Our Team

Our Team

Learn more about our Founder – Dr. Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok.

Coleen Vanderbeek, Psy.D., LPC

Interim Executive Director

Email: coleen@collaborationsforgrowth.org

Dr. Coleen Vanderbeek is a licensed professional counselor, specializing in human development, neurodiversity, and Dual Diagnosis (IDD/MI) for over the past 25 years. Dr. Vanderbeek is the Founder and CEO of the consultation practice A Pieceful Mind. Dr. Vanderbeek has a strong history of mental health management and organizational development. She has devoted the bulk of her career to assisting individuals, caregivers, families, and support teams to “find their voice,” and effectively manage co-occurring mental health diagnosis, by adapting empirically based psychotherapeutic intervention to match the unique needs of individuals on the Autism Spectrum and other neurologically diverse populations. In addition to her Masters in Educational Psychology, Masters in Clinical Psychology, and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Vanderbeek holds a variety of advanced certifications in the field of child and human development and is endorsed as a level 3 Infant Mental Health Specialist.


Kim Sullivan

Director of Operations

Email: kim@collaborationsforgrowth.org

Kim is an experienced non-profit leader, committed to elevating community-led programming, movements and solutions. While in college, she co-founded Tree Street Youth Center in Lewiston, Maine – a community center creating space for youth, ages K to 25, to learn, experiment and have fun. This experience inspired her dedication to youth development work and mission-aligned operations and fundraising. Over the past two years, Kim ran her own business serving as a strategic partner, and effective project manager and completer within small to medium-sized non-profits in New York City and Maine. This fall, she began a Masters of Social Work with a focus in Community Organizing at Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work and through this hopes to deepen her understanding and experience with organizing and community-led movements.


Our Board

Tali Shmulovich, ​MBA​

President of the Board

Email: tali@collaborationsforgrowth.org

For 20 years, Tali has been an executive in global and domestic for-impact organizations. Currently COO at itrek, her previous roles included VP of Operations at Global Health Corps, where she built the operating infrastructure of the organization; VP of Business Development and Military Services at Phoenix House, where she expanded in-prison and re-entry substance abuse treatment programs and launched Phoenix House’s first specialized treatment program for veterans; and Program Director at Public Health Solutions where she launched public benefit enrollment programs. Tali earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from Fordham University and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).


Robert Sherman, PhD

Secretary of the Board

Robert Sherman, PhD consults for nonprofits in education reform, youth development and leadership, civic engagement and arts education. As Senior Fellow at the Stuart Foundation, he refined strategies in child education, arts integration and social-emotional learning. He was Director, Initiative for Social and Emotional Learning at the NoVo Foundation, Executive Director of the Action Center to End World Hunger, and served in the New York City government for 8 years improving and studying race tension and relations.


Bob Regular

Treasurer of the Board

An online media investor and digital media entrepreneur. To date, he has founded and built digital businesses generating over $300 million in total revenue. He is currently the CEO and owner of Infolinks Media, and remains Managing Partner at Delivering Yield, an investment and digital media consulting firm. He has expertise in marketing, film and business development and is the joy-filled father of three young children.


Mike Smouha, MBA

A Product Manager at YouTube, Mike’s background is multifaceted. A British-born Canadian Jew of Iraqi and Moroccan descent his grandparents fled to London to escape widespread oppression in Iraq. While earning his MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, he created a curriculum for 60 classmates promoting creativity in business. As a volunteer, he brought together Palestinian and Jewish youth groups to discuss differences and commonalities.


Mary Claire Heffron, PhD

A clinical psychologist and early child development specialist who has worked broadly with Head Starts and other programs across systems which are interested in infusing early relational health principles into their work. While remaining actively engaged in clinical work, she developed a specialization in reflective supervision, and authored a seminal book on the subject.


Barbara Kalmanson, PhD

A leader in infant mental health, Barbara co-founded the Interdisciplinary Council on Development and Learning (ICDL), an online PhD-granting program with students across North and South America, the Middle East and China. She also founded KidsAttuned.org, a virtual global community of cross-disciplinary professionals and parents working to advance an understanding of healthy relationships in infant-child development.


Benita Miller, Esq

President and CEO of Children’s Aid and Family Services, Benita has spent her career working on behalf of children and families. Recently, she served as Executive Director of the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, an early education program that serves more than 400 children through seven centers in central Brooklyn. Formerly, she was an attorney in the juvenile rights practice of the Legal Aid Society of Brooklyn; founded and led the Brooklyn Young Mothers Collective, a program to help pregnant and parenting adolescents; served as Deputy Commissioner, Division of Family Permanency Services in New York City; and was Executive Director of the New York City Children’s Cabinet in the office of the Mayor.


Eva Marie Shivers, J.D., PhD

Eva Marie is a nationally recognized researcher on issues related to culture, community, and family and child development. She founded and serves as Executive Director of the Indigo Cultural Center, a nonprofit action research firm that focuses on early childhood development and education to explore the evolution of frameworks for understanding families’ culturally adaptive responses to poverty, systemic racism, and historical marginalization. Eva Marie also provides research consultation to federal, state and local policy makers – especially around the issues of how to create culturally responsive and equitable early childhood systems.


Noah Shanok

A digital media entrepreneur and executive. He was the founder and CEO of Stitcher, the podcast platform and was on the founding executive team at StubHub, the ticket company. Currently, he works at Amazon where he runs the seed stage business development practice for the AWS division. Noah also worked at the Boston Consulting Group and JP Morgan Chase and received his MBA from the Wharton School. He is the son of Dr. Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok and wants to help further her life’s work through CG.