Board and Staff Bios
Francesca Yellico
Francesca has been passionate about life issues and empowering women and families since the 1990s. She has been intimately involved in developing and presenting educational programs focused on life issues, personal motivation, and societal empowerment. Her programs have been impactful in numerous high schools and colleges.
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Francesca has also taken the lead in fundraising efforts to support disaster victims. These include collecting and distributing resources to victims of Superstorm Sandy as part of Project Hope, directing The Long Island Volunteer Center, and founding The WTC Family Fund to support the widows and children of firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11/2001.
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Through volunteer opportunities, grassroots movements, and vocational experiences, Francesca has come to know first-hand the importance of honest guidance, access to resources, and support during challenging times. These experiences and insights have solidified in her a passion for being in service to others. With her enthusiastic, friendly personality, her empathetic spirit, and her dedication to showing care to others, Francesca creates a loving environment where parents and families can find compassionate support.
Catherine Donohoe, MS, RN
Ms. Donohoe’s pro-life activism started in grammar school when she attended the very first March for Life in Washington DC with her dad. Since then, she has been an advocate for the unborn and their mothers and started volunteering at Bridge when it opened in 1992.
Besides her work at Bridge, Ms. Donohoe is also President of the Pregnancy Service Network of Greater New York; Lay Pastoral Minister of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and member of the Joint Parish Respect Life and International Gift of Life Walk Committees. She also passionately advocates for the unborn within the local political community. An RN, she became a Nurse Educator after obtaining her MS degree.
Ms. Donohoe has received recognition for her pro-life work including the 2016 Diocese of Brooklyn’s Provita Award. She is a wife and mother of two daughters and grateful to be able to serve other mothers and all women that seek our assistance.
Julia Chitos, LHS+
Julia Chitos, wife, mother of three and grandmother to eight. A long standing volunteer and board member of seven organizations: St. Mels Italian American Association; Rosary Altar Society; Cenacles of Life Prayer Group; Joint Parish Respect Life Committee; Rachel’s Helpers for Post Abortive Women; Vice President of The Bridge to Life and a 14-year member of Lieutenants of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher.
Her mission has always been and will be helping all those in need with respect to the Sanctity of Life.
Donald Cavanaugh, CPA, MBA, CGMA
Mr. Cavanaugh is a Certified Public Accountant, who specializes in non-profit organization for over 30 Years, serving in various financial functions.
He is currently the Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus at the St. Paul’s Council in Brookville, NY and serves on his Parish Annual Outing and Finance Committee.
Mark Cipolla, Esq.
Mark Cipolla is a trial lawyer focused on the defense of complex personal injury, general liability and casualty claims. Mark has tried dozens of cases to successful resolution achieving numerous defense verdicts on claims involving Labor Law construction accident claims, premises security, health care facility, elevator accidents and general premises liability claims. Mark supervises a team of associates handling a wide variety of client business including construction managers, owners, developers, general contractors and trade contractors. The team’s client portfolio includes construction, elevator, trucking, security and health care entities.
Mark developed his trial skills while serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. During his tenure as a county prosecutor, Mark prosecuted cases involving serious violent crimes, including homicides, assaults, robberies, long-term narcotics and firearms investigations, as well as appeals.
Mark’s breadth of career experience includes time trying cases for injured plaintiffs. He uses his investigative experience developed while a prosecutor together with his vast and diversified trial experience to develop defense strategies to best suit his client’s needs, including early settlement, mediation or trial.
Mark has been actively involved in his community serving on the boards of several nonprofits involved in providing assistance to mothers in need and Catholic school education.
Anthony T. Marsanico, AS
Mr. Marsanico is the owner and president of a heating and air conditioning contractor company called Irving Haase and Co, Inc. which began operations in 1977. He has been a long-standing member of the board where he brings his business expertise to the table.
He’s lived in Queens with his wife Barbara since 1974, raised four grown children and has eight grandchildren in the Tri-state area. Mr. Marsanico has an Associate’s degree in Engineering and a strong accounting/business education. His wife, Barbara introduced him to Bridge long ago when she served as a labor coach to a client who chose “life“. His hobbies include ATV riding, hunting, camping and enjoying the great outdoors with his family.
Msgr. Sean Ogle
Msgr. Ogle is a native New Yorker and the son of Irish immigrants. He was ordained in 1977 for the Diocese of Brooklyn and has served in parish work, taught in the minor seminary and served in diocesan administration. He was also a national officer of the National Catholic Forensic League for speech and debate.
He is currently the Vicar for Clergy for the Diocese of Brooklyn, and Chairman of the Board of DeSales Media. He is the former pastor of St Mary Star of the Sea in Far Rockaway and pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel the “Mother Church of Queens County” in Astoria. Msgr. Ogle has served on a variety of community-based boards and has been a long-standing member of The Bridge to Life board.
Michael Conigliaro
Michael Conigliaro has always considered himself to be pro-life person, believing that all life should be protected from conception to natural death. It was solidified when he went to his first March For Life in 2017. The March for Life made a lasting profound impression on him.
Michael is a lifelong resident of Queens, and the father of two beautiful daughters. He was a New York State Senate Candidate for District 15 ( 2014 and 2016). He continues on St. John’s University Criminal Justice Advisory Board since 2018. He was a mentor with St. John’s University Shadow Program. He was Queens County GOP Executive Director (2015 to 2017). He was the Director of the Republican Leadership Initiative Conference (2017 to 2018). He is proud that he is a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus with the Msgr. Sherman Council. He was president of Queensborough Community College Alumni Association (2012 to 2017).
He is a Managing Attorney/Office Manager at a successful real estate law firm in Floral Park. He was a teacher for the Confirmation Class at our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church from 2007 to 2017. He continues as a lector in his parish. His concentration is Real Estate Law, and is looking forward to assisting Bridge with his talents.
Pamela Menera
When Pam was still in college, she went to Mexico to study there, which resulted in her living in Mexico City for five years. (Where she was married and had my first daughter). She went to study Art but acquired proficiency in Spanish, which lead to the career she's had for over 30 years, working for the State of New York Unified Court System as a Certified Court Interpreter, and then the NYS DOCCS (Parole), where she currently works,
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She is blessed with five living children and four grandchildren. After struggling for many years with the devastating after-effects of her abortion, she was graced by God to be called (eventually) into the Catholic Church. There, she was offered the opportunity to enter into Post Abortive Healing, which lead her to the compelling desire to help others. She was exceptionally blessed to meet so many amazing people within the Church and the Pro-Life Ministries. She became a
volunteer with the Sisters of Life and a facilitator with Rachel's Helpers Post Abortive Healing Program. She has attended First Saturday Vigils with the Helpers Of God's Precious Infants for many years now, taught RCIA in her Parish, and is a member of Personhood Education NY, serving on their annual Walk for Life Committee. She has trained with the Life Center of Long Island to enhance her ability to communicate effectively. She volunteers for Bridge now with Francesca, offering support to those that come in seeking information. She is grateful that she can speak to those that are not able to communicate in English.
Through her personal experience, she was fully aware of the tragic consequences and suffering brought on by abortion. She knew the fear and deception that compels young women to make that choice, contrasted by the incredible blessings that her living children have given her, and she knows that she has so much to offer. People were not there for her when she was faced with an unexpected pregnancy.
St. Pope John Paul ll stated in the Gospel of Life that those women who have had an abortion have the potential to become great witnesses in the Pro-Life effort. Pam's greatest aspiration within this ministry is to love, accompany, and educate young women, sharing the wisdom of experience with great humility, ever mindful of her own "choices," and doing all she can to utilize her weakness to give strength to others.
The women she has encountered through this ministry have given her much inspiration. Their strength and determination have been an immeasurable gift. She is thrilled to be a member of the Board of Directors. She looks forward to doing all she can to foster the expansion of a wonderful organization that has the incredible potential to positively affect the lives of so many.
Stephanie Cipolla-Prinzivalli, Esq.
Stephanie joined the Bridge board after serving as a volunteer and assisting in fundraising and outreach at Spanish-speaking masses throughout the diocese. She believes that the best way to protect the unborn is to support women and families and help provide the resources--whether financial, material, emotional, or spiritual--they need to grow their families.
Stephanie is an attorney specializing in data privacy and cybersecurity and has represented non-profit organizations, large corporations, and start-up companies. She earned her bachelor's degree from The University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from St. John's University School of Law. Before law school, Stephanie worked as a fellow for the CEO of Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Deacon Michael Anthony Chirichella
Deacon Michael was born in Brooklyn New York. He attended Our
Lady of Mount Carmel grammar school in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He
then attended Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village
Queens. He attended the Diaconate program for the Diaconate and was
ordained a Deacon on May 29, 2021. He was assigned to his home
parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Williamsburg, where he minsters
to the people of God, and serves as the parish youth minister.
Deacon Michael married his childhood sweetheart Judy in 1989 and
have two children Jennifer, and Michael. They also have a
granddaughter, Andrea. They live by the beach in Bayville, New York.
Deacon Michael enjoys spending time with his family, caring for his
mother Michela, taking long walks by the ocean, and ministering to the
people of God. He has a strong devotion to the Lebanese miracle worker
Saint Sharbel. He is also a cancer survivor, and ministers to people with
cancer through conversations, and phone calls. Deacon and his brother
Father Vincent Chirichella have a monthly healing Mass in honor of
Saint Sharbel at Saint Joseph Church in Astoria, New York. He also has
a podcast with his brother called “The brothers in Faith.”