For this year’s Carib News Caribbean-American Power 100, we are highlighting three women who hold powerful positions in government, education, and energy, and who we can all agree are championing change and innovation in their respective fields. These leaders are not only breaking barriers but also setting new standards of excellence, paving the way for future generations to follow in their footsteps. Their dedication, vision, and relentless pursuit of progress make them true trailblazers and inspirations for us all.
Chaplain Dr. Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin, Chief Advisor to Mayor Eric Adams
Chaplain Dr. Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin, Chief Advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, is a lifelong New Yorker whose career has been dedicated to public service and the well-being of the city’s residents. In her current role, she leverages decades of community service and the relationships she has cultivated over the years to collaborate with stakeholders to help address the city’s challenges.
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From her initial calling to advocacy as a fourth-grade student (when she and a group of her peers protested at their local A&P Supermarket to express their displeasure that no persons of color were employed there) to her current role in senior leadership at City Hall, Ingrid has steadfastly believed in the power of change and the importance of community empowerment.
Chief Advisor to the Mayor As the Chief Advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin is part of the 3-woman City Hall executive leadership team that runs and operates the daily functions of the Administration. She reports directly to the Mayor on a wide range of issues and initiatives across City government, and she has the distinction of addressing issues that are problematic and need to be effectively and favorably resolved. In the absence of the Mayor during an emergency, Chief Advisor Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin is his designee assigned to work with the Office of Emergency Management to ensure that the issue is managed and resolved.
Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin is responsible for overseeing both the Office of Administrative Services and the Office of Appointments. The Office of Administrative Services is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day operations of the Mayor’s Office and agencies under the City, which encompasses overseeing City Hall’s $60M+ budget and the strategic planning and hiring of talent, managing office supplies, and providing technical support to staff. In her role supervising the Office of Administrative Services, Ingrid is tasked with ensuring that City government works efficiently and equitably for New Yorkers across all five boroughs. This work of the Adams Administration is guided by the core values of equity, effectiveness and sustainability, and through her oversight of hiring, Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin is committed to ensuring that all members of the Mayor’s Office share similar values.
She is an integral part of the braintrust and lends her voice and acute reasoning skills in all high-level meetings of vital importance. Lewis-Martin has dedicated her life to public service.
Her family is both Barbadian and Panamanian.
Claudia V. Schrader – Interim President of York College
Dr. Claudia V. Schrader took the helm as interim president of York College of The City University of New York (CUNY) in January 2024. She is the College’s 8th president and is positioned to make an indelible impact on the lives of so many who choose education as a vehicle for transformation and elevation.
Education has served as a vehicle for Dr. Schrader. She was born and raised on St. Croix, the largest of the United States Virgin Islands. She earned her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and her Master of Arts, Master of Education, and Doctorate of Education from Columbia University, Teachers College. Dr. Schrader also obtained a certificate from the Institute for Educational Management at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
At Kingsborough Community College (KCC), she built on a long tradition of excellence. It is the first CUNY institution to be recognized three times by the Aspen Institute as one of the Top 10 community colleges in the nation and holds a nationally recognized model for Learning Communities. The College was awarded $1,186,900 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration to its Division of Workforce Development, Strategic Partnerships & Office of Continuing Education to create a Job Corps Scholars Program for youth. Additionally, KCC also secured a $857,000 grant from the NYS Workforce Development Initiative for the development of a Maritime Technology Apprenticeship Program making it the first Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship program for marine mechanics in the nation. Dr. Schrader also secured $1 million donation from Leonard & Louise Riggio, founders of Barnes & Noble for student scholarships. The gift stands as the largest gift in the College’s history.
Recognizing that incoming students were missing out on the excitement of beginning their college experience on campus during the COVID 19 Pandemic, in 2020 she created the KCC Welcome Wagon. Dr. Schrader traveled around Brooklyn and throughout NYC’s other boroughs to meet incoming students at their homes and jobs to welcome them to KCC, and assure them that they would find KCC and its president accessible, available, and ready to support their success. Her efforts have been featured on Spectrum News NY1 and in the NY Daily News, InsideHigherEd.com, Forbes, Positive Community Magazine and in a number of local newspapers.
Prior to becoming president at Kingsborough, she served as provost and senior vice president at Bronx Community College, CUNY; as associate provost at William Paterson University of New Jersey; and as associate provost at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, where she also held faculty rank with tenure. Dr. Schrader also taught as an adjunct at Teachers College, Columbia University, Bank Street College, and the College of New Rochelle. Her professional service includes serving as a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education; membership on the American Association of Community College’s (AACC) National Council for Black American Affairs; and a 3-year term on the AACC Commission on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.
Dr. Schrader believes strongly in giving back to both her local and global community. She is a Life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®and is an active member of the Eta Omega Omega chapter in the Bronx, where she has served as Recording Secretary, co-chair of the Rites of Passage Program and chair of the Leadership Committee. For the past 14 years, she has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity Global Village Program building homes in Brazil, El Salvador, Vietnam, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and Thailand for families in need. She serves on the board of the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society.
Kimberly Williams, Director, Manhattan Regional and Community Affairs
Con Edison Kimberly Denise Williams is a Brooklyn native of Jamaican descent, who still calls Flatbush home. Professionally, she serves as the Director for Manhattan Regional and Community Affairs in the Government, Regional and Community Affairs Department at Con Edison. In her role, Kimberly leads a team tasked with strengthening relationships across
Manhattan and keeping communities up to date on Con Edison’s clean energy, reliability, and energy efficiency commitments.
Outside of the office, Kimberly has maintained her passion for writing and the arts. She has written articles for several publications and provided editorial content for community groups. Her volunteer efforts include the Black History Committee at the Lenox Road Baptist Church and working with Voices of Lefferts, a local community journal. Kimberly also sits on the advisory board for Caribbeing. Kimberly has a Bachelors of Arts from Harvard University where she pursued a joint degree in History and African and African American Studies. She also has a Master of Science in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics. In the spring of 2024, she completed the Coro Leadership New York program.
