John Foran - Chief Executive Officer
John "Poppy" Foran Chief Executive Officer of Praxis Housing since February 2007. John was hired as CFO of Praxis in February 2004, at a time when Praxis was struggling, after receiving a recommendation from the NYS Attorney Generals Office. John has a long history of engineering turnarounds and then steady and significant results-driven performance improvements in both the corporate world and more recently the non-profit sector. John has a B.S. in Economics from Fordham University and a dual MBA in Finance and International Business from the NYU Stern School. John is a decorated Vietnam Veteran, and holds both a Civil Engineering (OCS) Certificate and a Military Intelligence Commission from The U.S. Army.

Vashti Rampatsingh, Director of Finance & Administration
Vashti Rampatsingh was born in Trinidad, joined Praxis three years ago as the Controller and was later promoted to Director of Finance. Vashti's diverse background includes financial and administrative experience with corporate and not for profits as well as directing and enhancing sophisticated systems and programs. During her time at East Coast Oversees, a steamship agency that handled chartering and ship repairs, she established accounting procedures, cash management and bank for 5 companies within the group, prepared annual budgets and financial statements, and controlled cost for all departments. Vashti then joined Human Rights First as Controller where she managed and implemented new accounting and payroll Ceridian systems, was instrumental in all Human Resources functions, salary increases and benefits. She operated two sets of Financial for over 20 different programs, allocated expenses and income across all. Since joining Praxis, Vashti has worked diligently to improve the transparency in both Finance and Administration, assisting with Strategic and event planning, identifying and instituting ways to control cost, believing in fairness and consistency for all. At Praxis they called Vashti "The Task Master".

Svein Jorgensen, Chief Operating Officer
Svein Jorgensen was born in Norway and raised in Ireland. He immigrated to the US in 1986. Prior to taking a position at Praxis in 1996, he managed the Martha Washington Hotel, a 451 room hotel in midtown Manhattan where he had responsibility for operations, overseeing a staff of 34 and a budget of $3 million. Since joining Praxis, Svein has supervised site managers, overseeing facilities compliance with the New York City Department of Buildings, Housing Preservation and Development, Fire Department and Department of Environmental Control regulations. Svein was recently was recognized by Irish/America magazine as one of their 100 Irish Americans for 2008. An avid soccer fan, he lives in Queens with his wife and daughter.

Juana Leandry-Torres, MSW - Director of Contract Programs
Juana Leandry-Torres received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Long Island University-Southampton Campus in 1995 and her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work in 2006. After founding and leading the first Latino student organization on LIU's campus, Juana began her professional career with the same dedication to her culture. She was hired as a caseworker for the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs (PRACA), where she worked closely with children in foster care and their families. She was later appointed to the position of Executive Coordinator to coordinate an annual conference on child welfare public policy, for which she procured $100,000 to support the conference's ambitious plan to involve six states (NY, NJ, CT, MA, IL, PA) and Puerto Rico using distance learning technology. After leaving PRACA, Mrs. Leandry-Torres worked at Lakeside Family & Children Services where she was responsible for case planning for young adults who were aging out of the foster care. Juana then moved on to joined the Children's Defense Fund-NY as a Family/Community Advocate, where she organized in the Latino immigrant community to get involved in shaping policies through a project that looked at the utilization of the children's health insurance program (SCHIP) in New York City. With the same commitment to helping NYC's most vulnerable populations, Juana joined Praxis Housing Initiatives, Inc. as the Director of Contracts Programs in 2003. Juana is a member of the senior management team and leads the social service department in ending chronic homelessness and in improving the health outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS. She interfaces with government agencies and other funders to negotiate new contracts as well as develops and oversees all new and existing programs. In 2007, Mrs. Leandry-Torres was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to serve on the NYC HIV Planning Council (2007-2009) where she is an active member of the Needs Assessment Committee.

Florencio F. Cuevas, Director of Operations
Florencio Cuevas was hired by Praxis Housing in 1998. His colleagues and clients call him Floyd. He has been in the field of addiction and HIV directive service for 30-plus years. An advocate of Harm Reduction Practice and activist for safe and affordable housing. Floyd oversees several departments within the agency. Floyd was born and raised in the south Bronx and calls himself a Nuyorican! (Puerto Rican American) Floyd is a die hard Yankee fan and enjoys music and dance as well as cooking. Floyd has appeared on numerous media programs, most recently on Despierta America channel 41 and the Bill Moyers series on PBS on addiction and families. Floyd has been interviewed by the Daily News, El Dario and Hoy news paper.

Catherine Abrams, Grant Writer
Catherine came to Praxis after being a development consultant for non profit cultural and human services organizations in New York City. She has a Master's in Education from New York University and a Certificate in Fundraising from the same institution. Ms. Abrams presents at national conferences on fundraising and grant writing and is a repeat speaker at the annual New York University Fundraising Summit.