Brooklyn Children’s Museum Welcomes New Members to Board of Trustees

Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the city’s largest cultural institution designed especially for families, today announced the appointments of Tristan Nadal, Sheila Peluso, Dana Williams Pouwels, Kiesean Riddick, Jessica Schumer and Freya Zaheer to the Museum’s Board of Trustees. Nadal and Pouwels joined the BCM Board in September 2022, followed by Peluso, Riddick, Schumer, and Zaheer in February 2023.

“We are proud to welcome six new Board members who care deeply about the needs of our city’s families and children and the health and vitality of the communities we serve,” said Board Chair Amanda Sue Nichols. “They bring talent, experience, and enthusiasm that will strengthen Brooklyn Children’s Museum as a resource for children and caregivers in Brooklyn and beyond.”

Tristan Nadal is the founder of Pointsfive, an MBE-certified full-service real estate and hospitality investment, development, and advisory firm based in New York City. Nadal is also a managing partner and cofounder of 74Wythe, an events, live music, bar and nightlife venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He previously was an executive at Gotham Organization, a real estate development firm, and earlier at Prudential Real Estate Investors. He is Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), an Advisory Board member for the Amber School Fund, a Program Champion on ULI New York's Steering Committee, a former board member of the New York Housing Conference Rising Leaders Network, and a nominee of the inaugural 2020 REBNY Fellows Leadership Class for Diversity.

Sheila Peluso is Senior Managing Director, Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Legal Officer of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., a global multi-strategy investment firm. Sheila oversees talent acquisition, talent management and development, HR strategy and operations, and corporate social responsibility across the global firm. Prior to joining Cerberus, Peluso was an Associate with Chadbourne & Parke LLP (now Norton Rose) in New York, where her practice focused on representing private equity clients in M&A and securities and general corporate matters. In addition to her role at Cerberus, Sheila is a certified executive coach and mediator.

Dana Williams Pouwels is Managing Director, Sapphire Lounge GM, and Head of Chase Sapphire Partnerships at JP Morgan Chase. She joined Chase in 2018 on the Corporate Development team focused on Digital Partners. Previously, she held a variety of leadership roles at American Express across the Merchant Services, Digital and Consumer businesses. Her prior experience also includes global general management roles in Spain, Mexico and the US at Inditex, the parent company of Zara; and in Real Estate expansion for H&M. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She serves on the NY Regional Advisory Board for America on Tech and the Duke Futures Alumni & Parent Task Force and is Co-Chair for the Black and Latinx Parents Group at Poly Prep Country Day School.

Kiesean Riddick is a Vice President Credit Investment Analyst with TD Bank Asset Management's Fixed Income Team. Previously, he served as a Vice President in Equity Research at Evercore ISI and JP Morgan covering Industrials, Energy, and Battery Materials. Earlier, Riddick had a decade-long career in Urban Education, where he spearheaded a college prep program for at-risk students in Brooklyn called Groundwork for Success and then became a high school physics teacher, and later Director of Operations, at the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters.

Jessica Schumer is Senior Manager of Public Policy at Amazon, where she serves as the policy lead for New York City heading engagement with City policymakers, trade groups, and other stakeholders. She joined Amazon in December 2019 as Policy Manager for Economic Development. Previously, Schumer spent more than ten years in government and non-profits, including various senior-level economic policy roles at the Obama White House, as policy advisor to Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine, and most recently as Executive Director of Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX).

Freya Zaheer is the President at Sakara Life, a nutrition-focused wellness company. She has led the company's growth from a $1.5M NYC-based pre-seed business into a $150M profitable CPG brand with nationwide distribution. Previously, Zaheer spent six years as a consultant at Bain & Company and worked for Christie's in Hong Kong and London.

About Brooklyn Children’s Museum

Inspired by the energy and diversity of our borough, Brooklyn Children’s Museum creates experiences that ignite curiosity, celebrate identity and cultivate joyful learning. Founded in 1899 as the world’s first children’s museum, Brooklyn Children’s Museum (BCM) is New York City’s largest cultural institution designed especially for families. Proudly based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, BCM serves 300,000 children and caregivers annually with exhibits and programs grounded in visual arts, music and performance, natural science, and world cultures.

For more information, visit: https://www.brooklynkids.org/