Our Board is composed from a wide range of backgrounds and talents and offers diverse expertise to optimize the effectiveness of our common goals. Board membership draws from both The United States and Haiti.
UNITED STATES
John Corcoran
Business Development Executive
Biographical:
Mr. Corcoran received his BA in Business Administration from William Paterson University and began his career in management at Federated Department Stores & The Leader Group. His entrée into the healthcare field was established with executive positions in Sales and Marketing at ProHealth of NJ and National Preferred Provider Network.
His distinguished career association with Pascack Valley Hospital included serving as Executive Director of the PVH Foundation. He also held the positions of VP of Corporate Relations and Senior VP of External Relations. He left PVH with the title of Chief Operating Officer during which time he was Interim CEO.
In December 2007 John accepted a position with Urology Specialty Care as President and COO. He focuses on building the group practice, their Malpractice Insurance Company, medical office buildings and ancillary services. In addition, Mr. Corcoran is active in extensive industry and community affairs. He is Past President of the Hospital Fundraising Executives of NJ.
He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Commerce and Industry Association of NJ, Merrill Lynch Healthcare Advisory Board and Good Samaritan Foundation. He is a past board member of Greater Montvale Business Association, Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce, Westwood Chamber of Commerce and Northern Valley Rotary.
Mr. Corcoran’s business acumen and volunteer experience provide a wealth of resource for NOVA Hope for Haiti.
Avo Goldian
Businessman, Jeweler
Charles E. Kordula, M.D., President NOVA
Physician
Biographical:
Dr. Kordula is a retired surgeon who maintained a private clinical practice in Bergen County, New Jersey for fourteen years. He has worked with other philanthropic and for-profit endeavors and gained organizational and leadership experience both as a past founding board member of the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative and as past president of Valley Regional Medical Center, a multi-partner LLC, for which he planned and directed the construction of a large multi specialty medical facility. Through his experience abroad Dr. Kordula brings to NOVA an intimate knowledge of diverse cultural values and a proficiency in both French and Spanish, as well as a working knowedge of Creole and Haitian customs.
Dr. Kordula received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Muhlenberg College and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Jocelyne M. Faustin Lamour
Chief Medical Technologist
Biographical:
Jocelyne Faustin Lamour was born and raised in Haiti; she came to the U.S. in the early 1970’s to further her education. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Chemistry from the College of Staten Island, CUNY, she has had a successful career of over 30 years as a Laboratory Technologist. She is currently the Chief Technologist of the Special Chemistry Laboratory at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
In her free time Jocelyne has developed interests in international relations and nongovernmental organizations that have led her to continue her education in this field and volunteer with various organizations. In 2003 she earned a continuing education certificate in non-governmental organizations from New York University. Because of her passion to improve the health care in Haiti, she was elected a delegate in the 1199SEIU effort to provide medications to the Sanatorium in Port- Au-Prince, Haiti. Jocelyne has held board member positions in many organizations including, Haitian-American Parents Association (HAPA) and African Hope Committee, Inc.
Since 2005, Jocelyne has been a core member of the medical missions endeavor to southwest Haiti sponsored by NOVA Hope for Haiti, Inc. and Church of the Presentation. As a native-born Haitian, she has assisted the doctors in providing care to the sick during these missions both as a translator and by providing a better understanding of prevailing Haitian customs. As seen through her prior humanitarian commitments, Jocelyne’s dedication to better the lives of the impoverished Haitian people, and her understanding of the underlying Haitian culture makes her an invaluable board member of the NOVA Hope for Haiti team.
Dominick Preziosi, Esq.
Attorney
Colette McDermott, Executive Director, NOVA
X-ray Technologist
Biographical:
Mrs. McDermott is a founding member and the Executive Director of NOVA Hope for Haiti. She has an Associate Degree in Allied Health Services. She has been a practicing radiological technologist in the orthopedic field for over twenty five years. Colette has been an active advocate for the homeless population in Bergen County. She is a member of the Interreligious Fellowship for the Homeless. She has also been a member of several medical missions to Haiti over the past five years. Her family served as “host parents” for a sick and injured Haitian child through the “Healing the Children” program and they later went on to adopt this young girl. Her administrative talents coupled with her strong passion to improve medical care in Haiti have been paramount in getting our efforts underway.
Anna Nuzzi
Businesswoman
Joseph F. Nuzzi, Vice President, NOVA
Pastoral Associate
Biographical:
Joseph Nuzzi is a Pastoral Associate at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York, NY. He is one of the founding members of NOVA Hope for Haiti. Joe was involved with beginning our medical missions when he worked at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, out of which NOVA Hope for Haiti was born. He brings to the project great enthusiasm for the goal of providing more ongoing medical care to the people of Cavaillon and surrounding areas through NOVA’s proposed clinic and the planned projects it will house. He is also actively involved in the planning, recruiting and operations of our bi-annual volunteer medical clinics in Cavaillon.
Frederic Toussaint, MBA, Treasurer, NOVA
Financial Auditor
Biographical:
Mr. Touissant was born and raised in Haiti. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Universite Quisqueye in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He went on to pursue his MBA in Finance at Pace University in New York. Mr Toussaint began his accounting career as an external auditor for KPMG in their Haitian affiliated office. After his graduate studies, he then joined Ernst & Young public accounting firm as a consultant in their Risk Advisory Services group in New York City, where he has been involved in consulting projects, primarily in the insurance sector. Mr. Toussaint has been a member of NOVA’s board since 2006.
HAITI
Karl A. Calixte
Businessman – Entrepreneur
Biographical:
Mr. Calixte was born and grew up in Cavaillon, Haiti. He completed his secondary education at the Frères Odile Joseph Des Cayes School and received an accountant certification in business management at the Howard Business School, Rego Park, Queens, New York. He entered business as the proprietor and manager of La Trocade Restaurant in Delmas, Haiti. Mr. Calixte was one of the founding members of the Fondation pour la Survie de L’Enfant Haitien (FSEH) and has worked as a field coordinator for FSEH with duties including the full responsibility for project implementation and monitoring, as well as coordination of services to insure cost effectiveness. He designed and managed the collection of measurement data to implement projects, demonstrate their positive outcomes and facilitate ongoing reviews.
Mr. Calixte, for whom the plight of orphans and street children is a personal priority, has years of experience working in human assistance programs. His objective has been to improve the quality of life for those who are so desperately in need: orphans, vulnerable children and their families in Haiti. Besides his board activities with NOVA Hope for Haiti, he is presently playing a major role as Program Coordinator for the At Risk Children Foundation, Inc. He has helped to achieve construction of the Custine Water Project that provides water to a remote and rural section of Cavaillon, Haiti and he has been instrumental in the establishment of the Chambre de L’Enfance Nécéssiteuse Haitienne (CENH), a program that brings relief to orphans, the needy and at-risk children in Haiti.
Mr. Calixte, who presently resides in Cavaillon, brings to NOVA considerable expertise in all aspects of field development and coordination of national and International collaborative efforts. His well-connected ties within the Haitian community are an invaluable on-site resource for NOVA Hope for Haiti.
Max Elibert, Esq.
Lawyer, Judge
Biographical:
Mr. Elibert was raised and educated in Haiti. Born in Les Cayes, he grew up in Cavaillion and began his secondary education at the Phillippe Guerrier Lyceum in Les Cayes. He then graduated law school at The University of Port-au-Prince and continued his studies in economic sciences at Long Island University in New York. He has worked as a lawyer, a district attorney and judge in Aquin, Haiti. He also served as the General Director of the Ministry of Justice in Port-au-Prince for 3 years. Mr. Elibert’s impeccable service within the Haitian justice system and experience with the practice of law in the country, as well as his many legal ties within the community are strong resources for NOVA Hope for Haiti.
Lionel Roy
Businessman, President Sodipal, Haïti
Biographical:
Mr. Lionel Roy earned his Bachelor’s Degree in finance from the University of Puerto Rico. He has completed graduate coursework in International Finance working towards an MBA at New York University. His background in International Finance was honed during a ten-year tenure with Chase Manhattan Bank where held various positions within the Credit Division and was based out of offices in the United States, France and South America. He returned to his native Haiti in 1980 to begin his own business and has been active in the Haitian industrial, commercial and banking sectors. He has served as a member of the board of directors at both the Haitian development bank as well as a regional commercial bank. The integral ties Lionel has to the business and financial communities in Haiti will aid NOVA in its efforts to maximize local Haitian involvement.
Solanges Auguste Toussaint
Chargé d’Affairs for NOVA in Haïti
Businesswoman
Biographical:
Ms. Toussaint was born and raised in Haiti. She attended college in Nashua, New Hampshire where she earned a BA in Administration and Human Resources. Upon graduation, Solanges lived and worked in New York City for 8 years where she was employed by Alcan & Cie, a latex import/export company. She returned to Haiti and worked during the next four years as an administrative assistant for the exporting company, Haitian American Meat Packers. She then moved to the Haitian Division of the First National Bank of Boston where she served as an executive in the Human Resources department for eighteen years.
Ms. Toussaint is deeply involved with the Montfort Institute, a charitable organization run by the Sisters of Wisdom in Port-au-Prince, Haiti that helps house and train 560 deaf-mute and deaf-blind children from poverty stricken homes. Solanges has served as the administrative and communications liaison between the Institute and its foreign donors. Her energy, altruism and intimate knowledge of Haiti provides a tremendous resource for NOVA Hope for Haiti.
Board of Advisors
Kiersten Malone, RN, MPH
Registered Nurse Practitioner
Biographical:
Ms. Malone has traveled multiple times to Haïti in the capacity of both caregiver and teacher. She volunteered with the first groups to arrive after the January 12th devastating earthquake and has worked under the most trying and onerous conditions, returning many times both with groups and on her own to help alleviate the prevailing conditions with her contribution to the sick and injured. Her education and practical experience in public health position her in a leadership role to help create preventative and educational medical programs.
Father Bob Stagg
Priest
Biographical:
Father Bob Stagg has been an ordained Roman Catholic priest for the past 35 years. He is the past pastor of the St. James Church in Springfield, New Jersey and has been pastor of the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey since 2006. He is active in the New Jersey Priest Senate and the Personnel Board of the Archdiocese of Newark. He holds membership on the Development and the Building Boards of the Archdiocese and his construction expertise derived from this experience will be a valuable asset for NOVA in the planning and staged growth of our organization.
