2022 Board of Directors
Jim Rosengarten
Jim Rosengarten received a Roothbert scholarship in 1988 towards his M.Ed. in Secondary Ed./English. He teaches history at a Quaker independent school in the Philadelphia area. He also works as a wedding officiant with Journeys of the Heart and is involved with Horizons at Greene Street Friends, a summer educational experience devoted to decreasing the “summer slide” for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. The Roothbert Fellowship has continued to be an important part of his life, offering support and inspiration through a wonderful, fascinating, and diverse group of friends and fellow sojourners.
Leonisa Ardizzone, EdM, EdD, MDiv
The Roothbert Fund helped me complete my doctorate in International Educational Development with a specialization in Peace Education at Columbia University's Teacher College in 2000. The Roothbert Fund's values are consistent with my belief in working for justice and peace, driven by a spiritual calling to serve the greater good. I am currently the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills. I also teach at Vassar College and lead a jazz quartet.
Leonisa Ardizzone M.Div. Ed.D.
Minister, UU Catskills
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Vassar College
www.leonisaardizzone.com
New release "All in Good Time" available now on all streaming platforms!
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Brian Smiga
The Roothbert Fellowship helped fund my masters at Trinity College, Dublin after graduation from Swarthmore.
Accepting the Roothbert was an affirmation of "spirituality in action", and the Roothbert fellowship has been a life-long career influence to prioritize helping others. Currently, as a non profit board member and as a venture investor in health and tech companies that improve lives.
Vijay Varma
The Roothbert Fellowship helped fund my masters in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2011.
The Roothbert Fund captures for me the driving tenants of my spirituality: diversity, kindness, connection, and activism. In addition to serving on the board of the Roothbert Fund, I am a scientist working on improving healthcare for older adults.
Nadjwa Norton
Shaped by spirit, God, and family,
Nadjwa is a poet, an innovator, a ponderer--
a catalyst, an educator, a competitor.
Shaped by spirit, God, and friends,
Nadjwa is a researcher, a New Yorker, a lover of words--
a critical design-game theory-systems- theorist-activist.
Adler Prioly
Adler is a sustainable infrastructure investment professional and has been focused on providing capital and structuring to support growth in middle-market companies devoted to sustainable infrastructure development. His particular passion is in working to understand long-term needs of companies and to design strategic solutions to support scaling projects and corporate development. He also mentors cleantech companies and provides endowment management support and portfolio management primarily to non-profit and educational institutions. He enjoys the diversity and intergenerational elements of the Roothbert community.
Charles Van Horne
Charlie is one of the last members of the Roothbert community who knew both Albert and Toni. Having grown up only a few miles from their Topstone Farm, his youth was shaped by the sense of spirit and spirituality that they wished to spread through establishment of the Roothbert Fund. Charlie joined the Board as Treasurer in 1986 and has served as President since [2012]. He has recently retired from a 45 year career in investments and finance to live in the upper Hudson Valley. He now creates paintings he thinks Toni and Albert would have liked to be surrounded by.
James Heinegg
I was on grant with The Roothbert Fellowship 1999-2001 while completing a doctorate in educational leadership at Teachers College/Columbia University.
I currently work as a public school administrator in New Jersey.
One of the Roothberts' ideas that has always resonated with me is that "Spirituality has to be manifested in a very practical way, by 'living in the world without being overwhelmed by it.