New York Circle of Translators

Michelle Berrios
President

Michelle is a translator and lexicographer, currently honored to be serving in her first
term as president of the New York Circle of Translators. A native of Puerto Rico, she moved
back to New York two years ago and became a member of the organization. Her background
includes expertise in translation, lexicography, and project management, and she is fluent in
both her native Spanish and English. Michelle has built a successful career in the corporate
world, and holds a post-graduate certificate in translation from City, University of London and a
master's degree in lexicography from the Spanish Royal Academy. Specializing in marketing and
banking, she has over 17 years of experience in the field, during which she lived abroad for
extensive periods of time in Paris, Argentina, and Spain. She is also a member of the American
Translators Association and co-authored an online bilingual dictionary and written materials for
online Spanish lessons for beginners.

Elizabeth (Liz) Herron-Sweet
Vice President

Elizabeth joined ATA in 2015 and became certified in the Portuguese > English language pair in 2017. She was a founding member of the ATA’s Law Division in 2017 and went on to serve as Assistant Administrator of the Division from 2018-2021 and as Administrator since 2021.

She has a B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Portuguese from Middlebury College and worked for six years as a paralegal at a large international law firm, first in New York City and then at the firm’s new office in São Paulo. Liz has now been a translator for nine years, specializing in legal, business and academic work. She holds a Certificate in English to Portuguese Translation from the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies and a Certificate in Basic Training in Conference Interpreting from Versão Brasileira in Curitiba, Brazil.

Matthew Goldstein
Secretary

Matt is a French to English freelance translator and content editor with over ten years of translation experience. The language industry is his third career, after years of experience in pharmaceutical promotions, editing for major pharma companies including Purdue Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim, and outreach writing for JDRF, the world’s largest type 1 diabetes research organization which he came to after a 15 year career in the arts. Matt translates for non-profits/NGOs, arts organizations, legal/insurance, and real estate and with clients from across La Francophonie. He remains a lover of theater and the arts, travel and exploring his own backyard in New York City. In addition to French, Matt also speaks Spanish and is currently studying German and Haitian Creole.  

Randal Gernaat
Treasurer

Randal is a language services professional focusing on German-to-English economic and
financial translations. Before becoming a translator, he worked in international economics and
finance for nearly 20 years. His past roles have included everything from research and analysis
to product development and business management while working for top firms, such as
Bloomberg.
Randal holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, with a
specialization in international economics. He spent a year studying German at the University of
Vienna, Austria, as well as a semester studying French at the Sorbonne in Paris. In addition to
German and French, Randal also speaks Spanish.
In his spare time, he enjoys German crime novels, adventure travel and vegetarian cooking with
produce from local farmers’ markets.

Alexia Klein
Program Director

Natalia Postigran
Administrator

Natalia is a Russian linguist, translation project manager, and teacher. In addition to translation in the fields of education, medical/pharmaceutical, and legal, and interpreting in immigration, family, and criminal courts, she coaches and evaluates court interpreters. Her academic background is in technology and mathematics. She has a keen interest in technologies of computer-assisted translation and machine learning.

Patricia Stumpp
Gotham Translator Editor

Patricia is a certified Italian/English interpreter for the New York State Court System. She came to translation and interpretation after a long career as an international commercial banker during which time she worked extensively in Spanish, Italian and French for major US financial institutions, including Chase and Citi. Her interest in Italian began when, after graduating from Connecticut College, she enrolled in the Scuola Dante Alighieri in Florence to study Italian language and culture. She subsequently worked in the US offices of two major Italian corporations, Montedison and Impregilo, while studying at night for her MBA from NYU.

In 2019, she translated Gianna Coletti’s Italian language memoir Mamma a Carico into English which was published by Einaudi in 2015. Einaudi is circulating this translation to its network of English language publishers with a view to its eventual publication.