TTF Staff

Ellen Lambert
Interim Executive Director  

Ellen Lambert has 25 years of culture change, corporate responsibility and community relations experience, positively influencing and branding global foundations and corporations in the healthcare and energy arenas. In February, Ms Lambert left her role as Chief Diversity Officer at Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) where she placed a strong emphasis on inclusion and employee engagement focusing on both internal culture and external communities.  At PSEG, Ellen also served as President of the PSEG Foundation and Sr. Director, Corporate Citizenship, Responsibility and Culture.  In additions to the Diversity and Inclusion council, employee business resource groups and all diversity training, (Ellen created Allies and Bullying training programs, reaching 75% of employees, including exempt and bargaining unit employees), she created lead and implemented social investment strategies, oversaw grant making, employee engagement, corporate contributions, volunteering, sponsorships and employee giving programs.

Prior to joining PSEG, Ellen directed the Merck Foundation and its Office of Corporate Giving. During her employment at Merck Foundation, Ms. Lambert was responsible for philanthropic, community and volunteer endeavors including the development of The Richard T. Clark Global Fellowship program (now the Merck Fellowship), strategic health, education and community-focused initiatives. She created corporate-wide employee engagement programs that allowed workers to “give back" and develop their professional skills by working with non-profits. Furthermore, Ms. Lambert was responsible for the group of Merck non-profits, the Merck Institute for Science Education and the Merck Childhood Asthma Network.

Formerly, Ms. Lambert was the Executive Director of the ROCHE Foundation and Director of Corporate Relations and Contributions for the company. She served as Executive Director of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, the Executive Director of the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Foundation and the Vice President of Development for the New York Special Olympics.

Ms. Lambert has earned many awards for the organizations in which she participated, including top Corporate Citizen (2017), Forbes 100 responsible citizens (2016), 25 top Corporate Diversity Leaders (2016), Ellen has extensive experience in developing relevant programs social investment strategies that strengthen nonprofits and achieve business goals. Her expertise in evaluating impact will help us advance our giving strategy, and her background will help us better engage employees and serve our communities,” said Ralph Izzo, chairman, President and Chief Executive officer of PSEG. 

HTMLMs. Lambert holds a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Tulane University and a Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. She was an adjunct professor at New York University in continuing graduate education teaching courses in Altruism, Corporate Philanthropy--Charity or Branding?, and People, Planet, Profit, through 2014. Until 2012, Ms. Lambert served as a member of the advisory boards of Every Woman Every Child (UN), the Global Water Coalition and Women for Water. 

In 2016 Ellen was recognized by Diversity Journal as one of the 25 top diversity and inclusion officers in the nation.  “Diversity and inclusion drive success, and are an essential part of everything that we do every day, wherever we are and whatever we do.

Elizabeth Max
Senior Foundation Manager

Elizabeth Max joined The Toy Foundation in June 2014, and currently holds the position of Senior Foundation Manager.  Elizabeth came to the Foundation from Bottlerocket Marketing Group, where she managed strategic partnerships, promotions, and events for various cable-television networks, retail, and consumer clients in New York, NY. From conception to execution and everything in between, Elizabeth extended brand awareness through unique experiences that effectively engaged and converted consumers to lifelong advocates of multiple brands. Some of Elizabeth’s key clients included A+E Networks, NBC Universal, AMC Networks, General Mills, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Elizabeth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication, Management, and Design from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. She believes in the importance of “paying it forward” and allowing every child to experience play. During her childhood, Elizabeth loved Pretty Pretty Princess, Lite-Brite, Guess Who, and Twister.

Paul Vitale
Executive Vice President, Finance & Operations
The Toy Association

Paul Vitale is Executive Vice President, Finance & Operations at The Toy Association. Mr. Vitale is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant with 40 years of experience. He has held senior financial positions in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and spent more than ten years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen. Before joining The Toy Association in 2007, Mr. Vitale was Senior Director of Finance for the Greater New York Chapter of the American Red Cross for almost six years.

Mr. Vitale graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in accounting from St. John's University in New York. He is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executives International.

Mr. Vitale has been a volunteer director since 1995 of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Association, a not-for-profit provider of mental health services to children and their families based on Long Island, NY., having served as treasurer and currently as Board President. He also served for over 10 years on the Audit and Compliance Committee of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, a not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system.

Mr. Vitale is married to Marie, his wife of 35 years. Together they have three children and two grandchildren.