PEOPLE
LEADERSHIP
Davon Russell, WHEDco President
Davon Russell is a lifelong educator and mentor who believes in the transformative power of early childhood and youth education and the arts. In his work, he is a dedicated fighter for equity and opportunity for communities of color, and a thoughtful leader of a talented and committed staff that serves families and communities across the city.
Born in Jamaica to a single mother, Davon excelled early on as a scholar and athlete at the prestigious Kingston College high school and was recruited by the University of Oregon on a full track scholarship. While in Eugene, he also discovered a love of the theater as an outlet for personal expression and persuasion. After earning his BA in Humanities and his MA in Journalism and Theater, he was a professional actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Prior to becoming WHEDco’s President in 2017, Davon had long combined his love for the arts with support, guidance, mentoring and educating for youth. He began his career at WHEDco in 1997 as a part-time after school teacher and steadily rose through the organization over 20 years, serving as Executive Vice President since 2010. Under Davon’s leadership, WHEDco’s youth programs—serving infants, toddlers, school-age youth, and teens— have helped tens of thousands of young people build their skills, access resources, develop their creative and innovative potential, and become leaders.
Davon is the co-founder and Board Chair of the South Bronx Early College Academy Charter School and serves on the Boards of Bronx Lacrosse and DreamYard. He is a Captain in the founding coalition of the Bronx Community Relief Effort. He is also a member of the Racial Justice and Equity Task Force for the Weill Cornell Department of Medicine, as well as the Lehman College School of Education Professional Education Advisory Committee. He previously served on the Board of Grace Church School and was appointed by two consecutive Bronx Borough Presidents – Adolfo Carrión Jr. and Ruben Diaz Jr. – to serve eight years on the New York City Department of Education’s Community Education Council.
Nancy Biberman, WHEDco Founder & President Emerita
Nancy led the acquisition, design and development of WHEDco’s three multi-disciplinary Bronx anchors – Bronx Commons/Bronx Music Hall; Intervale Green, one of the nation’s first energy efficient greenroofed and affordable residential buildings; and WHEDco’s flagship, Urban Horizons, the historic restoration of an abandoned municipal hospital – including 565 affordable apartments and various community-building spaces: the Bronx Music Hall; the Bronx Music Heritage Center Lab; the Melrose Community Access Support and Training (CAST) Center; Bronx CookSpace; Early Childhood Discover Center (Head Start); fitness and job training centers, and a community health clinic. She is also a founding Trustee of the South Bronx Early College Academy Charter School. Nancy led WHEDco’s growth at a time when success was far from certain. She forged critical partnerships that led to the creation of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and Bronx Music Hall, most notably with Fordham University’s Bronx African American History Project and Professor Mark Naison, who introduced WHEDco to Elena Martínez and Bobby Sanabria, who became the founding Co-Artistic Directors of the Bronx Music Heritage Center. Nancy began her career as a legal aid lawyer, representing tenants, immigrants and women experiencing domestic violence. Supported by Catholic Charities, she conceived and developed the West End Intergenerational Residence on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, after which she led the redevelopment of 23 abandoned buildings in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, which informed and inspired her vision for WHEDco, which she founded in 1992. Nancy has received distinguished Alumna awards from Barnard College and Rutgers-Newark Law School, and fellowships from the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Wasserstein Foundation to Harvard Law School, and the Charles H. Revson Foundation to Columbia University’s School of Architecture.
STAFF
Elena Martinez, Co-Artistic Director, Bronx Music Heritage Center
Elena Martínez is the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center. She received a MA in Anthropology and an MA in Folklore from the University of Oregon and has been a Folklorist at City Lore since 1997. She co-produced the documentary, From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale, which aired on PBS in 2006. She was a producer for the documentary, We Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo in 2015. She was also a producer on the short documentary, Eddie Palmieri: A Revolution on Harlem River Drive (2016). Elena curated the exhibition, “¡Que bonita bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag as Folk Art,” and was the Assistant Curator for the exhibit, “Nueva York: 1613-1945” at El Museo del Barrio (2010). She co-curated the exhibit, “Las Tres Hermanas: Art & Activism,” with Joe Conzo Jr. in 2017. In 2013 she gave the Botkin Lecture for the American Folklore Center at the Library of Congress, “I’d Still Be Puerto Rican, Even if Born on the Moon: Puerto Rican Migration and Community Through the Expressive Arts.” She was on the Centennial Exhibition Advisory Committee for the Museum of the City of New York and was also a member of the Community Advisory Board for Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story. She is a Mellon Folklorist in Residence with NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, 2024-2025 and was awarded 2024 New York State Historic Preservation Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation Documentation in recognition for work on the Puerto Rican Casitas and Casita Rincón Criollo National Register Nomination. A current project involves researching the Afro-Puerto Rican participation in the 369th Regimental Band (the “Harlem Hellfighters”) during WWI which she has been working on with the World War I Centennial Commemoration “369th Experience.”
Bobby Sanabria, Co-Artistic Director, Bronx Music Heritage Center
Bobby Sanabria is a 7-time Grammy-nominated drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, and bandleader. He has performed and recorded with legends such as Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Cándido, Henry Threadgill, Larry Harlow, and the Godfather of AfroCuban jazz, Mario Bauzá. His first big band recording, Live & in Clave!!! was nominated for a Grammy in 2001. His 2008 Grammy-nominated Big Band Urban Folktales was the first Latin jazz recording to ever reach #1 in the national Jazz Week charts. In 2009, the Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra he directs at the Manhattan School of Music was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Kenya Revisited Live!!!, a reworking of the music from Machito’s greatest album, Kenya. In 2011 the recording Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!! was nominated for a Latin Jazz Grammy. His 2012 big band recording, inspired by the writings of Mexican author Octavio Paz, entitled MULTIVERSE, was nominated for a Grammy (in the Latin Jazz category he and others fought to reinstate after NARAS decided to eliminate many ethnic and regional categories in 2010). He is an associate producer of documentaries, The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King, winner of the IMAGINE award for Best TV documentary of 2003, and PBS’ From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale. DRUM! Magazine named him Percussionist of the Year in 2005; he was also named 2011 and 2013 Percussionist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. This South Bronx native of Puerto Rican parents was a 2006 inductee into the Bronx Walk of Fame. He holds a B.M. from the Berklee College of Music and is on the faculty of the New School and the Manhattan School of Music, conducting the Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Bands at both schools.
Lynne Mold, Arts Education Coordinator
Lynne is a theatre artist, arts administrator and educator with over 25 years’ experience developing and implementing arts education programs and producing and directing community performances. She is the Arts Education Coordinator and Venue Manager at the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) where she manages the arts education classes, builds community partnerships, facilitates educational workshops and provides production support for a busy event calendar including performances, exhibitions and panel discussions. Previously, Lynne worked as a teaching artist and director at Imagine Arts Program and LESS Charter School, and was the first director of the Visual and Performing Arts Department for Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. Lynne was a founding member and general manager of the former Cooper Square Theatre company, artistic director of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Players Community Theatre and Crossing Borders Repertory. She has toured as an actress both nationally and in Canada, studied with Lee Strasberg and is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Katerin Burgos, Marketing and Events Coordinator
Katerin is a Colombian journalist and digital marketing expert based in New York City, with more than 10 years of experience in audiovisual production and engagement in local communities. Currently she works as the Marketing and Communications Associate at the Bronx Music Hall, where she focuses on reaching all those interested in art, culture, and education in the Bronx and New York City, providing them with leisure and learning spaces. In addition to her work at the Bronx Music Hall, Katerin has worked in women's clinics in the Bronx, empowering the community on reproductive rights issues. Katerin is known for her ability to communicate complex topics in a concise and accessible manner for all types of audiences. Her focus on community work and her desire to make an altruistic and humanitarian difference, especially with the most needy and minorities, are fundamental aspects of her career. In her free time, she enjoys running and photography.
Advisory Committee
The Bronx Music Heritage Center relies on the expertise of its Music Advisory Committee, which includes GRAMMY winners, music historians, artists and community members.
José Francisco Avila, Director, Garifuna Coalition Inc.
Will Calhoun, Grammy-winning bandleader and drummer
Dr. Valerie Capers, Bronx-born jazz pianist and educator
Joe Conzo, Jr., Award-winning photographer
Grandmaster Caz, Hip Hop MC, co-founder of the Cold Crush Brothers
Rachel Perez, Artist, Educator, Facilitator
Erika Elliot, Program Director, Summerstage
Bharati Kemraj, Dancer and founder of the Bharati Dance Academy
Francesca Lamantia, Musician
Christine Licata, Arts Consultant
Fernando Garcia, Fox & King Inc.
Angel R. Rodriguez, Sr., Percussionist and founder of Bronx Living Legend series
Rodstarz, Hip Hop artist, Rebel Diaz Arts Collective
Felix Sarpong, CEO of Victory Entertainment International
Desseree Soto, Director, Casita Rincon Criollo
Salieu Suso, Kora musician
Emeritus
Bill Aguado, Former Executive Director of Bronx Council on the Arts
Patty Dukes, Hip-Hop Artist, Co-Founder of Circa 95
Wallace Edgecombe, Former Director of Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture
Dr. Mark Naison, History Professor, Fordham University; Founder of The Bronx African American History Project
Jimmy Owens, Bronx-Born Jazz Trumpeter & Music Educator; Nea Jazz Master
Reph Star, Hip-Hop Artist, Co-Founder, Circa ’95
Dr. William Rodríguez, Latin Jazz Pianist; Founder, Celia Cruz High Schoo
In Memorium
Ray Mantilla, Latin Jazz Conguero
Alan Merrill, Rock Guitarist
UpRISE Theater Advisors
Rey Allen, Actor, Singer, Arts-In-Education Specialist, Playwright, Stage Manager, Director & Producer
Kayhan Irani, Playwright, Community Cultural Activist, Theater of The Oppressed Trainer
Monica Meaux Hope, Singer, Playwright, Educator, Founder Meaux Hope Productions
Amira Mustapha, Director of Production Services For Lehman College, Executive Director of Art Defined
