Our Board of Directors
Stephen Sheffer (Acting Board Chair) (he/him/they) is Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications at the Regional Food Bank in Latham, NY. After a decade of retail management, he has been working professionally in the nonprofit sector for seven years in various development roles at both national and local organizations. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Non-profit Business Administration and is also a board member of Youth Research, Inc., a non-profit serving the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.
Stephen joined The Pride Network in August of 2023. His past board experience includes nearly five years serving with Heritage of Pride (NYC Pride), the last three as Development Director including the World Pride 2019 Stonewall 50 celebrations. He currently resides in Latham, New York with his husband of 12 years and enjoys music, exploring nature, traveling, and trying new wines.
Brian Hwang is a Senior Vice President at M&T Bank leading a commercial real estate underwriting team. He has spent over 13 years in the real estate finance industry working at both large Fortune 500 firms and at fintech startups.
Brian has been involved with The Pride Network for the last four years, as a volunteer, a Board Member, and now as Board Chair. He is passionate about empowering and equipping the next generation of queer leaders.
Brian is also a member of the Gay Real Estate Group of New York (GREG) and has spoken at the Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) conference on impostor syndrome and developing an intentional personal professional brand. Brian graduated with a MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Brian is originally from Los Angeles and is based in New York City.
Jessie Schaffnit (Treasurer) is an Ops Risk IT Systems Director at Equitable, a financial services and insurance company. Leading up to this role, he had worked for Siemens and Stryker in the MedTech industry in systems/process innovation within Finance, Operations, and IT. He attended graduate school at Rutgers University for an MBA in Strategy & Data Analytics and NJIT for a BS in Systems Engineering.
At Equitable, Jessie also sits as one of the Chairmen of the PRIDE Employee/Business Resource Group (ERG/BRG) activating the Equitable business principles through engagement of the LGBTQIA+ employees and allies to create and sustain an inclusive environment and building strategic partnerships. He has also been volunteering with The Pride Network since 2013 with fundraising, promoting our mission and event activation, and became a board member in the fall of 2021.
Mason Hess (Secretary) (he/him/his) is currently a Senior Advisor in the NYC Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice where he oversees the office's grant strategy, which entails stakeholder engagement, budgeting and contracting processes, interagency coordination, and special initiatives. Previously, he worked as a Vice President in the Funding Agreements Department at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), where he managed construction, renovation, and acquisition projects throughout the City that were funded with city capital grants.
He personally disbursed over $110,000,000 in city capital dollars while managing a $600,000,000 portfolio of nearly 40 projects, which included]diverse scopes of work with nonprofit and cultural institutions like the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Richmond University Medical Center. He also advised on large-scale public infrastructure projects, such as the Hunts Point Produce Market and Willets Point redevelopments.
He has served as the president of the NYCEDC LGBTQIA+ employee resource group, OUT/EDC. He also currently serves as board secretary on The Pride Network’s (TPN) Board of Directors and has been a board member since 2022. He first volunteered for TPN by serving as a mentor for TPN's Transformational Leadership Initiative in 2022. In addition, he serves as a member of the Louisiana State University Department of Public Administration Advisory Council and as a member of the City University of New York (CUNY) LGBTQIA+ Leadership Council.
Mason was born and raised in Louisiana and has a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and French as well as an Master of Public Administration from Louisiana State University. He also earned a Building and Construction Certificate from New York University.
He has always worked in the nonprofit and public sectors, including as a case manager at a Ryan White community-based organization providing services for HIV+ individuals and as a high school French teacher before going to graduate school. He then worked at the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office, where he assessed the budgetary and economic impacts of proposed legislation before moving to NYC. He is a proud resident of Queens where he lives with his husband. Mason enjoys traveling, reading about politics and history, baking, gardening, and speaking French and Spanish.
Maurice Shirley, Ph.D., is an educational scholar with over 10 years of experience and expertise in quantitative research, program development, policy analysis, and organizational growth. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Indiana University and is based in Indianapolis, IN.
Maurice began working with The Pride Network in 2023 and is enthusiastic about supporting emerging queer leaders and developing resources to enhance the work of those who wish to enhance their communities and society. He holds a Ph.D. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from New York University, a M.A. in Higher Education and Student Personnel Administration from New York University, and a B.A. in English Pre-Education from The Ohio State University.