SOAR - New York/New Jersey Chapter

P.O. Box 49
Mount Freedom, NJ 07869
infonynj@soar-us.org

The Greater New York/New Jersey chapter, our 5th chapter, became part of the SOAR family in July 2009 and encompasses New York and New Jersey. The Greater New York/New Jersey is an exciting addition because of the large Armenian population that lives in northern New Jersey and New York. The Board of Directors for the Greater New York/New Jersey is also our youngest, bringing a significant amount of energy and enthusiasm to our humanitarian efforts. If you have any questions about how you can assist our efforts in New York/New Jersey, please contact the chapter Officers by email.

Board of Directors:

Maggie Merdjanian
President

Maggie Merdjanian has a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Villanova University. For the past 10 years, she has been working in the Information Technology field, specializing in ERP systems. She is currently at Johnson Matthey, where she is the IT Project Manager. Prior to her current position, she worked as a consultant, where she focused both on the implementation of enterprise systems and the organizational impact of implementation to her clients. Maggie is actively involved with the St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian Church Sunday School, where she is the superintendent. She currently lives in suburbs of Philadelphia and will be marrying Stephen Odabashian this summer.

Sosie Coopersmith
Vice President

Sosie is currently a Project Manager for UPS CRM Sales and Marketing. She holds several degrees including a B.A., M.B.A. and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Throughout her career Sosie has worked at various corporations in management and leadership positions. She is goal and results oriented.

Sosie's inspiration is her parents Rose and Mirjan Kirian. Through the AGBU, her dad provided scholarships to needy Armenian students worldwide. Her mom is still active at St. Leon Armenian Church in Fair Lawn, NJ. At work Sosie was a top individual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event and has coordinated grants to children's agencies. Sosie has also initiated the Suits for Success and Annual Toy Drives at UPS Information Services.

Sosie has been involved in the NY/NJ Armenian community since childhood. Together with her husband they have four children. Her passions include photography, professional baseball and fashion styling.

Maral Kazanjian
Treasurer

Maral Natalia Kazanjian, Esq. earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Psychology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and her Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. Currently, Maral is Assistant General Counsel for Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. in New York, specializing in counseling Moody’s management on employment matters. Among other organizations, Maral is a member of the Armenian Bar Association, and the New York State Bar Association. She is admitted to practice law in both New York and New Jersey. She has also taught law classes at Hunter College in New York, predominantly for newly arriving immigrants. Maral’s first cousin was adopted from Armenia and she believes strongly in the power of our collective strength to create a stronger foundation for the youth of Armenia.



Alice A. Hallajian
Secretary

Alice A. Hallajian has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montclair State University in Communication Studies with a minor in English and Pre-Law Studies. She has worked with KPMG LLP (an accounting firm) for 17 years and currently is the Associate Director of Global Mobility, supporting members within the Tax and Advisory practices who take on international assignments with global member firms. Alice previously contributed her time on the Board of Directors for the REED Academy, a school for children with Autism. She is active member of the St. Mary’s Armenian Church in Livingston, NJ and has traveled to Armenia with her husband twice to adopt their two children; once in June 2007 to bring home her daughter, Anna and again in October 2008 to bring home her son, Armen. She is eager to work with SOAR to meet their goals while making a positive impact on the lives of Armenian orphans. Alice currently resides in Randolph, NJ with her husband and two children.



Matthew Atoulikian

Matthew Atoulikian received a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2008, specializing in biomechanics. For the past two years Matt has worked in the orthopaedic field, focusing on pre-operative navigation and customized implant solutions for total knee replacement surgery. He recently moved from Memphis, TN to Wayne, NJ for a new opportunity in spine orthopaedics and to be closer to family.






Armen A. Grigorian

Armen Grigorian joined Merrill Lynch & Co.’s flagship Fifth Avenue New York City office in 2011 after more than fifteen years of working in senior positions at two investment management and strategy advisory boutique firms. He provides wealth strategies and financial/investment advice to a select group of clients, mainly family businesses, successful entrepreneurs and über-professionals.

Armen’s approach to providing advice is consultative and long-term oriented. His core competency is assessing the client’s current financial positions and long-term objectives, and devising executable and measurable wealth strategy. Armen’s professional edge is the ability to advise clients on achieving a financial balance of the total wealth structure, including of business and personal wealth components. His experience has served the clients well in assessing long-term realities in lieu of strategic events such as sale of family businesses, formation or consolidation of professional partnerships, exiting professional practice activities, succession executions, retirement, etc.. He is well positioned to serve as priority access to all Merrill Lynch and Bank of America financial products and solutions, including cash management, credit & lending, investment management, securities operations, retirement & benefit solutions, wealth structuring & risk assurance.

Armen has a B.A. in Business from Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. During 1986-1989 he worked towards the M.S. in Communication Technologies at Sankt Peterburg Aerospace Academy. Armen is a life-long mountain touring and scuba diving enthusiast. He lives in New York City since 2004 with his wife, Victoria, and their two children.

Katie Kashmanian

Katie Kashmanian earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from the State University of New York in Cortland, New York; her Masters Degree in Psychology from Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey; her Masters Degree in Education Administration from Caldwell College in Caldwell, New Jersey; and her Doctorate in Education Leadership from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. After ten years teaching, Katie spent five years working at an educational consulting firm. Eventually becoming Executive Vice President and COO of the firm, Katie worked with schools across the United States as well as internationally to improve instruction and to infuse technology into the curriculum. Realizing her true passion involved grass roots public education, Katie resigned from the consulting firm and became a school administrator. She is now the principal at George Washington Middle School in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She is currently in the process of adopting a child from Armenia, and is passionate about working to assist children in need in order to create a stronger future.


Steve Odabashian   Bio & pic to come


Gretchen Sgagliardich

Gretchen is a mom of three who has always wanted to give back to the world in some way. Her heart fell in love with the children in orphanages overseas, so she began to research ways to help. Gretchen and her husband hope to adopt from Armenia one day, and when researching adoption agencies, found Hopscotch Adoption agency who put them in touch with George Yacoubian. She hopes to make a big difference in the lives of children living in orphanages. Besides being a mom, Gretchen works as a physical therapist in a local hospital. She hopes to incorporate her work in the hospital with assisting children overseas.



Joe Sgagliardich

Joe has his degree in electrical engineering and can usually be found managing different projects in NYC. He is a proud dad of three with a love for not only his children, but for those without forever families. Together with his wife, Gretchen, he hopes to adopt from Armenia in the future. Until then, he will work through SOAR to help provide the children in these orphanages with supplies they need to make their lives easier.