Grants & Contracts

Jerry Steele
Chief Operating Officer

Jerry Steele is responsible for the grant and contract administration, human resources, payroll and benefits administration, accounts payable and procurement activities at the RF.

Jerry has over 30 years experience in banking and international finance, as well as holding senior management positions in economic development and the nonprofit sectors. His career includes finance and project management positions with JP Morgan Chase as well as a foreign bank in New York. He was COO of New York City’s economic development agency and a U.S. Department of Treasury Senior Financial Advisor stationed in Eastern Europe working on the banking and capital market transformation in the region.

Most recently he was COO of EdFund/California Student Aid Commission, one of the nation’s largest student loan guarantors. Jerry holds a BS and MBA from Lehigh University. He has taught bank operations and management strategy at Baruch College and Pace University.

James Suarez
Director of Grants & Contracts

James Suarez, Director of Grants & Contracts, has broad experience in post award administration, project management and systems development in his 29 year tenure with the Research Foundation. He started in payroll before achieving various positions in Grants & Contracts, including Release Time administration and development, Federal projects and Letters of credit management, and Assistant Director. He assumed his current role in 2006. James is a Business Administration graduate of Baruch College.

Angela P.Clarke
Assistant Director, Grants & Contracts

Angela has been with Research Foundation of CUNY for 28 years including 4 years at Hunter College in the office of Research Administration. Directly supervising 12 staff members responsible for management of Federal awards, she has overall responsibility for coordinating department training programs and is a member of the GrantsPlus team. For GrantsPlus, Angela demonstrates our web reports and manages the staff responsible for fiscal activity from establishment to closeout of programs and projects including reporting to sponsors. Managing a variety of awards and contracts from various funding agencies, she provides guidance to clients in the fiscal monitoring of their programs, while ensuring compliance with sponsor's policies and regulations. Angela graduated from Pace University with a BBA in International Management.

Kyung Hur
Assistant Director, Grants & Contracts

Kyung has been with the Research Foundation of The City University of New York for over 17 years. He provides management support for the overall grant administration function. Kyung graduated from the University at Buffalo, State University for New York with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Marina Vasilyeva
Assistant Director, Grants & Contracts

Marina has been with the Research Foundation of CUNY for more than seven years. Marina is responsible for management of Private awards. In addition, she is responsible for overall supervision of Accounts Receivables, and is a member of the e-systems’ development/implementation team. Marina graduated from Pace University with a BBA in Business Administration.