American Psychological Foundation Staff

Elisabeth R. Straus
Executive Vice President/Executive Director

Elisabeth Straus is Executive Vice-President/Executive Director of the American Psychological Foundation (APF). Ms. Straus became APF's first Executive Director in 1991 when the organization had assets of less than $990,000. The organization has since grown into a thriving $15 million foundation. Prior to her position with the Foundation, Ms. Straus had a long career as an educator and writer. Previously, she was Director of Communications and Student Placement at the Human Resources Research Organization's Technical Education Center in Washington, DC. As a researcher for the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1980, she provided position papers and background information to the White House on the Equal Rights Amendment. Ms. Straus graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania and received a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Elizabeth H. Merck
Assistant Director

Elizabeth Merck joined the APF staff in 2000. She currently oversees the day-to-day administration of the Foundation as well as APF's development department. Prior to joining APF, Ms. Merck was a development and health promotions coordinator at the Arthritis Foundation Metro DC Chapter and a merchandising assistant for Livent, Inc.'s production of "Showboat" at the Wang Center in Boston. She has held positions at Marymount University's office of admissions and Reinsch Library; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; the Boston Police Department’s office of human resources; and the Massachusetts Port Authority materials management/purchasing department. She has a BA in psychology from Marymount University and an MBA in nonprofit management from Walden University.

Idalia Ramos
Program Director

Idalia Ramos is responsible for managing the APF's funding programs, web site, and APF's lectures at the annual APA Convention. Ms. Ramos is also responsible for overseeing APF's evaluation and marketing efforts. Prior to joining APF in 2005, she was Program Specialist at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, an association of philanthropic organizations. Her responsibilities there included developing and managing program content and planning conferences and workshops on knowledge management, organizational learning and evaluation in philanthropy. Previously, Ms. Ramos worked at DDB Bass & Howes, a public policy, communications and public relations consulting firm specializing in women's and social issues; as a consultant specializing in international and domestic health care and insurance markets; and wrote for the pharmaceutical industry publication PPR. Ms. Ramos received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and a Master's of Public Policy with a concentration in culture, values, and social policy from George Mason University.

David Jacobs
Program Coordinator

David Jacobs joined the American Psychological Foundation in late 2007. He is responsible for assisting with the grant and award process, as well as helping to update the APF website. Prior to joining APF, Mr. Jacobs worked as an assistant in the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) at Georgetown University, an organization dedicated to teaching students and professors about recent learning resources and methods. He also worked at Lauinger Library as a Mailroom Attendant, where he was responsible for shipping and receiving mail and books through the inter library loan program. Mr. Jacobs graduated from Georgetown University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in theology.

Jennifer Snowden
Development Coordinator

Jennifer Snowden is primarily responsible for maintaining APF’s donor database by updating donor records, conducting donor research, handling correspondence, and processing donor contributions. She also assists with event coordinating and fundraising strategies, as well as, writes and edits articles for APF related publications. Prior to joining APF in 2007, Ms. Snowden worked as a Lead Communications Consultant for Sprint. Ms. Snowden received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Howard University in Washington, DC and a master’s of Arts degree in Media Arts from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Cathy Bradica
Manager, Accounting Services

Cathy Bradica is Manager, Accounting Services for American Psychological Association. She is responsible for American Psychological Foundation and American Psychological Association Practice Organization’s accounting. Ms. Bradica had worked in accounting for the profit sector for several years. She has performed several computer software conversions, including APF’s. Ms. Bradica graduated from Robert Morris University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting