Staff

James Siegal is the CEO of KaBOOM!, the national non-profit that seeks to give children the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Prior to KaBOOM!, James served as Chief of Staff for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that supports citizen engagement to address community challenges through AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund and other programs. James has broad experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including serving as Vice President of Nonprofit Programs and Practice at the leading non-profit coalition, Independent Sector. He also served as Registration Section Chief and Assistant Attorney General at the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau and associate at the global law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. James and his wife enjoy spending time on the playground with their three young girls.

Bruce Bowman is the President of Play Product Initiatives. After serving as a board member for several years, Bowman joined KaBOOM! in 2006 as chief operating officer and assumed the role of president in 2012. As president, Bruce focuses on leveraging new, large-scale business opportunities that support the strategic plan. Prior to joining KaBOOM!, he was with Wild Oats Markets, Inc., an organic and all-natural grocery retailer with $1.2 billion in annual sales. During his five years there, he served as senior vice president of operations and senior vice president of business development. He came to Wild Oats from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream where he was part of their senior management team for six years. Bruce first became involved with KaBOOM! through Ben & Jerry’s and was instrumental in developing KaBERRY KaBOOM!, an ice cream flavor from which a portion of the sales was donated to KaBOOM!. Bruce holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University.

Gerry has served as the Chief Financial Officer of KaBOOM! for the past 7 years. Previously Gerry served as the CFO of U.S. Foodservice, a large publicly held broad line foodservice distributor and prior to that he served as the Chief Accounting Officer and Controller for Strategic Planning Associates, a publicly held international management consulting firm. He began his career as a certified public accountant with Price Waterhouse after graduating from the College of William and Mary with a Business degree.

Gerry has been a very active volunteer in youth sports in the McLean, Virgina over the past 20 years including service on three youth sports boards. He has coached all three of his children in soccer, softball and basketball and is still coaching. He serves as a commissioner and treasurer for McLean Youth Basketball and is very active in the McLean Little League softball program.

Michelle L. Light is the first-ever Chief of Staff of KaBOOM!, the national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the built environment and fostering play opportunities for kids, especially those growing up in poverty. Working closely with the CEO and across all facets of the organization to best advance the mission, her primary responsibility is helping to deepen relationships and accelerate the impact that KaBOOM! has in collaboration with cities.

With a career devoted to public service, Michelle has spanned the philanthropic, nonprofit, and government sectors, and tackled a variety of complex social challenges. Prior to KaBOOM!, Michelle served in the Mayor’s Office of New York City. During her tenure there, she was first appointed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as Chief Recovery Officer to be the key architect of the City’s accountability, compliance, and transparency efforts for over $7 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. She then became the founding Executive Director of the newly-established NYC Office of Human Capital Development, driving citywide policy and strategy across agencies focused on the workforce development and adult education systems.

Previously, Michelle served as Associate General Counsel at the Community Service Society of New York, helping to promote economic advancement for low-income New Yorkers; the first-ever Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley for Reentry Initiatives, spearheading the development of strategic initiatives for the City of Chicago to better support individuals with criminal backgrounds; an attorney at the Children & Family Justice Center, creating and launching a new project focused on zero tolerance policies in Chicago Public Schools; and a staff associate at The Abraham Fund, working to foster coexistence between Israel’s Arab and Jewish citizens.

Michelle is a graduate of Princeton University as well as NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Service Scholar. When she is not at the office, she enjoys balanced and active play of her own, including tennis, hiking, kickboxing, photography, and traveling to remote corners of the globe.

Carlyne is currently the Vice President of Finance and joined KaBOOM! as Controller in January 2013.  Prior to joining KaBOOM! Carlyne worked at International Baccalaureate (IB) as Head of Finance Schools Division where she was responsible for the school’s division finance staff with her teams based in Bethesda, Hague, and Singapore.  Carlyne is an experienced professional with over 20 years, specializing in accounting and finance.  Carlyne started out her career with Ernst & Young and during her career; she has worked in a variety of industries, including Bristol Myers-Squibb (pharmaceutical), Sotheby’s (auction), and Philip Morris Companies/Altria (consumer products).  Carlyne holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany and is a certified public accountant in New York State.  

Roxane Rucker is Vice President, Community Impact, at KaBOOM!, the national non-profit dedicated to bringing balanced and active play into the daily lives of all kids, particularly those growing up in poverty in America. Roxane believes that all children deserve equal access to the experiences that will shape them into healthy, productive adults and is particularly proud that she manages one of the largest slates of play-related grants in the U.S. Under her leadership, the Community Impact team will award nearly $20 million in grants creating over 300 new play opportunities across North America.

Roxane joined KaBOOM! in 2013 after a long career in telecommunications. She specialized in managing complex network and cybersecurity programs for the Department of Defense and many U.S. civilian agencies, including the largest telecommunications contract awarded by the federal government. She has held various leadership positions in several associations, civic groups, nonprofits, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for schools in traditionally underserved communities in the Washington area. Roxane has a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, a Masters of Business Administration from The George Washington University, and several professional certifications. Roxane regularly enjoys a variety of active and balanced play with family and friends, including, biking, hiking, wineries, movies, and travel.

Amy S. Levner is the Vice President of Communications and Marketing for KaBOOM!, the national non-profit driven to give children the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. She leads the communications, marketing, digital strategy and research efforts for KaBOOM!. Previously Amy led the Livable Communities agenda for AARP where she was responsible for AARP’s work on issues related to creating livable communities for people 50+ and their families.

Amy serves as a spokesperson and thought leader, and has a background in social change marketing, program management and strategy development. She’s led successful healthcare, aging-in-place, and community design programs and campaigns throughout her career at agencies and non-profits alike. Amy most delights in playing with her 3-year-old daughter, most often at their local playground.

Lysa M. Ratliff is the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for KaBOOM!, the national non-profit driven to give children the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Deeply connected to building relationships that transform communities and invest in the potential of children, Lysa leads the Corporate Partnerships team and is focused on creating partnerships with organizations that recognize the power they have to make lasting change in their communities and for children.

Prior to joining the KaBOOM! team, Lysa spent more than 21 years in corporate development, communications and marketing, with 15 of those years in non-profit at Habitat for Humanity International and Save the Children. Lysa has led both public and private fundraising teams, cause marketing and communications campaigns with large global corporations. When not spending time with her own children and husband of 22 years, Lysa enjoys all things home, with most of her playtime being spent in the garden growing organic fruits and vegetables.

Kathleen Sack joined KaBOOM! in April, 2016. In this role, she and her team provide HR, IT and Operations guidance and expertise across the entire organization aligned to the mission of KaBOOM!.

Previously, she worked at the American Red Cross for five and a half years as the VP, Talent and Organization Development. In this role, she was responsible for OD solutions, talent development and learning programs across the enterprise.

Prior to joining the American Red Cross, she worked as a Managing Principal in Korn/Ferry International’s Leadership and Talent Consulting group and prior to that role, owned her own consulting company for four years, focusing on talent management, learning solutions, and performance strategies.

Kathleen has experience in a variety of industries including retail, aerospace, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, including working for four Fortune 500 companies. Throughout her career, she has successfully designed and implemented enterprise-wide talent management systems, leadership development programs and performance management processes. She is currently a member of HR Alliance, serving on the Programs Committee. She was recognized as a 2015 Finalist in Mentoring for the Human Resource Leadership Awards of Greater Washington. Her article, Developing Emerging Talent Pipelines was published in the Summer 2014 edition of Training Industry Magazine. She has also been an adjunct faculty member at Webster University and Peace College.

Kathleen earned her master's degree in human resource management from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia and a bachelor's degree from Radford University in Radford, Virginia. She grew up in the DC area and currently lives in Springfield, VA with her husband, Alan.

Darell Hammond is the founder of KaBOOM!, the national non-profit that works to ensure that ALL kids, particularly the 16 million American kids growing up in poverty, get the active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. Play is the essence of childhood, and a healthy balance of all types of play is critical to the physical, social, emotional, cognitive and creative development of kids who are able to thrive in the 21st century. In its 18-year history of giving kids the childhood they deserve, KaBOOM! has built over 2,400 playgrounds in partnership with low-income communities across America and catalyzed over 13,000 additional playgrounds, providing 6.6 million kids a great place to play, enlisting over 1 million volunteers to promote and protect play and mobilizing city leaders to create child-friendly, play-filled communities. An Ashoka Fellow, Hammond is the author of The New York Times Bestseller KaBOOM!: A Movement to Save Play, was the recipient of the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was named to the Forbes Magazine list of the world’s Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs.

Awards and Recognitions

• Lewis Hine Distinguished Service Award – National Child Labor Committee (2012)
• U.S. Social Entrepreneur of the Year – Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (2011)
• Impact 30 Social Entrepreneurs – Forbes (2011)
• Health Hero – WebMD (2011)
• Upstander! Award – Facing History & Ourselves (2011)
• Social Entrepreneurship Award and Honorary Degree – Stevenson University (2011)
• 40 Under 40 award – Washington Business Journal (2010)
• American Express NGen Leadership Award – Independent Sector (2010)
• Lifetime Achievement Award – President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (2010)
• NYU Stern’s Satter Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2008)
• Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged (2008)
• Honorary Doctoral Degree – Ripon College (2008)
• Children's Mental Health Award – NARSAD (2007)
• President's Volunteer Service Award (2004)
• Power and Influence Top 50 – The NonProfit Times (2004)
• Washingtonian of the Year – Washingtonian magazine (2003)
• Fellow – Ashoka: Innovators for the Public (2003)
• 40 under 40 – Crain's Chicago Business (2000)
• Making a Difference Award – Diet Coke (1999)