OPEN BUFFALO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board
- Board Treasurer / University at Buffalo
Job Titles:
- Director of Community Engagement
Devon Patterson is a recent graduate at the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in African American studies. He served as the vice president and president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and captain of the UB track and field team for two years. Patterson was also a member of the Council of Student Athletes for the Mid-American Conference, was chosen to be a part of a nationwide leadership development training through the NCAA, served as the only student athlete on a "difficult conversations" panel discussing the controversy of taking a knee in college athletics, and was the sole student athlete award recipient for diversity and inclusion in 2018.
During his athletic career, Patterson has achieved three conference titles in shot put, four appearances in the first round of the NCAA championships, a place on the Puerto Rican national team, and one national record.
After graduating, Patterson transitioned to community project coordinator at Algonquin Sports for Kids as an Americorps VISTA, where he rewrote their handbook, maintained and expanded their community outreach and engagement in Buffalo and Lackawanna, and surveyed middle and high schools in Lackawanna through trauma-informed care postcards to analyze data for methods to improve their service to youth.
Patterson is currently pursuing his master's degree in Transnational Studies with hopes to advance his knowledge of the intersectionality of hardships that different cultures face.
Job Titles:
- Director of Racial Equity and Justice
Dr. Kush K. Bhardwaj joined Open Buffalo after decades of impactful work as an educator, advisor, mentor, and recruiter throughout Western New York. "Dr. B," as he is affectionately called by his students, earned his Bachelor's, Master's and Ph. D from the University at Buffalo (UB). His passion for studying and teaching issues involving race and oppression have been the touchstone of his educational career and have earned Bhardwaj multiple awards and recognition throughout the years.
Having taught at UB, Niagara University, Medaille University, Houghton University, Niagara County Community College and SUNY Brockport, Bhardwaj has revolutionized teaching African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Global Gender Studies and American Pluralism. His commitment to teaching and mentoring is accentuated by his messages of diversity, empowerment, and cultural understanding. Wherever Dr. B has taught, students have actually petitioned administration to have him teach more.
With excellence and proven results in pedagogy, college admissions, and academic advisement, Dr. B developed a nuanced understanding of how race and class impact the awareness and access of options and opportunities afforded to various communities. His dedication to education, social justice and equity resulted in being named Citizen of the Month by the Erie County Legislature in 2018, where he was recognized in a special session by Chair April Baskin.
Job Titles:
- Board Member for the Western New York Area Labor Federation
Locally, Parker has served as a board member for the Western New York Area Labor Federation, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and as President for the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (Buffalo Chapter).
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Board Chair / Entrepreneur
Job Titles:
- Director of Leadership Development
A former academic, Leslie Nickerson cites graduate school as her point of entry into organizing and justice work. She received her Master of Arts degree in English from St. Bonaventure University in 2011 and went on to pursue doctoral study at the University at Buffalo, and she has taught undergraduate courses in composition, rhetoric, and English literature at several colleges and universities across Western New York. As a graduate teaching assistant and adjunct faculty member, she was quick to recognize and call out the precarious living and working conditions she and other contingent academic workers experienced, such as low wages and lack of job security that led many of her colleagues to teach 5 or more courses per semester at multiple academic institutions in order to afford the basics like rent and groceries. After becoming a mother in 2015, she began advocating for affordable childcare and on-campus accommodations such as lactation spaces for parenting students, as well as paid parental leave for graduate student workers and contingent faculty. She has over a decade of grassroots organizing experience, beginning with leadership roles in labor and environmental organizing campaigns with the Buffalo Adjunct Movement, the UB Living Stipend Movement, and the UB Coalition for Leading Ethically in Academic Research (UB CLEAR).
After becoming increasingly disillusioned with the exploitation within academia, Nickerson made the decision to withdraw from the PhD program in order to pursue full-time work in grassroots organizing. She joined the staff of VOICE-Buffalo in November 2016, where she served for three years as Internal Organizer for both VOICE and Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH). She then served as Executive Director of NOAH from March 2020-June 2022, where she served as a founding member of the Niagara Falls Health Equity Task Force and worked with teams of community leaders to advocate for participatory budgeting for the American Rescue Plan Act municipal funds in Niagara Falls. She is excited to join the Open Buffalo team as Director of Leadership Development, a role which combines her longtime commitment to economic, racial, and environmental organizing with her passion for developing the skills and leadership of community members.
Nickerson currently serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Western New York Chapter. She is an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, where she teaches in the Religious Education program, sings in the choir, and plays fiddle and mountain dulcimer in the house string band.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- Communications & Press Inquiries
Max Anderson is a first-generation American and lifelong New Yorker. Growing up at an intersection of ethnic identities and social systems, Anderson developed a passion for personal growth through linguistics, communication, and cultural mash-ups.
As Deputy Director, Anderson focuses on strategic planning, building community partnerships, training up-and-coming leaders, and oversight of administrative and financial matters.
Prior to joining Open Buffalo in 2014, Anderson spent about 10 years working at daily newspapers, most recently covering city governance, economic development, and criminal justice (focusing on community-police relations) as an editorialist for Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. He is proud to have helped create that newspaper's award-winning Unite Rochester project.
In his spare time, Anderson volunteers on a number of nonprofit boards, primarily contributing to strategic planning, public communications, and community engagement. He also occasionally takes on freelance communication and promotional projects (writing, editing, and graphic design) and enjoys teaching boxing and martial arts.
Anderson has a dual bachelor's degree in International Relations and French from SUNY Geneseo and a master's degree in Magazine, Newspaper and Online Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. A passion for continuous learning and skill-building has led Anderson to also take advantage of several impactful professional development opportunities, including:
Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education - Leadership, Organizing, and Action: Leading Change certificate (2015)
Center for Story-Based Strategy - Advanced Training (2016)
Karen Lee Spaulding Oishei Fellowship for Leaders of Color/Rockwood Leadership Institute - Art of Leadership training (2022)
Canisius College Center for Professional Development - Core Competencies for Community Health Workers (2016)
Prisoners Are People, Too - Restorative Justice circle keeper training
Growing up in a predominately white town, Rachel Orton credits her Mother and Grandfather for teaching her the true history of America and to care for others as if they are your family. As a result of her upbringing and experiences as a student at Buffalo State College, she declared African American Studies as her major. Her collegiate highlights include being selected to participate in the NYS Model Senate Session Project in Albany, co-founding and organizing for the Buffalo Black Lives Matter chapter and studying abroad at the Dagara Music Center in Ghana. Throughout Orton's on-campus residency, she was also a familiar face working with New Student Orientation and as a Resident Assistant.
Beginning in 2018, Orton went on to serve two consecutive Economic Development AmeriCorps terms at Peaceprints of WNY's Bissonette House. Through the organization's transitional housing program, she was able to support hundreds of men in re-building their lives post incarceration. It was here that Orton realized she has a natural ability to build trusting relationships with everyday people and wants her work to be centered in systemic change, specifically ensuring that Black communities are protected, valued, and invested in.
Orton is a 2021 graduate of Open Buffalo's Emerging Leaders and is grateful for the opportunity to continue advancing racial, economic, and ecological justice as an employee. In her role as Program Associate, she assists the Executive and Deputy directors, leads a monthly Baby Club, and works on the collaborative Get The Lead Out campaign, advocating for equitable improvements to the water infrastructure in Buffalo.
Orton is most passionate about dismantling white supremacy, education, voting rights, homelessness, America's criminal legal system, living wages, and universal healthcare/housing. In her car, you will most often find her listening to Kanye West or Soul Town on Sirius XM. She also practices non-toxic and zero waste living, enjoys traveling, going to the beach, frequenting small restaurants and businesses, and has a soft spot for animals.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board
- Board Secretary / Buffalo State College
- Coordinator of the Middle Early College Academic Center at Buffalo State College
Tristin J. Salter is the Coordinator of the Middle Early College Academic Center at Buffalo State College. She has also been a writing instructor for fifteen years. Most recently, she created a learning community for students that focuses on themes of social justice, inequality, resilience, and activism. As an educator, she believes in building an inclusive and equitable culture within higher education.
Tristin's commitment to Buffalo extends beyond her career as she also holds board positions with local organizations within youth sports.
Job Titles:
- Board Member / Zeneta Everhart