Board Member Profiles
Kenny Christianson, President
Serves on the Governance, Growth, and Budget Committees
Kenny holds a Masters of Arts in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration from Syracuse University. He is a lecturer of Economics at Binghamton University and Ithaca College and holds a position as Academic Consultant in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Ithaca College. Kenny has been a member of Alternatives since 1992 and is committed, through his work on the Board, to meeting the needs of the underserved population in our area.
Alison Christie, Vice President
Serves on the Human Resources and Governance Committees
Alison joined the Alternatives' Board in 2001. She enjoys many training opportunities available to Board members. Alison brings Marketing and Cooperative experience to the Board. She worked at Greenstar Cooperative Market for twelve years, during which she became Marketing and Member Services Manager. Alison is drawn to participate as a board member at Alternatives to support our vital and worthy mission and also because she is captivated by the cooperative movement and its capacity to transform peoples' lives and offer a democratic economic alternative in our capitalist economy. Alison is honored to be a steward for such a precious community asset.
Leslie Strebel, Secretary
Serves
on the Member Services, Community Relations, and Loan Policy Committees
Leslie graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has been running a financial services/accounting and business consulting firm with husband Paul and brother-in-law Chris, and has been living in Ithaca since relocating here from Long Island with her family in 1992. Leslie was initially asked to join the board of Alternatives in 1997, due to her extensive experience in financial planning for individuals and business owners, and business development strategies for entrepreneurs. She served for eight years, and served as board President from 2004-2006. After taking a hiatus from board service, she was pleased to be asked back in 2008. Leslie immediately agreed to return, as she had been thinking about ways to help the local community to thrive in difficult economic times. Leslie sees Alternatives as playing a major role in supporting the vitality of our community, and I'm thrilled to be back on the board.
Peter McCracken, Treasurer
Se
rves on the Member Services, Budget, and Nominating Committees
Peter is a recent transplant to this area, having followed his wife to her new position at Ithaca College. He's excited about being more involved in a new community, especially through his participation with the Alternatives Board of Directors. In 2000, Peter and three others started a company in Seattle that provides services to libraries – including IC, Cornell and TC3. He's familiar with the challenges of starting and growing a small company, and believes that entrepreneurship, coupled with financial education and careful planning, can be an effective path to financial success for many. Peter looks forward to helping Alternatives achieve that goal for the people of Tompkins County and beyond.
Bill Goodman
Serves on the Nominating, Growth, Supervisory, and Governance Committees
Bill joined Alternatives in 2001, even before he moved to the Ithaca area. Bill became involved in helping to develop the Second Neighborhood at EcoVillage (which is also set up as a cooperative) and decided he would join Alternatives and GreenStar so he could do his banking and shopping at cooperatives as well. Bill is an attorney with his own private practice, working mostly in the fields of Trusts & Estates, Real Estate and Not-for-Profit Corporation law. Bill served on a number of Boards for various community organizations in Buffalo, where he lived before moving to Ithaca, and he looks forward to bringing that experience to the Alternatives Board.
Jim Fravil
Serves on the Budget, Growth, and Loan Policy Committees
Jim has been a member of Alternatives for many years. He has been on the board since 1997. Jim leads a quiet, private life.
Serves on the HR and Member Services Committees
Leon has been an Alternatives member for several years. As a former high school drop-out, he obtained his General Equivalency Diploma (GED) while serving in the United States Air Force. After being honorably discharged, Leon returned to high school, receiving a college prep regent’s diploma. Next, he attended college earning bachelor and master’s degrees. Recently, he completed the Small Business Development Center’s training program at Binghamton University. Leon's professional career began in corporate, but changed to higher education. Leon looks forward to working in collaboration as a team player on Alternatives' behalf for excellence in customer service and user-friendly methods to help meet your present and future financial needs.
Serves on the HR and Community Relations Committee
Leonardo is the Executive Director of the Cornell Public Service Center (CPSC), and as such, is a member of Cornell University’s Division of Student and Academic Services’ senior management team. Leonardo is Co-Principal Investigator for the Cornell Upward Bound Program and is Co-Director of the Faculty Fellows-in-Service learning programs. He is Cornell University’s liaison to the New York Campus Compact Advisory Board, and a member of the founding Board of this statewide higher education membership institution. He is also a Carl L. Becker House Faculty Fellow at Cornell University.
In addition to his Cornell responsibilities, Leonardo has served on the boards of many Tompkins County non-profit agencies and governmental committees, including the Board of Trustees of the Tompkins County Public Library; the Founding Board of the Latino Civic Association of Tompkins County Inc.; the Ithaca Alliance for Community Empowerment; the Advisory Board of the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service of Tompkins County; the Tompkins County Workers Rights Center; the Board of the Tompkins County Human Services Coalition; the City of Ithaca’s Board of Public Works; and the Board of Planning and Development; the Board of the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission; and the Board of Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Tompkins Community Action, and also a member of ATTAC International, Chile’s chapter.
Leonard enjoys being a Board member for Alternatives on many levels, and he and his family have been Alternatives members for many years.
Serves on the Community Relations and Member Services Committees
Brett has served as the Executive Director of the Community Arts Partnership since 2007. His career in arts administration includes programming, marketing, and collections management at art and history museums in New York and Ohio, as well as the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. Brett and his wife Kerry live on the South Hill with their dogs Frances and Minchy. He holds a B.S. in Communications from Ithaca College’s Park School and an M.A. in Popular Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. When moving back to Ithaca, Brett immediately opened accounts with Alternatives, because its mission so perfectly aligned with his personal and professional values. He's particularly proud to be a member of an organization that advocates for financial literacy for all citizens.
Serves on the Loan Policy and Member Services Committees
Sujata has been a member of the Credit Union for over 25 years. As a teenager she worked with Bill Myers, then CEO of Alternatives, as an intern and later as a paid part-time employee. After leaving the Credit Union, she went on to become a labor organizer and then after that to attend the University of Pennsylvania Law School as a public interest scholar. Sujata spent many years after graduating from law school working in Washington, D.C. for a big firm. At the firm, she specialized in government contracts and antitrust law, and worked extensively with not-for-profits. Now back in Ithaca, she has a practice dedicated to providing low cost legal services to local farmers, small businesses, and not-for-profits around the country.
Serves on the Governance Committee
Natasha is the President & CEO of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in Elmira, NY. She has over 14 years of experience in food banking, having started her career as an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank in 1997. She holds a BA in Psychology & Religion and a MBA, both from the University of Rochester. Natasha lives in downtown Ithaca with her husband Keith, who teaches U.S. History at Ithaca High School, and their two lovely cats, Stanley & Lottie.
Through Natasha's dedication to alleviating hunger and food insecurity, she has realized that hunger is a symptom of poverty - and the only way to effectively address poverty is through asset creation and economic empowerment.
