Smartrauma - Team

The Smartrauma Team

Smartrauma is guided by leaders whose work is informed by lived experience, restorative learning, community engagement, education, and a commitment to creating meaningful pathways to opportunity.

Our team is building a trauma-responsive model that connects stabilization, reentry-informed guidance, recovery-oriented resource navigation, technology education, workforce preparation, and community partnership.

Efrain Diaz

CEO & Founder

efraindiaz@smartrauma.org

Efrain Diaz- CEO & Founder & Director of Support Systems, Smartrauma

"True transformation requires an absolute foundation of stability. We do not just train the mind; we secure the environment."

Efrain Diaz is a dedicated operational strategist, administrator, and restorative justice advocate whose leadership shapes the baseline security of the Smartrauma model. As Co-Founder and Director of Support Systems, Efrain oversees the complex integration of the academy's dual mandate: ensuring personal, socio-emotional stabilization before guiding scholars through elite high-tech industry training pipelines.

Systemic Foundations & Wraparound Logistics

With a profound, lived understanding of personal resilience and community re-entry frameworks, Efrain has spent years identifying and dismantling the structural barriers that prevent transitioning adults and vulnerable youth from achieving long-term economic mobility.

At Smartrauma, he translates this deep understanding of institutional trauma into action by directing the critical procurement, management, and logistical deployment of the academy's secure supportive housing assets and holistic recovery wellness networks. By guaranteeing every participant an absolute floor of psychological safety and stability, his division eliminates the housing insecurity, survival stress, and external vulnerabilities that traditionally derail non-traditional students. Under his management, the recovery workspace runs as a continuous, uncompromised environment where personal healing serves as the direct launchpad for future success.

Prior Experience

Before founding Smartrauma, Efrain served as a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate with Phoenix House in Brooklyn. In this role, he supervised program activities and championed recovery-oriented programming, specializing in:

Peer-informed support and participant engagement
Wellness and recovery network connections
Resource navigation and community alignment
Practical guidance for individuals achieving personal stability goals

This foundational experience deepened Efrain’s understanding of how trusted relationships, non-clinical peer support, structured programming, and community resources drive long-term recovery and workforce opportunity. Today, these insights directly shape Smartrauma’s trauma-responsive approach to mentoring, support infrastructure, technology education, and career preparation.

Multimedia & Civic Leadership

In addition to his direct corporate oversight of housing assets, Efrain is a co-creator and panel host of the critically acclaimed 100 Years Podcast. Alongside fellow Smartrauma board members and co-panelists, he uses civic media to advocate for systemic reform and community stabilization.

Michael Rhynes

Co-CEO & Founder

Michael Rhynes-Co-CEO, Co-Founder, & Director of Community Engagement, Smartrauma

"Our pasts do not define our potential. By unlocking access to tomorrow’s technology, we give our community the ultimate tool for self-determination."

Michael Rhynes is a visionary advocate, author, community organizer, and restorative justice pioneer whose life story exemplifies deep personal resilience and systemic transformation. As a Co-Founder and the Director of Community Engagement for Smartrauma, Michael serves as the strategic bridge between transitioning individuals, local municipal school districts, and high-income emerging technology careers.

Radical Rehabilitation & The Arts

While navigating maximum-security penitentiaries, Michael refused to let the prison environment break his spirit. Instead, he dedicated himself to the concepts of non-violence, community fellowship, and holistic personal recovery. Seeking a transformative outlet for trauma processing and emotional healing, he co-founded The Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG) at the Auburn Correctional Facility alongside Cornell University faculty.

Amplifying Voices: The "100 Years" Podcast & Media Channels

Beyond his work in the academy labs, Michael is a primary founder and host of the powerful 100 Years Podcast. The program brings together a panel of four men—including Michael and fellow Smartrauma board member Efrain Diaz—who spent a collective century behind bars in New York.

Bruce Levitt

Board Director

Professor Bruce Levitt-Board Chair, Smartrauma

"Experiential learning is the bridge between human potential and future innovation. We are building a rigorous, compassionate pipeline for tech leadership."

Bruce Levitt is an acclaimed Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1986. A recipient of Cornell’s inaugural Engaged Scholar Prize, Bruce has spent decades utilizing experiential education, storytelling, and collaborative pedagogy as instruments for structural social change, personal rehabilitation, and community empowerment. As Co-Founder and Academic Chair of Smartrauma, he anchors the program’s framework of rigorous institutional education.

The Phoenix Players & Collaborative Roots

Professor Levitt’s connection to the foundation of Smartrauma traces back to his transformative work inside the New York state carceral system. For over a decade, he served as the Lead Facilitator for The Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG) at the Auburn Correctional Facility, collaborating closely with incarcerated individuals, including Michael Rhynes, to co-develop the therapeutic and creative acting troupe.

Alvi Gross

President of Smartrauma Connecticut and Masschuseets Operations

National Strategic Alliances

The NPOA Alliance

SMARTRAUMA proudly maintains a comprehensive national partnership with the National Peace Officers Association (NPOA) and the "Freedom Is A Must" civic media network, coordinated under the leadership of CEO Alvi. This operational framework bridges community safety networks and modern multimedia distribution with the academy’s high-tech instructional laboratories, driving three key initiatives:

Civic Media & Advocacy Workshops: The alliance utilizes the collaborative reach of the Freedom Is A Must broadcast network to host live community panels, distribute student-led technical updates, and foster open dialogues regarding prison reform and public policy.
Fraternal Mentorship Models: Active and retired public safety professionals partner with developing scholars to provide career discipline coaching, structural accountability, and community leadership development.
Secure Infrastructure Placements: Leveraging national advisory connections, this collaboration builds restricted employment pipelines for advanced graduates, placing them directly into high-income roles within enterprise cybersecurity, municipal tech consulting, and secure software logistics.

Manny Gonzalez

Director, Connecticut & Massachusetts Regional Programs

"Bridging community safety frameworks with advanced technical opportunities creates a permanent pathway to personal accountability and economic independence."

Manny Gonzalez is a seasoned civic leader and public safety executive who acts as the primary operational force driving Smartrauma’s physical expansion outside of New York State. Holding a dual mandate, Gonzalez serves concurrently as the Director of the National Peace Officers Association (NPOA), an alliance that ensures the academy's multi-state programs remain structurally synchronized with municipal civic expectations and public security protocols.

Multi-State Programmatic Coordination: As Regional Director, Gonzalez retains direct administrative oversight over all Smartrauma programs, curricula rollouts, and wraparound contract lifecycles across Connecticut and Massachusetts. He handles direct communication lines with municipal school districts, civic leadership bodies, and state departments, coordinating multi-program service contracts that supply anti-violence solutions, substance abuse recovery assets, and structured tech career tracks to regional participants.
Strategic Alliance Integration: Gonzalez leverages his direct authority within the NPOA to maintain an elite mentorship network for the academy. By pairing active and retired public safety officials with developing scholars, he guarantees that every regional site in Connecticut and Massachusetts benefits from robust, real-world personal discipline frameworks.

Credits & Acknowledgments

Smartrauma gratefully recognizes the volunteers, community members, and supporters whose time, insight, encouragement, and lived experience have helped shape this website and strengthen our mission.

We appreciate everyone who has contributed ideas, feedback, research support, creative assistance, outreach, and community perspective. Your efforts help Smartrauma build a more informed, connected, compassionate, and trauma-responsive community.

Volunteer Contributors

Janet Coleman
Community Outreach & Feedback
Janet contributed community outreach insight and feedback that helps Smartrauma remain connected and responsive to community voices, needs, and perspectives.

Eric Smicht
Research Support
Eric contributed research assistance and resource-review support that helps strengthen the accuracy, clarity, and usefulness of Smartrauma’s public information.

Ellis Smith
Website Review & Content Feedback
Ellis contributed website review and content feedback that helps improve clarity, accessibility, navigation, and the overall visitor experience.

Shiou Zu
Design, Photography & Social-Media Support
Shiou contributed creative support through design, photography, and social-media assistance that helps Smartrauma communicate its mission with clarity, care, and respect.

With Appreciation

Smartrauma also extends sincere thanks to contributors who have chosen to remain unnamed. Your encouragement, lived experience, ideas, and behind-the-scenes support are deeply valued.

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