Leadership

Theodore Kamoutsis

Executive Director, Promise Project

Ted Kamoutsis has been Executive Director of Promise Project since its inception in 2010.  Ted oversees a groundbreaking program, in partnership with Columbia University and New York – Presbyterian Hospital, which provides underserved children with learning issues a path to an education.

Ted Kamoutsis is Executive Director of Promise Project since it's inception in 2010. Ted oversees a groundbreaking program, in partnership with Columbia University and New York – Presbyterian Hospital, which provides underserved children with learning issues a path to an education. Ted develops strategic plans, collaborates with government and community agencies, and guides all marketing and funding initiatives.

Ted spent the first part of his career as a key executive in the apparel industry. Ted is a graduate of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, has a Certificate in Philanthropy and Fundraising from New York University and recently completed the Columbia Business School Senior Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals.

Dana Buchman

Founding Chair, Promise Project

Since leaving the designer world, Dana Buchman has dedicated her life to a helping underserved children with learning disabilities. 

For more than two decades Dana Buchman pioneered the way successful women looked and dressed.  Her eponymous fashion collections offered style, luxury, and exceptional quality to a broad range of women managing professions, businesses and families acrossAmerica.

In the midst of creating her fashion domain, Dana became fervently involved with her daughter Charlotte's struggle with Learning Disabilities.  In 2006 Dana wrote a book called A Special Education about the challenges in understanding and managing her daughter's special needs.

Dana resolved to become a champion for children with Learning Disabilities who don't have access to the resources that her daughter had. She joined the Advisory Board of the Center for Attention and Learning at Lenox Hill Hospital.

In an effort to reach many more children and have a widespread influence on Learning Disabilities, Dana founded PROMISE PROJECT, with the goal that one day all children with Learning Disabilities get the chance to learn.  PROMISE PROJECT joined forces with Columbia University Medical Center, in affiliation with New York-Presbyterian Hospital, to create the most comprehensive program in New York City to help impoverished children with learning disabilities. PROMISE at Columbia is committed to providing an educational path for underserved children struggling with Learning Disabilities.

Dana envisions PROMISE one day becoming the preeminent center on Learning Disabilities in the nation, with the mission of transforming how Learning Disabilities are treated in the future.

Dana serves on the Columbia University Medical Center Board of Visitor and the  Boards of the Fund for the City ofNew Yorkand the Liz Claiborne Foundation, and is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.  She has received accolades for her passionate service fromNationalCenterfor Learning Disabilities, Lenox Hill Auxiliary, Advocates for Children, and Columbia Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council.

LORI BUCHBINDER

Board Chair, Promise Project

Lori Buchbinder serves as Board Chair of Promise Project. She is a principal of Buchbinder & Warren, LLC, and along with Susan Buchbinder, continues as the second generation in New York City Real Estate, championing the legacy of their late father, Norman Buchbinder.

Ms. Buchbinder has an extensive background and expertise in various aspects of real estate, brokerage, leasing, management, renovation, and capital projects. Ms. Buchbinder holds a BA degree from Tufts and a law degree from Emory University School of Law.

Prior to joining Buchbinder & Warren, she practiced law for twenty-four years, most recently at Liz Claiborne Inc. (currently Fifth and Pacific Co.) as Vice President Deputy General Counsel, managing the company’s extensive trademark portfolio; she also practiced in areas of real estate, including leasing and affiliated transactions, licensing, and other general corporate matters.

Jeremy Veenstra-Vanderweele, MD

Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, CUMC

Dr. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele is Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, MD, is the Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), and Columbia University;  Co-Director of both the NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship for Translational Research in Child Psychiatric Disorders and the Whitaker Scholar Program in Developmental Neuropsychiatry at NYSPI/Columbia University Medical Center and Ruane Professor for The Implementation of Science for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Columbia University Medical Center.

Laura Mufson, PhD

Associate Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, CUMC

Dr. Laura Mufson, PHD, is Associate Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute. 

Dr. Laura Mufson, PhD, is Associate Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and co-director of the Office of Clinical Psychology at CUMC. She is also director of Clinical Psychology and unit chief of the Children’s Day Unit at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). She is director of Training for the Child Track of the APA–Accredited Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology and a faculty member of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry’s NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

 

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