Executive Committee
Chair: Soon-Young Yoon (former Vice-Chair) is the UN representative for the International Alliance of Women and works as a consultant for the World Health Organization. She was one of the organizers of the NGO Forum during the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and was a columnist for the EarthTimes newspaper. Ms. Yoon currently serves as a board member of the International Advisory Council at the Harvard AIDS Initiative and of the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University. A former Fulbright Senior scholar, she holds an AB with honors in French literature and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
Vice Chair: Susan O’Malley is a UN Representative for the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, as well as the Corresponding Secretary for the Working Group on Girls. She has contributed to the NGO/CSW/NY in several capacities, including editing the Handbook, organizing an interactive panel at the UN, chairing a breakout group, and assisting with general planning. In addition to serving as the Faculty Trustee and Chair of the 22-campus City University of New York (CUNY) Faculty Senate, Dr. O’Malley has taught English Literature and Women’s Studies at CUNY (Kingsborough and the Graduate Center).
Recording Secretary: Mary Ann Tarantula is currently the Chairman of the Zonta International United Nations Committee, wherein she is responsible for overseeing UN Committee members in New York, Geneva, Paris and Vienna. In addition to her new role with the NGO/CSW/NY, Ms. Tarantula is a member of the Human Rights Committee (CoNGO), the NGO Committee on UNIFEM and is Co-Chairman of the NGO Committee on UNICEF. She is also dedicated to helping plan the annual CSW events, having done so for both CSW 55 and CSW 56.
Communications Secretary: Madeleine Brecher has represented the International Council of Jewish Women at the United Nations in New York since 2005, and has sat on the Executive Committee on the NGO/CSW/NY as a member-at-large for the past four years. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Women’s Initiative at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and is currently an Honorary National Vice President of the National Council of Jewish Women, after several years as an officer and board member.
Treasurer: Lois Beilin is a retired professor and college administrator and the lead representative of Soroptimist International to the United Nations in New York. Ms. Beilin serves on several NGO committees concerning women and girls. In addition, she has served on the planning committees for the UN Department of Public Information/NGO annual conference and numerous annual CSW events.
Member-at-Large: Dr. Jafar Jawad is the UN Representative and Director of the New York office for the Al-Hakim Foundation. Deeply dedicated to women’s rights, he has coordinated the participation of Al-Hakim Foundation for both the UNiTE Campaign and 16 Days Campaign for the elimination of violence against women, and has authored several articles on women’s empowerment for Iraqi newspapers and magazines. Dr. Jawad previously served as a physician in Iraq and Jordan before moving to Arizona, where he served as owner and Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Mohajer Newspaper and the Director of Public Relations for the Al-Sadiq Community Center.
Member-at-Large: Dr. Padmini Murthy is an OBGYN and Certified Health Education Specialist who has practiced medicine in several countries and also holds Master’s degrees in both Public Health and Management. She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Global Health Program Director at New York Medical College School of Public Health. Additionally, Dr. Murthy is a Co-Representative to the United Nations for the Medical Women International Association, a member of the board of the National Council on Women and of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill. Her book, Women’s Global Health and Human Rights, was published in 2009.
Past Chair, Ex-officio: Dr. Vivian B. Pender is the main Representative of the Committee to the UN of the International Psychoanalytical Association. She a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell University Medical College where she has been a faculty member since 1983. She is also a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at Columbia University, Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Dr. Pender has been a faculty member of Columbia University since 1990 and is the Past President of the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine, the Society of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, the Past President, NY County District Branch, American Psychiatric Association, and the Past President of the Payne-Whitney Faculty Council of the Weill Cornell University Medical College.
Member-at-Large: Angeline Martyn joined Save the Children in August 2012 as Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Resource Development Division. Prior to that, she worked for six years at Friends of UNFPA, the support organization for the United Nations Population Fund. From 2004-2006, she served as Director of Communications for Day One (formerly the Sexual Assault & Trauma Resource Center of RI) where she handled their name change, re-branding and creative marketing campaigns including the launch of its the Capital Campaign. Angeline holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Social Policy from Oxford University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA, Honors) in Communication Studies and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island. In 2006 she became the youngest participant in Leadership Rhode Island and was recognized in Providence Business News top “40 under 40.”
