Staff

 Helene H. Kramer serves as Executive Director of Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc. After many years as a Chief Information Officer and consultant in the healthcare industry, Helene decided to follow her passion for urban public education and changed careers in 2003 to become Executive Director of Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc.

In 1994, Helene was elected to an at-large seat on the Buffalo Board of Education and served a five year term. She chaired the Board's strategic planning committee, was elected Board Vice President in 1995 and President in 1998.  Prior to that, Helene was a parent activist who co-founded United Parents, an advocacy group for children in the Buffalo Public Schools in the early 1990's and served as its president. She served on many civic commissions related to improving public education, including the Commission for Quality Education. She also served as a member of the Citizen's Advisory Committee, a group advising the City's elected leaders about how to spend capital dollars.

Immediately prior to joining Read to Succeed Buffalo, she was Chief Information Officer (CIO) at St. James Mercy Health System in Hornell, New York. Prior to that, she was director of Healthcare Information Services at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for ten years. She is an experienced manager with expertise in strategic planning, negotiating, and building partnerships.

Michael Benzin is the Director of Development for Read to Succeed Buffalo and is responsible for overseeing all fundraising efforts, grants administration and other activities focused on raising money and developing and maintaining relationships with donors and potential donors. Benzin has significant experience in development with a record of more than two decades of success in the education, healthcare and human services sectors. Prior to joining Read to Succeed, Benzin served as director of development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County. He also served with Aspire of WNY, Roswell Park, Sisters Hospital, and the University at Buffalo.

Contact Michael Benzin at at 716-843-8895

Deborah Ann Porter is Community Outreach Coordinator. She works primarily with block clubs, civic organizations, faith-based organizations and the community-at-large to raise awareness of the Read to Succeed Buffalo literacy campaign and to build the capacity of community organizations to improve the literacy levels of those they serve. She focuses mainly in the designated literacy zone in Buffalo's Northeast section, primarily zip code 14215. Porter will be responsible for helping to improve community knowledge, establish and increase participation in literacy initiatives, and serve as liaison for the organization on literacy issues.

Dee Ippolito is Project Administrative Manager responsible for reporting to USDOE, managing Early Reading First budget and contracts, developing tracking system for children transitioning from Bethel head Start to Buffalo Public and Charter Schools  and, with a committee, implementing an instructional materials project for professional development to sustain the creation of pre-school centers of educational excellence and a symposium on best practices learned from Early Reading First for pre-school education.

Contact Dee Ippolito at or at 716-843-8895.

Rhonda Bivins has joined our team as our Youth Engagement Coordinator. Rhonda is responsible for developing and implementing after school and out-of-school programs in accordance with Read to Succeed Buffalo's overall strategic plan.

Contact Rhonda Bivins at bivinsr@rtsb.org or at 716-843-8895.

Lisa McCue is our Operations Manager and is instrumental in making our office hum. Lisa's excellent administrative skills help to support all facets of our programs and our office administration including scheduling, finances, human resources, facilities management as well as handling countless other details.

Contact Lisa McCue at or at 716-843-8895.

Carmen S. Brown is the Manager of Instruction and supervises an excellent team of Early Reading First literacy coaches at the five Bethel Head Start sites. She manages all instructional aspects of the program to ensure all ERF target goals for indicators of Kindergarten readiness are met. In addition to supervising the literacy coaches, Carmen also assesses professional development needs for the Bethel Head Start instructional staff and coaches, determines how data will be used to inform intentional instruction for each child, and recommends instructional materials and resources in the classrooms.

Amanda Darling is a Literacy Coach on the Early Reading First Grant. The ERF project is a federally funded program with the goal to increase the literacy and language skills of preschool children in the Read to Succeed Buffalo campaign. Amanda helps to improve instruction by engaging teachers in intense professional development.  She promotes a site-based professional community by demonstrating exemplary early literacy classroom practices. Before working as a Literacy Coach, Amanda was a teacher for CAO Head Start. She graduated with a Master's Degree in Literacy from St. Bonaventure University in 2007.