Mindy Gray is the Co-Founder of the Gray Foundation. She is the owner and proprietor of the Sagaponack General Store. In addition, she is the Chair of the Basser Leadership Council and serves on the board of Penn Medicine.

Previously, Mindy worked as an editor at Ziff Davis Publishing and as a marketing executive at Edwin Schlossberg, Inc. Mindy received her BA in English with a minor in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jon Gray is the Co-Founder of the Gray Foundation. He is also the President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms. Formerly, Jon served as Blackstone’s Global Head of Real Estate. Since joining Blackstone in 1992, Jon has helped build the largest real estate platform in the world.

Jon currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Hilton Worldwide. He also serves on the board of Harlem Village Academies. Jon received a BS in economics as well as a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dana Zucker is the Chief Executive Officer of the Gray Foundation.  She is the Chair of the NYC Kids RISE Board and a member of the Basser Leadership Council at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.  Previously, Dana was a Vice President at Teach For America and a Vice President at Lazard Freres & Co. She also worked as a consultant at Bain & Company, as well as in the Venture Capital and Investment Banking Groups at Morgan Stanley.

She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in political science from Brown University.

Charissa Fernández is the President of the Gray Foundation. Charissa has dedicated three decades to expanding educational opportunity for NYC youth. She served as the Executive Director of Teach For America – New York, and the Chief Operating Officer of ExpandED Schools. She also previously directed the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Strategic Partnerships, ran after-school and summer programs in the Bronx and Washington Heights, and taught English at Riverdale Country School. 

She holds a BA in sociology and EdM in administration planning and social policy from Harvard University.

Chi Van Dang is the Chief Science Advisor for the Gray Foundation. He is the CEO and Scientific Director of Ludwig Cancer Research and the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cancer Medicine. He previously served as Director of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn. He began his career at Johns Hopkins and has held many roles there, including Director of Division of Hematology, Vice Dean for Research, and Director of the Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. 

He earned his BS at the University of Michigan, his PhD at Georgetown, and his MD at Johns Hopkins.  He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Association for Cancer Research Academy.

Pat Morin is the Scientific Advisor for the Gray Foundation. He is the Deputy Scientific Director at Ludwig Cancer Research. He previously served as the Executive Director, Strategic Alliances of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn. Prior to that, he was Senior Director of Scientific Review and Grants Administration at the American Association for Cancer Research. Pat also previously headed a lab focused on ovarian cancer at the National Institutes of Health and was an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins.

He earned his BS and MS from the University of Quebec and a PhD from Boston University. He conducted his postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center.

Alexa is the Scientific Program Manager at the Gray Foundation. Her academic work provided insight into the activation mechanisms of proteins critical for neuronal signaling. Throughout her academic career, she has also designed and implemented multiple initiatives to provide mentorship and support for the next generation of scientists.

Alexa earned her BA in Chemistry and in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Wesleyan University and her PhD in Chemical Biology from Weill Cornell Medicine through the Tri-Institutional PhD Program.

Mimi is the Program Associate at the Gray Foundation. Mimi’s career has been focused on increasing access to higher education for students from low-income and underserved communities. Her previous experiences include working at higher education institutions and non-profit organizations where she mentored high school and college students and provided guidance on college persistence and career readiness. 

Mimi holds a BS in business administration from Berea College and EdM in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina.

Margaret is the Operations Manager at the Gray Foundation.  From campus recruiting to executive search, Margaret’s previous experience includes working at Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Heidrick & Struggles.  Prior to joining the Foundation, Margaret worked at Geller & Company in the Human Capital Department.  Margaret is a member of the Basser Young Leadership Council at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Margaret earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a minor in History from the University of Scranton.