Board of Directors

Jesselyn McCurdy, Chair

Jesselyn McCurdy is the Executive Vice President for Government Affairs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She spent the previous decade at the American Civil Liberties Union, leading its Equality Division on immigration rights, racial justice and AMEMSA (Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian) issues. Her earlier ACLU roles focused largely on criminal justice issues. Earlier in her career, she was a counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Ursula Bentele, Co-Vice Chair

Ursula Bentele has spent her professional life in the area of criminal justice, with particular emphasis on the death penalty and post-conviction advocacy. She served as a criminal defense lawyer for The Legal Aid Society and a clinical professor at Brooklyn Law School, and she continues to volunteer at the Society’s Criminal Appeals Bureau. Ursula is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award, which recognizes attorneys who have contributed time and expertise to represent people sentenced to death.

Lenny Noisette, Co-Vice Chair

Lenny Noisette most recently served as the director of the Justice team at Open Society Foundations US, where he oversaw grantmaking and field engagement activities of a 10-member team responsible for the foundation's criminal justice system reform efforts. Prior to joining Open Society Foundations, Lenny was a founding staff member and long-serving executive director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a nationally recognized community-based public defender office created to demonstrate a different approach to providing legal services.

Roscoe Davis, Treasurer

Roscoe Davis joined EJUSA’s board of directors in 2020. A certified public accountant, Roscoe served as the Chief Audit Executive of the Ford Foundation for over 30 years. During that time, he managed and maintained the structure of the Internal Audit Department and created a comprehensive program for evaluating the effectiveness of management in their administration and compliance. He was also responsible for ensuring the adequacy, reliability, and usefulness of the foundation’s internal control systems, and assisted the board of trustees in fulfilling its oversight roles and fiduciary obligations.

Evonne M. Silva, Secretary

Evonne M. Silva is the Senior Program Director, Criminal Justice at Code for America, a national nonprofit that works shoulder to shoulder with community organizations and government to improve public services that reduce poverty and advance equity. Prior to Code for America, she was a legal advisor with the ACLU of Northern California. Evonne holds a Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law and a bachelor's degree in politics and economics from Saint Mary’s College of California. Evonne serves as board member of CORO of Northern California and previously taught at U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

Katisha Andrew is a nonprofit human services administrator with a passion for social justice and racial and gender equality. After accruing more than a decade of nonprofit experience at Sanctuary for Families and TakeRoot Justice, she is now a project manager at ECPAT-USA working collaboratively to solve complex organizational and leadership challenges. An immigrant from Grenada, West Indies, Katisha earned her bachelor’s from Union College and an executive master’s degree from the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College.

Angela Buonocore served in communications leadership roles during her career at some of the world’s top corporations, including GE, IBM, PepsiCo, and ITT. She retired as SVP and Chief Communications Officer of Xylem, an ITT spinoff. She is known for creating award-winning advertising and PR campaigns and philanthropic efforts, launching brands, and developing outstanding communications talent. In 2007, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, her alma mater. She also serves on the board of the Student Press Law Center.

Lisa Good leads Urban Grief, an organization based in Albany, NY, that she founded in 2001 that provides critical, trauma-informed support for victims of violence. She is a fierce advocate for awareness and policy change to reduce violence and was the program director at SNUG/Ceasefire, an intervention initiative that reduced violence in Albany. Lisa has more than 20 years of experience as a human services professional, and is currently pursuing her PhD in social welfare at SUNY-Albany.

Jane Henderson is the Executive Director at Chesapeake Natives, an organization that promotes, protects, and propagates plants native to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Before that, she was the Executive Director of Communities United, an organization working to achieve transformative change on issues of racial and economic justice. She has also served as the Executive Director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions in the past. Jane has been active in criminal justice reform for decades, beginning in 1990 when she founded the Equal Justice USA program of the Quixote Center.

Jesse Moore is the founding CEO of Common Thread Strategies, a full service messaging and strategic planning firm supporting private, public, and philanthropic clients. He previously served as a White House speechwriter and associate director of public engagement for President Obama, managing celebrity and entertainment partnerships while championing projects in support of My Brother's Keeper and the President's Taskforce on 21st Century Policing. Jesse is a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a noted public speaker on issues of leadership, politics, justice, and entertainment.

Diane Zimmerman is the Samuel Tilden Professor of Law Emerita at New York University’s School of Law. Her areas of specialty include intellectual property and the First Amendment. She has written numerous articles and book chapters, co-edited two books, and served as a distinguished visiting professor at William and Mary and DePaul law schools. Prior to receiving her law degree from Columbia University, she was an award-winning journalist at Newsweek and the New York Daily News. She is also a director of a foundation that supports work with urban youth.