Staff
Our small and mighty team of teachers, technologists and community managers somehow run programs that impact hundreds of thousands of young poets.
Amy Sultan
Executive Director | Co-Founder Power Writers
Amy Sultan is the Director of the Power Writers Program, the program she co-founded in 2001 with Roland Legiardi-Laura and Joe Ubiles. Amy is also a Co-Producer/Director of the award-winning documentary TO BE HEARD for PBS. From 1997 through 2008 Amy was a Co-Executive Director of the Early Stages Program, an arts education organization. In 1997, as Executive Producer of the Nantucket Film Festival, Amy steered the fledging festival through its crucial second year. From 1990-1994, she was Director for Film in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting. Amy is a former business agent for theatrical unions in New York City, where she represented designers and performers in the entertainment industry. In 1987 she created a technical training program in film and theater arts for minority young adults. Over the past thirty years, Amy has served as a community advocate for children’s arts programs and as a lobbyist for performing arts and visual arts organizations.
George Weiner
Chief Technology Officer | Co-Founder PowerPoetry.org
George is the chief technology officer for Power Poetry.org and is responsible for developing and managing all online and communication systems for Power Poetry. He worked as the Chief Technology Officer of DoSomething.org, which, under his leadership, became an innovator in social media, mobile technologies and youth social action. During his time at Dosomething.org George converted over one million users. George was awarded a People's Choice Webby Awardin 2009 for his innovative work on Dosomething.org. He is a self-taught techie and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a frequent speaker on not-for-profit tech issues at forums including SXSW, NTEN, the Google Grants Conference, U.N. Youth Summit, National Conference on Volunteering and Service and Blog World. He has guest lectured at NYU and NYIT and is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post. George is also the founder of CTO's For Good, a small group of CTOs who use their technological skills to scale.
Joe Ubiles
Education Director, Power Writers Program
Has been a poet and writer for over thirty years, has served as writer-in-residence at both Cell Block Theatre and the National Black Theater, and as poetry and music editor for Black Creations magazine. Joe had a twenty-year career as a celebrated classroom teacher in several New York City public high schools teaching a wide range of material from literature to astronomy. His poetry and jazz criticism has appeared in many journals and publications. His essay, An Afersata, the Judgment of Rhythm and Blues,is often cited in jazz music scholarly journals. Most recently Joe has been a New York City Social Justice Fellow of the Open Society and a frequent guest lecturer at Teachers College and Emory University Dept. Of Education. Joe is a co-founder of the Power Writers Program.
Jessica Wiener
Manager of Digital Programs PowerPoetry.org
Jessica moderates Power Poetry, produces content that's meant to inspire the young poets, and is one of our social media gurus. She recently graduated from Siena College with an honors degree in English. Jessica has always had vivid, intricate dreams, and her love of writing began when she started a dream journal to write them down. Writing down these dreams opened up the door to the fantasy and science fiction genres, through which she found her love of reading, especially poetry, through the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, J.K. Rowling, and Shakespeare. Jessica believes that everyone deserves to voice their opinion, and that writing is an excellent way to do so. When she’s not working, Jessica can be found geeking out over the latest superhero movie.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Giovannitti - Board President
Alastair Gordon
Alan Dolinsky
Amy Somerville
George Weiner
Michael Peyser
Neal Brodsky
Sonia Leticia Lopez
Tracy Calvan