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NYCHA Now
August 2023 Exceptional Colleagues 

Meet the Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy Participants

Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey

In January 2023, NYCHA launched its first-ever Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy (CMLA). Participants in the 16-week program received training and coaching in areas such as strategic communications and crisis management, and they had the opportunity to enhance their leadership and management skills through mentorship.       

Read on to learn more about a few of the mentors and mentees participating in the Leadership Academy.         

Property Manager Jonathan Kramer and Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Rosanne Pisem    

Jonathan Kramer is a Property Manager at Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses

Jonathan Kramer has been with NYCHA for over 13 years. He started his NYCHA career as a Housing Assistant. He is currently the Property Manager at Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses in the Bronx. He is also part of the NYCHA Change Ambassadors program.  

He joined the CMLA to enhance his leadership skills and expand upon the knowledge he has gained working at NYCHA.  

“As an agency, what we have been missing is an opportunity to learn new things through the sharing of ideas to better ourselves and our job,” said Mr. Kramer. “What the CMLA program has done is encourage employees to come together from different departments and positions to share ideas in order to help us grow as one and enhance our individual performance on the job. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have been part of this amazing program.” 

Rosanne Pisem is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in the Law Department’s Legal Counsel Division

Rosanne Pisem has been with NYCHA’s Law Department for more than 20 years. She joined the Authority after clerking for a federal judge and litigating at a large law firm. Ms. Pisem is currently Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in the Law Department’s Legal Counsel Division; she previously served in its Appeals and Commercial Litigation divisions.  

She joined the CMLA because she wanted to help new managers and supervisors smoothly transition into their new roles. 

“NYCHA employees can work most efficiently if they understand, appreciate, and support the roles of their colleagues who perform very different functions from theirs in the agency,” said Ms. Pisem. “CMLA gave me that opportunity, for which I am grateful. This was a mutual learning experience for me and for my mentee.”