February 6, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Where she’s going: Ms. Cabrera, 69, is retiring May 31 after leading one of the nation’s largest food banks for 23 years. A national search is under way for her replacement.
Biggest accomplishment on the job: Ms. Cabrera, who has a doctorate in social policy and administration from Columbia University and a business background, pioneered the use of research in food-bank promotion and management. “We were the first to map New York’s food programs and the type of work each agency was doing,” she says. “We looked at hunger like an industry would.”
Her milestones: Under her leadership, the Food Bank For New York City, which now runs on annual budget of $33.5-million, grew from distributing 9.8 million pounds of food annually to 74 million pounds of food, providing 400,000 meals daily to needy New Yorkers.
Biggest challenge: Keeping track of donors’ interests, she says, which shift constantly. “It’s a constant challenge to keep in touch with that changing environment,” she says. “You have to be careful not to move to bigger offices or buy more trucks just because donations are coming in well this year.”
Background: Ms. Cabrera, a child of Puerto Rican immigrants who grew up in New York public housing, began earning her academic degrees in her 30s, as a single mother who worked as a secretary. After stints at Union Carbide and a food importer, she served as vice president of the Easter Seals Greater Hartford Rehabilitation Center, in Conn., then as chief operating officer of the Casa Colina Career Development Center, in Calif.
Salary: $250,000
Retirement plans: “My friends have heard me say for years that I’d like to get into photography and art,” she says. “It’s time.”
