Leadership
Michael Stolper
Chair
Michael Stolper, a New York litigation partner, focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation. Mr. Stolper represents large and small companies in a variety of industries as well as high-net worth individuals. He has litigated in federal and state courts involving a wide range of substantive matters, including:
Entertainment & E-commerce Industry Matters: Mr. Stolper has represented a number of entertainment and e-commerce clients in commercial disputes, including AOL Time Warner Inc., iVillage, JuniorNet, MP3.com, TBA Entertainment Corporation and Vivendi Universal. He served as trial counsel in the defense of MP3.com against music industry recording and publishing entities. Most recently, he successfully obtained on an emergency basis billing credit for a producer of a hit Broadway musical who was otherwise omitted from the show in breach of contract.
Licensing Disputes: Mr. Stolper has handled a number of licensing disputes, including one for Japanese fashion designer Sanei International in which he was able to bring about a favorable global settlement of several related matters, including an ongoing international arbitration. He also resolved a software licensing litigation for JuniorNet, a children's internet publishing company.
Labor & Employment Issues: Mr. Stolper serves as general counsel and a trustee of the Amber Charter School located in Harlem. Through his affiliation, he recently negotiated the first UFT contract for a New York Charter School which was profiled in The New York Times and the New York Daily News. He was actively involved with the efforts of the Office of the Election Officer for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in conducting and supervising the rerun of the Teamsters’ International Officer Election.
Products Liability Cases: Mr. Stolper has represented American Cyanamid Company, American Home Products Corporation and The Dow Chemical Company in a number of products liability and mass tort cases. He is a key member of the trial team currently defending Union Carbide in widely publicized litigation in which current and former IBM employees allege cancer and birth defects resulting from chemical exposures in IBM’s semiconductor manufacturing process.
Tobacco Litigation: Mr. Stolper was a member of the trial team that represented the Manville Personal Injury Trust in a multi-billion dollar RICO suit in New York Federal Court against major tobacco companies. Mr. Stolper serves as General Counsel to the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Federation, a non-profit social service organization active in the New York and New Jersey Hispanic communities. He also served as the Assistant to the Special Advisor of Hispanic Affairs for the Mayor of New York City.
Mr. Stolper is admitted to the New York State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of Arizona. Concentration Complex commercial litigation and counseling.
Education: J.D., Columbia University School of Law, 1993; A.B., Princeton University, 1989.
Memberships include:
American Bar Association
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Puerto Rican Bar Association
Frank Aldridge serves as the Head of Special Projects at Geller & Company, delivering tailored financial advice to individual and corporate clients out of the firm’s New York office. He also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Julien’s Auctions, a privately held auction house based in Los Angeles, California that specialize in auctions of entertainment memorabilia, fashion and street art. Frank’s previous experience includes finance, strategy and corporate development roles at BNY Mellon and Tradeweb Markets. He began his career at Ernst & Young.
Frank also previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Amber Charter Schools from 2012-2023, serving as the Treasurer and Head of the Finance Committee.
Frank earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and has a Master of Business Administration from New York University. He and his family live in New York City.
Frank Aldridge
Treasurer
Vasthi Acosta
Dr. Vasthi Reyes Acosta is the former Executive Director of Amber Charter Schools. Dr. Acosta is a graduate of Columbia University’s Teachers College where she was awarded both a Doctor of Education and Master of Arts degrees. She also holds a Master of Science degree from Bank Street College of Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University.
Dr. Acosta has worked in the NYC Department of Education as Assistant Principal, consultant and teacher. She was a college professor at Hostos Community College in the Early Childhood Education department, a curriculum developer and teacher trainer at Teachers College. While at Teachers College, she was responsible for training teachers throughout the North Eastern United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. She has been a national validator for early childhood programs seeking accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Dr. Acosta has presented scholarly work at national and statewide conferences. She has published several articles, the two most recent, a book review of the book, “Language, Space and Power: A Critical Look at Bilingual Education” and a commentary titled, “Stung by Buzz Words”, both in the Teachers College Record. As an author, her novella “Gifts from the Magi” is published in the anthology, A Big Apple Christmas. Dr. Acosta started publishing her weekly column titled, “La Maestra del Pueblo”, in the Education section of El Diario La Prensa, which addresses various aspects of parenting and education on November14, 2011. In addition, Dr. Acosta was recently honored as a Mama Latina, one of only 7 mothers chosen across the entire U.S. for her contributions to her community and dedication to her family.
Secretary
John A. Gutiérrez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Latin American and Latina/o Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY. He is a historian of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, he specializes in the history of Cuba and specifically the history of health, medicine and disease during the early twentieth century. He earned his undergraduate degree at Vassar College and his doctorate at the Graduate Center/CUNY, where he was the recipient of a Ralph Bunche Dissertation Fellowship.
Before joining the faculty at John Jay, Dr. Gutiérrez was an Associate at the MirRam Group specializing in communications, policy analysis, and fundraising. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center at the Newark Public Library. He joined the Board of Trustees of the Amber Charter School in 2015. He lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife and two sons.
John Gutiérrez
Board Member
Amadar Centeno
Amador currently serves as Senior Vice President of Campus Operations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In this capacity, Amador provides strategic and operational oversight for 6 departments including: Design & Construction, Planning & Analytics, Facilities Operations & Maintenance, Environmental Services, Hospitality Services, and Transportation & Administrative Services.
Amador joined St. Jude most recently from New York Presbyterian Hospital and prior to that from Memorial Sloan Kettering, and from Columbia University Medical Center, where he held the role of Senior Vice President of Facilities Management in both organizations.
Prior to his time at Columbia, he spent 19 years in leadership roles for three different hospital organizations – Mount Sinai Medical Center, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, and Beth Israel Medical Center. He holds a Master of Science in Health Services Administration from Iona College and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Lehman College.
Amador is active in several industry-related organizations and is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.
Board Member​
Joey Gustafson is the Managing Director of the Amber Education Fund. Ms. Gustafson has experience in fundraising, program development, research, evaluation, and public policy of schools and educational programs. Ms. Gustafson has been a long-term management consultant, educational operator, planner, evaluator, and has advised in educational public policy. Ms. Gustafson has worked for major funders, developers, and operators offering due diligence and developing dozens of business/strategic plans for growing educational organizations and networks of schools/districts.
Ms. Gustafson offers a wealth of policy and technical knowledge of the educational sector and the landscape of public school reform as well as management experience. She holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. from Georgetown University.
Joey Gustafson
Managing Director