Turning Insight Into Action

As Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Malatras drives research, policy and strategic planning for The Fedcap Group. As Sr. VP of Education, he is responsible for designing and overseeing innovative solutions that expand educational access for children and adults with barriers to sustainable economic well-being.

Dr. Malatras brings a wealth of experience to his work at The Fedcap Group serving twenty-plus years in government and higher education, serving as an energetic change leader and a problem solver with a deep understanding of government, education, crisis management, and public policy. Jim served as Director of State Operations for New York State where he was responsible for managing day to day operations of state agencies, the 120,000 plus workforce, and implementation of the $175+ billion annual budget.

Dr. Malatras served as the 14th Chancellor for the State University of New York—the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the U.S., Vice Chancellor for Policy and Chief of Staff at the State University of New York and President of Empire State College. In these roles he expanded college access and linked higher education with workforce demand—especially for underserved communities. He kept the SUNY system open to in-person instruction during COVID and was responsible for creating post-COVID policies/protocols to reopen the state’s 700 school districts for 2.7 million students.

Dr. Malatras brings a wide-ranging policy background to his role as Chief Strategy Officer, having served as Chairman of the New York State Reimagine Education Advisory Council, Executive Director of the New NY Education Reform Commission, and was the point on education policy for the Governor of New York State.

Finally, his research background as the President of the Rockefeller Institute of Government—a think tank providing evidence-based public policy to decision makers across the United States—advances the work of The Fedcap Group’s Community Impact Institute.

Dr. Malatras received his B.A. (summa cum laude), M.A., and Ph.D. in political science from the University at Albany where he won the Presidential Distinguished Dissertation Award.

Carol is a life-long public servant who has dedicated her career to helping make New York State and City better places to live and work. In 2019 she retired after eleven years as President of the Citizens Budget Commission, a highly regarded nonprofit fiscal watchdog. Previously she was the CEO of several nonprofit organizations including the September 11th Fund and Learning Leaders and served as Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Finance Department, special assistant to the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Executive Director of the Mayor’s Advisory Task force on the homeless. A graduate of Harvard College and law school, she worked as an attorney in the Civil Division of the Legal Aid Society and as chief of staff to then Congressman Chuck Schumer.

Dr. Shimshoni is a clinical psychologist and a Community Faculty member, Clinical Assistant Professor, at the Yale School of Medicine, where she participates in funded research projects and oversees treatments of anxious children and their parents. Dr. Shimshoni works closely with Dr. Eli Lebowitz, the co-director of the anxiety and moods disorders program and the developer of an evidence-based, parent-based treatment program for children and adolescents with anxiety, OCD and related problems called SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions). Dr. Shimshoni has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on the topic of child anxiety. She has extensive experience in treating, supervising, and teaching SPACE to clinicians and has overall greatly contributed to the dissemination of this treatment in US.

Dan Fuller joined Ostroff Associates in 2022, bringing over two decades of experience in legislative and public policy roles at both state and federal levels. His distinguished career is marked by successful advocacy and legislative campaigns benefiting nonprofit and education associations nationwide.

Notably, Dan served as Deputy Secretary of Education for Governors Hochul and Cuomo, overseeing the executive chamber’s education portfolio. His work encompassed diverse areas, from pre-K-12 funding and teacher training to early childhood education, education technology, and school safety. In higher education, he played a pivotal role in initiatives like the Excelsior Scholarships and Tuition Assistance Program, advancing college access programs. His portfolio included vital institutions such as the State University of New York, the City University of New York, the Higher Education Services Corporation, and the NYS Education Department, addressing a broad spectrum of education-related issues.

Dan’s expertise extends beyond education, as he has also worked on economic development, financial services, science and technology, health, mental health, information technology, construction, facilities, environmental, and agriculture-related matters.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dan actively contributed to the State’s Covid Taskforce, collaborating closely with state and local leaders on various aspects of the pandemic response from March 2020 through September 2022. His responsibilities included school closures and reopenings, ensuring food distribution, facilitating technology access for students and educators, and supporting childcare options. He also played a pivotal role in developing guidelines, dashboards, and metrics for schools and colleges. Additionally, Dan was appointed Director of the Reimagine Education Advisory Council, which guided the reopening of schools from stakeholders across K-12, higher education, and community organizations.

Prior to his role as Deputy Secretary for Education, Dan served as Assistant Secretary for Higher Education and Education Policy Advisor in the Executive Chamber. He held leadership positions at Communities in Schools and the National School Boards Association. He started his career in the New York State Legislature, later working for the NYS School Boards Association and CUNY.

Dan has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from SUNY Plattsburgh.

Gary DiDona joined Fedcap in 2015 as the Deputy Director of Staff Development and Training for the WeCARE Program in Fedcap’s Workforce Development Practice Area.  Gary’s primary responsibilities include supporting staff’s professional development through the management of a Training Catalog of courses across the entire Training Cycle, including Training Needs Assessments, curricula development and facilitation, as well as formal and informal Training Evaluations.  His role has since expanded to support the staff training and development function across the Fedcap Inc. and Fedcap Canada footprints.

Prior to coming to Fedcap, Gary was with FEGS Health and Human Services for almost a decade, starting as an Operations Specialist prior to being named the WeCARE Assistant Director of Training and Strategic Planning.  

Before entering social services, Gary worked for over a decade in the Corporate Procurement field for Fortune 500 corporations such as Merrill Lynch, Pitney Bowes, and Philip Morris.  His diverse experience also includes working in medical research in NYU Medical Center’s Department of Dermatology, culminating in a co-authorship of a peer-reviewed article in a leading journal in the field of dermatology.

Gary’s dedication and passion for lifelong learning afforded him the opportunity to attend The Fedcap Group’s Leadership Academy as a student as well as to subsequently serve as a faculty member.  

Gary received both his undergraduate degree in Biology and his Masters of Social Work degree from Fordham University.  

Danny, is the President of the Teaching the Autism Community Trades school. Danny has a Master’s Degree in Education, is a Board Certified Cognitive Specialist and a Certified Autism Specialist. He has two incredible children – Dylan and Ellie. When his son Dylan was diagnosed with autism, Danny formed TACT to help other kids like his own and their families. He served as the Board Chair/President of the Autism Society of Colorado from 2020-2021, serves our Country in the Air Force Reserve by working in Space System Operations out of Buckley Space Force Base, and most recently he co-founded the Colorado Neurodiversity Chamber of Commerce. Danny has recently published, Supporting Neurodivergent and Autistic People for Their Transition into Adulthood.

Kate McMahon is known to be a committed reformer and problem-solver with significant experience in criminal justice, including jail oversight, prisoner’s rights, reentry, and capital punishment. She is an attorney admitted to practice in the State of New York, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Boston College. She has focused her career on developing legal and operational strategies to effect systemic change.

Currently, Kate is the Senior Director of The Women’s Project at Wildcat, an alternative to incarceration program that provides gender-responsive and trauma informed services that allow women and gender-expansive people in NYC to remain safely in the community instead of in jail or prison.

Before joining Wildcat, Kate spent a decade in NYC government, as Senior Counsel at the NYC Law Department and then as Deputy General Counsel for the New York City Board of Corrections (BOC). At the BOC, in addition to drafting local jail policy, Kate ran the Prison Death Review program and authored public reports and policy recommendations to prevent jail deaths.

Kate has also done pro bono work for the Vera Institute of Justice Center on Sentencing and Corrections and she founded and co-directed the Penn Law Prisoners’ Legal Education Clinic. She also taught as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Stanley S. Litow is a professor at  Columbia University. Prior to his Columbia professorship, he served as professor of the practice and Innovator-in-Residence at Duke University. Stan is the author of The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward (2018) and co-author of Breaking Barriers: How P-Tech Schools Create a Pathway from High School to College to Career (2021). He authored book chapters for Yale Law Review, MIT, and Oxford Press and as columnist for Barron’s.

He previously served as President of the IBM International Foundation and as Deputy Chancellor of Schools for the City of New York. Before his IBM service and the NYC public schools, he served as president and founder of Interface and in the NYC Mayor’s Office as Executive Director of the NYC Urban Corps.

In addition to serving on multiple presidential and gubernatorial commissions, he was appointed to the SUNY Board of Trustees in June 2015 and reappointed in June 2021 for a consecutive term ending June 30, 2028; he also serves on the board of Roosevelt House, The Albert Shanker Institute, and as chair of the Council of Graduate Schools’ Employer Roundtable.

Stan helped devise P-TECH, the innovative school to college to career program, as well as the IBM Corporate Service Corps, often referenced as the corporate version of the Peace Corps.

He has received multiple awards for his community service from organizations such as the Anne Frank Commission, the Martin Luther King Commission, and the Center for an Urban Future as well as the Corning Award from the New York State Business Council.

Bill Nichols joins the Fedcap Group to continue his work as editor of Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a post he assumed in 2015 after a 35-year career in journalism as an editor and reporter, including as founding managing editor of Politico.

Nichols comes to Fedcap after 10 years with Freedman Consulting—Spotlight’s original home—where he served as a vice president and senior adviser, with Spotlight as his prime focus.

He joined Freedman after 8 years at Politico, where he was the new publication’s founding managing editor and later editor-at-large. He also helped launch Politico Europe in 2015, a publication that has been as transformational in Brussels as domestic Politico has been in Washington.

Nichols joined POLITICO in 2007 after more than 20 years at USA Today, where he covered the White House, the State Department, national politics and was a senior correspondent in the newspaper’s Washington bureau.

A native of Anchorage, Kentucky, Nichols was drawn into newspaper journalism during his undergraduate years at Indiana University. He began his career at the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger and was on the staff when the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1983 for an investigative series and editorial campaign that were a key factor in the state legislature’s passage of Mississippi’s first mandatory kindergarten law.

He has covered 6 presidential campaigns, 12 national political conventions and traveled to more than 30 countries, including covering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s re-election in 2004 and staffing the first Gulf War on the ground in Israel. He also emerged undefeated from two presidential golf outings with former President Bill Clinton.

Nichols was a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in 2009 and chaired the National Reporting jury in 2010. He is a former member of the Steering Committee of the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press. In 2019, he was a fellow in the Media Transformation Challenge at Harvard University, spending a year focused on ways to improve and enlarge coverage of income inequality and poverty alleviation. Nichols also is a member of the advisory committee of the Journalist Recovery Network, an organization committed to creating resources and personal mentoring for journalists who may be facing substance abuse or mental health challenges.

Ruby Fair, a Senior Associate for Strategic Initiatives at Manhattan Strategies, develops digital campaigns enabling B2B, B2C, and mission-driven organizations to communicate with clarity and impact. Focusing on engaging storytelling, she leads projects across healthcare, education, technology, workforce development, and public interest sectors to drive community engagement.

Ruby’s expertise spans SEO, UX writing, brand development, and social strategy. She produces accessible communication designed to expand awareness of services and opportunities to target audiences. Her work is informed by intuitive understanding of how communication can bridge gaps in access for historically marginalized communities.

She holds a BA in Communication and American Studies from American University and is based in New York City.