Mario Leonardo
Executive Director
Mario Leonardo is a native New Yorker who first joined the Work First Foundation as a board member in 2017 before becoming Executive Director in 2021. Most recently, he has worked in the tech industry and is based in Los Angeles. Previously he served in the US Marine Corps leaving with the rank of Captain. After his military career he worked in national security and foreign policy for a federal agency and later transitioned to the private sector. Mario holds a BA in Political Science and Government from St. John's University and a MA in International Relations from George Washington University.
Kathy Mone
Treasurer
Kathy Mone has worked in public education financing for over three decades in the New York City area. She is the current Finance Manager of Academic and Student Affairs at CUNY. Prior to her time with CUNY Kathy worked with the New York City Department of Education in the Division of Special Education for more than 22 years. She later worked as Special Education coordinator and business administrator at two New Jersey charter schools.
Spencer Smith
board member
Spencer Eliot Smith is a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of New York City, with the Criminal Defense Practice in Brooklyn. He graduated from Brooklyn Law School with cum laude honors in 2019, where he was an Edward V. Sparer Fellow and a Pro Bono Scholar. Spencer first moved to Brooklyn seven years ago when he started as a Work First Fellow. After completing the fellowship year in 2015, he stayed with America Works for two more years as a program coordinator, and throughout his first year of law school he continued to teach High School Equivalency courses in the America Works’ Brooklyn office. Spencer entered law school with a focus on exploring the diverse range of opportunities in public interest law, motivated in large part by his experiences with clients as a Work First Fellow. His legal internships spanned housing (New York Legal Assistance Group-Tenants’ Rights Unit), reentry and family law (Youth Represent), and criminal defense (Bronx Defenders and BLS Criminal Defense Clinic). Spencer has been a resident of Flatbush, Brooklyn all seven years since moving to New York; it’s the resilience and sense of collectivism he receives from this community that firmly grounds his career pursuits. Spencer lives with a neuromuscular disorder and is actively involved with Muscular Dystrophy Association, advocating for communities here in the city.
Kevin Reilly
board member
Kevin Reilly is an attorney at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher's Litigation Department. He graduated from New York University School of Law where he served as an Executive Editor for the Review of Law and Social Change. Kevin worked on articles that discussed the social model of disabilities as applied to Social Security Disability Insurance and gender equity. During his law school tenure, he interned for the Honorable Freda L. Wolfson of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey and the Honorable Patty Shwartz of United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. Kevin also spent a semester as a clinical student with the Institute of Policy Integrity (IPI). At IPI, Kevin studied cost-benefit analysis and drafted a comment related to federal energy policies.
Before law school, Kevin served as a Work First Fellow, where he conducted research on the efficacy of New York City's food assistance programs within the America Works client network. He received his Bachelor of Arts from University of Maryland in Government and Broadcast Journalism.