NELP Staff and Board

Executive Director  
Christine Owens
cowens@nelp.org, (212) 285-3025 ext. (304)

Deputy Director 
Andrew Stettner
astettner@nelp.org, (212) 285-3025 ext. (303)

Policy Co-Director
Maurice Emsellem 
Maurice is NELP's Public Policy Director.  Maurice's areas of specialization are government systems of support, including the unemployment compensation system, workforce development programs, and the welfare system. emsellem@nelp.org, (510) 663-5700

Policy Co-Director 
Annette Bernhardt, Ph.D.
abernhardt@nelp.org, (212) 274-8444

Legal Co-Director 
Paul Sonn
psonn@nelp.org, (212) 274-0594

Legal Co-Director
Cathy Ruckelshaus
Cathy is the Litigation Director at NELP. Cathy's areas of specialization are workplace discrimination, wage and hour law, the rights of nonstandard workers, work and family, and the employment rights of workfare participants. cruckelshaus@nelp.org, (212) 285-3025 ext. (306)

West Coast Coordinator
Rebecca Smith
Rebecca is NELP's West Coast Coordinator of NELP's UI Safety Net Project and Immigrant Worker Project Coordinator.  Her work's primary focus is on immigrant workers' employment rights, wage and hour, and unemployment insurance law.  rsmith@nelp.org (360) 534-9160

Staff Attorney
Laura Moskowitz
Laura staffs NELP's Second Chance Labor Project and Justice for Low-Wage and Immigrant Worker Project, including the National Wage & Hour Clearinghouse.  lmoskowitz@nelp.org, (510) 663-5705

Staff Attorney 
Raj Nayak
rnayak@nelp.org, (212) 274-0579

Staff Attorney
Jessie Warner
Jessie staffs NELP's Second Chance Labor Project.  Her primary focus is on enforcing the rights of workers with criminal records.  jwarner@nelp.org, (510) 663-5707

Workforce Development Specialist 
Lynn Minick
Lynn serves as coordinator of an initiative intended to increase utilization of Trade Adjustment Assistance and improve services to dislocated workers in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Lynn has has had major accomplishments in workforce and economic development over the past sixteen years, including eight years as Director of the Indiana AFL-CIO Labor Institute for Training; eight years as Regional Coordinator with the Human Resources Development Institute, AFL-CIO, now known as the Working for America Institute, AFL-CIO; and President of Workforce Advocates. Lynn has been a member of the International Association of Machinists for over 32 years. 
lminick@nelp.org  Office: (317) 838-9220 Cell: (317) 645-5789

TAA Coordinator
Lindsay Webb
Lindsay joins NELP's Midwest Team as advocate for dislocated workers in the manufacturing sector. She graduated from the University Of Toledo College Of Law in May 2006, with a certification in labor and employment law. Her experience with TAA began at the UAW's Legal Department where she worked as a law clerk. There she assisted in the TAA operation by both filing TAA petitions for certification, and helping with post-certification worker rights and responsibilities meetings. lwebb@nelp.org Office: (734)369-5615  Cell: (734)731-4678  

Federal Advocacy Coordinator
Judy Conti
Judith M. Conti (Judy), Federal Advocacy Coordinator, Washington, D.C. Office Judy Conti joined NELP in 2007. Before joining NELP, she was the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, a non-profit organization devoted to securing and increasing workers' rights in the D.C. metropolitan area. Under her leadership, the EJC recovered $4 million on behalf of low-wage workers, and successfully advocated for major reforms to the D.C. workers' compensation and unemployment compensation programs. Prior to starting the EJC in 2000, Judy was an associate at James & Hoffman, a union side labor law firm, also in Washington, D.C. Judy has considerable experience with systemic-reform advocacy before legislative and administrative agencies and will use that experience to help NELP build its federal advocacy program -- working to bring the policy reforms and practices that have worked at the state-level to the halls of Washington, D.C. , and to lend NELP's expertise to worker -friendly legislation introduced in Congress.
jconti@nelp.org Office:(202) 533-2573 Fax:(202) 775-0819

Policy Analyst 
Diana Polson
dpolson@nelp.org, (212) 274-0570

Policy Analyst and Campaign Researcher
Omar Semidey
Omar Semidey joined NELP in 2007, after working as the Economic Development Policy Analyst for the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and as Program Associate with the Seedcoa national workforce and economic development organization. At NELP, he works on issues and projects that pertain to both Justice for Low-Wage and Immigrant Workers and Unemployment Insurance and Safety Net systems. Osemidey@nelp.org Office: (212) 285-3025 ext. (302)

Financial Manager/Executive Assistant
Junie Desire 
Junie is responsible for NELP's accounts, expenses, payroll and insurance policy maintenance. 
(212) 285-3025 ext. (307)

IT Systems Manager
Bukola Ashaolu 
Bukola is responsible for IT development, implementation and maintenance of applications, network and website.  (212) 285-3025 ext. (305)

Receptionist and Librarian
Deborah Buchanan-Taylor
Deborah primarily attends to office phone and voice-mail maintenance and maintains NELP's library. (212) 285-3025 ext. (301)

NELP Board of Directors

Beth Shulman, Author, Consultant, Co-chair of the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work, and NELP Board Chair

Michael Shen, Shneyer & Shen P.C.

James Haughton, Director, Fight Back

Jonathan Hiatt, General Counsel, AFL-CIO

Paul M. Igasaki, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Equal Justice Works

Lucille Logan, Community Activist

Walter Meginniss, Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss

William E. Spriggs, Economic Policy Institute

Thomas Weeks, Director, Ohio State Legal Services Association

Cathy Wilkinson, Low-Wage Worker Activist