Leadership and Staff

Elizabeth Santiago has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Center for Safety & Change since 2015. Under her leadership, the Center, the sole victim assistance provider in Rockland County, New York, has significantly expanded its programs and financial sustainability. Notably, the organization’s annual fiscal budget has doubled, and for the first time, it implemented a five-year strategic plan to ensure long-term services for victims and survivors and the broader community.

An activist with over two decades of experience in social justice, Elizabeth is recognized for her expertise in domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and strategies to end gender-based violence. She is sought after nationally as an adviser and consultant, collaborating with federal, state and local agencies, businesses, policymakers and political leaders to develop legislation, service coordination and best practices. She is also a sought-after trainer and public speaker, featured in media such as PIX11 News, ABC7NY and Univision, discussing critical issues like domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

Elizabeth is actively engaged in shaping policy and community responses by her service on several prominent boards and councils, including:

•  New York State Domestic Violence Task Force and Council

•  New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team

•  Rockland County Citizen Advisory Council

•  Co-chair of Rockland County’s Coordinated Community Response Stop F.E.A.R. Coalition

Elizabeth has previously served on the New York State Office of Victim Services Advisory Council, the board of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NYSCADV), the board of Rockland County CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for children and the board of the Legal Aid Society of Rockland County.

Elizabeth exemplifies leadership, innovation and community impact. From expanding her organization’s scale and securing multi-year strategic direction, to earning numerous prestigious awards—her professional story reflects a powerful combination of results-driven advocacy, respected expertise and transformative vision.

Elizabeth’s leadership has been recognized with several awards, including her induction into the NYS Women in Human Services Hall of Fame, the Rockland Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award, the Nyack Center’s Woman of Leadership & Vision, the NYS Senate’s Woman of Distinction, the Rockland County Police Hispanic Society’s Hispanic Leader, the United Way of Rockland County’s Community Builder and Leader and most recently as an Advocate for Social Justice and Gender-Based Violence Prevention by the Nyack NAACP.

Elizabeth is a dual citizen of the Dominican Republic and United States. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Boston College and a Certificate in Non-Profit Sustainability from Cornell University. Elizabeth co-founded the Boston College Archbishop Oscar Romero Scholarship for students of Latinidad descent demonstrating a balance in academics and social justice community service. She is an alumna of Leadership Rockland’s class of 2007. She is a proud mother of three adult children.

Linie has been the Chair of the Board of Directors for Center for Safety & Change since 2020 and has been a member of the board since 2016.

Linie is a North Carolina native who came to New York after graduating from Duke University in 1993. Living in Manhattan, she worked as a manager for Anderson Consulting (later Accenture) and several other consulting firms throughout the 1990s. She was also active in her community, volunteering for the NY Asian Women’s Center (now Womankind), which serves Asian survivors of gender-based violence. For many years, she was also on the board of Asian Professional Extension (now Apex for Youth), a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underserved Asian and immigrant youth from low-income families in New York City.

Linie moved to Nyack in 2009 where she immediately got involved in her local communities––serving on multiple nonprofit boards and volunteering her time to numerous charitable and philanthropic ventures, including the Nyack Parks Conservancy, Sunday Supper in Nyack and United Hospice of Rockland. In 2016, she joined the Center for Safety & Change Board as a passionate believer in the Center’s mission to help Rockland’s survivors of gender-based violence.  As Chair of the Development Committee, Linie drove the revitalization of the Center’s annual Night for Change and was the Co-Chair of the Center’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and the creation of the Rockland Women Leaders Hall of Fame, the most successful fundraising effort in the history of the Center. In 2020, Linie became Chair of the Center’s Board, and as Chair guided the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic to financial stability.

Linie lives in Nyack with her husband, Joe Rand—who currently serves as the Mayor of the Village—their children Jake and Aurelia and their many dogs. She remains deeply committed to the deserving people of Rockland, and to the steadfast mission of Center for Safety & Change.

Paul Adler is an Attorney, veteran commercial real estate broker and creative development professional who has an outstanding reputation as an industry leader throughout the tristate area for more than four decades.

A native of Rockland County, Paul earned his BA from Pace University, Master of Public Administration from Long Island University with honors and Juris Doctorate from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. In addition to his work in real estate, Paul Adler held prominent positions in both the private and public sectors.

Paul has also been extremely active in his community and the real estate industry over the years as a member, director, trustee and an officer of numerous governmental, public, civic, charitable and professional organizations.

Paul currently serves on the Montefiore-Nyack Hospital Board of Trustees, is Board Chair of Montefiore-Nyack Hospital Foundation, and serves on the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education Board of Trustees. He is also the Board of Directors of the following: Westchester County Association-Executive Committee, Center for Safety & Change, Justice Brandeis Law Society-9th JD-Executive Committee, Rockland Community Foundation Board of Directors, Nyack Branch of the NAACP-Executive Board-Chair, Civic Engagement Committee, Rockland Clergy for Social Justice-Executive Committee, NY Democratic Lawyer Council-Steering Committee, Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation Alt. Board Member and Past President and Founding Board Member of JCC of Rockland.

In 2024, Paul was a United Negro Scholarship Fund Honoree.

In 2023, Paul received the following recognition: Humanitarian Award from Operation Santa Claus, JCC of Rockland Founder Visionnaire and New York State Commercial Association of Realtors Economic Development Award. Paul also completed Getting to the Root, a two-day intensive training on racial justice.

In 2022, Paul received the SIOR designation from The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.

In 2019, Paul was proudly inducted into the Rockland County Civil Rights Hall of Fame.

In 2017, Center for Safety & Change bestowed the first Carolyn Fish Human Rights Award to Paul.

In 2015, Paul earned the coveted Spirit of the Company Award from Rand Realty, Rand Commercial & Hudson United. A Special Commendation Award was bestowed on Paul on behalf of the East Ramapo Students and their Families for his social justice advocacy.

In 2014, People2 People (Rockland’s Food Pantry) honored Paul and his wife, Mary, with its prestigious Friend of People2People Award. In addition, Paul was also awarded the Lifetime of Friendship and Service Award from Venture Together.

In 2013, Paul and Mary Adler received the Prime Ministers Award–State of Israel Bonds. Paul completed the Undoing Racism Course given by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond-VCS that same year.

Paul Adler was named Philanthropist of the Year by the Rockland Development Council 2011 and received the prestigious Pinnacle Award for Outstanding Services to the Rockland Business Association in 2012.

Paul is married to Mary Adler, and they have five children, four grandchildren and live in Nyack, NY.

Mary Ann Bartels is Sanctuary Wealth’s Chief Investment Strategist, responsible for providing market perspective and investment guidance to the firm’s more than 120 Partner Firms and the Sanctuary Asset Management Investment Council. In this role, Mary Ann provides Sanctuary’s Partner Firms with investment strategy and market analysis through her regular commentary, presentations, media appearances and speaking engagements, which incorporate her more than four decades of experience at financial institutions. As a member of Sanctuary’s Investment Council, she also identifies themes and determines market asset allocation, working closely with the firm’s Capital Markets, Alternative Investments and Sanctuary Asset Management Investment Solutions teams.

Widely recognized for her investment guidance and research, Mary Ann was the recipient of the 2024 Wealth Management Industry Award Wealthie for RIA Thought Leader of the Year, was featured in Business Insider’s “Oracles of Wall Street” as one of 2024’s top trendsetters and was also named one of the Top Platform Investment Solutions Platform Leaders by the 2024 Wealth Solutions Report. She spent more than 40 years on Wall Street analyzing and communicating trends in the economy as well as in equities, bonds, commodities and ETFs, and served in various executive capacities during her illustrious career at Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. For many years, Mary Ann was responsible for contributing to the thought leadership for investment guidance and portfolio solutions for Merrill Lynch advisors and clients. Her name became synonymous with high-quality portfolio strategy and research, earning her the respect of clients and industry peers alike. Previously, she held portfolio manager roles at Zweig-Avatar in New York and at Batterymarch in Boston.

She was an Institutional Investor All-American Research-ranked analyst for six consecutive years for her work in technical analysis. She was also highly regarded for developing proprietary models for equity pairs trading and for her stock, sector and industry selections, as well as her extensive work on hedge funds. More recently, Mary Ann pivoted her career to focusing on the innovative technology underpinning decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. Mary Ann has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg and FOX Business, and has often been quoted in various publications including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Barron’s.

Mary Ann earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Business and Economics from Fordham University. She is a graduate of the London Real DeFi Academy Accelerator program. She serves on several advisory boards including her alma mater Fordham University and We4C. Mary Ann was invited into Marquis Who’s Who in 1998 as a Global Portfolio Manager and in 2019 as an Investment Strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She is also a member of the London Real DeFi Academy Investment Club.

Driven by progress and efficiency, Molly McGrath translates high-level strategic plans into individual tasks, balancing the long-range vision with daily implementation reality.  She has a unique ability to organize and synthesize diverse and competing goals, requirements and challenges into a structure that can be used to make decisions and take action, turning complex and ambiguous ideas into concrete and specific initiatives.

With two degrees in economics and 20 years of experience in organizational development, strategic planning, project management, operations improvement, data analysis, relationship management, risk management and training, the qualities that make a skilled implementer are part of who she is at her core: responsibility, accountability, effective communication, efficiency, productivity, adaptability, drive and the desire for continual improvement.

As the Director of Project Management at CTG, a material and services supplier and logistics solutions provider to the aerospace, defense and commercial aviation markets, Molly organizes, leads and supports projects for the organization’s strategic and organization development efforts. CTG recognized her contribution to the growth and success of the company with the Executive Choice Award in 2021.

She studied economics both as an undergrad at New York University (NYU) and in graduate school at University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO), taught economics at UNO, and was the spokesperson for the Nebraska Council on Economic Education as Miss Nebraska 2006. She then went on to work for The Federal Reserve, developing and implementing the Midwest regional economic development strategy and was recruited to NYC as the VP of Development for Grameen America where here fundraising and expansion efforts have to date contributed to the disbursement of over 3 billion dollars in microloans in over 20 cities.

Molly is active in service and philanthropy, serving on the Board for Center for Safety & Change, co-founding There Is No Limit Foundation’s first US-based youth program and volunteering on the Leadership Committee for the NYU Mid-Career Alumni Network where she plans social and educational events and leads the group’s volunteer efforts.

In her various roles working for nonprofit organizations and in her current roles in service and philanthropy, she has a great deal of experience in event planning, communications and partnership development and relationship management.

In her free time, Molly loves to be active whether it be yoga, running, swimming, dancing or playing tennis and golf.  She also admires theater and music, and has a drive to learn, explore and travel. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two dogs.

She recently launched FreeThruTruth.com, where she offers keynote sessions and consulting services for organizations and individuals with a message revolving around the power of facing facts and fears in order to find freedom and fulfillment.

Ray grew up in Carmel, NY, where he attended high school and ran track and cross country. He later earned a BS and MBA from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. After working at BNY Mellon for 30 years he began a new position with Fifth Third Wealth Advisors in Tarrytown, NY. Ray has been married to his wife, Gina, for 30 years and enjoys reading, exercising and playing golf in his free time.