Bharati Sukul Kemraj, FCRH ’06, is a senior associate at consulting firm Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates, where she is currently doing community outreach for the Metro-North Railroad stations that are coming to the Bronx—where she grew up—as part of the Penn Station Access project.
Throughout her career, Kemraj has remained connected to the borough where she grew up, having previously worked for the Bronx borough president’s office, Bronx Community Boards 9 and 11, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, and BronxNet television, where she was a reporter, host, and producer. After she was hired by Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates, her previous employer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., told The Bronx Chronicle that Kemraj “combines a knack for public service and communications with a true love of community engagement.”
Lisa Payne Wansley, GSAS ’89, is vice president of environmental justice and sustainability at the New York Power Authority in White Plains, where she leads initiatives to ensure that the largest state-owned utility in the United States is being a responsible neighbor, operating efficiently, and maintaining a low environmental impact through policy development, goal setting, program development and implementation, community relations, internal training, employee engagement, and resource planning.
She previously worked in public affairs at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, served as a Bronx regional representative under then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, and oversaw community affairs at the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office. Upon being named to the list, Wansley told City & State New York, “For me, a career didn’t mean just making money and sitting behind a desk. I really wanted to make a difference in communities where people didn’t have a voice.”
The 2020 Above and Beyond list is the ninth one published by City & State New York, a media organization dedicated to covering New York’s local and state politics and policy. Along the other women on the list are lawyers, politicians, nonprofit directors, and one university president (Shirley Ann Jackson of Rensselear Polytechnic Institute).
