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Westchester Food Bank Picks City Harvest's Leslie Gordon As New President

ELMSFORD, N.Y. -- Food Bank for Westchester, which provides programs for 200,000 hungry county residents, announced Wednesday that it appointed Leslie Gordon to be its a new president and CEO.

Leslie Gordon will take the reins of the Food Bank for Westchester in mid-January.

Leslie Gordon will take the reins of the Food Bank for Westchester in mid-January.

Photo Credit: Contributed

She'll take over as CEO on Tuesday, Jan. 17, succeeding Ellen Lynch, who announced in September that she was stepping down from those roles.

"Leslie Gordon brings to Food Bank for Westchester a wealth of leadership experience and expertise to help us in our ongoing efforts to eradicate hunger in the county," said Maria Bronzi, board chair of Food Bank for Westchester.

"Leslie has a proven record of success at City Harvest, where she developed and implemented innovative programs to help feed people who face hunger. We are thrilled to have her on board as our new president and CEO."

"I am truly honored to have the opportunity to lead one of the region's most admired organizations fighting hunger," Gordon said.

"I look forward to working with everyone on the Food Bank team -- from our outstanding board and dedicated staff and volunteers to our community agencies and donors -- to continue the mission of creating a hunger-free environment in Westchester."

City Harvest collects nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivers it, free, to soup kitchens, food pantries and other community food programs across the five boroughs of New York City.

As senior director of Program Strategy & Operations for that organization, Gordon was a key executive in leading City Harvest's "Healthy Neighborhoods" plan to improve food access and nutritional behaviors for a half-million low-income residents. She also pioneered a new strategy that doubled the food distributed annually from 30 to 60 million pounds in five years.

Prior to joining City Harvest in 2007, Gordon was an executive director of Best Buddies Pennsylvania, the state program of Best Buddies International, which creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Before that, she served as founding director of Made in the Hudson Valley, which promoted products manufactured in the region. She also served under General Colin Powell as national director of America's Promise Alliance for Youth, a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth from all socioeconomic sectors.

A lifetime Westchester and fourth-generation resident of Tarrytown, Gordon graduated from SUNY New Paltz, with a degree in sociology. 

Gordon is a frequent guest speaker about issues of hunger, for a range of organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, and she is a guest lecturer for Fordham University's Nonprofit Leadership graduate program.    

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