Our Team
Strategies for Social Change® is a woman of color owned consulting firm and because we value diversity, clients are able to access a multicultural pool of consultants with extensive experience working in diverse sectors of the nonprofit community.
SSC has carefully screened and selected a highly skilled and experienced team of consultants to meet the diverse capacity building needs of nonprofit organizations. A brief profile of each of our consultants is provided below.
Elsa A. Ríos, MSW, JD
President
Executive Coaching, Fund Development, Board Development, Strategic Planning, Policy Advocacy Campaigns
Elsa A. Ríos has twenty-five years of nonprofit experience in the areas of management, grant writing, program design, community organizing and public policy analysis and writing. During her public service career she held several executive level management positions and engaged in extensive fundraising and program development.
Her accomplishments include having served as the Founding Director of the Violence Intervention Program, Director of Education for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and Executive Director of the HIV Law Project.
She holds a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law where she received the prestigious Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar Award in recognition of her outstanding public service achievements. She also holds a Master's of Science degree in Social Work from Columbia University and is a graduate of the Columbia University, Institute for Not-for-Profit Management sponsored by the Graduate School of Business.
Carmen Vivian Rivera, MSW, MPH
Senior Capacity Building Associate
Strategic Planning, Policy Advocacy, Program Design, Needs Assessments
Carmen Vivian Rivera has over twenty-five years experience in nonprofit management, community organizing and public policy advocacy. Her professional training and social activism has focused on women’s rights and social justice causes.
She has held top-ranking positions in New York City government; as Senior Health Policy Analyst for the Manhattan Borough President followed by an appointment as the Director of the Mayor’s Office on Health Policy. Subsequently, Ms. Rivera became Director of the Maternal Health Commission for the City of Boston.
Her areas of expertise include: assessment, strategic planning, board development and outcome evaluation. Ms. Rivera holds Master's degrees in Social Work and Public Health from Columbia University.
Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D.
Research and Communications Associate
Sarah Sayeed is a consultant and researcher specializing in the design and evaluation of health communication campaigns. More recently, she has been teaching intercultural communication and health literacy in healthcare leadership programs at the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College. Sarah volunteers as a board member and an advisor to several faith-based non-profits. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
Antonieta Gimeno
Trainer and Leadership Development Associate
Antonieta Gimeno has been a community organizer, educator and facilitator for the last 35 years. Her commitment to justice has connected her to many community based efforts to address racial, gender/sexuality, economic and human rights issues. Central to her work has been to nurture and develop leadership among youth, women, immigrants, LGBT communities and people of color. Her experience as a community based educator and facilitator has served to enhance the breadth and depth of analysis and skills of organizers and advocates in addressing complex issues working with different constituencies. She earned a B. A. from Mount Holyoke College and is also a creative writer.
Joyce Klemperer, MCP
Special Projects Associate
Joyce Klemperer is an experienced program developer and senior manager with a breadth of experience in areas including domestic violence, access to justice, immigrants' rights, women's rights, health and community technology. She has created and led community-based and interdisciplinary collaborations to increase access to services, educate service users and providers, and effect systemic change. She also has an extensive background in grant writing and reporting for government and foundation funding and has worked as a content developer, producer, project developer and project manager on innovative social software and internet applications. She earned a MCP degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Paul Morejon
Website Development Associate
Paul Morejon has over fifteen years of experience developing website solutions for a variety of clients including Violence Intervention Program, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Institute for Internal Auditors, Random House, Columbia University and PFLAG. He leads a specialized consulting practice helping nonprofits realize success in their online strategies from user experience design to development.