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About MWA


Staff of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance



Roland Lewis, President and CEO
rlewis [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org

A lifetime New Yorker, Roland Lewis has worked in the field of community development since 1984, when he began as a program associate at the Trust for Public Land. A graduate of Columbia University, he then went on to earn a Masters of City and Regional Planning and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University in 1988. This was followed by nine years as a partner in the law firm of Dellapa, Lewis, and Perseo, whose clients included not-for-profit corporations, civic groups, churches, cooperative corporations, and private real estate developers. Starting in 1997 Roland became the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity - NYC. Roland led the organization for ten years, guiding it to become one of the top producers in the region and a nationally emulated model of Habitat urban success.

In the spring of 2007, Roland took the helm of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a newly incorporated not-for-profit dedicated to the improvement of the New York and New Jersey harbor and waterways.

In addition to his professional experience with community development, Roland has also been active with many non-profit community organizations. He served as Co-Chair of Housing First! and is now on the board of the New York Foundation.

Roland lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn with his wife and four children.



Carter Craft, Director of Programs and Policy
ccraft [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org

An urban planner specializing in transportation and waterfront issues, Carter's accomplishments include development of the Public Access Working Group of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program. Carter founded the project that would evolve into the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance in 1999, under the auspices of the Municipal Art Society.

Carter's leadership in the community includes: co-chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program; vice-chair of Greenmap System; board member the East River Apprenticeshop; member of the advisory boards of the Center for Maritime Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology, the Maritime Technology Program at Kingsborough Community College, and the Hudson Home Advisory Committee at Liberty Science Center. He is a co-founder of Right of Way, the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, and the New Jersey Committee for the East Coast Greenway.

Carter earned a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University in 1998, and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1996 to 1998, he worked for the Pedestrian Planning Division of the New York City Department of Transportation, where he was involved in solving circulation and safety issues in Lower Manhattan and on the intermodal nodes of New York City, including Pennsylvania Station and Times Square.



Liz Fanning, Director of Development and Communications
lfanning [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org

Liz joined MWA in January of 2008. She is originally from New York City and has two decades of experience as a professional fundraiser and nonprofit administrator with organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU's National Capital Area affiliate, and Schoolhouse Supplies in Portland, Ore. She has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco (1993-1995) and worked as an executive recruiter for nonprofit organizations at Harris Rand Lusk.

Liz is the vice president of the High Atlas Foundation, a nonprofit organization that organizes community development projects in rural Morocco. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University (1997) and a BA in economics from Boston University (1987).



Jennifer Stark-Hernandez, Waterfront Organizer
jstark-hernandez [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org

Jennifer joined MWA in February of 2008. Previously she managed grants and fiscally sponsored projects at the San Francisco Parks Trust. A California native, Jennifer is thrilled to be back in her true home, Brooklyn. Before moving to San Francisco, Jennifer volunteered with many local groups including More Gardens, Green Map System and Times Up. She is a graduate of Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University (2002) where she studied urbanism and fine arts. Her senior colloquium was on the culture of congestion and reinvention in New York City.



Remy Monteko, Executive Assistant
rmonteko [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org

Remy currently assists the president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance in diverse aspects of non-profit management and urban affairs activism. Since becoming involved in the redevelopment of a waterfront landfill in her hometown of San Francisco seven years ago, she has been building on her professional interest in environmental justice, urban design, and regional planning. A recent graduate of Barnard College, Remy wrote her thesis on memorial murals in outer-borough New York as they reclaim contested space and history. She has studied urban planning and community development in major cities of Brazil, South Africa, and Western Europe.


The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
457 Madison Avenue
New York, NY, 10022
212-935-9831
info [AT] waterfrontalliance [DOT] org