The Jackson Heights Beautification Group is led by a dedicated Board of Directors -- volunteers who guide the organization's programs, advocacy, and community engagement.
Leslie Ellman
President, Chair of Friends of Travers Park, & Chair of the Good Neighbor Awards
NYC Public School Administrator
Leslie Ellman is a Queens native and proud resident of Jackson Heights for over 10 years. She is delighted to be a volunteer, director, and current President of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group because she believes in the power of neighbors working together to maintain and improve a shared quality of life. She chairs the bi-annual Good Neighbor Awards event and is passionate about this particular program because it allows JHBG to celebrate the people and businesses that make this a great place to live and work. Leslie has been heading Friends of Travers Park for years, which has been working to beautify the grounds well before the park's transformation from playground to park. In partnership with the city's Parks Department, Friends of Travers Park helps maintain the grounds and contribute to the neighborhood's community life. Professionally, she is an Administrator for the city's public-school system, dedicated to creating learning environments that foster success among all students.
Jerry Goldman
Vice President, JH CREW Dog Run, Webmaster, & Membership
Retired Chef
A native of the Midwest, Jerry Goldman has been a resident of Jackson Heights since 1999. He is an outspoken partisan who considers our neighborhood to be the very best place to live in New York City. Since his retirement from the restaurant industry, he has devoted much of his time to community participation. In addition to serving on the JHBG board, he is involved in the daily running of JH CREW, our organization's local dog park. Jerry has been updating JHBG's software and membership records while enhancing the organization's online presence. Jerry has also been serving as an officer for his co-op board for some time.
Melissa Zavala
Vice President, Editor of Views from the Heights, JH-SCRAPS Community Composting Center, Annual PO Holiday Lighting Crafts, Social Media, & Friends of Travers Park
Anthropologist
As editor of *Views from the Heights*, Melissa Zavala coordinates and distributes the organization's newsletter. Along with three other Master Composters, she is one of the co-founding and current volunteer members operating our neighborhood's community composting center, JH-SCRAPS (Scraps Composting to Revitalize the Area's Poor Soils). Besides being a Master Composter, she is also a community gardener and Citizen Pruner who has been volunteering around the neighborhood for over two decades, initially becoming involved with JHBG through its sustainability programs. Wanting to curtail waste, she began a composting program at St. Mark's Episcopal Church prior to joining JHBG's Board of Directors and helping to found SCRAPS. In addition to her main duties, she supports other programs, especially the Annual Holiday Lighting at the Post Office where she helps with seasonal crafts. With Jerry Goldman, she also serves as the organization's Vice-President. Her research focuses on municipal waste and urban parkland.
Daniel Karatzas
Secretary, Head of Historic Weekend, & Jackson Heights Landmarking
Real Estate Broker
Dan Karatzas is the longest serving member and a former President of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. He currently serves as Secretary and contributes to managing membership and records beyond his advocacy for historic preservation. Famous for his book, Jackson Heights -- A Garden in the City (1990), which chronicles the history of Jackson Heights and its exceptional contribution to urban planning history, Dan is the resident expert on the community. As the acknowledged historian of the neighborhood, he is responsible for organizing the JHBG's popular Historic Jackson Heights Weekend, held each June, when residents are treated to a lecture on the neighborhood's history along with tours (guided and self-led) of the area's private gardens otherwise closed to the public throughout the year.
Joe Brunken
Treasurer & Bylaws
Property Manager
Joseph Brunken runs Garden Heights Property Management, Inc., on 37th Avenue. Not only does he manage several local properties, but he also keeps the books for the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. After 30 years in the financial services industry -- holding senior positions at such firms as Chase, Institutional Investor, Nikko Capital Management, Mutual of America and Amalgamated Bank -- Joe turned to his life-long interest in real estate and launched Garden Heights Property Management (GHPM) to serve the needs of unique small co-ops like those in Jackson Heights.
Javier Arau
Summer Sundays in the Park & Social Media
Musician and Author
Javier Arau serves on the board of directors of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group (JHBG), where he curates and produces the long-running Summer Sundays in the Park concert series and its year-round expansion, Summer Sundays Plus. A resident of Jackson Heights since 2003, he and his wife Kelley raised their daughters Maya and Juliet in the neighborhood, and he remains an active presence in local civic and cultural life. Arau is the founder and executive director of New York Jazz Academy, a New York City music school, and leads the Javier Arau Jazz Orchestra. A two-time quarterfinalist for Grammy Educator of the Year (2024, 2025), he has been described as 'pioneering' (DownBeat, May 2022) and a 'jam warrior' (Jazzwise, January 2023), with features in The New York Times and two cover appearances in Saxophone Journal.
Bonnie Astor
Annual Children's Art Contest & Tree LC
Art Educator
Bonnie Astor recently joined the Board of JHBG. She moved to JH during COVID in 2020 and felt immediately at home in a multicultural community, especially as a world traveler. As a now retired professor of Nursing, Bonnie has many years of experience in creating programs and activities for accessing health care across the U.S. and internationally. She joined JHBG/Tree LC as a participant in Saturday neighborhood clean ups, pruning, mulching, tree bed care and improving the greenery and cleanliness of the neighborhood. Bonnie currently is an Art Specialist with AHRC NYC and is involved in creating cultural and art opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities. She revitalized the JHBG Art Contest for Children in 2025 and is working to continue its growth and success.
Len Maniace
Tree LC, Green Agenda, Environmental Sustainability Programs, & Social Media
Journalist and Marketing Manager
Len Maniace and his wife Barbara Monteiro moved to Jackson Heights in 1988, raising two sons, Daniel and Nicholas. For 35 years he worked as a daily journalist, mostly with Gannett Newspapers in New York and later joined his wife's author and book publicity business. Len volunteered with JHBG's Friends of Travers Park when the park was badly neglected and joined the JHBG board in 1996. He brought the Green Market to Jackson Heights in 2000 and started the Summer Sundays in the Park performance series in 2004. He led the 2011 JHBG's Green Agenda for Jackson Heights, a multilingual community environmental plan, which brought to public attention the severe shortage of parkland in the 11372 ZIP code. Len was JHBG President and now focuses on environmental sustainability, heading its Tree LC program, the most active tree stewardship group in NYC.
John McCaffrey, Jr.
Clean Streets, Chair of Halloween Parade, & Town Halls Organizer
HR Consultant
An experienced Human Resources professional, John McCaffrey is now semi-retired and working as an HR consultant after working for UNITE HERE! for over 20 years. He joined the Jackson Heights Beautification Group to help carry out the organization's diverse set of programs. Having served as President and Vice President for years, he now focuses on organizing the annual Halloween Parade and leading the Clean Streets efforts to combat litter. He also organizes JHBG's various Town Halls. Besides his work with JHBG, John is currently serving as Vice President for the Queens Civic Congress, a coalition of 80 associations advocating for the needs of Queens residents. He and his family are life-long residents of the neighborhood and have lived here for multiple generations.
Louise Mulvihill
Gardener, Event Coordinator for JH Orchestra, & Merchandise Sales
Consular Assistant
Louise Mulvihill has worked for the Canadian Consulate for over 30 years. She has been volunteering for the Jackson Heights Beautification Group for many years in various ways prior to joining the board. As a music lover, she is the organizing force behind the receptions for the JH Orchestra's after-parties. She can also be found out and about every Saturday gardening around the neighborhood. Louise moved to Jackson Heights in 1997 and has felt at home from the very beginning considering her love for the great diversity found here. She has worked with Friends of Travers Park, and currently organizes JHBG's events and oversees merchandise sales.
Brandon Munoz
Historic Landmarks, Social Media, Annual PO Holiday Lighting, & Halloween Parade
Architecture Student
Brandon is one of the newest directors on the JHBG board. He expects to participate and help grow the Halloween parade, decorating committee, the Jackson Heights Historic District, the holiday tree lighting, and the organization's social media presence. Brandon also has a background in decorating for Halloween and Christmas. He has participated in community programs such as Tree LC, and Paseo Park, the open street program on 34th Avenue. He has also been volunteering to save the backyard at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Brandon's family has lived in Jackson Heights since the 1930s and he has lived here for 22 years. Brandon currently studies Architecture at City Tech, CUNY, and he plans to practice Architecture and historic preservation.
Mahmudur "Mo" Rahman
Tree LC & Halloween Parade
Retired
Mahmudur (Mo) Rahman has lived in Jackson Heights since 1995. He is married and has three children -- two daughters and one son -- all of whom he raised in the neighborhood. Mo worked as a sales manager for the Coca-Cola Company for 20 years. He has served as a JHBG board member for the past two years and has volunteered with the JHBG Tree LC for the last five years. Some of his favorite projects include creating a mini forest on the grounds at PS 69 elementary school and supporting children during the annual Jackson Heights Halloween Parade. In his free time, Mo enjoys playing tennis at Travers Park. He has been happily retired since 2019.
Jim Riccio
Graffiti Busters, Chair of Nominations Committee, & Bylaws
Social Researcher
A long-time board member, Jim heads JHBG's graffiti-cleaning program, chairs the organization's nominations committee that helps choose new board members and officers, and assists at the Halloween Parade. A social scientist at the New York-based nonprofit organization MDRC, he helps design and test innovative social programs intended to reduce poverty, advance economic mobility among lower-income populations, improve the housing subsidy system, and revitalize disinvested communities. His research has taken place in states and cities across the U.S. and in the U.K.
Sherif Sadek
Annual PO Holiday Lighting, Summer Sundays in the Park, & Halloween Parade Photographer
Sales
Sherif Sadek immigrated to the United States from Egypt in 1994 to study film in New York. An award-winning filmmaker, he worked as a video engineer in New York City for 25 years. After rising to the position of Chief Technical Engineer at leading film and television facilities in New York, he transitioned into sales. Sherif's role at the Jackson Heights Beautification Group includes organizing community events such as the Post Office Holiday Lighting and Summer Sundays. He also contributes to greening Jackson Heights through the Tree LC group and serves as the official photographer for the Children's Halloween Parade.
Edwin O'Keefe Westley
Co-Chair of the Annual Children's Halloween Parade & Former President
Retired Senior Planner
Edwin O'Keefe Westley holds the distinction of being the longest-serving President of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group, having served multiple terms since the organization was founded. He is an established community leader who has served as a member of Community Board Q3 for 22 years and is now serving on St. Joan of Arc's Pastoral Parish Council. Along with a group of other JHBG Board Members, he has worked on Summer Sundays in the Park and overseen distribution of the organization's newsletter. Ed began volunteering with the organization in the early 1990s, initially cleaning up broken glass and dog waste each Saturday with the Friends of Travers Park. He retired from the Northrop Grumman Corporation in February 2006 after 34 years of service. Ed's biggest accomplishment has been parenting Jennifer, Sean, Christopher, and Brian. His catchphrase is 'See you in the neighborhood.'
Lifetime Directors
Doris Derwik Wurgler
Chair of Elections Committee
Retired Educator
Doris Derwik Wurgler chaired the Elections Committee for many years. She was one of the organization's most enduring members, as well as the longest serving Editor for the organization's quarterly newsletter. Doris worked at the Lexington School for the Deaf and was trained in music as well as in early childhood special education. She grew up in the neighborhood and provided a valued source of institutional knowledge and neighborhood history to JHBG.
Janet Kelly
Treasurer
Retired Educator
Janet Kelly served different functions in the organization during her years of service. She led the newsletter as well as chaired the gardening committee which afforded her the opportunity to advise the city on the construction of the median along 34th Avenue. Janet was an avid knitter who met with others to promote the skill and support others with their projects. This and her work as an educator are commemorated on the corner of 35th Avenue and 83rd Street near St. Joan of Arc's Catholic Church. She was an educator, mother, and a friend to many.