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The Willowtown Association is governed by a dedicated, all volunteer, 13 member Board of Directors, elected each fall to serve during the next calendar year. They work as advocates and championis of Willowtown’s community.
Linda is a retired Manhattan-based business owner that designed and promoted American based leather handbags and accessories brands. Raised on Union Street in Brooklyn, she has lived in Brooklyn Heights for more than 30 years and in Willowtown for 20 years. She is currently the Associations liaison to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Advisory Council, and the BQET Coalition working on transformative alternatives for the BQE Cantilever. She serves as the Associations’ President.
Pippa is the former Photography Director of ELLE magazine and co founder of Table of Contents, a content and creative agency that produces content, brand strategy, and experiences for brands. Today, she primarily acts as an advisor to Christina Tosi and Milk Bar. Aussie born, Pippa has called Brooklyn Heights home for over ten years and lives with husband Marty and their sons Augustus and Martin on Willow Place. She is now serving as the Vice president of the Association.
Tim was born and raised on Long Island, studied in Baltimore, Maryland, and returned to New York City 22 years ago to be with his now wife, Christine. The Hoenig family settled into their apartment on Columbia Place in 2007; 3 children later, they love, now more than ever, their tree-lined streets, bears in the park, and the community that is Willowtown. Tim is a scientist and a teacher; after nearly twenty years working in the pharmaceutical industry, he is now solving civic and private sector problems with software and moxy. He is presently the Treasurer of the Association.
John has lived on Columbia Place since 2012, and in June 2022 married his wife Laura Ann Fiery Dowling, who moved down from Orange Street. They met in the neighborhood! John grew up in Manhattan’s Yorkville community, similarly near a park, an elevated walk, and the East River. He’s passionate about NYC history and beautifying its streets and parks. John works as a creative director, currently serving in that role as partner/owner of a Portland, Maine, menswear line. He is the current Association Secretary.
Aysha Ames is an educator and lawyer who teaches writing to law students. Born in Atlanta, GA and raised in Port Norris, NJ, Aysha has lived in Willowtown since 2019 and embraced the community spirit. You can find her in her garden plot in our community garden nurturing everything from her purple hearts to her lemon tree. If you don’t see her there, surely you will find Aysha scooting around Willowtown on her mint green Vespa.
Dino Dvorak,Ph.D is a neuroengineer and entrepreneur. He came to New York in 2007 to study in a doctoral program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. After that, he worked as a post-doctoral associate at Center for Neuroscience at NYU, where he studied mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction underlying autism. In 2021, Dino left academia and joined an early-stage company Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, which develops novel psychedelic drugs and therapies for brain disorders such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Dino’s entrepreneurial activities include founding and co-founding two companies that develop EEG systems for brain diagnostics and assessment. Dino has been living with his wife and son in Willowtown for the past 14 years and was involved in numerous community initiatives, including the successful legal battle against the underground garage in the backyard of Riverside Apartments or the fight against DOT’s BQE renovation project.
Rebecca Hirschklau is Senior Counsel, Global Employment and Litigation at DocuSign, Inc. Rebecca began her career working for New York City, practiced at a law firm and then quickly moved to in-house practice. A devoted member of any community she finds herself living or working in, Rebecca has served as an active Board Member of the running club in her former neighborhood, North Brooklyn Runners, and as a Board Member and Committee leader with an in-house counsel networking group, Association of Corporate Counsel. Rebecca moved to Willowtown in October 2020 with her dearly departed pup Walter to escape the hustle and bustle of her former neighborhood; she has relished in the sense of community of her little haven on Willow Place.
Lenore Mitchell, now retired, worked as a legal assistant for a Manhattan law firm for over 40 years. Born in Brooklyn, she has been a Willowtown resident residing in the Riverside Apartments since 1980. Presently she chairs the Riverside Tenants Association and previously was its recording secretary and building captain. She is the Willowtown’s Riverside liaison.
Clint Padgitt is a semi-retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. For over 30 years he was a chaplain to merchant seafarers in the Port of NY & NJ, often visiting the crews of ships docked at the Red Hook Container Terminal. He is interested in maintaining the quality of life in Willowtown, especially in relation to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and nearby real estate overdevelopment.
Andrew Reynolds is a retired computer consultant, programmer who has lived at 37 Joralemon Street for the past 32 years. Former treasurer and board member of The Willowtown Association. Current board member of A. T. White Community Center. Avid bike rider, oldest Willowtown resident who uses a bike as a usual means of transportation. Studies flute with Petr Kotik of the SEM based in AT White Center.
Sabrina Lucia Rezzy is Vice President of George Arzt Communications, a public relations and government affairs firm, where she heads the business development team. She was previously spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party and a top aide in the New York State Assembly. She has advised campaigns at the federal, state and city levels. Her private sector experience includes work at a multibillion-dollar asset management firm, a TMT-startup (Technology, Media and Telecommunications), and at an activist hedge fund, where she worked on the public relations team. Sabrina graduated from Temple University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, and then interned on Capitol Hill. She lives in Brooklyn Heights with her husband, Oleg Rezzy, and kids. Sabrina sits on Brooklyn Community Board 2 where she is a member of the Parks Committee, and founded the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Democratic Club, a political club dedicated to electing women and increasing civic engagement in Brooklyn.
Chris Scarafile has been a Willowtown resident since 2010, when he moved to Willow Place with his wife Clare Brew and newborn daughter Darwin. He has been a consistent presence in the community, often found playing with kids in the street or huddled over a crossword among neighbors on his stoop. Since 2014 he has volunteered for the Willowtown Fair committee, helping organize games, concessions, and entertainment for our annual event. When not on the block, Chris works as a cinematographer and camera operator in television and movies. His credits include Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Blacklist, Boardwalk Empire, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. His documentary work has taken him from Alaskan peaks to the jungles of Cambodia, Syrian deserts to volcanoes of New Zealand. His commitment to inclusion, social justice, and speaking truth to power is as embedded in him as the cobblestones of Joralemon.
Jeffrey Streem is a Manhattan restaurateur and a Willowtown resident since 2002. Over the years his dedication to our historic community has seen him campaign for the preservation of Belgium block Joralemon Street and reinvigorate the association’s annual spring fair.