Foundation Staff
Susanna H. KreyPresident
Susanna H. Krey joined the Sisters of Charity Foundation as President in 2004. In addition to significant governance and oversight experience with various health and human service organizations, she also provides guidance to the Sisters of Charity Foundations in Canton (Ohio) and South Carolina in her additional role as Senior Vice President, Foundations & Marketing for the Sisters of Charity Health System.
Prior to her extensive career in hospital and health care administration, Ms. Krey was a nationally recognized nutritional expert working in clinical research and administrative positions in Cleveland and her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. She has published numerous articles and co-edited two textbooks on nutritional health.
Ms. Krey served on the Board of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum from 2000 to 2006. During that time she also chaired the Northeast Ohio Committee which provides oversight to the organization’s efforts for funders located in or funding this region. On behalf of the Foundation, Ms. Krey also chaired the Diversity Task Force during the first phase of the Fund for our Economic Future, a significant philanthropic collaboration to achieve economic transformation across northeast Ohio.
Since 1997, Ms. Krey has served on the Boards of the Sisters of Charity Foundations of Canton and South Carolina. She has also been a Board member for the Center for Fathers & Families in Columbia, South Carolina since 2002 and serves on several advisory boards associated with nonprofit work.
A summa cum laude graduate of Simmons College, Ms. Krey holds a Master’s Degree from Tufts University. She also completed an internship in nutrition at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston where she received her clinical degree as a nutritionist. She has completed post-graduate studies in health care, marketing and planning at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, the Wharton School of Management at the University of Pennsylvania and Baldwin-Wallace College.
Lynn Berner
As Program Officer for Catholic Religious Communities, Lynn Berner directs the grantmaking and other activities of the Foundation to support of ministries of Catholic women religious and the Sisters of Charity Health System.
Ms. Berner has spent more than a decade focused on health care law and policy. Before joining the Foundation in 2006, she served as a consultant to the Ohio Commission to Reform Medicaid. Prior to that, she was a staff attorney for the Cleveland Clinic, focusing on regulation and policy. Before moving to Cleveland, she was a lawyer in litigation, and later, in health care, at two law firms in Washington, D.C.
A graduate of Tulane University, Ms. Berner earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Ursula CraigGrants Coordinator
Grants Coordinator Ursula Craig oversees the Foundation database to track and archive information on grants and grantees. This work expands the responsibilities she has managed since joining the Sisters of Charity Foundation in 2001 as Grants Secretary/Assistant. Ms. Craig continues to act as a key liaison between applicants, grantees and program staff, monitoring reporting schedules, deadlines and grantmaking requirements. In this capacity she ensures the quality and timeliness of all aspects of grants processing and management.
Adriennie Y. Hatten, MNO Program Officer, Education
Dr. Adriennie Hatten joined the Foundation in June 2008 as Program Officer for Education. She brings an extensive background in social service and education to her work that continues the Foundation’s education strategies focused on Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood.
Prior to completing her doctoral course work, Dr. Hatten worked as a Program Developer responsible for expansion of community based services for Koinonia Homes, Inc. in Independence, Ohio, a nonprofit organization providing residential and vocational services to individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. She had formerly served the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland as Senior Planner in the Department of Planning and Evaluation, leading the proposal development team for federal and State grants for both the HeadStart and Community Services service areas. From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Hatten was the Cleveland Municipal School District’s Performance Manager in its Office of Research, Evaluation & Assessment.
Dr. Hatten’s understanding of how non-profits and government respond to the needs of low-income and underserved Cleveland residents was furthered by her work as a Planning Associate in the Office of Planning and Evaluation of Catholic Charities Services Corporation and as a Social Services Supervisor in the Case Review Unit of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). She joined DCFC in 1990 as a Licensed Social Worker .
Dr. Hatten earned a Ph.D. in Urban Education from the Maxine Goodman Levine College of Urban Affairs in 2011 with a concentration in Education Policy. She holds a Masters degree in non-profit organizational management from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, as well as a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where she graduated magna cum laude.
Joan Mazzolini
Communications Officer
Joan Mazzolini joined the Foundation as Communications Officer in 2010 to lead community relations and media efforts for the Foundation. Ms. Mazzolini will develop communication programs that convey the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland's mission. She will also work in collaboration with the Foundation's program team to further the work to address the root causes of poverty in the city of Cleveland and the Foundation's collaborations and partnerships in that effort.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Mazzolini spent more than 20 years as a newspaper reporter, most recently with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her journalistic work, including the George Polk Award for Medical Reporting, as well as being named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Ms. Mazzolini has an undergraduate degree in finance from The Ohio State University, as well as a Master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Robin L. Polack
Robin Polack joined the Foundation as Project Manager in 2005. Her first assignment was to coordinate the year-long process involving staff, Board, grantees and community leaders that would shape the Foundation’s new strategic plan. A multi-faceted executive with extensive sales, marketing and operational experience, she also oversees the Foundation’s various operations and finance needs.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Polack worked with an international apparel manufacturer headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio. With that firm, she earned a series of promotions with increased financial and administrative responsibility, serving most recently as Senior Vice President.
In addition to an undergraduate degree in accounting from Cleveland State University, Ms. Polack holds an Executive MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Her volunteer commitments include serving in leadership at her church and as a personal finance and economics instructor for youths in Junior Achievement.
Leslie Strnisha
As Senior Program Director, Leslie Strnisha leads the Foundation’s program team to develop targeted, outcomes-based approaches for its grantmaking and non-grantmaking activities. She is also the project manager for the Foundation's Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood education initiative.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2006, Ms. Strnisha served in various capacities for the Cleveland office of the Enterprise Foundation until 2003. She provided training and technical assistance to community-based organizations in the areas of community planning and program development.
Ms. Strnisha holds a Master’s degree in urban studies from Cleveland State University and a B.A. in psychology from Indiana University.
Teleangé Thomas
Program Officer, Health
Teleangé Thomas, the Foundation’s Program Officer, Health joined the Foundation in 2009 to oversee strategies to reduce health disparities among vulnerable populations through strategic grant-making in Community Health and Health Policy. This work also includes community-wide strategy to advance health literacy, and link with similar efforts emerging throughout the Midwest and nationally.
Ms. Thomas recently completed a 16-month fellowship in Ladders to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders. A program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership, Ladders is designed to increase the future leadership capacity of community-based health and health-related nonprofit organizations to sustain and enhance community health services in targeted communities.
In addition, Ms. Thomas continues to work as an independent consultant with The Center for Reducing Health Disparities which is sponsored by Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Medical Center. Since 2007, her responsibilities in this role include serving as co-project director of Project REECH, community-based participatory research aimed at reducing the knowledge divide between health institutions and the community they serve, with the long-term goal of reducing health disparities.
Before joining the Sisters of Charity Foundation, Ms. Thomas served for four years in leadership positions with the Cleveland Department of Public Health. In this capacity she served as Deputy-Project Director of MomsFirst, the National Healthy Start Project, aimed at lowering infant mortality rates in the City of Cleveland, and Steps to a Healthier Cleveland which addresses disparities and chronic conditions among local minority and underserved populations.
She previously worked for two years as the first project coordinator for Community Outreach at University Hospitals, Ireland Cancer Center. She is Chair of the Chronically Ill/Terminally Ill Cluster for the United Way Community Volunteer Investment Committee.
A graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Ms. Thomas also holds a Certificate in Human Participants Protection Education for Research Teams from the National Institutes of Health.