners improve and sustain their operations. In her current role, Vivian focuses on increasing efficiencies and supporting her staff in meeting City Harvest’s goal to deliver more food to meet the need across the city. Vivian was raised in New York City and lived most of her life there until she moved to Pennsylvania in 2016. She found her passion for helping others through volunteer work, and has since made it her mission to making a difference in the lives of the people we serve and beyond.

Natalia Haimson serves as a Senior Director, Food Grant & Capacity Services, FeedNYC at United Way of New York City.

Zoran Pekija serves as Public Health Nutritionist I with Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, Metropolitan Area Regional Office, New York State Department Of Health.

Rosanna Robbins serves as Vice President of Programs & Operations at City Harvest.

Josh Morden serves as Director of Network Engagement at City Harvest