Gisele Castro

Fierce advocate, visionary, and transformative leader are the words most often used to describe Gisele Castro. Gisele, who brings two decades of knowledge and experience in the criminal justice system, has served as Executive Director of exalt since 2016.

With her unwavering dedication and commitment to creating transformative change, Gisele has devoted herself to changing young lives through education, employment opportunities, and judicial reform. Her journey began with an operating budget of $950,000 in 2016 that has grown to over $6 million. Gisele has raised nearly $30 million, including a $5 million grant from MacKenzie Scott, and more than $4 million in accumulated surplus. In fiscal year 2022, she completed a three-year strategic plan that included moving to their first operations center in 2019 and further expanding the physical space at Battery Place by the end of 2022. She tripled the staff size and developed internal capacity and infrastructure, transitioning the organization into its middle-age cycle. With Gisele at the helm, the organization has achieved continuous growth, served more than 2,000 young people in 5 years, and solidified its financial position to take it to the next level. In fiscal year 2024, Gisele launched a new three-year strategic plan with a $25 million budget to increase the organization’s impact and replicate the model nationwide across the U.S. In line with Gisele’s vision and the new strategic plan, the Board of Directors has diversified and added committed individuals who will contribute to the organization’s sustainable growth while enhancing its governance capacity and board expertise.

In her ongoing effort to weigh risks and opportunities, Gisele has modeled, tested, and implemented policies and procedures that have transformed the organization from a startup model to a well-established and highly functional entity, with our youth at the center of everything it does. Her vision and execution have resonated at all levels of government and society, allowing her to be recognized and sought after as a leader, speaker, and educator. She has received recognition and support from municipal, state, and federal government officials, as well as the private sector, including Google, JP Morgan Chase, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

She has also leveraged her experience and vision to contribute to other organizations through her service, including collaborations with Rockefeller State Preserve, Trinity Church Wall Street, Sterling Foundation, Chief Network, and as part of the Board of Directors of SparkYouth NYC.

Under Gisele’s leadership, the organization was recognized with the Spark Award as an outstanding and pioneering nonprofit, deeply committed to advancing racial and social justice; was named “NYU-Steinhardt Internship Partner of the Year” in 2019 and selected as a finalist for the Nonprofit Excellence Awards for its best management practices. Gisele was included in City and State New York magazine’s “Responsible 100” list, which recognizes the most effective executives, thought leaders, visionaries, and influencers who set new standards of excellence, dedication, and leadership by improving their communities and driving transformative change. Recently, she was one of two Latinas to join the Robin Hood Power Fund, which was established to address the acute funding disparity for leaders who are people of color in the nonprofit sector who exemplify the communities they serve.

Gisele is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education for Leadership and Innovation from NYU Steinhardt. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration specializing in nonprofit management from Pace University and completed graduate studies at the University of Oxford, where she conducted research on the United Kingdom’s juvenile justice system compared to that of the United States.