Board Members:

John P. Margand (President) has been a practicing attorney in the health field since 1990. He is a founding board member of Program Reach whose character-based abstinence education program, Healthy Respect, has received national recognition for its role in establishing best practices in the rapidly growing field of sexual health education. A graduate of Fordham University School of Law, he is licensed to practice in New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. Mr. Margand has a Masters Degree from the University of London, where he specialized in the role of Islam in Francophone West Africa and Nigeria. He received his Bachelors degree from Marquette University where he majored in French, and studied at the Faculté de Lettres at the Université de Tours. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and qualified as a parachutist with the U.S. Army Airborne School. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and is a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Westchester County Bar Association. He lives in Yonkers with his wife Bernaline and 7 children, and is a parishioner at St. Eugene’s Roman Catholic Church. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the Academy of Medical Professions with the Yonkers Public Schools and in 2011 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Yonkers Public Library.

 

Jack Lichtenstein (Treasurer) has been a practicing attorney and certified public accountant for over 58 years. Jack is a founding board member of Program Reach and has been heavily involved in philanthropic work for over 45 years while maintaining a thriving accounting practice in New York City. Jack serves on the Board of Directors of Housing and Services, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to housing the homeless in New York City. Jack is Vice President for Life of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, and has served as a trustee of the Temple B’Nai Olam for more than 30 years. Jack has served on numerous other boards and charitable foundations, including the Fire Island Pines Property Association where he served as Director for over forty years. On September 16, 2009 Jack received a Citation on the floor of the New York State Assembly for his years of dedicated service to the community. Jack and his wife Rita are patrons of the arts, having entertained audiences with their wit and humor in 28 stage productions while continuing to promote the arts in musical revues and shows for over 25 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Rev. George Rutler (Director) serves as the Pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in midtown Manhattan. Trained in the Episcopal tradition in New Jersey and New York, Father Rutler was an Episcopal priest for nine years, and was the youngest Episcopal rector in the country when he headed the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1979 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1981. He has since served as a university chaplain for the Archdiocese of New York, and also chaplain to a general hospital and a psychiatric hospital. For ten years he was the National Chaplain of Legatus, the organization of Catholic business leaders and their families, engaged in spiritual formation and evangelization. A board member of several schools and colleges, he is Chaplain of the New York Guild of Catholic Lawyers, Regional Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary (New York and northern New Jersey) and has long been associated with the Missionaries of Charity, and other religious orders, as a retreat master. Since 1988 his weekly television program has been broadcast worldwide on EWTN. Father Rutler has lectured and given retreats in many nations, frequently in Ireland and Australia. He has made documentary films in the United States and England, contributes to numerous scholarly and popular journals and has published 16 books on theology, history, cultural issues, and the lives of the saints, and also one book on sports, as a member of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association.

 

Piero A. Tozzi (Director) serves as senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance focusing on issues relating to religious liberty, sanctity of life, marriage, family, and the judiciary. Mr. Tozzi plays a key role with ADF-Global where he has focused his litigation efforts on international human rights law. He earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1996 and is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Tozzi is also a member of the International Law and Practice Section of the New York State Bar Association. Prior to joining ADF, Tozzi served as executive vice president and general counsel for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). He managed the New York office, where he lobbied the United Nations on social policy issues and established C-FAM’s public interest law arm, the International Organizations Law Group.

 

George H. Morrissey (Director) is a graduate of St. Francis College Brooklyn, NY and served as their Major Gifts Officer, following a forty- year career in the investment business. He also served as an Advertising Consultant for J.S. Paluch Co., Inc. and is an Account Manager for Lighthouse Catholic Media, a non profit corporation committed to catechesis and evangelization. George is a Parish Coordinator with the Archdiocesan Family Life Respect Life Office, and is a member of Manhattan Right to Life. George and his wife Joan raised their six children in Sayville, Long Island, have four grandchildren, and now reside in New York City. George serves as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and is a Knight of the Holy Sepluchre.

 

Dr. Nanci Coppola (Executive Director) has served as the Executive Director of Program Reach, Inc. and the Healthy Respect Program since 2008. She combines her medical training with an extensive background in teaching and curriculum development including authoring the Healthy Respect Youth Development program, three levels of health education curricula for 7th - 11th grade students. (Making Healthy Choices For My Life, Discovering the Path to Your Future, and Taking Control of My Future.) The curriculum is a groundbreaking health program that meets the requirements for health education through the New York State Department of education and the US Department of Education. A widely sought after speaker in the fields of sexual health education and youth development she has spoken to audiences of all sizes in the U.S. and abroad. Coppola has published several articles in both medical and social science journals. She has been in private practice as a Podiatric Surgeon and also has over twenty-nine years of teaching experience. She has trained students as young as High School and as advanced as Physicians completing Continuing Education Credentials. In addition to her medical and educational background she holds a Master’s Degree in Community Health Administration and Health Education. Coppola received her undergraduate training at the University of Rochester where she received degrees in Biology and Psychology with distinction.

Prior to joining Program Reach, Inc. in 2005 Coppola served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at Mercy College for 13 years. She has also served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for a National Health Care Education Institution, and as the Director of HeartSavers of America, Inc. a CPR and First Aid training institute. In January of 2011 Coppola was honored by the Advocates for Life during Yonkers Respect Life week sponsored by Mayor Phil Amicone. In August 2011 Coppola was honored by the Westchester County Executive as the Women Equality Day Reformed honoree of the year.