BOARD MEMBERS

Liz Walker, Chair of Board
Liz (Liz Walker Journey Productions ) is an award-winning veteran television journalist, an ordained minister, a writer and a filmmaker currently in production on her second major project, a documentary called RISE. Directed by Thato Mwosa, an exciting young Film maker from Botswana, RISE tells the story of Sudanese women, members of MSK’S Sisterhood for Peace Project, who are crossing cultural and religious boundaries and putting their lives on the line to work for a lasting peace in war torn Sudan.  Liz is producing Thato’s work through her non-profit company Liz Walker Journey Productions (Liz Walker Journey Productions ).

Cynthia A. Bell
Cynthia is the President and Founder of One Vision, a consulting firm that provides life coach training for professional and personal success.  Cynthia is also a founding minister of Strong Tower International Ministries of Boston, Massachusetts.  She received her B.S. degree in Mental Health from Tufts University and holds Master degrees from Yale University School of Public Health and Harvard Divinity School. Cynthia is an art collector and enjoys international travel, antique shopping adventures and spending quality time with her husband and two children.

Patricia H. Brandes
Patricia H. Brandes is the Executive Director of The Barr Foundation.  This private Boston based foundation primarily focues on the lives of young people and on climate change as well as the arts.   Prior to the Barr Foundation, she was the COO of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.  Pat began her career as a small farmer in Virginia and then moved to Massachusetts where she helped found the school her three children attended. She has an M.B.A. and has served on numerous nonprofit boards including The Waring School, The Waldorf School, The Institute for Social Change, After School For All Partnership, Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts and as Trustee of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Heidi Brooks
Heidi Brooks is SVP and Director of Charitable Giving at Citizens Financial Group. She heads the Citizens Charitable Foundation, and sets strategy and direction for Citizens’ community outreach efforts. She has experience in corporate philanthropy (John Hancock), strategy consulting (The Bridgespan Group).  Brooks spent several years working in Africa, Asia, and Latin America managing, designing, and auditing programs for the World Bank and several NGOs.  Brooks holds a B.A. (University of South Carolina), an M.A. (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies), and an M.B.A. (Harvard Business School). She speaks Spanish, French, and Vietnamese and has traveled to 75+ countries.

Dr. Holly M. Carter
Dr. Carter is a tenured professor in Education and Political Science and is Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at Northeastern University.  She was granted an academic leave from Northeastern to serve as Senior Policy Planning Officer for East Asia and the Pacific with the Policy Planning Staff for the Secretary of State at the U.S. Department of State and was amongst the highest ranking African American professional staff in the Carter Presidential Administration and in the department of State.  Dr. Carter’s three-decade consultant expertise has been contracted to a range of corporate, non-profit and educational institution and independent school clients across the country. She received her B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. in Political Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Dr. Jane Kani Edward

Dr. Edward was born and raised in southern Sudan, and educated in Sudan, Egypt and Canada.  She received her Ph.D. in Sociology in Education from the University of Toronto in 2004.  Currently she is a Post-Doctor Fellow and Director of African Immigration Research, Bronx African American History Project Department of African and African American Studies, Fordham University. Edward’s areas of research interest center on refugee and immigrant Women’s Experience, gender, race, class and representation, gender issues in conflict and post-conflict situations, and African Immigration to the United States. She carried out research work among southern Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons in Egypt, Uganda and southern Sudan. Dr. Edward is the author of Sudanese Women Refugees: Transformations and Future Imagining. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007; and several articles that deal with gender issues in conflict situations, the consequences of Sudan’s civil war on civilians, and immigrants and refugees’ experiences.

Aisha Francis-Samuels
Aisha is a life-long learner with a passion for humanities education and resource development.  She is happy to share her talents with My Sister’s Keeper, and with United South End Settlements, where she is also a board member.  Aisha is Vice President of Institutional Development at Crittenton Women's Union, which empowers women and their families to break the cycle of poverty through economic independence.  Prior to that she served as Director of Major Gifts and Donor Relations for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.  She moved to Boston from her hometown of Nashville, TN, where she was a Lecturer in Women’s Studies at Vanderbilt University.  She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Vanderbilt and earned her B.A. at Fisk University.

Sr. Bridget Haase
Sister Bridget, O.S.U. has ministered from the mountains of Appalachia to the desert of Sudan.  She presently serves as coordinator of the spirituality program at The Boston Home, a long-term care facility for people with multiple sclerosis and other chronic degenerative diseases. In addition to numerous articles on spirituality, Sister Bridget has co-authored Enkindled: Holy Spirit, Holy Gifts. She is the author of WELL SAID: Children’s Words of Wisdom and WELL LIVED: Stories of Wisdom and Wonder. Sister is a frequent guest on Boston and out-of-state radio. She gives parish missions and days of reflection. She is committed to the education of children, especially to the Akon village primary girls’ school in the Sudan. She actively involves others in this mission through educational programs and fundraising.

Joaquina "Jaqui" Borges King
Jaqui is a regulatory attorney with a regional energy provider.  She started her professional career practicing international and legislative law in Washington, DC, and also has experience in commercial litigation, municipal and appellate law.  Jaqui received a B.A. in English from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.  She is very proud of her Cape Verdean heritage, and is conversant in Portuguese and Spanish.  Her interests include travel and reading.  Jaqui is also an active member of her church, where her husband is senior pastor.  She remains devoted to and proud of her husband, son and two daughters.

Ashley Lanfer
Ashley is a Program Officer for Strategic Grant Partners, where she develops new initiatives and works with existing organizations to scale proven programs and approaches in education and family services.  Previously, Ashley managed the Heart of the City Project, which showcases urban and natural spaces throughout Boston's innercity neighborhoods.  She has experience with environmental issues facing Africa, having developed land management strategies for East African pastoralists and southern African villiagers during her work with Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust in Baringo, Kenya and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

Jody Rose
Jody is Director of Corporate Development at Rue La La, where she is responsible for identifying strategic partnerships across multiple verticals and various business units. Prior to joining Rue La La, Jody led the development and growth of Eons Boom Media, an ad network that targeted websites appealing to the Baby Boomer demographic. Jody began her career in media in NYC where she held multiple sales and marketing positions and quickly rose through the ranks at media powerhouses such as MTV Networks, Food Network, and Home and Garden Television. Jody has held numerous board positions within the telecommunications and media industries and actively serves in multiple ministries within her church. During her spare time Jody enjoys snowboarding, international travel, cooking, and spending time with her husband, T.J.

Michelle Shell
Michelle Shell is a Vice President and Business Line Manager in Fidelity Investment’s Asset Allocation Division. In this role she is responsible for financial and administrative operations and manages the division’s Investment Committee. Previously, she has had roles in Customer Marketing and Development and Mutual Fund Product Management at Fidelity. She has also worked in Corporate Strategy at Forrester Research, and Strategic Product Development at State Street Global Advisors. Michelle has a B.S. from MIT and an M.B.A. from Harvard and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She lives in Milton, Massachusetts with her husband, Greg and sons, Greg and Elijah.  

B. J. Wiley
B.J. Wiley is a proud Bostonian, however, for most of her professional life she has lived in New York.  Currently, she is a consultant for TWG Partners and is working on a start-up in the hospitality space. Most recently, B.J. worked at HEI Hospitality, a private equity firm that owns and operates hotels.  Other professional experiences include Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Citigroup Private Bank.  B.J. received a B.A. in History from The University of Virginia and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  She loves to travel, eat quality food, and spend time both in the snow and sun with family in friends.

STAFF

Gloria White-Hammond, Executive Director
Gloria is Co-Founder and Executive Director of My Sister’s Keeper, as well as the Co-Founder and Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church and a retired pediatrician from the South End Community Health Center. 

Gloria’s community service spans three decades and two continents. In 1994 she founded the church-based creative writing/mentoring ministry, “Do The Write Thing” for high-risk adolescent females which now serves over 200 young women through small groups in Boston public schools, juvenile detention facilities and on site at Bethel AME Church. 

Since 2001, Gloria has made numerous trips into war-torn southern Sudan, Darfur and Chad. In 2002, she co-founded My Sister’s Keeper and became its Executive Director in 2007. In 2006, Gloria served as the National Chairperson of the Million Voices for Darfur campaign and co-founded the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. She served as the national Chairwoman of the Save Darfur Coalition from 2008-2009.

Sarah Cleto Rial , Program Director
Prior to My Sister’s Keeper, Sarah was the Community Programs Case Manager for the Lynn Community Health Center of Lynn, Massachusetts, Employment Services Manager for the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston's Refugee and Immigration Services, and the Co-Founder and President of the African Women's Empowerment Group, a nonprofit organization helping immigrant and refugee women to achieve self-sufficiency. A native of southern Sudan, Sarah has a long history of dedication to organizations working to empower women and advocate for peace. Since her arrival in the United States, Sarah has held leadership positions with the American Anti-Slavery Group, the Sudanese Women Alliance and the Fertit Association.

Geneva Wallace
Geneva has been the Executive Assistant for Gloria White-Hammond and My Sister’s Keeper since 2007.  Before coming to MSK, Geneva worked with Senior Level Management for over 18 years, as an Executive Assistant as well as managing office personnel.  She was most recently employed at Isaacson, Miller, one of Boston’s leading Executive Search Firms, as Executive Assistant to one of the principal partners, Arnie Miller.  Geneva has a heart for people, especially young girls. She mentors teen girls and young adults, in the area of helping them to think about their future, and how to effectively obtain their goals. She is an active member of her church and her community. Geneva received her B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from Northeastern University in Massachusetts and a M.A. in Urban Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Recently, she obtained certification as a Professional Life Coach.