CONNECT Staff

CONNECT’s senior management team consists of Kala Ganesh, Executive Director, Sally MacNichol, Director of Programs, Quentin Walcott, Program Director of Connect Training Institute (CTI) and Community Empowerment Program (CEP) and Kerry Toner, Supervisor Legal Programs. Together they supervise a staff of 13 including attorneys, legal advocates, community educators, trainers and administrative staff and project-based consultants.

Meet the CONNECT team

Kala Ganesh, Executive Director, has been a women’s rights activist for over two decades and is dedicated to transforming attitudes and approaches toward women. She spent the first half of her career in India and then moved to the U.S. where she has focused primarily on the issues faced by disenfranchised and immigrant refugee communities. Her areas of specialization range from the overall economic and social empowerment of women, including fighting for improvements in women’ healthcare and living conditions, to helping immigrants navigate through political obstacles. Since 2003, she has worked to improve the lives of women and children in New York City through infrastructure building and networking approaches. She has served on several boards and committees including the New York Alliance Against Sexual Assault Policy Advisory Committee, Coalition for Asian-American Children and Families and the Center for International Development. She is a founding member of Fork in the Road Players, a theater group for New York City youth that develops and stages free theater performances dealing with social issues.

Sally N. MacNichol, Director of Programs, has been an advocate against domestic violence and an educator for over 20 years. She has counseled victims of domestic violence, run empowerment groups for survivors and worked with batterers. She has trained hundreds of staff from child welfare programs and community-based organizations as well as clergy across New York City’s five boroughs. She has served on numerous committees working to reform New York City’s policies and practices concerning women and children struggling with violence. She also leads all CONNECT Faith initiatives. She has a Masters of Divinity and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary.

Quentin Walcott, Director, CONNECT Training Institute (CTI) and Community Empowerment Program (CEP), has extensive experience facilitating groups for young and adult males on masculinity, manhood development, fathering, batterer’s intervention and accountability. He spearheads CONNECT’s Male Anti-Violence initiatives. He develops anti-violence educational training programs for men and encourages male participation and leadership in the anti-violence movement. He is co-chair of the Batterers Intervention Workers Task Force, a committee of men and women that run programs for batterers throughout New York City.

Kerry Toner, Esq., Supervisor Legal Programs, represents undocumented survivors of domestic violence in immigration proceedings and oversees CONNECT’s Legal Advocacy Helpline and Coordinated Action Against Violence programs. An educator, she has worked on behalf of domestic violence victims for over seven years. She has counseled and advocated for victims of domestic violence, run empowerment groups for survivors, developed and facilitated anti-violence curricula for youth programming and conducted community education and outreach for service providers and community members in upstate New York. She is a graduate of the School of Law of the City University of New York (CUNY).